What do you think of the New Ford Family Plan?

[John Walker]

As my titles says. What do you think of the Ford Family Plan. My wife is considering a new Freestyle and getting rid of her Highlander. I did the math on a couple of them and they all look like great deals. Ford is running a $500 cash back on them too at the same time, but I might take the 0% instead. On a $27,500 car the pricing is $24,500, on a $33,805 car the pricing is $30,000. Seems quite nice. My salesman is going to buy out my wifes lease and he thinks it actualy has equity in it and we can come out ahead $2400 or so. He hunted down a Freestyle with all the option my wife wanted too.

Please give me your feedback.

 

[Nelson Atwell]

A five year old Highlander is likely a much better vehicle than a brand-new Freestyle. I would stick with the Toyota unless it is one of the rare lemons or it has been through Hell and back.



As far as the Family Plan, it is a good deal. I saw a Super Crew at the dealership this morning with $10K in discounts -- reduced from $41K to $31K.

 

[John Walker]

Well, my wifes lease is up in 4 months. Its a 2002 and only has 25,000 miles on it. Don't think I'm going to buy out the lease and keep it, so new is her only option right now.

 

[Dan Otto]

I work for Ford! So I had to ask the controller of the company " Now that Ford will extend employee discounts to the general public, where's my incentive to stay here?" He threw me out of his office.

 

[Mark Koback]

I too work for a dealer and yes, it is the actual employee price for new vehicles. I know for a fact the pricing is working because our sales are up on new vehicles since this started. But like Dan said, whats the incentive for us Ford employees?



MK ..... The "other" Mark

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Are there still people that pay sticker price?



I ask, because I thought everyone knew how to haggle, and get a two or three thousand knocked off the sticker price.



The fact is there is a deaker invoice price for the vehicle, and there is a cost each month for having a vehicle on the lot, go into the dealership near the end of the month, pick a car off the lot and offer a few hunder over dealer invoice and you will walk out that that car.



The Family/Employee plans are pretty much the after-haggle, slightly higher than dealer invoice price, IMHO. From that price, shake out the rebates and good financing...doing all the math to see which combination works best for you, and you will get your best possible deal.



I guess what I am saying is don't feel that you have JUMP on these deals now...as long as the rebates and good financing are there (which is money from Ford Motor Co and Ford Credit), then the after-haggle price will always be there.



TJR

 

[TrainTrac]

Is the "Ford Family Plan" price the A-plan price or X-plan price? As a member of the Experimental Aviation Association, I have X-plan eligibility. So if it's A-plan, I would only use it if the difference between it and the X-plan price was more than the dealer processing fee. If not, I'd use my X-plan PIN so I wouldn't have to pay the deale processing fee.

 

[Teddy GreeneII]

Adam posted this a couple weeks back, its pretty scary. The salesmen talk about how white people aren't good "ups" because the get on the internet and know the invoice. It was helluv intresting to read. And yes, apparently there are people who pay sticker, sometimes more.

 

[TrainTrac]

Ted,



Check your link. It says "file not found" when I click on it. Maybe Edmunds is no longer displaying that article.

 

[A K]

Teddy had a space inserted by accident. Try:

 

[EddieS'04]

I probably did better than family plan. Sticker of $28,500, drove it home for $22,000 with TTL.

 

[George C]

This is definitely the real thing. I went with my sister to a Ford dealer 2 weeks ago before they were having the family plan. She went looking for an Escape XLT Sport with 4x4 and V6. I told them to give me the X plan price and after a while we left for her to think about it. It was funny because the dealer was actually saying how the GM employee discount was a joke and then the next week Ford was offering the same thing.



Then last week we went back because of the "family plan". She was able to get the same truck for about $40 a month less than before. I was also able to negotiate the trade in value and she got a great deal. If you are looking for something I would at least go in and get some pricing. They are also giving rebates when you buy or lease.

George

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Just got a Mercury Mountaineer for my wife's Jeep GC $20,973 out the door. The Salesman told me the problem with the plan is the trade in's. They have to try to make money on them but they are getting flooded with them and people are able to get a new vehicle for less than a good used. We looked at some used Explorers and found this one for a couple grand less. So I cannot and will not complain about the plan. The deals are great compared to GM and Chrysler/Dodge because we checked there also.

 

[John Walker]

Thanks guys!

 

[TomT]

Use the internet and you can do better. The family plan is simply enticing the not so savvy buyers that go into a showroom without any preparation and pay close to sticker price. I guarantee I have made much better deals. Of course I'm one of those people that salesmen hate.

And yes, as much as I love my ST I would stay with the Highlander. I have been looking at one to replace my wife's 97 Expedtion. They are very highly rated. Know several people that have Highlanders and they love them.

 

[Greg Cheek]

My dad bought my mom one of the 1500 50th anniversary Thunderbirds for their 49th anniversary. The color is Cashmere inside and out. Loaded with everything list for $45,000. With the employee pricing he paid $39,000- got a $500 rebate and 0% interest for 3 years. I wasn't much for the "new" bird looks-but this car is truly beautiful. He's gonna put very few miles on it and hope it will be as valuable as his last bird ended up being-(which was a 55 Turquoise). I thought all in all he got a pretty good deal. BTW he went to look at a GT Mustang-but they weren't shaving much off sticker-much less employee pricing.

 

[Brad Beck]

So good.... that I traded my ST in for a F150, FX4, SuperCrew. Sticker was $38,630, Invoice was $34,480, Family Plan was $32,558.... and $3000 cash back for a grand total of $29,558. Zero... and I mean zero haggling.

[Broken External Image]:

 

[TrainTrac]

Bradgator2,



How much did they give you for your trade-in ST? Are they willing to give a fair trade with this promotion? Or did they try to low-ball you on the trade because of the promotion?

 

[Bill V]

The part of this whole thing that I find rather annoying is the way so many local dealerships (both FoMoCo and GM) have been advertising this "employee" discount, and phrasing it like it's something special being done only for their dealership. Come on--do they think there's anyone in the market for a new car who isn't going to realize that they can get this at absolutely any FoMoCo or GM dealership they visit???

 

[TrainTrac]

The part of this whole thing that I find rather annoying is the way so many local dealerships (both FoMoCo and GM) have been advertising this "employee" discount, and phrasing it like it's something special being done only for their dealership. Come on--do they think there's anyone in the market for a new car who isn't going to realize that they can get this at absolutely any FoMoCo or GM dealership they visit???

True, Bill. A savvy customer can use this to their advantage to make a dealership earn their business.