What is Xplan and More ?

[Scott Rhodes 2]

What exactly is the Xplan? Who can get it and is it worth it?



My wife has just taken a job with Autonations which means employee pricing to me. Which is better, employee or Xplan?



I recently bought my wife a new Chevy HHR and through negotiation paid the invoice price for the vehicle. I got a copy of the invoice.



I hear people talk about buying with the Xplan and paying $100 to $150 over invoice. Whats the advantage? Does the invoice really mean anything? Still shopping....

 

[Fudged Undies]

<a href="http://www.ford.com/en/vehicles/vehicleFinancing/vehiclePurchasePrograms/friendsAndNeighbors.htm"target=top>Ford Friends and Family.</a>

 

[Richard L]

The X-Plan is based off the A-Plan.

The A-Plan is employee pricing which is a percentage below true dealer cost. X-Xplan is something like 3% above the A-Plan price. The "True Dealer Cost" is not the Invoice price that many dealers will gladly show you...It is a lower price because it reduces the dealers invoice price by the amount the factory pays the dealership after they sell that vehicle. This payment to the dealer is called "Hold Back" and varies from manufacturer, vehicle and model, but typically it's 3-5% of invoice price. The Ford dealership where I worked paid the dealership a flat fee for an X-Plan sale. The salesman at my dealership gets a flat $75.



That doesn't sound like much, but then salesman rarely get more than a few hundred $ in commission on a new vehicle. They make their money in bonuses by selling specific numbers of vehicles per month and from the sale of used vehicles. It's not uncommon for a salesman to make $1000 or more on selling a used car and only $150 for a new car. The reason is simple. There is far les wiggle room when selling a new car since all the prices are published and nobody pays MSRP. Used cars have Wholesale, Retail, and Trade-in values that allow more room for profit.



Ford's A-Plan (Employee pricing) is only for Ford employees. Some of Ford's suppliers and business partners are able to purchase under the X-Plan. Also, many Ford employee's are allowed to sponsor their friends and neighbors for X-Plan pricing.



I doubt that AutoNation would be able to provide you with true Employee Pricing (A-Plan) from Ford since even salesman that work at Ford dealers are not eligible. I was employed by Town West Ford, but not Ford Motors.



...Rich

 

[Scott Rhodes 2]

Yo Rich,



That helped alot. Would you recommend I walk in and ask for dealership employees pricing or try and negotiate the best price? I do have alot of experience in that and I'm not afraid to hold out and walk out.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Are there any discounts available to other "special groups" that Ford supports?

 

[Gavin Allan]

Oh my, the Focus earned an honor!

 

[Gavin Allan]

The Explorer seems to get decent marks, though:

 

[Tom Schindler]

I doubt that AutoNation would be able to provide you with true Employee Pricing (A-Plan) from Ford since even salesman that work at Ford dealers are not eligible. I was employed by Town West Ford, but not Ford Motors.

If that dealership is "Blue Oval Certified" you get D-Plan. Same price is A-Plan, plus, IIRC, 150.00.





Tom

 

[Scott Rhodes 2]

Ok Tom, slow down a bit. Remember I've been lost for awhile. What is llRC?

 

[Mike Franklin]

Gay Wheels Article:



"Credit the Explorer’s kinkily christened, tube-through-tube chassis for its wonderfully solid yet compliant ride."



Now that was funny... yet... really gross at the same time. I know, some of you could have gone all day without someone making mention of that.

 

[P M]

Geez, a dude asks about pricing and gay reviews...



As for X-Plan, the nice thing is that there is no negotiating, you just go in with an X-Plan pin and you get the vehicle at the X-Plan price, minus any current incentives, plus taxes and title. X-Plan on an ST is ~$50-70 below invoice. If you are a good negotiator, you may be able to do better, but X-Plan is a good price.

 

[Tom Schindler]

llRC=If I Remember Correctly





Tom

 

[Richard L]

Tom,

The dealership I worked at was "Blue Oval Certified" but salesman could not get the A-Plan. I never heard about the D-Plan, but I had already bought my 2003 Sport Trac on the X-Plan before I started working at that dealership.



They did offer a plan where they would pay your car note up to $500 a month if you could sell 10 or more vehicles per month. The vehicle had to be a Ford less than 3 model years old...Had to be purchased from that dealership, and you had to drive it to work most work days. That was a dealership incentive that was not sponsored by Ford.



WarWagon,

You cannot get Employee pricing (A-Plan). You can get X-Plan pricing but you have to have an X-Plan pin and you must tell the dealer immediately that you are purchasing using the X-Plan. Typically, the salesman will tell you they can beat X-Plan pricing, and sometimes they can. But if you stop and think "Why would the dealer offer to sell you a vehicle for less money than you already have agreed to pay". It just doesn't happen. The salesman is trying to get you to start negotiating the price, which will void your option to purchase from that dealer under the "No haggling X-Plan price", and they never have to show you the true X-Plan price, so you really never know if their offer is cheaper than X-Plan.



Also, remember that X-Plan pricing still allows you to get any and all applicable rebates available on that model in addition to the lower price. Sometimes dealers will show you a price with all the rebates and compare that to the Invoice price and try to convince you that you are getting a better deal than you would get via the X-Plan.



...Rich







...Rich

 

[Tom Schindler]

RichardL,



Just because you have never heard of it and your dealer did not divulge the information to you, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.



Sounds like Warwagon is eligable for D-Plan and he would be an idiot to buy under X-Plan.





Tom

 

[Richard L]

Tom,

I didn't say I didn't believe you, I just never heard about the D-Plan and did not know the details. Warwagon would need to check with AutoNation as to whether any type of plan or discount is available.



I don't think just walking into AutoNation and stating that he want's employee pricing will necessarily work. His wife needs to find out how their Employee pricing works. It may not be anything like Ford's or even authorized by Ford.



I am not familiar with AutoNation and so I don't know if they are a Blue Oval dealer, or if they are just some kind of auto-buyers service.



...Rich

 

[Scott Rhodes 2]

Thanks for all the info.



Some of it I really had no interest in. I'll let you decide which info. was important.

 

[Austin Tatious]

Just to throw another letter into the discussion, I bought my Sport Trac using the Z-plan. It's for retired ford employees and as I remember it was 2% under invoice, plus options were at dealer cost.