X-plan Price Change?

[Bob Corning]

My '07 ST Limited is due in next week, and I went to the dealer to get the final numbers confirmed. I originally ordered this vehicle on April 18, and it was delivered in mid-June - with the wrong colored interior. Dealer ordered it again, but had to wait for Job 2 to start. When he showed me the latest numbers, the X-plan price had gone up $115 from the original order. When I questioned this, I was told Ford had not raised the price of job 2, but had raised the invoice price to the dealer. Since X-plan price is Invoice minus 0.4% plus a $75 fee, this meant that the X-plan price had gone up. After some "negotiation", I will still be getting the old X-plan price by adding the $115 to the value of my trade-in. Dealer said that is the only way he can give me the old price. He can't adjust or change the X-plan price in any way. I am not sure I believe this story, but a Ford Rep is coming to my employer on Monday to answer any questions we have on X-plan. Obviously, I have a few questions. I will let you know what I find out. The dealer said Ford is trying to work their way to Saturn style pricing - no haggle, that's the price. Raising dealer invoice is supposedly a step toward that goal. Again, I cannot vouch for the truth of this stroy, I am just reporting what happen to me.

 

[P M]

Hmmm, I guess I'll be paying a bit more than I anticipated too. But mine is not the result of a bad order. The story from the dealer sounds pretty reasonable. At least he's tweaking the numbers to make it work out for you.

 

[Rick Hite]

Crash,



What did you pay for ltd is it v8 4x4 if you do not want to say what you paid no sweat?

 

[Bob Corning]

Rick:

The X-plan price I paid for my Ltd. w/V8 was $31347. New X-plan price was $31462. Sticker was around $33,800 - $34,000. Don't remember exactly. My view is the X-plan price is "OK", but not dramatically lowerer than you can get on your own with a little work. The biggest advantage is that if you are trading in a car/truck, with X-plan you can focus on the trade-in price rather than having to work both ends of the deal. It makes it easier to determine whether the trade-in price is fair.

 

[R 2]

X-plan pricing is set (whatever it is), no negotiation.

 

[Rick Hite]

Crash,



Thank you for the info!!!!!!

 

[Jenn D]

This is what happened to my friend, see this post below. They sold her an '07 that was supposed to be on its way, and then called her and told her the price increased from the factory (x-plan).

 

[Gavin Allan]

X-plan Price Change? by crash, 8/24/2006 20:28 CT

Category - Buying: Orders, Pricing, Financing, Dealers



...Since X-plan price is Invoice minus 0.4% plus a $75 fee..

Is this right? If so, a $32,000 vehicle would save [0.4% ($128) + $75 fee] = $53 from invoice?



That isn't much of a benefit...

 

[Richard L]

X-Plan prices are based on the Dealer's true invoice price at the time of delivery. If the price of the Job-2 models went up, then you pay the difference.



...Rich

 

[Bob Corning]

The "formula" I quoted is directly from the Ford Partner website. I believe it to be accurate. The X-plan price works out to be only slightly (around $50-60)under dealer invoice. It is not a big savings. As I mentioned before, it does allow you to quickly arrive at a price that is as low as the dealer will go. The dealer is telling me the retail price didn't go up, but dealer invoice did. This will result in the X-plan pricing also going up.

 

[blksn8k]

One of the disadvantages with using the X-plan is that most dealers will try to offer you wholesale for your trade. Believe me, I've been down that road. My personal experience is that you can probably negotiate a better deal without the X-plan, especially if you have a trade. And that really blows because the whole purpose of any of the "plan" programs is that they are supposed to be a benefit from your employer, not an excuse for the dealer to rape you on a trade-in.

 

[Aaron Yarbough]

I can confirm that the Job 2 prices definately went up a few dollars.... It's also ashame the X-plan pricing is not a bit more competitive than it is. I have an X-plan pin from a relative but it's not worth using becasue my negotiated price (which didn't take much negotiation) is better. That's not good.

 

[Richard L]

It is very rare that you will negotiate a better deal than you can get with the X-Plan. Also, no dealer will give you more than the "Wholesale" Trade-in value for your old vehicle. If you get more than the wholesale price for your tradein, you are paying more for the New vehicle to off-set the extra money they are giving for the trade-in.



The most confusing part of trade=ins and used car sales is the true condition of the vehicle. When Edmund's or NADA list the vehicle price for "Excellent" condition, that means they can take the vehicle an put it on the sales lot. In truth, very few vehicles will actually meet that standard. Most will require some detailing, or clean up for the dealer to get top dollar.



That doesn't mean that a dealer won't try to offer you hundreds or thousands less than Wholesale value so they have some wiggle room.



If you go into a dealership and tell them you want to purchase a vehicle using the X-Plan, and they say they can beat the X-Plan price...They are lying! Why would the dealer volunteer to sell you a vehicle at a lower price than you already agreed to pay !!! They do it for one reason. Once you start negotiating anyother price or offer, you just voided your oportunity to make an X-Plan purchase on that vehicle. Dealers are not in business to loose money on any deal and now days, most people know what the dealer's cost is on any new vehicle. The dealers make the most profit on Used cars, not new cars.



If you think you can negotiate a better deal, you will never really know since they are not required to show you the "True" Invoice price that the X-Plan price is based on,. If you are not buying with the X-Plan the invoice price they show you will not mention the hold-back and dealers will rarely ever dip into their hold-back. That's their profit. The True Dealer cost is not the same as the so-called Dealer Invoice price. True dealer cost takes into account the 3% hold back that the dealer would actuall get back from Ford after the sale. Ford dealers are paid a lower hold-back rate for X-Plan purchases but they pay a lower invoice cost.



The best way to buy a vehicle is to not use a trade-in, That's where the dealers make their money and in the end you will never get more than the wholesale price for your vehicle at the bottom line.



...Rich