Order or Wait?

[stevesmith1328]

My wife and I are currently looking to purchase a 2016 Limited, but are having trouble finding the particular color and options we want. No dealership seems to have the color alone within 200 miles of us even though we live in a large city.

We have noticed there are still a lot of 2015's on the lots and the 2016's just are starting to trickle in. We have never special ordered a vehicle and are trying to decide on ordering one through the dealership or waiting to see if inventory gets better in our area and finding one on the lot.

Does anyone have any advise on this? Pros/Cons? From reading the posts it looks like 8-12 weeks is going to be the standard wait time for a special order. Is that accurate?

Also if we are planning on trading in an Explorer at the time we purchase a new one is that done and finalized before the new one is ordered and received or after.

I have seen people posting on here about ordering one with a small deposit down and finalizing trade and sale when the new one arrives and then have seen others that make mention of going ahead and trading a vehicle in at the time the new one is ordered and then waiting for the new one to come in. Does each dealership control which route is taken or does the consumer?

I can see pros and cons to each. Any suggestions or schooling from those that have ordered before would be greatly appreciated.

 

[blwnsmoke]

I order my vehicles from a dealer in MI who gets them in 3-4 weeks typically but that is quite a drive for you. I fly in to pick it up and drive it home.

I always order because I know it is exactly what I want and it has not been driven by others. When you are spending that kind of money, I want fresh paint and a clean vehicle. I also do not have the dealer detail my vehicles (those slight swirls that are always in your paint) when they get delivered.

It is not unreasonable to be asked to put a deposit down but I would never put more then $250 down and I'd never sign anything that says "non refundable". Too many scenarios that may come up (dealer doesn't have allocation and takes too long, you lose your job, vehicle gets damaged upon transport etc etc).

As far as trade, a dealer may give you a value of trade BUT I think it is rare for them to say that value will hold for 3 months while you wait. Too many variables with that but if you can get them to sign it, then great. What I do is I get a price on the vehicle, then get a price on the trade AFTER. Then I put my vehicle up for sale and hope to sell it for several thousand more then the dealer is giving me. If you don't have a spare, you can rent a vehicle for under $30 a day (by the week or month) until yours comes in and you'll still be ahead by selling privately.

I sold my previous truck for $3,500 more then the dealer was going to give me, I would have been in the $700 range for a rental for the month if I didn't have a spare so worst case would have been $2,800 ahead of the game by selling myself.

 

[stevesmith1328]

Thank you blwnsmoke. Gives me some things to think about. Does the dealership incur any extra costs on ordering a vehicle for a customer from factory as opposed to ordering one that it going onto their lot? Just trying to figure out if they have as much wiggle room in the price ordering one so I know where to go in at. I have had one dealership tell me they will order one at invoice price for me and another dealership has their current Explorers that are on the lot priced on average of $1,100 under invoice. The sales person at the second location told me they could order at the $1,100 under invoice price even ordering one from the factory, but he seemed kind of new.
When I have purchased my prior Fords I have always paid invoice and thought I was doing good, but after seeing the pricing at this one dealership I am starting to kind different.

 

[GoogleAndroid]

In my area, I've had both a Ford dealer (for a 16 Explorer) and a Lincoln dealer (for a 16 MKX) tell me 6-8 weeks for a custom order. However, the timeline will of course depend on your location and what you order.

If they have to order a car for you, it's the same price as if they had ordered the car for their lot. The problem is that a lot of dealerships will want to push you towards buying a car off the lot so that they make money more quickly. If you try to order and start negotiating price, be prepared for them to offer negotiating something on the lot instead.

 

[blwnsmoke]

Thank you blwnsmoke. Gives me some things to think about. Does the dealership incur any extra costs on ordering a vehicle for a customer from factory as opposed to ordering one that it going onto their lot? Just trying to figure out if they have as much wiggle room in the price ordering one so I know where to go in at. I have had one dealership tell me they will order one at invoice price for me and another dealership has their current Explorers that are on the lot priced on average of $1,100 under invoice. The sales person at the second location told me they could order at the $1,100 under invoice price even ordering one from the factory, but he seemed kind of new.
When I have purchased my prior Fords I have always paid invoice and thought I was doing good, but after seeing the pricing at this one dealership I am starting to kind different.

Ford pays dealers about 3% of MSRP as a kickback so on a $50k vehicle, that would be about $1,600. So technically if they go below invoice, they are dipping into that kickback (many won't do that). The $1,100 under invoice, is that after rebates or are you getting the rebates on top of the $1,100 under? If it is on top of the $1,100, that is a fantastic deal.

As the above poster stated, same cost. I will also add that dealers generally like to sell from stock but they shouldn't turn down a custom order. The reason they like to push dealer stock is because they have to pay interest on the vehicles sitting on the lot (generally after 90 days) because most dealers don't pay cash for their stock to Ford.

 

[stevesmith1328]

The $1100 is before any rebates or private offers are factored in. All the explorers on their lot are between $1100 and $1300 under invoice. I asked the sales person if I could order at that same pricing since they didn't have have the color or opitions we want and he said they could but at that point I didn't push it because we hadn't decided yet on what we wanted. I was aware of the 3% holdback but there has to be more incentives like overall sales or some angle they are working to have their whole explorer inventory that far below invoice considering some of the explorers haven't been on the lot a week.

This is not a dealership I have dealt with before and I emailed my normal dealership who said they would do $750 under invoice. I emailed them after that and asked if they would match the other dealerships offer of $1200 under. Waiting on a reply. Even $750 a killer deal I think considering it is more than 50% of her holdback. I'll let you guys know what happens.

 

[stevesmith1328]

The $1100 is before any rebates or private offers are factored in. All the explorers on their lot are between $1100 and $1300 under invoice. I asked the sales person if I could order at that same pricing since they didn't have have the color or opitions we want and he said they could but at that point I didn't push it because we hadn't decided yet on what we wanted. I was aware of the 3% holdback but there has to be more incentives like overall sales or some angle they are working to have their whole explorer inventory that far below invoice considering some of the explorers haven't been on the lot a week.

This is not a dealership I have dealt with before and I emailed my normal dealership who said they would do $750 under invoice. I emailed them after that and asked if they would match the other dealerships offer of $1200 under. Waiting on a reply. Even $750 a killer deal I think considering it is more than 50% of her holdback. I'll let you guys know what happens.

 

[blwnsmoke]

If you are going to have your Ex serviced at your normal dealer, I would not argue over $400.. Id give them your business..

 

[stevesmith1328]

When you build on the ford website are those all the same opitions that you ultimately have when you go to the dealership to order or are their more opitions at the dealership? I only ask because I believe I saw some posts in a different section about changing fog lights to led and some other minor opitions that don't appear on the ford website.

 

[blwnsmoke]

When you build on the ford website are those all the same opitions that you ultimately have when you go to the dealership to order or are their more opitions at the dealership? I only ask because I believe I saw some posts in a different section about changing fog lights to led and some other minor opitions that don't appear on the ford website.

They don't appear on the Ford website because they are late availability so they are not available yet as an option.

 

[Professorfingers]

Check out 2016 Platinum Late Production Posts. They give a post that has the latest order guide, that lists LED Fogs as an option for the XLT and standard on the Platinum. I don't know how to paste that link or I would.

TW

 

[stevesmith1328]

Ordered my 2016 Limited today. Thanks everyone for the input. This was my first order as I have always purchased from the lot so it is something new to look forward to.

 

[Professorfingers]

Ordered my 2016 Limited today. Thanks everyone for the input. This was my first order as I have always purchased from the lot so it is something new to look forward to.

Yeah,
This is my first "order" as well. I'm not a very patient person but I think I am handling this OK. We'll see. Good Luck on your order!!

TW