fast-tl

Got a postcard with a special offer (for the 3rd and final attempt) that offers any model at their employee price if I buy before 1/1/05. They won't mention it over the phone, so I have to come in person and bring the letter. Previous two times the offer came via e-mail.

Anyone receive a similar offer and take the bait? This is at Vandergriff in Arlington, where I bought my used TL.

My '00TL is getting a new tranny at another dealer, and they just told me that one didn't work and another's on the way.

My car has 97,500 miles and I was hoping to trade it before 100K, but intended to buy at the other dealer. Any input? I'd like to know the numbers before I bother going in there, then bugging my wife day after day to buy NOW instead of March.
Were it MY call, I'd buy a new car every month, but she's the boss, as they say.

Bluenote

Define "Employee Price."

I bought my car at the dealer I used to work at, and they honored their employee rate for 15 years of service to the company.

fast-tl

Good question. For example, GM has a apecial plan that employees and their family members use. My friend saved about 9 grand on a Yukon Denali if I remember correctly, since his bro-in-law worked for GM. Dodge has one also for employees and family members. In both cases, there's a specific discount. Also, Ford has the A-plan and X-plan, each with specific discounts. I'm presuming this is what "employee" price refers to.

rets

Could be <= invoice price...


At Oct. 03, one of the salesman ever told me the dealer may sell this new car to them about 25k-29k for non-Navi. But it all depended on TL's sales' status and attitude of the dealership.

Ron A

So take the letter, go in, and find out what the "employee price" really is. What do you have to lose? If your trade in is not ready, or even if it is, you can tell them you don't have a trade and what is the selling price for you.

ndabunka

I agree - Take the letter in with you and talk "straight cash" purchase price only. This way you know EXACTLY what they are offering you. The fact your 00 is in the shop shouldn't matter at this point (because it's SUPPOSE to be a fixed rate any trade you do should be kept separate anyway in order to "keep them honest"). Let us know and good luck!

fast-tl

Thanks for the quick feedback, guys! I'll let you know what special numbers I get.

ResearchFreak

Our salesman was a friend of my husbands. He gave us the 'friends & family' discount. He said it was even better then the 'employee' discount! (right....) Well, we bought our 05 TL in early October when they were just coming out and I have to say, the discount wasn't that good! I think we got like $500 off of MSRP, with a few free throw ins.
The salesman is still a friend. We were very educated going in and knew what kind of a deal we would get. He just cut out the haggeling for us.
Good luck on your 'employee's' discount! Let us know what it is exactly....

txathlete

According to the salesman I talked to when I purchased my 05 TL, he said they get the car for $500 over invoice. The finance manager also mentioned the same thing. I don't know how truthful that answer is, but it seems believeable.

fast-tl

Well, txathlete, I hope YOU'RE right. I'll likely see them tomorrow and I'll report.

TLover

Dang, I got a bigger discount just getting an Internet quote.

ensley696

I think their discount is a little better than $500 over invoice.

TBone2004

I would think so too - since I have been able to get that on my own - by just being a stickler for the price I wanted and dangling my checkbook in front of them. Works every time.

Oswald Vater

To me $500 over invoice isn't a bad deal for a car as hot as the TL. In regards to the letter, I've received several similar ones from a local Chrysler dealer trying to get us to trade in our 01 van. They are basically "cone on's" designed to get you into the delaership's doors. Of course, if you are truly in the market, tt can't hurt to find out what the price is because you can still say no and walk out if not up to your liking.

txathlete

I am sure that is true if the model/year has been out for at least 6 months, there is more supply than demand, and how long that car has been sitting on the lot. But I don't know about it being cheaper if it just landed in their lots. You can probably get the 05 TL next fall for invoice (or under) depending on supply and demand. Those Eastcoast boys were getting theirs damn near invoice, pre-order even!! I'm jealous.

When I get a new car, I could use a buddy in new car sales so I can get that employee discount waaaay below invoice too!

dtpjigzer

for fords, A plan and X plans are set prices for friends and family of the employee. and set prices with ford they are usually either invoice or 500 bucks over invoice!

ensley696

With Ford, I would expect the A-Plan to give you under invoice, since getting a Ford under invoice isn't that hard without the A-Plan anyway.

fast-tl

Well, I'll be stopping by the dealer tonight, oddly enough driving my loaner TSX from the competing dealer. I'll let you know whether the trip is worth it or not. Hopefully their plan is as sweet as the others I mentioned. They're trying to beat some sales record to get some sort of recognition before year-end.

ericajackhannahjamie?

Total BS, if $500 over the invoice is EMPLOYEE price... then you SHOULD NOT buy from them. Again, they're BSing you, I can get a TL at invoice if I bargain hard enough. He's lying

SilverSleeper

This is false. The A plan is what the Ford employee pays which if I remember correctly is like 3% over cost. The X plan is what the Ford employee's family members or Ford suppliers' employee's and family pay. I believe this is 5% over cost and is stackable, meaning you still get any rebates.

Very true. Its not that hard to do this without the discount.

fast-tl

OK, just got back from the dealer, and the price was....not bad. For an '05 5AT w/Navi, the price was 33,729+TTL. I saw someone post on 12/7 that their price was 33,970 from Vandergriff after a couple of weeks and many e-mails to four areas dealers, so I'm prett pleased that I could waltz in and get that right off the bat.

Now, my problem, and the deal-breaker was that the trade-value on my '00 TL/Navi and 97.5k miles was $8k, but my payoff is $15.9k, too much negative equity to roll into another loan. *sigh* Of course they offered to play with that trade amount, but even upping the trade allowance to $10k left us $6000 apart.

I'm pleased enough with my current car to not break the bank at Xmas just to pull off a down payment.
Well, I tried, and now we all know the super-secret price good until 1/1/05.

A-TLvic882

fast-TL: OK, just got back from the dealer, and the price was....not bad. For an '05 5AT w/Navi, the price was 33,729+TTL.


It's looks tooo hi. I got a bigger discount just getting an Internet quote. For my 04 6MT n/Navi in april 04 I paid 30,600+TTL. If Navi cost 2K - 33,729 is too much.

fast-tl

Good point, but there's also been a price increase on the '05. Not to mention this was the price I got simply by asking "what's the price", no other work on my part. Allllllso, keep in mind non-Navi models have more wiggle room in pricing because there's less demand for them. So, say I'm $1000 high by your calculation. Account for the price increase of a few hundred, and account for the higher demand for NAvi models and we're pretty close to a nice price. Also, the other dude posted that it took him weeks of work to get a price $200 HIGHER($33,970) than I was just quoted by walking through the door($33,729). I didn't bother asking for a deeper discount, because I was happy to have undercut that other A-TL member's price with no effort. MSN autos current shows the TL as the most popular luxury car based on hits on the MSN Autos site, so that indicates that it's something of a seller's market.

But that's neither here nor there, because my car's value has dropped like the proverbial rock! I wonder what's happened to all those '00 lease returns with alleged 55%-57% residuals. HA! Try 25%! The banks must be pissed that the actual values are WAY lower than the project residual value, but it made for some good lease payments, I'm sure.

Thanks for participating, guys and for the input!

A-TLvic882

Anyway try to get an Internet quote first.

fast-tl

That would be good for comparison. There is much less negative equity in our Expedition, oddly enough, and both vehicles are due to be paid off within 4 months of each other. However, we wanted to keep the Expy after it's paid off, so the wife wouldn't even consider trading her truck for a new TL, and besides, having 2 TLs would make no sense. Oh well...BTW, our salesperson was Steve Douglas, low pressure, pleasant.

txathlete

I agree with you that anything other than dealer's cost or invoice is a rip-off, but in the same breath, if the car is a hot seller and just came out, getting it $500 over invoice is not bad at all. You also have to remember that the dealer needs to make some money too, whether it is from the front end or in the back end. If the dealer is hurting badly the month you go in to buy a new vehicle, of course you are gonna get a good deal, under invoice even. But if the dealer is making sales goals and another sell is just cherry, good luck getting it under invoice for an 05 TL w/navi that just landed in America.

Next time I get a new car, I'm taking your ass with me so I can get it on the cheap.

fast-tl

now THERE'S a plan! Sign me up, too!

caball88

that's no employee price i paid less than that when i got my car last year.

vidoprof

i got my using an internet quote.... $33200, before tax tags title... blah blah blah.... simply going through the internet sales mgr.

bought in FL so all the other info is moot, but OTD was $35600


Ryan

If you ask Graticus got the same deal at the same place in FL.

txathlete

Do you mind sharing the price so that peeps who don't have a TL can get a good deal too? Thanks in advance.

caball88

sure i paid 33,595 for TL with nav(before TTL).

fast-tl

Well, there will be price fluctuations by geographic location. I'm sure convertibles sell cheaper in Alaska than Florida or California, but the more pricing info we better, the betting negotiating each person can do in their local market. I haven't thought about going to Goodson and letting them know about the deal. I'm sure they could be it. Also, edmunds lists 11.2K for my trade, KBB lists $9845 (avering out to 10K), so they were lowballing to start. Of course my car was in teh shop so Vandergriff couldn't see it, but they DID revise their tradeoffer to 10k to get our numbers closer together.

txathlete

Sorry to rain on your parade, but I just checked some prices. According to edmunds invoice price for an 05 TL w/Navi (zip code: 78750) is $32,873 including shipping cost of $570. Since you paid $33,595 before TT&L, you are $722 over invoice. That's $222 more than $500 over invoice.

txathlete

But it's still a damn good price ($722) over invoice.

flying_dutchman

There are two issues here and they're not necessarily directly proportional to each other; 1) the price a dealer pays for a car, 2) the price you pay for a car. How close 1 & 2 are to each other is determined by what the local market will bear based on supply and demand. There's a significant difference between what the dealer pays for a car from the manufacturer, known as Dealer Net Price, vs. "invoice" which we see on Edmunds, etc., and use as a benchmark for pricing. Don't think for a minute that net and invoice are the same thing.

On a base car (w/o options) with a $35K "invoice" price, the dealer net will be around $32-33K. Add some options priced at $5K "invoice", and the dealer net prices for those options and packages will be 15-20% below "invoice" prices. So your $40K car, which you proudly bought "at invoice" has already made the dealer an easy $4K in profit. Add other factory to dealer incentives and your dealer's profit grows even fatter. So how many people have bought their TL's "at invoice"? Probably none (other than Acura corporate or perhaps dealer employees) in SoCal, because of market conditions that Acura is keeping artificially high so they can keep those fat profits rolling in. Another item, the infamous "destination charge" is passed directly on to the buyer. I doubt Acura corporate employee purchases incur this charge. (When was the last time you had to pay a separate destination charge for your refrigerator or TV set, because it was shipped by rail or cargo ship?) All in all, car dealers with anything interesting on their lots make huge profits, much more than they want you to know. And if you don't bite at their "$500 under MSRP" offer, the next person will.

2003TLSNKC

[QUOTE=txathlete]I agree with you that anything other than dealer's cost or invoice is a rip-off, but in the same breath, if the car is a hot seller and just came out, getting it $500 over invoice is not bad at all. You also have to remember that the dealer needs to make some money too, whether it is from the front end or in the back end. If the dealer is hurting badly the month you go in to buy a new vehicle, of course you are gonna get a good deal, under invoice even. But if the dealer is making sales goals and another sell is just cherry,

Didnt the car start out in America? Where does it go after it is built to land in America? Canada? Mexico maybe?

2003TLSNKC

Doesnt the TL start out in America in the first place?

txathlete

uhm... yeah...you're right. I am gonna go back to the dealer and demand my $570 back. Fockers.

fast-tl

Haha! From what I'm told, there's a Ford dealer directly across the street from where Expeditions are built, and they pay the same destination charge, so go figure that one.

Shoot2Thrill

yahoo shows 05 Navi invoice at $31,803 so with $570 that's $32,373 then you add TTL

Looking at posts on this site I think for other than some super special pal deal the low price mark is about 33000 to 33300 before TTL . I think deals below 33,000 are possible.