The Offer
- It’s possible to get Ford Private Cash to save money on auto purchases with Ford. This is particularly useful as the private cash is given after the price negotiations are finalized so it’s a true discount. To get the discount you’ll need to do the following:
- Find the car you’re interested in
- Request a brochure for that car
- Inside the brochure you’ll find an offer for the Ford Private Cash, the amount you receive will depend on the car select but should be anywhere from $750-$1,000
The Fine Print
- Varies a lot, read your own brochure.
Our Verdict
Let me know if these little tips are helpful or not. I’ve also heard that requesting these brochures can be helpful in getting targeted for test drive offers.
Hat tip to reader Sonny
Another good Ford trick is to buy the extended warranty online. Just Google discount Ford extended warranty. There are a few dealers that sell this way. I know it’s debatable whether or not a extended warranty is a good idea. But the math looks a whole lot better if you pay only 50-60% of retail for it. For my last F150 dealers were asking $2000 to $2400 for the warranty. I paid $1250. This transaction can be done with a credit card too! So I got a new card just for that purchase. I used Ziegler Ford but there are several. This trick also works for Honda/Acura.
Also consider membership in the American Quarter Horse Association. Gets you an extra $500 rebate on eligible vehicles. Usually on vehicles that can theoretically tow a quarter horse. It comes at the end just like private cash and stacks with public offers and private cash. I’ve used this on 1 edge, 1 F-150, 1 explorer, and 2 freestyles. Long Lewis in Hoover Alabama does no haggle. They have always had the price set at or just below invoice.
Giddy up. Do dealerships outside the South/Midwest accept this? I would think if I presented this in VA I would just get a chuckle. Besides, this is a before a final price is set discount, which is questionable because they never sell anything for (MSRP) asking price.
As far as I know this is a national program. I don’t own any horses and never have. But a $30 membership for a $500 discount was worth joining. There was a similar program for the Mustang club. I have not looked into this in a few years though. I think the Mustang club allowed you to access x-plan pricing too. That can be useful for models that dealers won’t discount. I never used Mustang club though. The Long Lewis price has always been better than x-plan for the vehicles I bought.
Just call up the dealership after you see the TrueCar pricing in your area. Let them know you want the lowest TrueCar price + $300 since that is the “lead” fee they’d pay to True Car if you actually submitted an inquiry and subsequently purchased.
Make sure to negotiate and confirm the price before incentives, since dealers like to convolute things. Remember, vehicles that have large incentives generally don’t hold their values well. There generally isn’t a ‘silver bullet’, pay it now or pay it later.
-Former Ford salesperson
You said plus $300. Didn’t you mean minus? Because the dealership didn’t have to pay TrueCar the referral?
What Doc is saying after you agree to a price, you should be able to use this coupon to get even more off. Not saying it works as advertised, but I would try it. That is, if I was ready to buy…. but, holding my horses with my current vehicle. Buying new cars is a zero sum game unless you are in it for the long haul. Guess that’s a different Doc article.
Doc, last sentence of article is cut off.
Thanks, added rest of sentence. Useful for getting targeted for test drive offers
I consider anything that can save or earn me money to be in the spirit of DoC. I know many folks here buy vehicles, and I wouldn’t have known about this without DoC’s prompting. I consider DoC to be my one stop shop for deals, regardless of their origin. As someone who was casually shopping for cars just a few days ago, seeing this message reminded me how little I really know about how to maximize the best deal. I’m not sure if DoC knows anybody who is a great car haggler, but perhaps a post or two on how best to negotiate to save on a vehicle purchase would be worthwhile. I know I would read it!
Also, the “Our Verdict” section is a sentence fragment. I’m in suspense!
Thanks for keeping an open mind about these kinds of posts. I don’t find this at all helpful or in the spirit of DoC. You can save money on a car purchase by negotiating? Thanks? Personally, I find posts like this and “Olive Garden Never Ending Pasta Pass: Eight Weeks Of Unlimited Pasta For $100 (22,000 Passes For Sale)” to be really cringey.
You should work on your reading comprehension.
Give him credit — he read the title.
a) It’s a poorly worded title. Point taken.
b) It’s still not in the spirit of what I think DoC has been. I don’t want to see this site become Slickdeals.
How would you retitle it? I thought it was pretty clear.
Very helpful thanks. I’ve been thinking about getting something new for awhile. I used to get these types of offers all the time but I haven’t for many years. I tried to contact Ford to ask how to get them again and no could tell me.
There are a couple no negotiation dealerships around me, I sat at both for multiple hours with multiple levels of managers trying to get the price even a little lower but they wouldn’t budge (just wanted to change the financing). They are $5-6k lower than every other dealership in the area so something like this paired with the right sale might be the only way to get that last $1-2K off and really sweeten the deal.
Do any of these no negotiation dealerships have a website? I’m intrigued by the concept. None around me AFAIK.
Yeah I’ve never seen that either. Maybe it’s typical in less populated areas where there’s less dealer competition?
I responded to the other guy with a little more information. All I can say is, I do live in NH, but I work in Boston. I’ve looked at dealerships from Boston to Manchester, NH to Portland, ME (about an hour drive in any direction from me and most seem typical negotiation type places. The two I’m focusing on are within 5-10 mins of each other and both claimed no negotiation, which they did stick to their guns. I stuck to mine too and didn’t buy, but I’ve been watching the sites to try and figure out how they operate. Maybe I could do better at a place you can negotiate at, but I’m not desperate right now so I’m biding my time and trying to figure out the best course for when I am.
I find Costco Auto Buying and TrueCar to be pretty helpful in negotiations. I view that say a “starting point” on their end. Then from there, just pit the dealers against each other. They almost always have sales gimmicks where they promise to match any competing dealer’s offer. If they refuse to do that, call them out on dealerrater.com (I always buy Hyundai, and I know Hyundai corporate monitors this site – I’m not sure about Ford). They almost always respond to reviews.
I can’t comment on every model. I’ve been focusing on an extended cab F-150. It varies by stock, features and time of year as to how extreme the differences are. Here is one of the no negotiating dealerships just looking at that specific model:
http://www.portsmouthford.com/search/new-f150/tp-md100/?bd=10-extended_cab_pickup
They basically let me leave after an hour or so because they didn’t really want to talk much about price.
Compare to the last place I bought an F-150 and I know they negotiate:
http://www.autofairford.com/new-inventory/index.htm?model=F-150&cab=supercab&sortBy=internetPrice+asc&
There are dozens of Ford dealerships in a 50-75 mile radius of me. Most seem to be the typical negotiate type dealerships with the higher listing prices. The two that are no negotiate definitely have the best price, but they really are no negotiate (at least when I went in in April). If you scroll through the stock now the 2018’s are out and the prices are closer (no PortFord discount) so maybe there is wiggle room with brand new released models.
They clearly discount the price the longer the car sits there though. I’ve been keeping an eye out ever since i went in and I noticed a truck that sat around and got discounted $500 after a couple months. I’m thinking waiting for the right car to get discounted $1k or so and mixed with these private cash coupons would be the least hassle way with these guys.
Maybe in the end I’m a bad negotiator too. All I know is after 2.5 hours with the other dealership i would have agreed to even $1k off the price to wipe out the fees and they wouldn’t do it. I walked away and they only contacted me later to ask why I didn’t buy and I told them we were literally $1-2k off and they didn’t try to get me to come back in for the truck.
See if you qualify for Fords XPlan pricing. It is just under invoice plus 275 with documentation fees capped. A surprising number of businesses around Boston qualify as partner companies, so you don’t have to go the route of buying stock and waiting six months. I know MIT used to be a partner, but I seem to remember even a couple of mutual fund companies that held the stock counted. Worth checking. Back when I was thinking of buying a Transit I qualified as a long time stockholder. I bought a Subaru instead.
Please buy “art of the deal” or whatever the name. It’s the best. Written by master negotiator before you go negotiating.
LOL. Good one.
I think it’s helpful. Saving money is saving money, especially when it’s after you’ve negotiated everything. Typically it’s the car dealership who throws something last minute into the mix to up the price. This effectively is doing the reverse for the consumer. Thank you!
Saving money when buying a new car = penny smart and pound foolish.
You are right, of course. The only way to not be pound foolish is to buy a 3 year old civic (or one of the handful of other ultra reliable cars) and drive it until the wheels fall off. If you are driving anything other than an old, ultra reliable vehicle, you are being ridiculous by suggesting that saving money on a new vehicle is foolish.
Depends on the car. Unless you are thinking about a luxury car, you’ll probably find a new car is a good deal, right now. And if you are thinking luxury, I can make the same penny wise, pound foolish argument.
I was looking at a Mazda3 or Toyota iA (Mazda2). Used car market is too strong. I walked away with a new iA for 12K + TTL.
Never stick to conventional “wisdom”. Always do your own math.