Buying my first Wrangler (Price Advice)

[SoCal]

I'm not looking for anything wild just something with Adaptive Cruise since I travel I little for work and payments under $600. If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay for that beauty.

I started off like you a few months ago as a total noob and was just hoping to maybe get into a Willys, but after finding this awesome forum and finding out some of the deals people were getting here from Kent at Peterson Jeep I started thinking Rubicon....

It was super easy, just call or email Kent Shurtleff at Peterson Jeep to talk about what you might want or need, then you go to Jeep.com and build your Jeep...send Kent the PDF of your build and he send send you back a quote.
I ended up building a pretty well equipped JLUR with a MSRP of $53,385 and got it for $47,255
You have to join Tread Lightly which is super easy and use the dealerships financing for the first six months, which I have no problem honoring...the extra few hundred bucks I might spend are well worth the savings and service I got from them.

Like others have mentioned...NEVER go to buy a car based on car payments. Just get to the bottom line final price and worry about payments from there....There are all sorts of car payment calculators you can google to give you better idea of what you can get your payments down to.

what city are you in?

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[Richtor]

Don’t listen to what others paid. The location of the purchase will change the fees and taxes dramatically. How much off without paying any fees such as a $600 doc fee is what to look for.

1. Out the door pricing should be at or below msrp before trade or down payment. $46.9k otd minus your $6k down and $2k trade equity would be a $39k loan.
2. loans are still dirt cheap. 700 credit score should be 2% or lower for 72 months.
3. For $47k you can get a base Rubicon not a base sport s.

 

[SASQUATCH3000]

I started off like you a few months ago as a total noob and was just hoping to maybe get into a Willys, but after finding this awesome forum and finding out some of the deals people were getting here from Kent at Peterson Jeep I started thinking Rubicon....

It was super easy, just call or email Kent Shurtleff at Peterson Jeep to talk about what you might want or need, then you go to Jeep.com and build your Jeep...send Kent the PDF of your build and he send send you back a quote.
I ended up building a pretty well equipped JLUR with a MSRP of $53,385 and got it for $47,255
You have to join Tread Lightly which is super easy and use the dealerships financing for the first six months, which I have no problem honoring...the extra few hundred bucks I might spend are well worth the savings and service I got from them.

Like others have mentioned...NEVER go to buy a car based on car payments. Just get to the bottom line final price and worry about payments from there....There are all sorts of car payment calculators you can google to give you better idea of what you can get your payments down to.

what city are you in?

I'm in Newark, NJ. Not sure how close that is to Peterson but I am down to try.

 

[SASQUATCH3000]

Don’t listen to what others paid. The location of the purchase will change the fees and taxes dramatically. How much off without paying any fees such as a $600 doc fee is what to look for.

1. Out the door pricing should be at or below msrp before trade or down payment. $46.9k otd minus your $6k down and $2k trade equity would be a $39k loan.
2. loans are still dirt cheap. 700 credit score should be 2% or lower for 72 months.
3. For $47k you can get a base Rubicon not a base sport s.

My gut was telling me what you just said. I'm currently looking into Tread Lightly.

 

[SoCal]

I'm in Newark, NJ. Not sure how close that is to Peterson but I am down to try.

I'm sure there is a similar dealer much closer to you that someone will chime in about....

My wife and I took a cheap flight and made a little mini vacay out of the trip....it was awesome way to break in our first Jeep.

 

[Some Random Guy]

Since you were originally focusing on monthly payments, here's something that might help:

Choose a preferred bank, or just a general website. Based on your credit score, you should be able to find a table of loan rates. For instance, this is USAA's calculator. You can set the loan term (72 months is ok for a wrangler, but only because it retains its value so well) and see what interest rate pops up. If your bank has a table, that might be easier to reference. From there, go to google and type in "loan calculator". Simple is fine here, you just want it to ask you how much the loan is for, how long, and what the interest rate is. Now, use that calculator and the loan percentage to generate a list for you. Put in loan amounts for $25k, $30k, $35k, and $40k.
Now comes the most complicated part. What is your planned downpayment? A good rule of thumb is to cover 20% of the cost with the downpayment (to avoid extra charges for GAP insurance). Whatever you plan to compare an offer on, subtract the downpayment from the vehicle cost. Take THAT value against your reference table and then start comparing the offered payment price to the list you generated. If they are trying to charge you full sticker price, the loan payment should be higher because it includes taxes and fees. If it is lower, you probably have a below MSRP deal. You can bring that offer here to the forum and get better advice.

I think this is as simple as I can make it, and will allow you to negotiate over email with dealerships. Everyone on this thread looks ready to help, which is better than I expected out of the internet.

Potential pitfalls: Dealership offers 84 month loan, pushing down monthly payment. Dealer doesn't include taxes, title, and fees. Dealer provides quote with incentives you don't qualify for. Dealer asks you what your trade in is (come back if they do this, it makes it hard to compare offers from dealers if one does this an another doesn't because of how most state sales taxes work with vehicles). If something seems like this happening, pump the brakes and do some more learning. You'll get it right for you in the end.

 

[Xcoaste]

I'm in Newark, NJ. Not sure how close that is to Peterson but I am down to try.

If you are in NJ and don’t mind a few hour drive, check out Criswell Jeep in Gaithersburg, MD. Lots of people on here bought from there. I bought from Leon and would highly recommend him. Good luck.

 

[SASQUATCH3000]

Since you were originally focusing on monthly payments, here's something that might help:

Choose a preferred bank, or just a general website. Based on your credit score, you should be able to find a table of loan rates. For instance, this is USAA's calculator. You can set the loan term (72 months is ok for a wrangler, but only because it retains its value so well) and see what interest rate pops up. If your bank has a table, that might be easier to reference. From there, go to google and type in "loan calculator". Simple is fine here, you just want it to ask you how much the loan is for, how long, and what the interest rate is. Now, use that calculator and the loan percentage to generate a list for you. Put in loan amounts for $25k, $30k, $35k, and $40k.
Now comes the most complicated part. What is your planned downpayment? A good rule of thumb is to cover 20% of the cost with the downpayment (to avoid extra charges for GAP insurance). Whatever you plan to compare an offer on, subtract the downpayment from the vehicle cost. Take THAT value against your reference table and then start comparing the offered payment price to the list you generated. If they are trying to charge you full sticker price, the loan payment should be higher because it includes taxes and fees. If it is lower, you probably have a below MSRP deal. You can bring that offer here to the forum and get better advice.

I think this is as simple as I can make it, and will allow you to negotiate over email with dealerships. Everyone on this thread looks ready to help, which is better than I expected out of the internet.

Potential pitfalls: Dealership offers 84 month loan, pushing down monthly payment. Dealer doesn't include taxes, title, and fees. Dealer provides quote with incentives you don't qualify for. Dealer asks you what your trade in is (come back if they do this, it makes it hard to compare offers from dealers if one does this an another doesn't because of how most state sales taxes work with vehicles). If something seems like this happening, pump the brakes and do some more learning. You'll get it right for you in the end.

Everyone here is so helpful this is amazing. Assuming it is a Jeep thing lol. Sounds like I have a fun night of crunching numbers ahead of me.

 

[SASQUATCH3000]

If you are in NJ and don’t mind a few hour drive, check out Criswell Jeep in Gaithersburg, MD. Lots of people on here bought from there. I bought from Leon and would highly recommend him. Good luck.

Thank you! I don't mind a ride for a good deal.

 

[Some Random Guy]

Everyone here is so helpful this is amazing. Assuming it is a Jeep thing lol. Sounds like I have a fun night of crunching numbers ahead of me.

I promise you’ll feel good when it is all done. I’ve only had one bad experience buying a vehicle and dumped countless hours into research of each one. That bad experience was because of incompetent underwriters and finance managers and you shouldn’t run into it.

 

[DougM]

This was amazing advice! I can probably get a much better deal off the bat this way! I'm going to start again and hopefully have a JLU within month!

After getting a commitment on the new vehicle, you can explore trade in.

Check CarMax, Vroom, Carvana (others?) for trade-in values. Many dealers will lowball your trade—if you have a written trade commitment, you can always go there—just take taxes into consideration.

 

[csjlu]

I'm in Newark, NJ. Not sure how close that is to Peterson but I am down to try.

Newark NJ means you will have to work a little harder. Nielsen in East Hanover is probably best if you like Sports Rubes and Islanders, SCAP in Fairfield CT too if you like Saharas. Very few NJ dealers like to deal, and its hard to get Route 46 or Decozen to even return a call. I'm with prior poster: Criswell (MD) or Koons (VA) are high volume discounters, and you have to watch out for the high dealer fees and the "destination charge" add backs. You can take Amtrak down in the morning and drive back in the afternoon on some scenic backroads. If you are willing to look at used, I saw a few good looking late JLUs when driving by a non-Jeep dealer in Randolph the other night...they may be on autotrader. BTW the hunt for a new Jeep is part of the fun, and the reason we help is because we are jealous of you.

 

[SASQUATCH3000]

Newark NJ means you will have to work a little harder. Nielsen in East Hanover is probably best if you like Sports Rubes and Islanders, SCAP in Fairfield CT too if you like Saharas. Very few NJ dealers like to deal, and its hard to get Route 46 or Decozen to even return a call. I'm with prior poster: Criswell (MD) or Koons (VA) are high volume discounters, and you have to watch out for the high dealer fees and the "destination charge" add backs. You can take Amtrak down in the morning and drive back in the afternoon on some scenic backroads. If you are willing to look at used, I saw a few good looking late JLUs when driving by a non-Jeep dealer in Randolph the other night...they may be on autotrader. BTW the hunt for a new Jeep is part of the fun, and the reason we help is because we are jealous of you.

Yeah Jersey isn't ideal for most things... haha. I don't mind traveling a bit into PA, CT or NY. If the deal is insane I would go further. I have never did a deal online so this in new territory. I tried one place and they said I need to do a credit app before anything. I can do used the only feature I really need is adaptive cruise (the old lady requested it).

 

[The_Paper_Cut]

I’d say definitely shop around. Not sure how some people are getting >15% off MSRP. A week ago I went looking for a 21 Rubicon to upgrade from my 20 Sport S. I was about to pay Sticker price because the dealer couldn’t budge, which is understandable because stock is low right now. But it was a Jeep that had things I didn’t want and didn’t have things I wanted. So I built one online with everything I wanted and nothing I didn’t, sent it to a few local dealers within a 100 mile radius, and found one who could get me it for ~10% off MSRP. Sure I’ll have to wait a bit for it, but it’s worth it.

I wouldn’t expect to be able to negotiate too much with dealers right now. They seriously can’t budge much. But special orders are different in that even if you decide to not purchase it after it’s shipped to the dealer, that becomes another Jeep that they can now sell. Because each dealership is allotted only so many wranglers. But special orders don’t count toward that allotment. I didn’t even have to put any money down on my order, so if I decide I don’t want it when it comes in I can always just say no and walk away. Plus you could always do dealers across the country and either have the Jeep shipped to you or fly out to it and drive it home on a road trip. I’ve seen a lot of people do that to get their perfect Jeep. Definitely don’t settle and try hard to get the best price possible. These aren’t cheap vehicles but they really are great. Best of luck to you!

 

[rhjeep89]

I just bought my first Jeep ever yesterday. New Rubicon firecracker red v6 with some nice options. I used this forum and found a dealer close to me that did 4% below invoice for the FCA tread lightly deal (sign up for Tread Lightly immediately, it takes 30 days until you can be eligible for discount but my order will take longer than that anyways). I emailed Rob Trachtman with Tuttle Click in Irvine (he posted on the forum he did 4% below invoice) and he handled it straight away got the Jeep ordered this morning and I got my VON. Just a few weeks of waiting now. Got 9% off MSRP, 4% off invoice (55375 msrp to 50225) and only an hour away from me.

A couple dealerships closer to me that I just walked into said they don't negotiate on Rubicons because they're too hot right now and there's shortages blah blah.

The FCA thing was literally the easiest thing ever, a few emails then stopped by to pay a $1000 deposit and my dream Jeep was ordered.

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