How bad is this deal?

[Ratiogear]

Seriously, crazy to me what some people will pay to avoid a hassle, and I just made a post saying I'd leave 1k on the table to not deal with Carvana again.

I'm in Dallas and I tried 15 dealers in the DFW area for a custom order. I ended up going with demontrond for 4% below invoice, whereas the best I got in Dallas was MSRP and also lies from 14/15 dealers, and one dealer tentatively offering 1% below invoice for tread lightly but adding in some dealer fees.

For me, with a 4xe MSRP of 54,680, I was looking at a difference of almost 5k.

It's definitely worth keeping in mind that a lot of dealerships will give you invoice-1% for affiliates, and that's a large portion of the savings. If you're buying a rubicon, you're looking at ~500$ per 1% off that you're haggling for. If you're buying a sport or a sport s, you're looking at ~350 per 1%. Dealer dock fees can range from negligible to over 1000$, at which point your % off invoice matters way less.


It's really easy to get that same savings with better financing or better trade in value, and it's also really easy to lose that value by paying for 1000 miles of gas, shipping, or plane tickets. It's also really, really easy for a dealer to slap lojack, tint, and the 35$ mopar security bolts on your car and charge you 2500$ for the "SECURITY PACKAGE."

For me? I think it's worth it for sure to do your research and get the best possible deal. I didn't value the hassle of driving to one of the coasts from DFW to get a 6/7% off invoice deal, but 200 miles for 5000$? Hell yea that's worth it.

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[Cazadores]

I don't want to keep beating the dead horse, but here I am.....yeah. Anyway.

What frustrates most is our local dealership, like many across the country, essentially prey on their neighbors. You can't walk on the lot without a salesman, sales manager or finance guy lying about the product, trying to slip something in the sales contract, etc.

They're doing that to their neighbors. Their community. I'd like to buy my car from the dealer a mile away, I'd like to support my neighbors, but they rely on low information customers, people in their community who trust them to be at least honest and forthright about the ridiculous charges they apply.

They're not, because for the most part people live and work around them, their neighbors, decide they want to buy a car, and walk in and get shafted, trusting them They're great deal is honest and straight.

Good news is, there are these machines, jet passenger transports, Boise is an hour away from me, Nashville if I leave by noon I could be having hot chicken and fried catfish for dinner. Both of these amazing cities are the metro home of two very highly rated dealerships on this forum. I'd rather spend the 5k on an awesome road trip-5k, that's enough to spend the night at a Fairmont in every town you stop, than just give it to a business intent on ripping off its neighbors (me) because I'm too lazy to protect myself and shop around.

Alright rant over. Sorry.

 

[Ratiogear]

I don't want to keep beating the dead horse, but here I am.....yeah. Anyway.

What frustrates most is our local dealership, like many across the country, essentially prey on their neighbors. You can't walk on the lot without a salesman, sales manager or finance guy lying about the product, trying to slip something in the sales contract, etc.

They're doing that to their neighbors. Their community. I'd like to buy my car from the dealer a mile away, I'd like to support my neighbors, but they rely on low information customers, people in their community who trust them to be at least honest and forthright about the ridiculous charges they apply.

They're not, because for the most part people live and work around them, their neighbors, decide they want to buy a car, and walk in and get shafted.

Good news is, there are these machines, jet passenger transports, Boise is an hour away from me, Nashville if I leave by noon I could be having hot chicken and fried catfish for dinner. Both of these amazing cities are the metro home of two very highly rated dealerships on this forum. I'd rather spend the 5k on an awesome road trip-5k, that's enough to spend the night at a Fairmont in every town you stop, then just give it to a business intent on ripping off its neighbors (me) because I'm too lazy to protect myself and shop around.

Alright rant over. Sorry.

I felt the same way about the neighbor thing. I went to my previous jeep dealer and spoke to my same salesman because he treated me well the first time, but he was super predatory and dishonest the second time.

As I said above, I talked to 15 dealers. 10 of them were either completely misinformed on their own product or straight up lying to me about "the way things work" even after I was up front and clear about what research I'd done and what other dealers had already offered.

 

[rcadden]

Yes, this. Getting a deal basically only requires 2 things:
1. Being able to give “no” for an answer and walk out if needed.
2. Being able to take “no” for an answer and look elsewhere if needed.

Having resources like this forum and just a little patience make the process much, much faster (and virtually painless besides a few weeks of calling to ask “is my Jeep here yet?”)

This. I learned a long time ago that being prepared to walk away is the single biggest power you have as a consumer, especially with vehicles. Whether you're buying new or used, it doesn't matter. Do your research, know your budget, and be firm.

The worst possible scenario when you're car shopping is needing to have a car by the end of the weekend (or *gulp* the same day). I'm always up front and honest with the sales guy. "I'm ready to buy as soon as I find the right vehicle at the right price. If you can help me find that, awesome. If not, no biggie." On two separate occasions I've had a salesperson tell me they simply couldn't do what I was asking. So I said fine, no worries, I appreciate your time and walked to my car. Both times I wasn't even able to *start* my car before they were tapping on my window offering me the deal that was previously "impossible".

 

[JeepRx]

I don't want to keep beating the dead horse, but here I am.....yeah. Anyway.

What frustrates most is our local dealership, like many across the country, essentially prey on their neighbors. You can't walk on the lot without a salesman, sales manager or finance guy lying about the product, trying to slip something in the sales contract, etc.

They're doing that to their neighbors. Their community. I'd like to buy my car from the dealer a mile away, I'd like to support my neighbors, but they rely on low information customers, people in their community who trust them to be at least honest and forthright about the ridiculous charges they apply.

They're not, because for the most part people live and work around them, their neighbors, decide they want to buy a car, and walk in and get shafted, trusting them They're great deal is honest and straight.

Good news is, there are these machines, jet passenger transports, Boise is an hour away from me, Nashville if I leave by noon I could be having hot chicken and fried catfish for dinner. Both of these amazing cities are the metro home of two very highly rated dealerships on this forum. I'd rather spend the 5k on an awesome road trip-5k, that's enough to spend the night at a Fairmont in every town you stop, than just give it to a business intent on ripping off its neighbors (me) because I'm too lazy to protect myself and shop around.

Alright rant over. Sorry.

It is really frustrating to see how little most salesman know about the product they are selling. I am a researcher and do not make impulsive buys and 99% of the time I know way more than the salesman. For example, I asked the salesman of this Jeep about the 0% for 36 months that Jeep currently has going. He told me the best they could do with good credit was 3.33%, said there was no 0%. So I took a screenshot of the offer from Jeep's website along with disclosures and sent it to him. He then tried to act like he thought he was talking to another customer about a different vehicle. So frustrating!

 

[The Last Cowboy]

Salesmen are nothing more than the guy who works for the sales manager. Expect them to know very little about the product itself. It is up to the customer to research technical details and prices to be the best informed.

This is very different from just a decade ago and before, when sales staff and the dealer itself wanted to keep you as a valued customer so that you would not feel a need to shop around every time you wanted to buy.

Now, flying across the country and taking a week off to save $1-2k makes zero sense to me. Costs more to fly and take the time off from work than the money saved.

 

[JeepRx]

Salesmen are nothing more than the guy who works for the sales manager. Expect them to know very little about the product itself. It is up to the customer to research technical details and prices to be the best informed.

This is very different from just a decade ago and before, when sales staff and the dealer itself wanted to keep you as a valued customer so that you would not feel a need to shop around every time you wanted to buy.

Now, flying across the country and taking a week off to save $1-2k makes zero sense to me. Costs more to fly and take the time off from work than the money saved.

I agree with the part on flying. I will limit my area to about 500 miles which is about the distance to Gupton in Springield, TN. I could drive there and back in a day or fly in for probably $125 and drive it back. If that saves me $5,000 I consider it well worth it.

 

[Cazadores]

Salesmen are nothing more than the guy who works for the sales manager. Expect them to know very little about the product itself. It is up to the customer to research technical details and prices to be the best informed.

This is very different from just a decade ago and before, when sales staff and the dealer itself wanted to keep you as a valued customer so that you would not feel a need to shop around every time you wanted to buy.

Now, flying across the country and taking a week off to save $1-2k makes zero sense to me. Costs more to fly and take the time off from work than the money saved.

You're being too generous. Salesman may generally not be neurosurgeons, but they know, for example, they can order cars. They know there are generally always incentivized finance options.

As far as saving a couple grand and flying a few hours, well, that's everybody's personal bottom line. I'd rather spend that money on me, experience some of our amazing country and enjoy it in my new Jeep than just leave it on the table at a dealership unwilling to earn my business.

But I get it, I'd love to work with my local dealer, but when they tried to force me to buy one of the 8 JLs they had left on the lot because "Jeep isn't building more and has suspended orders".... After I said I had a few dealers interested in taking my order....

Well, airplanes are wonderful things.

 

[JEEPT]

Go with Gupton in Springfield Tenn 30 miles from Nashville. Picked my ordered JL 1 week ago today. Ordered on 4/28. They arranged transportation from the airport to the dealership.
6% under invoice standard deal
7% with tread lightly or affiliate
8% tread lightly and finance
I took the 8% with tread lightly and finance, which was a no brainer at 0% The whole process
was a pleasurable experience. No pressure, just great people to work with. The icing on the cake
was the $1000 bonus cash email I got from Jeep for signing up for updates on the jeep website
under the Research heading at the bottom of the page. No guarantee you will get the $1000,
it's not a rebate. I think it was just luck of the draw.
I ended up with $5600 off the $40180 MSRP plus tax, title, lic, and $499 dealer fee.
Contact: [email protected]
After you take delivery go to bonusdrive.com and apply for an extra $250 check if
you have an affiliation with one of the listed companies. Could be a bank, insurance, company you work for. I literally just got an approval email as I am writing this thread. I will get the $250 in 8 to 10 weeks. Good Luck!

 

[JeepRx]

Go with Gupton in Springfield Tenn 30 miles from Nashville. Picked my ordered JL 1 week ago today. Ordered on 4/28. They arranged transportation from the airport to the dealership.
6% under invoice standard deal
7% with tread lightly or affiliate
8% tread lightly and finance
I took the 8% with tread lightly and finance, which was a no brainer at 0% The whole process
was a pleasurable experience. No pressure, just great people to work with. The icing on the cake
was the $1000 bonus cash email I got from Jeep for signing up for updates on the jeep website
under the Research heading at the bottom of the page. No guarantee you will get the $1000,
it's not a rebate. I think it was just luck of the draw.
I ended up with $5600 off the $40180 MSRP plus tax, title, lic, and $499 dealer fee.
Contact: [email protected]
After you take delivery go to bonusdrive.com and apply for an extra $250 check if
you have an affiliation with one of the listed companies. Could be a bank, insurance, company you work for. I literally just got an approval email as I am writing this thread. I will get the $250 in 8 to 10 weeks. Good Luck!

Great! Thank you!

 

[SouthernJL]

I agree with the part on flying. I will limit my area to about 500 miles which is about the distance to Gupton in Springield, TN. I could drive there and back in a day or fly in for probably $125 and drive it back. If that saves me $5,000 I consider it well worth it.

I'm in Atlanta and I ordered from Gupton on 3/19. Vehicle arrived on 4/5. Picked it up on 4/20. Made a 2 day trip of it and went downtown to the party district. Had a blast. MSRP was 54k, dropped to 47k with the 8% discount. Highly recommend that dealership if they are still able to give those discounts.

 

[JeepRx]

Go with Gupton in Springfield Tenn 30 miles from Nashville. Picked my ordered JL 1 week ago today. Ordered on 4/28. They arranged transportation from the airport to the dealership.
6% under invoice standard deal
7% with tread lightly or affiliate
8% tread lightly and finance
I took the 8% with tread lightly and finance, which was a no brainer at 0% The whole process
was a pleasurable experience. No pressure, just great people to work with. The icing on the cake
was the $1000 bonus cash email I got from Jeep for signing up for updates on the jeep website
under the Research heading at the bottom of the page. No guarantee you will get the $1000,
it's not a rebate. I think it was just luck of the draw.
I ended up with $5600 off the $40180 MSRP plus tax, title, lic, and $499 dealer fee.
Contact: [email protected]
After you take delivery go to bonusdrive.com and apply for an extra $250 check if
you have an affiliation with one of the listed companies. Could be a bank, insurance, company you work for. I literally just got an approval email as I am writing this thread. I will get the $250 in 8 to 10 weeks. Good Luck!

If I ordered I guess I could sign up for the tread lightly discount and would qualify since it would be more than 30 days for delivery of the vehicle.

 

[csjlu]

I'm in Atlanta and I ordered from Gupton on 3/19. Vehicle arrived on 4/5. Picked it up on 4/20. Made a 2 day trip of it and went downtown to the party district. Had a blast. MSRP was 54k, dropped to 47k with the 8% discount. Highly recommend that dealership if they are still able to give those discounts.

Do you know how many rounds that $7k in savings buys at Tootsie's? (I hope not)

 

[Cazadores]

If I ordered I guess I could sign up for the tread lightly discount and would qualify since it would be more than 30 days for delivery of the vehicle.

yeah, you need thirty days, if you place the order just do both at the same time, pay the deposit, go to Tread Lightly and buy the $100. individual membership.

I'd contact Daniel today and start the ball rolling. You won't regret it.

 

[Ratiogear]

Salesmen are nothing more than the guy who works for the sales manager. Expect them to know very little about the product itself. It is up to the customer to research technical details and prices to be the best informed.

This is very different from just a decade ago and before, when sales staff and the dealer itself wanted to keep you as a valued customer so that you would not feel a need to shop around every time you wanted to buy.

Now, flying across the country and taking a week off to save $1-2k makes zero sense to me. Costs more to fly and take the time off from work than the money saved.

I mean, that may be the case for you and may well be true. But I have like 400 hours of PTO banked and weekends off, so it costs me nothing and sounds like a nice little mini vacation. I didn't see anyone who actually offered me a value for doing that (deals aren't as great on 4xes), but if it was the case that I would definitely value the 1-2k saved over a weekend and a day off.

This isn't to say that this is true for everyone, just pointing out that it does make a ton of sense for a lot of people.

If you're not up for a roadtrip, why spend 30k on a car? If the savings/time off don't add up, that's just something to factor in to making your own choice.

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