Ordering My First Vehicle

[hl3610]

Newbie here. I’ve never ordered a vehicle before, I’ve always bought from the lot. In a few days I have an appointment to order a ‘24 Sahara. What can I expect from the dealer? What are something’s to watch out for? Should I expect a small discount off msrp?

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[One Eyed Willys]

Hello, welcome ot the forum.
I'm also fairly new here but have been learning/reading on this forum for a few months now. I just placed an order for a '24 Willys on Tuesday. It was pretty straightforward as I had negotiated with them beforehand. I went in, confirmed the order details/options/pricing, paid the deposit, and left with copies of everything I signed.

Two things I would say you should do before going to the dealer.

First would be to determine what options you want, Jeep's build and price on their website does okay, otherwise there's an in depth order guide here: Order Guide Thread and an interactive build sheet here: Interactive Build Sheet Thread
These should give you an idea of MSRP, the in depth guides can give you FWP (Factory wholesale price) otherwise known as the invoice price.

Second thing you should definitely do is check in on Ratbert's below invoice spreadsheet: Ratbert's Below-Invoice Spreadsheet Thread. This is a list of dealers willing to sell at X% below the FWP or invoice price. This can save you thousands of dollars.

If you're unwilling to drive/fly to pickup or get the vehicle shipped from one of the dealers listed then you can do what I did which is to get a quote from one of these dealers and use that to negotiate pricing from local dealers. That may be hit or miss; 3 of 4 local dealers wouldn't budge. I ended up negotiating a local dealer to ~5% below invoice (about 9% below MSRP). Dealing in person with a quoted lower price in hand should go a long way.
If you sign up for the Tread Lightly! organization at $100, then you should be able to get at least 1% below invoice at any dealer as they have an affiliate discount code for FCA vehicles.

Other than that, just make sure they are up front about any tacked on fees, financing requirements, and make sure the deposit is refundable.

If you have any questions feel free to ask, I'm happy to help as are others on this forum. This will be my first Jeep but I think I have a good grasp of pricing, options, and ordering.

 

[yoitsmeg19XX]

Additionally, if you are Military or First Responder, you should qualify for either of those incentives.

there is a coupon on the Jeep site for wrangler builds

another thing to consider is joining a credit union. The one I bank through has a $500 incentive!

 

[Old Jeeper]

Newbie here. I’ve never ordered a vehicle before, I’ve always bought from the lot. In a few days I have an appointment to order a ‘24 Sahara. What can I expect from the dealer? What are something’s to watch out for? Should I expect a small discount off msrp?

Ordered my first car in 1977, since then I have ordered about 22 cars (Corvettes and Jeeps.

What you want to happen:

You and someone sit down in front of the Dealers ordering computer. There you will go down option by option and the person sitting next to you can explain and help you make the right choice.

RESULTS" This is the Optimal scenario and you get what you want.

What can Happen: The sales guy, tells you to go home and build your Jeep online, then print it out and bring it to him or her. THey in turn will send it to the Ordering office at the dealer. That person will order it for you. DO NOT do this!

Results: Varies from Great to GROAN. You will get things you did NOT order and did not want. You will NOT see the very latest options list because online does not keep up with changes as fast as the ordering computer at the dealer.

Ordering: Ordering you vehicle is a freebie for the dealer, meaing ita a free sale, one he did not have. For that you get a better deal (or you should). At the worst you should get this>. Invoice (-) ANY incentives for which you are elgible. This can be a BIG win. I you stack them. I got a stack once: $3000 credit, $500 Military, $1650 Dealer and all this was taken off my Invoice so my cost was about $5150 below invoice.

Under no circumstances should you pay more than Invoice unless its unique vehicles, which is RARE. The dealer will tell you its limited etc, NO ITS NOT. I did pay $500 over invoice on my '78 Silver Anniversary Corvette and $1000 on my first year 2001 Z06 Corvette. The rest (Jeeps and Superduty trucks) have been at invoice or less (-) incentives that you qualify for.

Clean Deal: Clean deal has not dealer adds ons: Lifetime WIndow Tint, Life time Nitrogen in tires $300 < Actual dealer add...NOTE: the aire you breathe is 79% Nitrogen. Only buy on a clean deal, no adds.

If you cannot find a dealer close to you with Ratberts spread sheet and you want to go local, here is what I do: Drive into dealer, walk around kicking tires waiting on a Fender Lizard to show up. They show up and I say, I am here to order a Belch-Fire V8. He says OK, gerat come to my office. "I don't need to go to your office, here is my DEAL>. I want to order a Belch Fire V8 at Invoice Minus any incentives I qualify for on a clean deal".

He will either say: No I cannot do that, but I wil take you to the Sales Mgr or some other person with authority or he say we don't do orders here.

Leave and drive down the highway to another dealer.

This is how I have been doing it since 77.

 

[JCae2798]

Some good points here about incentives.

Not sure if you're after a great experience or the best price, but depending on your answer your prework is going to be VERy different. Those that prepare ahead and do their research will always be best rewarded.

Also because the wait can be painfully long (avg 3+ months), I would say make sure you know exactly what you want. Do research on the different builds and features. Last thing you want is having to put an order in and than being like "OH that's a nice feature I want" and they can't add it to your custom order.

 

[yoitsmeg19XX]

Some good points here about incentives.

Not sure if you're after a great experience or the best price, but depending on your answer your prework is going to be VERy different. Those that prepare ahead and do their research will always be best rewarded.

Also because the wait can be painfully long (avg 3+ months), I would say make sure you know exactly what you want. Do research on the different builds and features. Last thing you want is having to put an order in and than being like "OH that's a nice feature I want" and they can't add it to your custom order.

This is great advice! I ordered a “Plain Jane” ‘24 Willys JL because it already had everything I wanted—until I decided that I DID want to opt in for the convenience group.

Luckily for me, they were able to add that in—thanks to the hold on standard models honestly!

 

[rcadden]

I'm confused as to why you have an appointment. Pick the options you want, use the build guide posted here to get an idea of MSRP pricing, then email it out to a handful of dealers. I did ten - 5 local and 5 off Ratbert's list.

Only 4 responded at all, so I went with the cheapest (being sure to factor in travel costs, etc). Gupton happened to be the best for me, but I know there are other great ones. He emailed me back with a quote in writing, I said cool, paid the $1K deposit online (at the dealership website, so felt secure) and ~8 weeks later, I picked up my Jeep, exactly what I wanted and at the exact price I was quoted. Easiest thing ever.

The biggest thing is don't let them play games with you. Get it in writing so you can factor in any other costs you may need (travel, etc). DO NOT PAY STICKER/MSRP. You should be able to get a minimum of ~8-10% off MSRP these days with ease. If your local dealer tells you anything higher than ~7-8% off sticker, just get up and leave. Do not accept any B.S. add-ons, either.

 

[Patty Bean]

Hello, welcome ot the forum.
I'm also fairly new here but have been learning/reading on this forum for a few months now. I just placed an order for a '24 Willys on Tuesday. It was pretty straightforward as I had negotiated with them beforehand. I went in, confirmed the order details/options/pricing, paid the deposit, and left with copies of everything I signed.

Two things I would say you should do before going to the dealer.

First would be to determine what options you want, Jeep's build and price on their website does okay, otherwise there's an in depth order guide here: Order Guide Thread and an interactive build sheet here: Interactive Build Sheet Thread
These should give you an idea of MSRP, the in depth guides can give you FWP (Factory wholesale price) otherwise known as the invoice price.

Second thing you should definitely do is check in on Ratbert's below invoice spreadsheet: Ratbert's Below-Invoice Spreadsheet Thread. This is a list of dealers willing to sell at X% below the FWP or invoice price. This can save you thousands of dollars.

If you're unwilling to drive/fly to pickup or get the vehicle shipped from one of the dealers listed then you can do what I did which is to get a quote from one of these dealers and use that to negotiate pricing from local dealers. That may be hit or miss; 3 of 4 local dealers wouldn't budge. I ended up negotiating a local dealer to ~5% below invoice (about 9% below MSRP). Dealing in person with a quoted lower price in hand should go a long way.
If you sign up for the Tread Lightly! organization at $100, then you should be able to get at least 1% below invoice at any dealer as they have an affiliate discount code for FCA vehicles.

Other than that, just make sure they are up front about any tacked on fees, financing requirements, and make sure the deposit is refundable.

If you have any questions feel free to ask, I'm happy to help as are others on this forum. This will be my first Jeep but I think I have a good grasp of pricing, options, and ordering.

I order a 24 Willys on 6/22 and it’s still in the Order Confirmed status. Have you gotten updates on yours? I did order with the skybox top and convenience pkg in Earl. Nothing too crazy.

 

[Nitehawk92]

Hello, welcome ot the forum.
I'm also fairly new here but have been learning/reading on this forum for a few months now. I just placed an order for a '24 Willys on Tuesday. It was pretty straightforward as I had negotiated with them beforehand. I went in, confirmed the order details/options/pricing, paid the deposit, and left with copies of everything I signed.

Two things I would say you should do before going to the dealer.

First would be to determine what options you want, Jeep's build and price on their website does okay, otherwise there's an in depth order guide here: Order Guide Thread and an interactive build sheet here: Interactive Build Sheet Thread
These should give you an idea of MSRP, the in depth guides can give you FWP (Factory wholesale price) otherwise known as the invoice price.

Second thing you should definitely do is check in on Ratbert's below invoice spreadsheet: Ratbert's Below-Invoice Spreadsheet Thread. This is a list of dealers willing to sell at X% below the FWP or invoice price. This can save you thousands of dollars.

If you're unwilling to drive/fly to pickup or get the vehicle shipped from one of the dealers listed then you can do what I did which is to get a quote from one of these dealers and use that to negotiate pricing from local dealers. That may be hit or miss; 3 of 4 local dealers wouldn't budge. I ended up negotiating a local dealer to ~5% below invoice (about 9% below MSRP). Dealing in person with a quoted lower price in hand should go a long way.
If you sign up for the Tread Lightly! organization at $100, then you should be able to get at least 1% below invoice at any dealer as they have an affiliate discount code for FCA vehicles.

Other than that, just make sure they are up front about any tacked on fees, financing requirements, and make sure the deposit is refundable.

If you have any questions feel free to ask, I'm happy to help as are others on this forum. This will be my first Jeep but I think I have a good grasp of pricing, options, and ordering.

ALSO, tell them you do not want ANY dealer add-ons. You want your Jeep with only what it comes from the factory with. They will charge you thousand of $$ for things that may be barely worth anything. Make sure you get that in writing, NO DEALER add-ons. They will try really hard to sell them to you.

 

[One Eyed Willys]

I order a 24 Willys on 6/22 and it’s still in the Order Confirmed status. Have you gotten updates on yours? I did order with the skybox top and convenience pkg in Earl. Nothing too crazy.

I've heard nothing yet, but that's because I ordered a manual transmission which is stuck with a recall and nothing official for production start date on them. I have seen many on this forum suggest November for start of production on 2024 manuals.

I haven't kept up with other 2024 order deliveries as much but as far as I can tell there are no other hold ups.
When I ordered mine around the same date as you I was told by my dealer late September or early October for production, barring any issues with the manual (which sadly there still are).

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