Tread Lightly or Not at this Point

[My Jeep Story]

Good afternoon all!

While I would happily support the means of the Tread Lightly, I am a little late to the game. After reading some of the other pricing threads, I'm seeing variations in percents off invoice dealer to dealer. I live in northern New Jersey and attend a university in upstate New York so any dealers between the two are fair game for me.

My question is at this point, is it worth the 30 day wait to take advantage of the 1% discount from Tread Lightly? I'm worried that in that time, demand will rise and price increases will follow negating any benefit of the 1% difference.

Thanks in advance! Looking to add a solid axle to the Jeep family!

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[Cap'nMike]

Remember, it’s 30 days till you take delivery, not order or agree to buy.

If you plan to take delivery of a 2017/2018 JK off the lot in the next few weeks (less than 30 days), it may not be a good use of $100 for you.
If you want a JL, or if it will be more than 30 days when you take delivery of a 2017/2018 JK, it’s worth it IMHO.

The dealer gets 2% of invoice back on a tread lightly discount, if you negotiate below invoice without mentioning the tread lightly discount, you can get the dealer to split that with you and knock another 1% off the price.

When you talk to the dealer, call it an FCA affiliate rewards discount, tread lightly may be meaningless to them.

 

[Aggie]

My question is at this point, is it worth the 30 day wait to take advantage of the 1% discount from Tread Lightly? I'm worried that in that time, demand will rise and price increases will follow negating any benefit of the 1% difference.

Thanks in advance! Looking to add a solid axle to the Jeep family!

Are you talking about price increases in terms of price gouging by dealers due to high demand? If so, that won't affect the tread lightly discount. The tread lightly discount gets you 1% below invoice price. Invoice price is set by FCA, so unless FCA decides to increase invoice price (won't happen until at least the next model year, it'll be same price to you no matter what price the dealer has the Wrangler listed at.

 

[Jcsieman]

I’m going to do you all a favor....

Most people don’t know that costco sells cars too (through affiliated dealers). Mention Costco to your local dealer and they’ll usually work more aggressively with you on price. I would imagine the 1% below invoice price would be achievable without paying for the tread lightly. Good luck!

 

[JLWF Dealer Guy]

I’m going to do you all a favor....

Most people don’t know that costco sells cars too (through affiliated dealers). Mention Costco to your local dealer and they’ll usually work more aggressively with you on price. I would imagine the 1% below invoice price would be achievable without paying for the tread lightly. Good luck!

Cap’nMike is correct here. Costco means nothing in regards to helping the dealer make up some of the loss of profit to the dealer. And, very few dealers embrace the Costco program anymore because of this reason. They may say, “yes of course”, but it is usually on vehicles that are already priced under 1% of invoice, just to bring you in. Costco doesn’t sell cars, they just try to make you think they are doing something for your.....$100 yearly membership.

 

[Jcsieman]

Cap’nMike is correct here. Costco means nothing in regards to helping the dealer make up some of the loss of profit to the dealer. And, very few dealers embrace the Costco program anymore because of this reason. They may say, “yes of course”, but it is usually on vehicles that are already priced under 1% of invoice, just to bring you in.

To clarify. I didn’t mean that if you mention Costco to your local dealer they will work with you on a Costco price. The exact opposite.... for the very reason you pointed out - most dealerships do not work with Costco. The closest Costco affiliates dealership for the few vehicles I considered were over two hours away. Pain in the butt but worth it if it saves you a few thousand.

Instead of doing that, I mentioned to my local/closest two dealers that Ibwas considering going through the Costco program but would rather give my local dealer the business/build a relationship with them since they are my local dealer....so long as the price is competitive. They agreed to what I would consider very competitive terms, although I’m sure not quite as low as the Costco discount would have been (about 2% below invoice from both local dealers!). But a fair deal is a fair deal and I gladly took it. The only vehicle/dealer I didn’t find that to be true was when I was considering the Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro. Nobody would give a dime off that since it is a special order.

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

To clarify. I didn’t mean that if you mention Costco to your local dealer they will work with you on a Costco price. The exact opposite.... for the very reason you pointed out - most dealerships do not work with Costco. The closest Costco affiliates dealership for the few vehicles I considered were over two hours away. Pain in the butt but worth it if it saves you a few thousand.

Instead of doing that, I mentioned to my local/closest two dealers that Ibwas considering going through the Costco program but would rather give my local dealer the business/build a relationship with them since they are my local dealer....so long as the price is competitive. They agreed to what I would consider very competitive terms, although I’m sure not quite as low as the Costco discount would have been (about 2% below invoice from both local dealers!). But a fair deal is a fair deal and I gladly took it. The only vehicle/dealer I didn’t find that to be true was when I was considering the Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro. Nobody would give a dime off that since it is a special order.

I'm a Costco member and for snicks had entered in an interest in buying a Jeep. I had a number of local dealers listed all within an extremely reasonable driving distance from me (downtown Chicago). My employer also has affiliate/discount programs available for almost all major Auto makers and the listings also pulled up every local dealer. Just my $0.02 for a datapoint. I'm not knocking Tread Lightly - they appear to put their resources into good things - just pointing out that there are other ways to get the affiliate discount that people may already be able to get and may not realize it.

 

[wanderer]

Any one know if the trad lightly discount applies to AEV equipped jeeps solid as new from the dealers lot. They usually sticker at about 72k

 

[iki4life]

I just walked into the dealer and said I will put $500 down if they honor 1% off invoice. Many dealers will just do it straight up...Make the phone call before you go in. I called 3 dealers in PA. 2 of them wanted the code, while 1 straight up agreed.

 

[terrytnt]

Please tell me iki4life, where in PA have you found any degree of success working with Jeep Dealer salespersons?

thanks,

tnt

 

[iki4life]

Please tell me iki4life, where in PA have you found any degree of success working with Jeep Dealer salespersons?

thanks,

tnt

PM sent.

 

[Swadehead]

I live in north Jersey and got 3% under invoice from a dealer I have bought several vehicles from in the past. Not a deal they would offer to anyone for sure, but there are better deals out there than 1% under invoice.

 

[Jabs]

I live in north Jersey and got 3% under invoice from a dealer I have bought several vehicles from in the past. Not a deal they would offer to anyone for sure, but there are better deals out there than 1% under invoice.

On a JL or your 2017 Hard Rock?

 

[Swadehead]

On a JL or your 2017 Hard Rock?

On a 2 door JL Rubicon.

Obviously, they could not officially order it yet since the banks aren't open on 2 doors yet, but on the sales order they wrote up, it clearly indicates that price will be 3% under dealer invoice.

Like I said, I have purchased several vehicles from them (this will be my 6th or 7th), so I know they will keep their word. I got an even better deal from them on my 2017 Hard Rock.

 

[Jabs]

On a 2 door JL Rubicon.

Obviously, they could not officially order it yet since the banks aren't open on 2 doors yet, but on the sales order they wrote up, it clearly indicates that price will be 3% under dealer invoice.

Like I said, I have purchased several vehicles from them (this will be my 6th or 7th), so I know they will keep their word. I got an even better deal from them on my 2017 Hard Rock.

That’s an incredible deal man!

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