My Experiences Trying to Buy a Raptor over the last 8 months.

Long rant, but I am VERY frustrated with shady Ford dealerships in KC.

Story #1 (April):
2017 White Raptor sitting on the lot at Olathe Ford. Listed for 10k over MSRP. The wife and I pull into the lot on a Saturday afternoon. The truck is locked. After 20 minutes of waiting, I walked inside the dealership to see if I could get help. After getting the attention of a salesman, he walks outside to unlock the truck. I ask him the price, he points at the window without saying a word. I ask if my wife and I can take it for a drive. "No. This is a special edition vehicle in limited qualities. We do not allow test drives." Fun Fact, the truck shows over 300 miles on the odometer...

On to the next dealership.

Story #2 (June):
Louisburg Ford has a White 2017 Raptor listed on their website. 2 2018's to be delivered. The 2017 is listed at MSRP. I contact the dealer, they want 10k over on the 2017. I ask why they have it listed at MSRP. Instead of answering the question, they tell my why I should buy a Platinum F150 as they are, "almost the same thing but with a few different options." I hang up.

Story #3 (November):
I spot a 2018 White Raptor listed on Bob Allen Ford's website (spotted on dealership's website on Thanksgiving afternoon). This dealership also has this same truck listed on Autotrader.com & Cars.com. The truck is listed for MSRP. The wife and I go to the dealership on Black Friday. Upon arriving at the dealership, we are greeted by a salesman. The truck has grease pen markings on the windows and protective wrap/stickers from shipment. This truck has obviously not been detailed since arrival. The dealer informs me the truck was sold on Tuesday... Autotrader.com shows the truck as listed on Wednesday (the day after it sold?).

Regardless, On to the next dealership...

Story #4 (November):
Sunday night after Thanksgiving, I spot a 2018 White Raptor on Metro Ford's website. Listed for 5k below MSRP. I call the dealership within minutes of 8:30AM store opening on Monday morning. Sales guy confirms the truck is available, but needs to get back to me on the price. After ~20 minutes, salesman calls to inform me the price is wrong online, but they are willing to make a deal on the truck at 4k OVER MSRP. A $9k swing.

Hard no.

Now, here is where the story gets fun...

They truck I saw the day after thanksgiving at Bob Allen Ford (story 3) is the SAME TRUCK listed at Metro Ford (story 4). The same VIN number on both trucks. I have screen shots (or you can look at the truck on Meto's website and compare/contrast vin number listed on cars.com).

I am getting tired of KC's shady Ford dealerships.

All I am trying to do is purchase a damn truck at a reasonable price.

If you are willing to travel, check raptorfinder.com

Plug in the options you want and then start calling dealers to see who is willing to sell at a reasonable price. It took me two days to find a MSRP deal on the exact truck I wanted and this was 6 months ago when most dealers were far more stubborn about ADMs.

I would wonder if Bob Allen Ford and Metro Ford are owned by the same parent company? I see that a lot where the same truck will be listed at multiple dealerships but they are just under one big corporate umbrella.

Asides from that I would take the advice from jaz13 and use raptor finder. It a little bit of leg work making all of the phone calls etc, but still better then driving around from dealership to dealership.

I had some trouble in SC maybe not as bad as yours. I got tired of driving around and sent out 20 E mails to dealers within a 150 miles. I could not believe it when I got a positive Email from Fairway Ford located 25 mins away. Ordered in Aug last year and received it in Feb . Turns out Fairway never sells above MSRP. They are a great dealer to do business with.

You have to have a Starbucks coffee cup in your hands to be taken seriously when you walk in....
On the other note like others said if you are willing to travel pick up the phone and when you find a deal do a deposit over the phone with signed buyers order. Deals are out there...

---------- Post added at 12:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 PM ----------

http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f6/hello-every-one-58724/

try this

davidl81 said:

I would wonder if Bob Allen Ford and Metro Ford are owned by the same parent company? I see that a lot where the same truck will be listed at multiple dealerships but they are just under one big corporate umbrella.

Asides from that I would take the advice from jaz13 and use raptor finder. It a little bit of leg work making all of the phone calls etc, but still better then driving around from dealership to dealership.

Click to expand...

Funny you should mention owners of the two dealershps.

The sales guy has been blowing up my phone all morning and I finally decided to answer and give him a run down of my experiences.

He did confirm this is the same truck I saw in person at Bob Allen.

The salesman confirmed Bob Allen is Metro Ford's "sister" location.

He was confused why they told me the truck was sold, when that was not the case. (Of course that is for them to determine as I cannot answer why I was told this information)

I told him if they want to make a deal, call me. If not, no worries... I will not lose sleep over it, nor should he.

I am not interested in bait & switch nor false advertising. The truck is listed online from two different dealerships at two different prices. The prices are MSRP & 5k BELOW MSRP.

The dealership in possession of the truck wants 4k OVER MSRP.

As to why I need to stay local:
In the state of Kansas, one has to pay the sales tax on the purchase price of the vehicle. In many some states (I used to live in Missouri), you can apply the sale of a different vehicle as a price deduction towards the purchase price of a new vehicle and only pay the price difference in sales tax.

Thus, if I purchase a $70,000 vehicle, but sell my current vehicle for $20,000, I only pay the sales tax on $50,000.

In the state of KS, this example is NOT true. I would must trade-in my current daily vehicle towards the purchase price in order to avoid getting hit with the additional sales tax. It sucks, but out of my control.

Di11ard said:

Funny you should mention owners of the two dealershps.

The sales guy has been blowing up my phone all morning and I finally decided to answer and give him a run down of my experiences.

He did confirm this is the same truck I saw in person at Bob Allen.

The salesman confirmed Bob Allen is Metro Ford's "sister" location.

He was confused why they told me the truck was sold, when that was not the case. (Of course that is for them to determine as I cannot answer why I was told this information)

I told him if they want to make a deal, call me. If not, no worries... I will not lose sleep over it, nor should he.

I am not interested in bait & switch nor false advertising. The truck is listed online from two different dealerships at two different prices. The prices are MSRP & 5k BELOW MSRP.

The dealership in possession of the truck wants 4k OVER MSRP.

As to why I need to stay local:
In the state of Kansas, one has to pay the sales tax on the purchase price of the vehicle. In many some states (I used to live in Missouri), you can apply the sale of a different vehicle as a price deduction towards the purchase price of a new vehicle and only pay the price difference in sales tax.

Thus, if I purchase a $70,000 vehicle, but sell my current vehicle for $20,000, I only pay the sales tax on $50,000.

In the state of KS, this example is NOT true. I would must trade-in my current daily vehicle towards the purchase price in order to avoid getting hit with the additional sales tax. It sucks, but out of my control.

Click to expand...

If the dealer is ******** you on ADMs, what makes you think he will treat you fairly on your trade-in? You'd save a lot of money finding a reputable dealer and selling your other vehicle yourself even if it means paying more in sales tax.

jaz13 said:

If the dealer is ******** you on ADMs, what makes you think he will treat you fairly on your trade-in? You'd save a lot of money finding a reputable dealer and selling your other vehicle yourself even if it means paying more in sales tax.

Click to expand...

No dispute on my end.

The Ford dealers have done an amazing job making this more difficult than it needs to be.

Option 1, follow Jaz13's advice... Look outside KC metro.
Option 2, pay bullsh!t ADM.
Option 3, look at different brands.

It can be a pain depending on your location and demand for the vehicle. I will say you probably missed an opportunity in that long window between June and November. June would have been the time to find a dealer willing to special order a 2018 and sell it to you at MSRP, would have been ready for you to pick up in October most likely.

you should not be paying over MSRP for a raptor anywhere in the continental US. If you do, you can't blame anyone but yourself.

These trucks are not hard to come by - I traveled 45min north of my city and paid MSRP for a loaded 18.