Advice on 2017 Raptor Purchase

[Kowboy17]

If you could buy one tomorrow for UNDER MSRP, you're dealing with a '**** poor' business man (in the business of selling ANYTHING with a strong market).

I disagree , anyone gouging today is making sure they dont create a loyal customer for tomorrow. If he would have quoted me over retail i would have hung up on him and never bought a oil filter from him again and he knows it. Repeat business is where long term success lies.

Please read ALL of my post. Exactly what I said.

 

[BajaFred]

youre so full of it..... convince yourself all you want..... no one with a brain is convinced. I can buy one tomorrow at under. Once all the suckers have their prize anyone will be able to get one at msrp or under. Your residual is gone , was the minute you drove off the lot.

Post an actual dealer you find who is willing to sell under MSRP tomorrow, I'll call and verify (buy)

The forum will bet dollars to doughnuts against it

 

[PAW RAPTOR]

I was reading Raptor articles the past few days. I read one a few days ago. In it a "high ranking member of Ford management" stated that supply of the Raptor will continue to trail demand on purpose. He went on to say this is to keep people talking, maintain it's aura of limited availability, and even mentioned maintaining resale value. The author of the article mentioned this was the first they had heard someone from management coming out and stating this.

Now for the caveats. No name was given for the person making these statements in the article. Also, I'm not going back to find the article to link it (since I've looked through dozens the past few days). However, there is annectdotal evidence to what he was saying (as opposed to when Levine stated early last summer that "anyone who wants a Raptor would be able to get one." I guess Levine's "out" would be that he did not specify WHEN someone would get it, just that they eventually would if he wanted to split hairs because someone took him to task).

 

[Gsteve]

Post an actual dealer you find who is willing to sell under MSRP tomorrow, I'll call and verify (buy)

The forum will bet dollars to doughnuts against it

You would have to be me = repeat raptor buyer from the same saleman , fleet buyer same saleman , family has bought many vehicles from same dude.

 

[Vikingrl]

1wolf,

Keep an eye on the forum for a given up allocation or similar if you’re willing to compromise on some of the options. I bought mine from dealer order - I hesitate to say dealer stock because I put a deposit down before the truck even showed up.

Photoneffect has a great tool to assist in finding truck. You can also use Ford’s configurator to check on trucks.

If you’re ready to jump, you’re obviously in a better <cough> negotiating position </cough>. There are precious few people who have secured an under MSRP deal on a new Raptor. I’ve bought 6 new vehicles, not counting my wife who has a knack for liking the slowest things on wheels, but that’s another story. Without a doubt, the Raptor at MSRP was my worst negotiating effort, but locally the starting point is 10k over MSRP, and by driving 70 minutes i got MSRP. So maybe I could have gotten the locals to 5k over, best case, but I got the best deal I could negotiate, period.

Point being, you’re not scoring under MSRP in all likelihood, so budget accordingly. If you Hummer is a trade, you’re going to be limited to “driving distance” dealers. I was able to accurately assess my trade via the dealer tool, and electronic communication, and secure a 500 dollar range of trade value, that was honestly quite good for my previous ride. If you can allocate enough to cover all your expenses / price, taxes, tags, etc. you can be a little more enthusiastic in negotiating. If you’re expecting to score financing at the dealer, that could be better, but maybe not. Or if you’re paying cash, you can pretty much do what you want.

A previous poster suggested you could find a Gen 1 on the market, save some $$$ and score a damn good truck. That’s not a bad idea if the 2017 market isn’t favorable. I toyed with this too, after sticker shock set in during the first weeks of looking for a truck. the previous gen models are well liked and a viable option.

If you’re set on a 2017 / 2018, you may need to resign yourself to having to travel to get an acceptable deal. Lots of us have done road trips back home with new Raptors.

keep us updated.

What dealer if you don't mind me asking? I'm
Having a ruff time finding anything without 20-35k markup. I talked to 50 dealers today

 

[1Wolf]

Update.

First...I just wanted to say "Thanks!" to everyone for all of your help and advice. Seriously...you guys really helped. Even some of the arguments about markup versus MSRP were helpful. Its been about a week since my initial post and after reading the info and advice here in this thread, and other places in the forum....I'm much better off than I was before.

So here is the update...

I live in the Chicago area and called about every ford dealer I could find. I went to ford.com and filled out a "request internet price" form for almost every dealer within my area. I went into "chat help" with a ford representative on the website and she was able to direct me to nearby dealers who had ordered or were ordering one. She couldn't tell me how many allocations anyone had, but she could tell me who had ordered one which might lead me to more. I was very specific though on what options I wanted. In my own opinion, if I'm paying that much for a vehicle I want it to have what I want it to have. That was actually somewhat successful. I found a few in the area, and I actually DID find one untaken allocation about an hour from me. However....they wanted 10 Grand over MSRP.

Personally, I have NOTHING against those that pay whatever they want. Your money. Your truck. Get what you want. Hell, honestly, I'm happy for you because you'll have a truck and I won't. For me, I could afford to go a bit over sticker but I couldn't do what they were asking. No one was willing to come down closer to sticker. Some of the already built ones I found in my area were like 15K to 20K over sticker. I couldn't get those if I wanted to.

At this point I was resigned that I'd have to order a 2018. That kinda sucked because I knew the delivery for a 2018 was WAY off. Also, the dealers I talked to about were already looking to price gouge on them. That whole whole process just made me nervous

Well...have to say thanks for the tip on Photoneffect's Raptorfinder tool. It was great, easy to use, and really helped me see what had been built and what was for sale with the options I wanted. It helped me to find a few more. All those dealers moved on price a bit but nothing I could do. However, it also led me to one configured exactly was I wanted it...black SCREW with the options as I wanted in Alabama....I'm in the Chicago area.

My wife (who is just as excited about this as me) handled the calls and the gentleman in Alabama was very nice. They would sell us the raptor for MSRP and were kind to deal with and didn't try to gouge us further. We put money down on it.

It took alot of work, but we've got the VIN number & can view the sticker via Raptorfinder's tool, and we've got a bill of sale. My wife and I are flying down there next week to drive it back up. My boss would only let me take a couple days off so it'll have to be a quick trip...but it should be quite an adventure.

Incidentally....if you've read this update this far....maybe you can answer this question....

If I'm driving that new Raptor 900 miles back home, do you think that will hurt it? I haven't had many new cars in my time, and every one I had there was a break-in where you'd keep it under 55 and baby it. Its probably a silly question but I just want to make sure I don't wear it badly or do damage to it with its first "trip" being a long drive home. I don't mind driving 55 and keeping it slow. I just want to make sure that the length of that drive won't cause me any break-in problems.

Anyhow....thanks again to everyone for the help. I apologize that it took me a bit to hop in and say thanks and update you...but I wanted to have something to update and some news...for good or for bad.

Thanks everyone.

 

[smurfslayer]

1W: congrats, well done. You took the free internet advice - and it was obviously worth every penny and you made the deal that worked for you.

Only 900 miles to AL? I’m guessing it’s not LA (lower Alabama)

The F150 and Raptor owner’s manual is available online, and tells you about the break in. vary the RPMs is the big thing. You can cane the truck within the first few hundred miles, just don’t stay in it.

I’d recommend back roads and sport mode for the return trip. keep the truck from super low RPMs for a bit.

You don’t need to be concerned about a particular speed limit or going slow, just keep the rpms changing regularly.

Do yourself a favor and make sure you do a thorough going over. Since you’re traveling to get the truck, I would do this.

arrive at dealer early in the day, and you and the sales-drone go for a long test drive. It’s the south, you have to take your time, plus, you can get to see first hand what all the fuss is about with sweet tea vs. that nasty, unsweetened stuff you yanks drink. I mean a good, test it out drive of at least an hour.
Back to dealer, and ask them to put it on a lift. check for leaks - oil and trans pan, various hose connections, radiator and intercooler. look for weeping at the joints. Get pictures while you’re at it.

Go over the truck with a fine tooth comb, again, take pictures so there is no ambiguity about the condition of the vehicle at the time of purchase. Test every single function of the truck - I recently found out my truck “says” it has wifi, and it can see that there is wifi, but it cannot actually connect to any wifi ! not a huge deal, but I assumed that since I saw the dealer wifi, I could connect. Wrong. so make sure all your stuff works.

Including the heated/cooled seats, adaptive cruise, etc. etc.

Don’t be in a hurry getting back. Again, I’d recommend fewer miles on the interstates, more miles on US / back roads.

Thanks for the update and good luck !

 

[ThugHunter]

Drive it like you stole it! Congrats!

 

[Micha]

Oh man, I live in the Chicago area too. We should meet up some time.

 

[ChevyChad]

Congrats on the find! You will love the truck. As already mentioned, vary the RPMs for the first couple hundred miles. A task easily accomplished via the paddles by blocking out gears. No speed limit other than whats posted on the highway.

I went from an H2 to a 2010 raptor 5 years ago and never looked back. Ive had my 2017 for 3 weeks now and absolutely love this thing. Enjoy!