Pre-Approved for the Loan with My First Test Drives Set For Tomorrow

[DarthKickA55]

OP - one thing of note when you do drive these;
If you drive some with under 1K on the odo you will notice the transmission doing some "funny" things - hard shifts, gear-searching, etc. It drove me crazy for the first 1000 miles. This is normal and the truck is learning per the owners manual.

Point-being; don't let this affect your decision making process; after 1000 miles it magically goes away.

 

[DarthKickA55]

I always walk in preapproved with my own financing when car shopping, usually a much better rate than the dealer marking it up for profit. I can’t see not being ready to buy if one is out shopping for cars. I purchased kind of unexpectedly this week while working in another state. The only major issue was wiring money from one bank to another to be able to get a cashier’s check for the 35% down payment. Only one of my banks had a branch in NM.

Always a good idea to have alternate financing when you are car shopping, one more tool in your negotiation tool kit. Lately I have also gone to Carmax and have their estimate on hand also (if you have a Carmax nearby) - last 2 vehicles I bought I was given more on my trade because Carmax estimate was higher. YMMV but those 2 things have saved me thousands.

 

[ItsAMe]

OP - one thing of note when you do drive these;
If you drive some with under 1K on the odo you will notice the transmission doing some "funny" things - hard shifts, gear-searching, etc. It drove me crazy for the first 1000 miles. This is normal and the truck is learning per the owners manual.

Point-being; don't let this affect your decision making process; after 1000 miles it magically goes away.

Interestingly, I did notice that. Good to know. We were also on the test drive by ourselves so they limited our speed and modes so we couldn’t go all out in it. Was still a very nice ride overall. I wasn’t sure if I wanted one before but after getting to drive it, I want one if I can make a deal on it.

 

[CoronaRaptor]

Ha! I did the same thing with a dealer in Paso Robles, CA. I told him the deal in Kansas City, MO, he could have cared less, stuck to his $20k over MSRP. I sent him a pic ture of my wife anbd I happily driving my awesome truck home from Kansas City, free flight, free hotel (United points and Marriott points) and he just laughed.
How do these dealers hook their idiots to pay such prices and then make you feel like you got the deal of the century when they drop their ADM from $20k to $10K!

NEVER BUY IN CA!

There's a sucker born everyday and some "richer" folks think its a normal price and believe these con artist.I for one think it should be illegal to sell over mrsp, boggles the mind. Should be a law.

 

[DarthKickA55]

Interestingly, I did notice that. Good to know. We were also on the test drive by ourselves so they limited our speed and modes so we couldn’t go all out in it. Was still a very nice ride overall. I wasn’t sure if I wanted one before but after getting to drive it, I want one if I can make a deal on it.

Yeah as soon as 1K all of a sudden it is like a different transmission. Hope you join the club it is a fun vehicle for sure.

 

[rbraptor]

Yup, don’t buy in SoCal. None of these dealers deserve our business if they think MSRP is a good deal (let alone additional dealer money).

I bought in Arkansas. Wife and I flew out there with miles, stopped at some places on the drive back, had a great time breaking in the truck. And saved literally $8,000 off MSRP. No one else would match the price.

 

[Big Smitty]

You should buy in Indiana and have it shipped to you

 

[ItsAMe]

Tomorrow I start the out-of state search. I'm invigorated by that so I'm looking forward to the hunt more now than being resigned to SoCal prices. Can't ******* wait!

 

[pastorwug]

NEVER BUY IN CA!
They don't deserve your tax dollars, even though if you live in CA they will get them regardless.
They will make sure you feel as though they are doing you a great favor by selling to you at $20k ADM

We just had too much fun driving our truck home from Kansas City, MO with a great $2K under MSRP deal on the exact Truck I wanted.

 

[sfhondapilot]

Hi there, can you please share the results of your search?

Problem is that the 2020 new truck inventory is been virtually picked clean and any "deal" that may have existed during the summer of 2020 isn't around today as the supply of trucks just doesn't exist. The situation is even worse on the west coast.

Back on October 2020, I was searching outside of CA but I can tell you there were at least six trucks that I was interested in purchasing that had "just been sold" when I got a response back from the internet sales department. I haven't searched cars.com for a few weeks but I imagine that most of the affordable inventory is either in the Great Lakes area or TX and there was simply nothing below MSRP (unless you wanted a "new" 2019).

I actually got lucky and found one local to me (well 200 miles away). Negotiated the deal on a Saturday (in early November) and drove down the next day to close the purchase. They sold three raptors that weekend.