monte Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 I would like to see Ford offer the incentives without an expiration date. Case in point, I was sent a $750 Private Cash when I inquired about the Flex. Since there wasn't a Flex with the options or color available, I decided to order one. There is no way I can use the $750 in time to take delivery. Let me make the decision when to buy. Monte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 I would like to see Ford offer the incentives without an expiration date. Case in point, I was sent a $750 Private Cash when I inquired about the Flex. Since there wasn't a Flex with the options or color available, I decided to order one. There is no way I can use the $750 in time to take delivery. Let me make the decision when to buy. Monte That would be stupid from a marketing standpoint. The whole point of the incentive is to get you to buy NOW. What they should do is allow ANY dealer to lock in ALL incentives at the time of order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonRosewall Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 monte, what you can do is about the time your flex is expected to arrive go online and request a brochure and use your wifes name and they will mail her a private cash offer. I have tried using my own name more than once and they will only mail me one offer. The new one will have later dates and hopefully still be valid when it arrives. I'm still hageling with the ford dealers around here on a fair trade price on a new flex myself. Good luck with your purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monte Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 That would be stupid from a marketing standpoint. The whole point of the incentive is to get you to buy NOW. --cut I am in sales/marketing and NO this is not a stupid point. Their whole point is to buy NOW...that's the issue. Ford's timeline is not the customer's (mine) timeline. You forget this in the car business and you become what we all hate; "used cars salesmen"! Monte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 I am in sales/marketing and NO this is not a stupid point. Their whole point is to buy NOW...that's the issue. Ford's timeline is not the customer's (mine) timeline. You forget this in the car business and you become what we all hate; "used cars salesmen"! Monte But incentives are based on the current business environment and vehicle inventory levels. If the incentive is unlimited then the customer could pull it out and use it a year from now when that vehicle is selling like hotcakes and/or is in short supply. Not to mention having to keep track of them for so long and keeping them on the books as a potential liability. Incentives should have short expirations but like I said you should be able to lock it in when you order a vehicle at any dealer at any time. That solves the issue of having the offer expire while waiting for shipment but still meet Ford's requirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GapBoyPCS Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Having such an incentive that doesn't expire also risks having a dealer jacking up prices to compensate for the impending "discount". For example, you get $750 private cash. The dealer guesses that a portion of people will have this coupon/discount. So, price stays artificially inflated to compensate. Still, maybe it's different in the US. I noticed that every time there's some sort of "incentive" offered in Canada, there's a catch. Either there's a cashback/rebate, but financing rates are bank rate (i.e. high), or there are low rates, but the pricing doesn't decrease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brooks1083 Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I don't think it's ridiculous to ask for the incentives at time of order. I think it's absurd to think you should have incentives that don't expire. For me to have some good incentives when I place an order makes me more willing to commit to buy. But when I take delivery 2 months later, having no idea if there will be any incentives, I'm a little less enticed. I guess I can understand it helps push the customer into ordering something from the lot I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I guess I can understand it helps push the customer into ordering something from the lot I guess. Considering the reason for incentives in the first place is to clear excess dealer inventory - yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTwannabe Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Having such an incentive that doesn't expire also risks having a dealer jacking up prices to compensate for the impending "discount". For example, you get $750 private cash. The dealer guesses that a portion of people will have this coupon/discount. So, price stays artificially inflated to compensate. Still, maybe it's different in the US. I noticed that every time there's some sort of "incentive" offered in Canada, there's a catch. Either there's a cashback/rebate, but financing rates are bank rate (i.e. high), or there are low rates, but the pricing doesn't decrease. Yep, they get you one way or the other. Get the vehicle for a "steal" under invoice and they make back the difference on the finance charges. Take the 0% interest offer and you pay close to sticker and forfeit any rebates/incentives. The only time you could get both was during the 2007-2008 market crash when people just stopped buying new cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geost1 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 I would like to see Ford offer the incentives without an expiration date. Case in point, I was sent a $750 Private Cash when I inquired about the Flex. Since there wasn't a Flex with the options or color available, I decided to order one. There is no way I can use the $750 in time to take delivery. Let me make the decision when to buy. Monte My dealer was able to lock in the incentives that were available at the time I ordered my car. He said that was something he was able to do as a "certified" dealership. That kind of makes sense to me since I signed a contract to purchase the car, with a down payment, at that time. :reading: Also Ford seems to have incentives available almost every month and they change a lot. So you might have only qualified for $750 that month and maybe $1500 the next. Either way I wouldn't be basing the decision to spend $20,000 - $30,000+ on a vehicle off of a $750 rebate anyway. Unless that amount is a deal maker/breaker for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrispsu05 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 My dealer was able to lock in the incentives that were available at the time I ordered my car. He said that was something he was able to do as a "certified" dealership. That kind of makes sense to me since I signed a contract to purchase the car, with a down payment, at that time. :reading: Also Ford seems to have incentives available almost every month and they change a lot. So you might have only qualified for $750 that month and maybe $1500 the next. Either way I wouldn't be basing the decision to spend $20,000 - $30,000+ on a vehicle off of a $750 rebate anyway. Unless that amount is a deal maker/breaker for you. Same here... My Edge is due to be delivered any day now. They locked me into the $1k rebate that expires today; although, they did say I could move up if a better rebate is released tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianinswfla Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 (edited) Same here... My Edge is due to be delivered any day now. They locked me into the $1k rebate that expires today; although, they did say I could move up if a better rebate is released tomorrow. This is exactly how it went when we ordered a Mustang recently for my son. They locked in the rebate offer but said that any better rebates will be made available to us. Edited October 4, 2011 by brianinswfla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh_4184 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 We just ordered a fusion last week, dealer also locked in current rebates, that is standard practice with almost all dealers, one of the benefits of ordering a car rather than buying on lot if you can't find what you are looking for which we couldn't with are car. Anyway I also got the $750 bonus cash incentive, according to my dealer when he looked up the rebate in VINCENT it said it didn't expire until March so luckily for me the car should be here aroudn Xmas/New Years expecting delays though because of the holidays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stretchtree Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I love the 750 coupon, I just hope mine does not expire before my car is delivered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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