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Escape incentives and purchase questions


Lionclaw

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My wife and I are looking to purchase a 2013 Escape Titanium. I'm picky about the options, so we're probably going to end up ordering one. My questions have to do with pricing and incentives.

 

The sales guy I spoke with yesterday said the $1000 incentive and $500 military incentive come out of the dealer's bottom line, and not Ford's. He came back with an "offer" that was just MSRP with the $1500 in incentives subtracted, and became agitated when I made it clear I wasn't looking to pay MSRP. He referred to my USAA pricing guide as a "trick up my sleeve". Can anyone tell me if this is actually the case? Does the dealer take the incentives out of their profit?

 

The other question has to do with availability. I'm willing to wait for a special order. The sales person kept saying how the vehicle is a hot commodity, and how they can't keep them in stock, and that was why they wouldn't play ball on price. Am I wrong in thinking that my special order doesn't affect their inventory? Wouldn't my vehicle be ordered in addition to their normal stock? When I suggested as much, I just received a blank stare back.

 

I'm not trying to be a di. They certainly deserve to make a profit on the sale, I just feel like they might not be giving me completely honest information, and would like to get some feedback.

 

I found last night that I have an x-plan pin available from EAA. Should I just go that route?

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My wife and I are looking to purchase a 2013 Escape Titanium. I'm picky about the options, so we're probably going to end up ordering one. My questions have to do with pricing and incentives.

 

The sales guy I spoke with yesterday said the $1000 incentive and $500 military incentive come out of the dealer's bottom line, and not Ford's. He came back with an "offer" that was just MSRP with the $1500 in incentives subtracted, and became agitated when I made it clear I wasn't looking to pay MSRP. He referred to my USAA pricing guide as a "trick up my sleeve". Can anyone tell me if this is actually the case? Does the dealer take the incentives out of their profit?

 

The other question has to do with availability. I'm willing to wait for a special order. The sales person kept saying how the vehicle is a hot commodity, and how they can't keep them in stock, and that was why they wouldn't play ball on price. Am I wrong in thinking that my special order doesn't affect their inventory? Wouldn't my vehicle be ordered in addition to their normal stock? When I suggested as much, I just received a blank stare back.

 

I'm not trying to be a di. They certainly deserve to make a profit on the sale, I just feel like they might not be giving me completely honest information, and would like to get some feedback.

 

I found last night that I have an x-plan pin available from EAA. Should I just go that route?

 

The Ford incentives do NOT come out of the dealer's pocket. He's yanking your chain, and honestly, I would find a different dealer if they are willing to lie to you like that.

 

Your order doesn't affect their stock, but it can affect their allocation (the number of vehicles they are allowed to order). With the Escape, I doubt that is much of an issue since it isn't a limited model.

 

If you can get x-plan, I would just go that route. Then you get all rebates from that price. So, if x-plan price is $30k, subtract the $1k and $500 military incentive for a total of $28,500.

 

Good luck!

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We purchased our 2013 Escape off X plan and it was just short of 2K off MSRP. Then it is rebate time. And you get what the rebate is available at the time of delivery. In addition, a max of $100 doc fee on X plan. I think our dealer charges like $300 otherwise. I like the X plan route, because I find all the negotiating stupid, and I am left wondering if I got a good price or not.

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We purchased our 2013 Escape off X plan and it was just short of 2K off MSRP. Then it is rebate time. And you get what the rebate is available at the time of delivery. In addition, a max of $100 doc fee on X plan. I think our dealer charges like $300 otherwise. I like the X plan route, because I find all the negotiating stupid, and I am left wondering if I got a good price or not.

 

Most dealers can offer you the option of the incentives in place at time of order OR at time of delivery, whichever you choose.

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Costco's auto buying plan (with participating dealers) is invoice plus $300 and you get the incentives (that money comes from Ford, not the dealer), so you should be able to get close to this, especially if you order one. Be aware that "invoice" includes an advertising assessment (varies by region) and a fuel charge for a full tank of gas.

 

If this vehicle was such a "hot commodity" Ford wouldn't have incentives on it. We.re not talking about a vehicle with a limited production run.

 

Our dealer said we would get either the incentive at time of purchase or time of delivery whichever was greater. I'm not sure if that is Ford's policy or if the dealer makes it work with the holdback money they get from Ford.

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Our dealer said we would get either the incentive at time of purchase or time of delivery whichever was greater. I'm not sure if that is Ford's policy or if the dealer makes it work with the holdback money they get from Ford.

 

It's Ford policy. It used to only be available to certain dealers but they opened it up to more dealers a couple of years ago. Not sure if it applies to ALL dealers though but it is legit and does come from Ford. Ford's done this in Canada for years.

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I remember incentives in the past (might even be years ago) that very explicity stated that you must take delivery before a certain date for the incentive to be applied. Maybe they decided to alter this policy to keep customers happy.

 

That's still what all of the incentives say. The rebate protection program supercedes that. Like I said they've had this policy in Canada for years and for certain dealers in the U.S. They just expanded it.

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Go with the x plan they will have to show you the invoice that has all the prices on it. i bought mine 200 over cost.

On top of that i had a private 750.00 offer and a 1000.00 offer. I work there and did this instead of the employee D Plan

because the 750.00 off was not good on D Plan. Dealer actually makes more money on these plans because Ford

subsidies the discounts.

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X-plan is the best route. But whether you go X-plan or not, you need to dump the dealership you were originally dealing with. Rebates are offered directly from Ford, not the dealership. Keep this in mind, currently inventories should be increasing very soon. Reason being, the fuel line recall has drastically delayed shipping. My Escape's build date was the end of June and was awaiting shipment on July 12 with a eta of July 23rd. Then the recall was announced to replace the fuel line. With the help of Cyberdman tracking my Escape, its was shipped on Aug 6th with an ETA of Aug 16. My point is Escape inventory has been delayed getting to dealers which may be creating a "hot commodity" view from certain dealers.

 

Good luck with your purchase!

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Thanks everyone. I ended up placing an order at a different dealership that just sells Ford trucks. They quoted me a great price. When the Escape arrives they'll run the numbers on both their offer and x-plan, and I'll get whichever is best factoring in the incentives available at that time.

 

I can't wait!

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