I've been lurking the great info of the Dodge Forum (loving it!) for about the last yr just waiting patiently until I paid my 2007 Caliber off to start shopping for a RAM truck..

The day has come and I have a truck picked out at my dealership. It's a 2012 RAM Express regular cab.. It's obviously tough to find a 2012 with the build you would want. Basically all that's out there here in Wisconsin for 2012 regular cabs is a model that MSRP'S at 30,585. Problem is, it doesn't have the options I would normally have built.. Things I would want that it doesn't have are - Pwr & Remote Entry Group - Manual Rear Sliding Window -Spray In Bedliner - 3.92 Axle Ratio.

The truck I'm looking at and dealing on only has Anti-Spin Differential Rear Axle and Class IV Receiver Hitch that I would order and want.. Options the truck has that I don't need or want are - ST Popular Equipment Group ($750) and the Chrome Clads for (400)

We are at the wheeling and dealing stage and mostly by phone.. I first started at the dealership where I purchased my caliber.. The MSRP of the 2012 is 30,585 I put on offer in online for 20,500 lol.. I knew I was offering way under what they could do especially just starting out dealing.. well I get an email back saying they could do 24, 500 - i laughed like they did at my original offer.. long story short I dealed with them and got the price down to 22,000. Not really liking their attitude and my buying experience with them and my first go around with the caliber purchase was the usual BS a noob like me could expect and I was taken for a ride with my sub-prime credit rating. at least that 6 yr 410 dollar a month nightmare is over.

Not liking their attitude I call another dealership and I get a great sales guy off the bat... long story short at this dealership is.. I used my dads employee discount card and with that the trucks e,employee discount price was 26,937 and their is also a 3,000 dealership incentive.. now the problem is we're still at around 24,000 and the other dealership could do 22,000 and I didn't even use the employee discount card. My sales guy without talking to the manager said he should have no problem beating that price, so cool. last night he said he thinks there is room to move 500 to 1000 below the other dealerships price of 22,000.

So now we're talking around 21,000 for the 30,585 MSRP price truck.. Do you y'all think I did ok dealing and coming to a price.. have to remember this is not a truck I would order but one I could live with for some time if the price is to good to pass up..

Now I got a brainy idea after reading the 2013 forum section on here late last night.. Lets build the 2013 truck the way I'd want it and see what the price would be.. Well it comes out to Invoice price of 29,838 and MSRP price of 32,275. My price with employee discount I believe would be like 3 or 5% under invoice and then w/e rebates and such there is would come off that..

I've rambled long enough and here is where I could really use all yours help and opinions..

Do I go option Number one and take the truck I could live with if they can go down to around 21,000.. I don't mind the color (mineral gray) but it would be probably my 3rd choice.. I would also have to trade my caliber in. 2007 with 78,000 miles.. just a basic model.. no power windows or cruise. does have ac and cd player lol.. I can't imagine they give me much more than 4,000 trade in.

Or do I build my own at the price I mentioned above.. use the employee discount, rebates, and sell my car privately?

option #2 will cost more but, will be a yr newer (I'm not tooo big on 1st yr models or makeovers but, my caliber was in 2007 and its been great) Option 2 would have all the options I would want and none I don't which is nice I guess and might help resale or when it would come time to trade in.. being a regular cab my truck will need all the help it can get for resell..

That's it guys and gals.. I would love and would much appreciate all thoughts/opinions.. I will keep you updated and if I do purchase option #1 truck I will have pictures on Thursday to share..

Have a great day!

 

Don't go for the '12 unless you get around (at least) $12K off the MSRP. The minute you drive it off the lot, it will almost be 2 year models behind as the '14s will start hitting the road soon. The '12 sitting on the dealers lot is costing them a lot of money, it depreciates every day. If I was you, I'd get the truck I want and order the '13 or wait to order the '14 and get all you want.

 

Trigger,

Welcome to the forum.

You did not mention the final price on the 2013 but a couple of things stand out for me in your post. The first is that you say if you got a price "that was too good to pass up" you would be OK with not getting it the way you wanted it. The fact that after negotiating the dealership down you are still entertaining a 2013 the way you want it, tells me that the price is not too good to pass up because you are still thinking about passing it up. Secondly, the question would be your Caliber. While not always the case, you would most likely get more for it by selling it yourself than on a dealer trade. If you are still on the fence this must be strongly considered. No point in paying 2-3 thousand less for a 2012 you can "live with" while getting a couple thousand less for your trade because you traded it instead of sold it yourself. At that point the savings is next to nothing and you just basically traded the vehicle you wanted for the one you could live with and realized little or no savings. Just my 2 cents.

 

Don't settle, get what you really want and be happy, as opposed to regretful. My .02

 

Its been like pulling teeth to even get them down to 21,000 (msrp is 30,585) with my fathers employee discount... I would love to say 18,000 thousand or I'm out the door. I think they just might actually be happy if I left at that point lol.. I agree with you though that its just about 2 model yrs old but they (well only the sales manager guy - I have a very nice sale guy/associate) seems to just ignore me when I bring that up or they say well it is still a new vehicle lol. Plus it's not a quad cab which is a knock on the vehicle to try and sell, though it does have its own small market and I'm sure the truck wont last all that much longer as they're are the highest volume selling Chrysler dealership in Wisconsin - but that knucklehead that buys it doesn't have to be me unless I get a great price. If I could get them down to 19,500 I'd buy it in a heartbeat I think even if they only gave me like 4,000 trade in on my caliber... Maybe I could get them to add a bedliner or a handful of oil changes also.

I did test drive it late last night and I was happy with it (didn't tell them either way if i liked it or not) even though it doesn't have all the things I want. I like the color - Mineral Gray although not my first choice its a close 2nd or 3rd. It does have the Anti-Spin Differential Rear Axle which is important to me.. I can live without the Power & Remote Entry Group - I have with the caliber for 6 yrs and whats a couple more until I would sell or trade it in on one I would order to my liking in a couple yrs. 3.92 would be nice but again I can live with the 3.55 axle. sliding yr window is another another thing I could get away without..

Thanks so much for the post and I'll try and work them down of the 21,000 tomorrow and I'll be sure to post my results.

 

Don't be in a hurry, tell them your bottom line, tell them to call you when they are ready to sell it to you for $19k and walk away and don't keep going back. When they see that you keep returning, their position hardens. Walk away and ponder your decision, regarding getting a '13 or '14. The fact that it's still on the lot in May of 2013 tells me they have had a hard time selling it. The employee discount is not a bargaining tool for you as you can get that on any new truck. Walk away and I bet you they'll call you in a few days offering closer to you bottom line. They'll inch their way to meet your offer so don't take their next offer unless it's your $19,500. If you tell them $19k is your bottom line, you can give in another $500. Good luck - be firm and patient.

 

Thanks much for the welcome! Sorry it took so long to reply back to your post but, I'm still at work and can only post on breaks..

Your post is 100% spot on! The only thing about a 2013 right now is I don't think they're really offering any real incentives or rebates ATM on just a reg cab express that I know of.. Think I seen like 1500 cash allowance and must take delivery by 06/03/2013 which is basically nothing and how I read it that is going to run until early june.


Is there a cutoff date that you know of to order the 2013 model? I've never ordered a vehicle before.. when do you deal on price for the truck.. is it before you order or after its delivered?

The 2013 I built on NADA comes out to- $32,275 MSRP and $29,838 invoice price.. If I'm not mistaken my employee price should be around 3-5% under invoice and then we can start dealing from there.. being a 2013 I'm not sure how much dealing they'll do until later in the yr? I would also get any rebates/incentives knocked off.

One more question if you or anybody else could help me with would be awesome.

My sales guy told me there was a 5000 rebate on the 2012's so that is the reason I got excited yesterday and made sure I made it out there last night right before they closed to test drive it in case I wanted it and didn't want to lose the big 5000 rebate if it expired May 1st.

Soooo, I get out there around 8:50 ten mins before closing and meet with the sales manager and get an appraisal on my caliber that he said he could do... I arrive and get great news - sigh.. First now he says we can't do the appraisal and.... my sales guy was wrong.. its 5,000 on a crew cab/etc and only 3,000 on the regular cab.. and instead of calling it a rebate it was now changed to dealer cash or maybe he called it incentive someting... one of the two..

Will the dealer get reimbursed some from dodge for the employee pricing.. and will they reimburse them the 3000 dealer cash or incentive? If so I can use that as bargaining that they're not really going to lose on the truck even if I do get them to agree to around 19,000-19,500?

anyways, I've test driven the 2012 Ram before and knew I liked the ride/etc.. so I pretty much wasted my time driving 30 mins out there when I had to be up at around 4:30 this morning for work... I work two jobs and I'm gone from 5:30 am until 8:30pm. So wasn't to happy with this news and my test drive just confirmed that I enjoy the ride.

Thanks again y'all... you been a huge help and I'll keep you updated tonight and tomorrow on what goes down. Keep the comments and thoughts coming if you would like though.. I'll be researching other stuff online so I'll be around for a while after I get off of work and home around 9pm.

 

Great advise and I told my dad earlier this am on the phone who is coming up from Kokomo Indiana for 4 days and who will be with me tomorrow to be ready to walk out if they don't work with us on a better price.. And I joked that after we leave and get in the car that I bet before we can count to 20 they will be walking out to my caliber lol.

Thanks so much for the post and advice.. Have a great night and if you have anything to add feel free! The more advice and help the merrier

 

Any employee discount or incentive comes from Chrysler, not the dealership. Dealer cash from Chrysler is an amount the dealership gets for selling a particular vehicle. Some dealerships pass this along to the customer, some keep it, and some split it up or offer maintenance or service contracts with the funds. Do dealerships sometimes offer their own incentives? They certainly can, especially if they are a high volume dealership. Then there is the factor of how hard a time the dealership is going to have selling a vehicle. If they will have no trouble moving it to someone else then I would not expect them to sell it to you for less than they can sell it to the next person.

Once last thing, I wouldn't put to much stock in what others, in other parts of the country paid for their trucks. While it may be a ballpark figure, incentives vary by region. There may be incentives on certain vehicles in one part of the country that is not offered in others due to inventory and buying habits of a regions residents. What is important is that you feel you got the best deal you could on the vehicle you want.

 

Thanks so much DC and to all that really helped me out tremendously.. I'm heading out to the dealership in a little bit to talk numbers, I'll be sure to update you all on how things went.