You're right! Consider this:

$4000 Cash Rebate
$3500 Dealer Cash
$1000 Credit Union Rebate
$1000 Dodge Loyalty Rebate
$500 Military Rebate
Invoice Pricing = $~5,000 off MSRP give or take

That's a potential total of $15,000 off MSRP WITHOUT even touching the dealer holdback of 3-4% or any other coupons they may get from the manufacturer for volume ordering/selling. Great deals to be had!

Jason

 

Straight from the horses mouth gang. My dealer told me they didn't care for the employee discount either.

Here's a list of the top ten selling cars/trucks for April:
Honda Accord: 29,212
Ford F-Series: 28,757
Chevy Silverado: 26,437
Honda Civic: 26,252
Toyota Camry: 25,324
Toyota Corolla: 18,534
Ford Fusion: 18,321
Dodge Ram: 17,903
Chevy Impala: 17,532
Chevy Malibu: 14,665

If you look at the numbers above, the Ram is the 8th most selling vehicle in the US. In April, Chrysler had 3,222 dealerships in the United States. That means that on average each dealer sold 5 1/2 Rams. They are not 'flying' off the lots so to speak. (I'm not saying the poster above is not telling the truth - there will be variances between dealerships and geographical areas (if segwyo is in Wyoming I'm sure they sell a lot more trucks than dealers in Portland) - but the numbers as an average speak for themselves.) As far as the 'hottest' truck for the past couple of years - nope! The F150 has held that spot for years - especially with it's lower price.

The good news is that the 2009 re-design of the Ram was a real big time winner. The ride is much better, the Hemi engine is the best and the F150's engine is still a dog. The re-design of the interior cab leaves the Ram so much better than the F150 and the plastique Silverado. If you can afford the extra 3k to 5k - the Ram is certainly worth it.

 

I'm not sure where you're getting your info, but the money is incorrect. As of May 6th the rebates where as follows:
$3000 rebate
$1000 old age cash (goes to $2000 if vehicle invoiced prior to 10-1-08)
$1000 owner loyalty
$ 500 military (retired w/ 20 yrs service or within 6 mo. hororable discharge)
$ 500 credit union cash

That's on a Laramie. And yes the Ram 1500 is THE HOTTEST truck in the past few years. The F150 is a great truck and ford does prop up the numbers with huge fleet business, but look at the awards the Ram has racked up. And has Motor Trend EVER done a follow up story explaining why they picked what they did for truck or car of the year? They did this year for the truck.
Hey guys, I didn't get on here to rile anybody up, just read some info that maybe wasn't correct in these times and thought I'd give you some insight. Just remember, support your local dealers so that they'll be there when you need them. The manufacturers make the big money on these vehicles, not your dealer. But we all are a "for profit" business, just like whoever you all work for. But when you throw in all the other cost of having the inventory on the lot to paying the people we all employee......we all need YOUR help.

 

I'm not trying to pick on you either and if in-fact you're a GM at a Dealership, then welcome and it's nice to have you here. With that said, I got my information from the following sources:

$4000 Rebate was initially told to me by my dealer I just purchased my truck from in Houston, TX (keeping in mind geography plays a role) and confirmed by the CNN article I posted earlier.

$3500 dealer cash was and is posted on Edmund's site.

You DO NOT have to be retired military or discharged. Here is the verbiage directly from Dodge's website and I'm military and received the rebate.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
This program offers a $500 cash allowance to be applied toward the retail purchase or lease of an eligible vehicle. Eligible consumers include: active military, active military reserve, retired military (honorable discharge and 20 years of service required), and retired military reserve (honorable discharge and 20 years of service required). Honorably discharged veterans are eligible within 6 months of discharge date. A lube, oil and filter service contract (OC36N) is also provided for all eligible consumers.

I know we're all just trying to help perspective buyers here with the information. I did just support my dealer (although not local...Houston dealer had the truck I wanted and I live in San Antonio) with a purchase last Saturday

Jason

 

David,

Not picking on you here but where does everyone get that a F-150 costs $3-$4K more than a Ram?? I priced a loaded Platinum F-150 with features equilavent to what I purchased (Nav, 32/36 gallon fuel tank, Tow Package, Moonroof) and here's the prices:

BTW--I purchased a Laramie with RamBox, 3.92s, Navigation, 32 gallon fuel tank, Class IV Hitch, Back-up cam, bucket seats, preferred package. Both are 4X2s that I'm comparing.

F-150 Platinum w/ Nav, Moonroof, Tow Package and 36 gallon fuel tank
MSRP = $45,855


Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie above
MSRP = $46,745

That's a difference of only $890 AND you have to remember that includes the RamBox for which there is no equivalent or even close on the F-150. Subtract that and the Ram is about $1000 cheaper AND more incentives making it even cheaper.

Even the BASE Laramie's MSRP is $630 cheaper than a BASE Platinum's MSRP.

The F-150 is NOT cheaper..it's more expensive than the Ram BEFORE incentives.

Just wanted to clear that up.

Jason

 

Hey Jason,

Sorry, you're correct on the military, I guess I just take it for granted that everyone knows active or active reserve always gets the $500, but I should have stated it. As for the rebates / dealer cash, i just looked at the incentives for the Southwest as of May 6th and there is NO $4000 rebate on any Ram trucks. The SLT/TRX/Sport/Laramie all have Dealer Cash of $3500 with the old age cash depending on invoice date as well as the $1000 loyalty cash and $500 credit union. Sounds like you purchased prior to May 6th, so it may have been available in the Southwest at that time. Whatever you got, thanks for buying the truck and thanks for buying from a "local" dealer! They are sweet trucks!! I got out of my 2007 2500 Laramie for the 2008 1500 Laramie and now had to have the 2009 1500 CC Laramie so that's where I am now!!!

 

I wasn't inferring that the F-150 costs more - but the opposite. When you look at the price ranges on various sites I see:

Ram: MSRP Range $21,520 to $44285
F-150: MSRP Range $21,565 to $38,768

But you are right -- when you go price the Platinum it's a different story.

 

Wow...3 different new trucks in 3 years?? Must be nice to be a GM It sounds like there may be some conflicting information. What I was describing was the rebates that have been reported on CNN and by my dealer for May incentives. I did buy on May 1st but it was still the April incentives until the 4th (I received $2K rebate, $1250 dealer cash, $500 military, EPP and 0% for 48 months).

Definitely loving the Ram and Chrysler hit a home run with this one. I'm sorry but it's the best truck hands down. If you want to tow 11K of weight, go buy a Super Duty of any line or the inferior F-150. It's not that the F-150 is a bad truck BUT it can't hold a candle to the interior/exterior and innovation of the new Ram!

Jason

 

David,

I think it's just apples and oranges comparisons some of these sites do because when you compare similarly equipped Rams with F-150s, the Rams are cheaper even BEFORE the extra incentives. I've seen others on here and another forum mention that the Ram costs more. Also, I've seen people talking about how the F-150 gets better gas mileage yet both the Ram 5.7L HEMI V-8 and the F-150 5.4L V-8 get 14 city/ 20 highway and yet the HEMI puts out 80 more HP. Unless you have to have the extra few thousand pounds of towing capacity, I just don't know why you'd buy a F-150 over the new Ram. And if you really need the extra towing, wait until the 2010 Super Duty's come out with the new Ram interior

Jason

 

I do not think dealers are getting $3500 per truck now, and at least according to Edmunds it's only $2500 for the rebate and another $1000 for the dealer, which means $3500 total. You can add the $1000 if you own a Chrysler product, but statisically most people do not. The same applies for the $500.00 military rebate. Not many people will qualify. The credit union $1000 is a much better chance to qualify for. Still that means $4500 plus the $4000 or so markup ($5000 is a close to best case scenario since a ST RC won't have near that built in margin) they have puts you at about $8500 if the dealer is willing to sell at invoice.

Also, DAVIDNM posted the F-150 is the best selling truck and has been for years. I disagree with that statement. If you add the Sierra and Silverado numbers up (and they are the same truck), they outsell the F-150 regularly. To me, it's always been odd that GM did not claim that title since it's clearly theirs in a reasonable person's viewpoint.