alkemist

They will probably give you a call back in the next day or two since you were a serious buyer. That's the way the game rolls. They may be willing to negotiate more then.

dragline

+1 on that. Worked for me - got me an extra $2K offer on my trade in.

SCCAGT

CarMax is no better. Used cars tend to have larger profit margins because there is no wholesale price set in stone, like new cars have. With that larger difference, comes the ability to "show" more money for your trade. Its a numbers game. And as the OP found out, when you take away the mark-up, you take away the fluff that gets moved around to show more for your trade-in. They wont be making 8K on your car, or the other 2. The $20+ is the ASKING price. We all know, you dont just walk in and pay that unless you completely lack negotiation skills.
But anyway, good luck in your hunt for the perfect car.

daredevil95

I never tried Car Max personally. I know of 3 people in my past that went to Car Max and got up to $2000.00 more then what Ford was willing to give them for a trade-in. They then went back to Ford and bought the Mustang they always wanted. Is this a scheme between Ford & Car Max....I doubt it. I'm just giving an example/advice to someone based on previous experience. Who knows, Car Max may offer the OP less?? It doesn't hurt to try....right??

Mudflap

The Carmax idea is a good one since you'd be removing the trade from the new car deal which would help. You can also just go into any Ford dealer, ask for the used car manager, and ask if they want to buy the car. I've actually done this a few times when I was trading a different make than what I was buying, and usually had decent results. They buy from auctions all the time, so buying from you off the street isn't much different for them if your trade is nice.

cavediver

Just remember that you will be paying sales tax on the full price of the new purchase. If you traded in a car, you would only be paying sales tax on the difference of the two vehicles. That is a significant amount of money that you have to consider when deciding whether to sell it to a CarMax type or trade it in.

As an example, if you had a trade-in of $15,000 and a sales tax rate of 7% then the saved sales tax would be $1,050.00.

Something to think about!

wanakanabe

Yes this one reason I was willing to take a hit on trading in vs private sale

KXRM

Also consider how competitive the area they are in is. If the dealer is the only Ford dealership for 15 miles you are going to have a harder time working with them. This is why I have to drive 45 minutes to find a good deal when I have a dealership literally down the street from me.

Bmr4life

So how much is it going to be after x-plan and incentives?

wanakanabe

"So how much is it going to be after x-plan and incentives?"

Msrp was 33649,without my car,the total came down to 28900.Looking at 2 cars tomorrow.both have msrp of 34549 and both quoted me 29845.I didn't mention the x plan and they didn't say if that price included rebates.I know I cannot use x plan with those quoted.If I can use rebates,that would be a better deal than using x plan.So we will see.I guess it's a journey.