Shopping for a New Ford F150
By Christina VanGinkel
My husband works as a logger and a truck is a necessity for getting into job roads, along with carrying around his equipment. He owned a 2004 Ford F150 until recently, when he got the notion that an F250 would be more fitting to his needs. After weeks of shopping though, he came to the conclusion that an F250 was more truck than he needed or wanted. Interested in the fuel capacity that the newer F150 has to burn alternative fuels though, he decided to trade in his 2004 F150 for a new 2006 F150. Because he was able to secure low financing, the last time around, his trade in value on the 2004 was much better than would normally be after paying only slightly more than two years on the loan. This made such a notion both possible and even attractive. Add in the fact that he was again able to get extremely low financing; either 0 percent or 1.9 depending on the length of the loan, trading in his truck so soon after just buying was looking better and better.
Still, with the dealer lots full of 2006 models and 2007s on their way shortly, deciding on the exact truck to buy was not without its issues, mainly time. My husband works long hours and often travels long distances on any given day to get back and forth to whatever job he happens to be currently working on. His current job for example is nearly 100 miles one way from the shop to the job site. Add in the fact that over twenty miles of this is on back roads where caution and not speed is the main objective, and it adds up to a long workday. What time he had been able to spend, he had more than used up deciding that the F250 was not to his liking, and finding more time to truck shop was just not happening for him, so that is where I stepped in.
One evening, we sat down and we went over what features about his current truck he liked, which were many, and what features he disliked, the color and the fact that the centerpiece between the front seats went all the way to the dash, effectively creating a massive dust catcher for the many dirt roads he routinely traveled down. We went online to Ford.com and were able to browse the dealerships closest to where we live, and actually check inventory and look at the actual window stickers of any trucks that seemed to fit what he was looking for. We were also able to check VIN numbers and sticker price, which allowed us to check out a couple of the trucks after hours, when it was more convenient for him to do so.
In the end, I called up our local Ford dealership and talked to two people via phone. One is the service department to ask them about several mechanical features that my husband wanted more detailed knowledge about, and the sales manager as I had a special request. To be exact, if I gave him the specifics of what my husband was interested in, would he be able to put together a couple of trucks with prices better than the sticker prices, along with the extras my husband was interested in. This would save us shopping time, and my husband would be able to just come and view the few trucks that we knew fit his desires, during business hours. With over thirty F150's on the one lot, and over 90 total, over the couple of Ford dealerships in the immediate area, this would save him quite a bit of time.
The dealership ended up providing us with several attractive packages, taking into consideration each feature my husband wanted, along with a great finance rate. We picked up the new truck last night, and I must admit that I never knew that dealing with a car dealership could be such a rewarding and stress free experience as this purchase turned out to be. While this scenario will surely not work for everyone, if you have a special request when shopping for a new vehicle, do not hesitate to ask the dealership to do whatever it can to help you.
