Buying Advice? Trying to make the deam come true

I'd caution against buying any car that's been a rental. That's why CarFax specifically flags these (and leased cars also). The plain and simple facts are that since people that drive these aren't responsible for them, they beat the crap out of them. I travel almost constantly for work, as does everyone in my very large group. Seeing what these folks do to rental cars makes me cringe. Speed bumps? no problem. BAM!

and the rental agencies, despite what folklore says, don't take very good care of them either as far as the maintenance/upkeep. They know they will be used up very quickly and that's why they dump them on the market when they are only a few years old and still have pretty low mileage. every time i rent a car, i ask for one with low miles because even at 20k miles these cars are pretty shot and unreliable, i see it every time i get stuck with one of them. sounds like you got lucky with yours though!

same thing with leased cars to some extent, but not as bad. you might get lucky there, but in general i avoid them.

Jerry,

You are just about to miss all of the 2006 bargain basement pricing, and what is left has been well picked over. They have been selling 2006 GT's for up to 8000 off MSRP for at least a month now. (I've posted scans of the newspaper adds over at alt.binaries.pictures.drag-racing a little while ago). As I have posted before, if I were buying an 07 Mustang GT, I would be paying INVOICE price or less for it.

I posted some very useful information on December 13, 2006 in Tim J's thread titled "GT shopping" there are even some good 2007 deals being offered right now before the end of the year.

I would NEVER buy a car not located locally for my convenient inspection from EBay.

Again, don't waste your time at the dealership talking to the sales drones, speak directly to the sales manager. If you don't know who that is, you can call and ask his name, or stop in the parts department on your way in and ask the parts guy the sales/general manager's name. Then when you go into the show room you can ask for the sales manager by name. Tell him exactly what you want and how much you are paying, ask him if he would like to sell what you are buying for your price, or not. If you don't know exactly what you want' don't make an offer. If you ask questions and are indecisive, they will OWN you. If he tries to play games walk out.

Nobody

As a side note, do not EVER buy I car I rented. Did you know you CAN get an Excursion on two wheels if you try hard enough! And I see why cops drive Crown Vics... no matter how many curbs you go flying off, they still keep running - and the sparks look really cool in the rear view mirror. My older friends said that despite their tough as nails status (I love mine), it IS possible to bend a Bronco frame in the oil fields - but again, you gotta work for it.

Brad

Well I scoured my area of the country and no dealers had 2006 GTs available so I couldn't take advantage of the incentives. Bummer.

so now i guess I'll start to focus on the 2007's since i want to get this for my wife's birthday in May.

Can I get the same type of discounts that were mentioned (thousands below sticker/invoice) if I order a 2007 to spec rather than taking one off the lot?

any tips > It's time to reward my wife for all of her years of hard work and

Well you missed the 2006 clear out sales, and you missed the end of the year blow out sales.

My suggestion is that you wait until the end of this month to try and make your deal. Best deals are had the last few days of each calendar month.

How do you and your wife use your current car sound systems? The optional upgraded sound systems offer NOTHING I need. Whatever you decide, do it prior to going in and making your deal. If you need to try out different options and make up your mind, do it on a different visit and perhaps at a different dealership than you plan on making you deal at.

When you go to make you deal you need to know EXACTLY what you want, have all your ducks in a row. Car ordered exactly X color and options.. Yes/No to dealer add-ons, under coating, paint protection, extended warranty, etc. (All NO by the way) Financing provided by X

And once again, don't waste your time at the dealership talking to the sales drones, speak directly to the sales manager.

For a 2007 Mustang GT off the lot or ordered to your specification, you should be paying somewhere between just under invoice and up to MSRP.

Good Luck Keep us informed

From My Name Is Nobody, on 1/5/2007 12:18 PM:

How would you use the Edmunds and KBB invoice prices. If you could get it at one of these invoice prices, would that be considered a good deal?

Like I've posted in the past, I paid invoice price for my new car three purchases ago, and $1800 under invoice for the one after that, and the last (2005 I ordered) was $3000 under invoice. Remember you always get all available incentives, no matter how good of a price you get, or the dealership keeps the incentives themselves.

You have to negotiate your own deal as best as you can... Good Luck

go to ford.com click on build your own mustang, choose all the options you want, print out the build that you come up with. go to KBB get a trade in value of the car you are trading, print that out too. go to the dealer(s) of your choice and ask for their best price. don't let them BS you. Tell them what the car costs exactly, what your trade in it worth exactly, and look for a rebate or low interest from ford or your bank. I bought a 2007 G6 convertible using this process and felt I got a good deal, I fought for every penny, but I was not about to let them get away with suckering me into any crap deal. The dealer caved in the end because I was prepared to go elsewhere if they did not meet my deal.

Around here 2007 Mustang GTs are plentiful and the dealers will discount them. I even had 3 quotes for financing before I talked to the dealer so I knew what the interest rate should be. I had the whole thing figured out what I was going to pay. The dealer beat my best guess by 200 bucks lower than I thought.