How to Get Your F-150 Lightning at the Cheapest Price!

Well, it has already started! Dealers are already trying to gouge the prices of the All New Ford F-150 Lightning. I have already seen some of these vehicles advertised for up to $145,000! If you are in the market for an F-150 Lightning, you are going to want to read this all the way through. We could save you thousands of dollars and a lot of heartburn!

Before we go any further, I want to mention that we are selling ALL of our F-150 Lightning orders at MSRP. So if you want more information about the Ford Lightning, feel free to give us a call at (205) 491-0000.

Now as a Ford Dealer, I can understand why some are trying to make the most out of every sale. The Microchip Shortage is a real thing. Inventory is at a historic low and the customer demand has never been higher! I’m sure that there are some dealers that need the extra profit per sale just to keep the bills paid and their lights on. Just because I can understand why they do it doesn’t mean I have to agree with it.

Personally, I believe that if a customer is willing to wait for their order you should be able to give it to them at the MSRP regardless of how “high demand” the vehicle is. That is why our dealership is honoring MSRP for all of our customer orders.

But let’s say you don’t have an order with our dealership. How can you ensure that you’re not going to get screwed when it comes time to take delivery of your new F150 lightning? Step one is to do your due diligence in selecting the right dealership. A great way to do this is to take a look at their Google reviews (or really any type of reviews). What I’m looking for in a dealership is not a perfect 5.0 star rating! In that situation, you could have some bogus reviews. Instead, What I’m looking for is a company that has a large number of reviews. The number of reviews a dealership has can typically tell you how much business that dealership does. I am also interested in the negative reviews! What I am looking for is a customer that had an issue and the dealership stepped up and resolved that issue. Let’s face it, no one is perfect. If they are doing serious volume, issues will pop up from time to time. What I’m looking for is “does the dealership actually care for their customer. Don’t judge someone on the issues they might have had. Instead, judge them on how they handle those issues.

Once you have identified a dealership you might want to work with, I would reach out to someone at that dealership. I get it, not everyone enjoys working with a salesman. But realistically a good sales consultant can really make your experience much more enjoyable! A good salesman should be somewhat knowledgeable about the product, but they need to be very knowledgeable about the ordering process. And please don’t get discouraged if you happen to have more statistics memorized about the truck than they do. Keep in mind they are trying to earn a living for their entire family. And that requires them to know about 15 Ford vehicles (give or take). And most of those vehicles have multiple trim levels and multiple engine choices. You get the point… It’s a LOT for one person to memorize. And with the power of the internet, you can find most information that you may need about Product Knowledge. What you really need is a person in your corner that can help you navigate the ordering process. Someone that isn’t afraid to tell you the hard truths about where you are in line. Someone that can help make recommendations to speed up your order. Such as removing certain options that may speed up the scheduling process.

Once you have identified the sales consultant you want to work with, you need to make sure that they will be willing to put whatever you agree on IN writing before confirming your order. I know what you are thinking…. “If I’m willing to sit and wait for my order, it should be understood that I’m buying the vehicle at MSRP.” Let me tell you this, If your agreement is not in writing, it never happened.

You see, Ford Dealerships are not owned by Ford Motor Company. Each dealership is a franchised business that is independently owned. Ford Motor Company cannot dictate what a dealership sells a vehicle for. That is why the window sticker says MSRP, which means Manufacturer’s SUGGESTED retail price. It doesn’t say Manufacturers Guaranteed Retail Price. All of this to say, if a dealership decides to sell a vehicle at a discounted price… they have that right. If the dealership decides to sell a vehicle above the MSRP they have that right as well.

Let me tell you what our dealership is doing. When we order a vehicle for a customer, we send a copy of the build sheet to the customer via docusign. In that document, it clearly states how the transaction will go down when the vehicle arrives. Here is the disclosure we have most of our customers sign… “I have read the options on this build sheet. The color and equipment are acceptable. I understand that by signing this form I acknowledge that the order has already been placed exactly as it is seen on this sheet. If the options on this document are incorrect, DO NOT SIGN IT! I also understand that I may not be able to change my order once this document has been signed. The pricing of this vehicle will be the total final MSRP from Ford Motor Company plus a $498 document fee, title application fee, your sales tax rate, and any (optional) accessories you would like to add to the vehicle. There will NOT be any “ADM’s” (additional dealer markups) applied to this transaction. By signing this form, you agree to take delivery of this vehicle within 14 days of it arriving at our dealership.”

If your dealer is hesitant to put something similar in writing, that might be a red flag!

Now let’s talk about some of the biggest misconceptions about the F-150 lightning.

Ford Motor Company debuted the F-150 Lightning on May 19, 2021. Since then, Ford Motor Company has taken right at 200,000 reservations! That is great news because it proves that the world just may be ready to take electrification to the next level. There is a downside to such a successful launch. If you are late to the reservation game, it may be a while before you get your hands on a Lightning (at sticker anyways). Due to the demand, Ford Motor company will not let you place a new reservation or an order for an F150 lightning. At First, Ford Motor Company only planned to sell this vehicle in very small quantities. After some leadership decisions and some large investments, Ford is now planning on upping the production of the F-150 Lightnings. Their end goal is to average about 12,500 trucks each month. It will take Ford until mid 2023 to hit those production targets. But for the sake of this example, let’s pretend that they can build those quantities starting in July of 2022. It’ll still take them 16 months to work through the current reservations, and that is assuming they never take another fresh order!

With that being said, the dealership doesn’t get to decide who gets one and who doesn’t. If you already have a reservation, you must wait until Ford sends you an email inviting you to place the order. At the time that I’m making this video, there is nothing that a dealer can do to speed up the process of you receiving that invitation to order. But when you do get that order invitation, you might want to be careful about how you option the truck. There are still massive supply chain issues across the globe and Ford is not immune to those issues. I believe that if you can spec the vehicle in a way that is easy for Ford to build it, you stand a better chance of getting scheduled for production. Ford is estimating that the number one ordered trim level will be the Lariat with the Extended Range battery pack. If you are in a hurry to get an F150 lightning, you may want to consider aligning your order with the options Ford thinks will be the most popular. That way you will have a much better chance at getting selected for production.

All of our allocations for the 22 model Lightning are already ordered and scheduled for Production. So it is too late to get a 2022. But that’s not a massive issue because the 2022 model is a short year for the Lightning.

Let’s pretend for a second that you don’t have a reservation or an order YET. You might be wondering “When can I order a 2023 Lightning.” The correct answer is, I don’t know. Ford Motor Company wants to keep that information close to their chest. But if you would like to reach out to one of our sales consultants, we will be glad to put you on a list to be the first to get notified. You can reach us at 205-491-0000. And don’t worry. We are going to continue selling all of our F-150 Lightning orders at MSRP with ZERO dollars in Mark Up!

We have had a lot of customers asking us about customers who back out on their orders saying, “If another customer passes on their lightning can I have theirs if it is my turn in line?” The short answer is that it won’t happen with our dealership. Since we are actually honoring our word – selling the truck at MSRP, most customers that don’t want the Lightning will realize how hot the market is and they will likely resell it themselves as a used vehicle. And they will probably make a hefty profit too. But who knows what the future markets will look like. I’m just telling you what most of our customers who ordered a Bronco are doing, because we are selling all of our Bronco orders at MSRP as well.

Another question we get all the time is, “Can I sell my reservation to someone else?” Absolutely not. You see, Ford Motor Company has a process put in place to make sure that the customer who orders the vehicle is the customer who gets the vehicle. If a dealer starts violating that process on a regular basis, they can get into big trouble. You might be able to talk other dealerships into “selling reservations”, but we won’t allow it because we are determined to do it the “right” way.

So what happens if “I haven’t placed a reservation or an order for a Lightning, but I’m in a huge hurry to get one”?

If that is you… you don’t have a lot of options to get one quickly. The only chance you’ll have to get an early Lightning is by finding one “on the lot.” And most dealers will likely price those vehicles way over MSRP. There isn’t much you can do. But I do have one idea… show your loyalty. What I’m trying to say is that if you have a previous relationship with your local dealer, I would rely heavily on that. Show them how many vehicles you have purchased from them in the past. Show that dealer how many times you have taken your vehicle into service. If you can get a hold of a decision maker at that dealership, you might be able to talk them into selling their Lightning at MSRP.

Also keep in mind that each EV certified Ford Dealership, will receive one dealer demo unit. Ford is calling this their Mannequin vehicle. This vehicle is intended to SHOW customers what the F-150 Lightning is, and how good it is. Ford Motor Company makes each of those dealers keep that vehicle in their inventory for 6 months! Once the 6 months is up, the dealer can sell it to whoever they want. Knowing that they will have to sell this vehicle one day, most dealers (including us) will want to keep the miles off of the demo unit. However, if you are a current reservation holder at our dealership we welcome you to come in for a test drive! Reach out to your sales consultant for more details!