How to locate truck I want

[Harry V]

I am looking for a new 2003 3500 4X4 SWB SLT HO 6 speed with 3:73 rear.



Local dealer can't find one nearby (Long Island) How can I go about searching without having to go dealer by dealer on the Dodge page?

 

[VStahl]

If distance is not an issue for you, Bonham Chrysler in Bonham, Texas has great prices on their trucks and a very large inventory on the lot. Bought mine a few months ago and the choices were near endless.

 

[GregSmith]

You can go to the Dodge website and search dealer's inventory. You can find dealers by name, city and state or zip code. It gives you the ability to pull up the window sticker on any truck sorted by class (1500, 2500, or 3500) and by major equipment group (SLT or Laramie). Good hunting!

 

[gsbrockman]

Originally posted by GregSmith

You can go to the Dodge website and search dealer's inventory. You can find dealers by name, city and state or zip code. It gives you the ability to pull up the window sticker on any truck sorted by class (1500, 2500, or 3500) and by major equipment group (SLT or Laramie). Good hunting!

This is true, but I believe it will only give you results of Five Star Dealers. There's a lot of dealers that have decent inventory but are not Five Star Dealers.

Greg

 

[DPKetchum]

Thought ALL D. C. dealers were 5 STAR! LOL!!!!!:--)

 

[Pit Bull]

Buy this one and get over $9200 off MSRP.



http://www.meltonsales.com/cgi-bin/melton.cgi?run=listproductdetailed&key=330579#

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I think you're going to find there are VERY few new '03s left anywhere. With the great incentives they'll be gone before you know it. I was amazed our local dealer sold their last one a month ago and they're not known for moving inventory very fast. Might consider going with an '04 because there will be a lot more selection plus there is time to order exactly what you want before EGR kicks in. Plus the incentives on the '04s are very good too.



Vaughn

 

[Tony T.]

VStahl: I'm glad to see you got a good deal at Bonham, I went there three times with no luck. But that is nothing so surprizing, a friend of mine got his best deal at Greenville. I guess it's how much you deal with salesman and the right time of the month for them. I searched McKinney, Bonham, Greenville, Sherman, Grapevine, Frisco, Dallas, couple places in Oklahoma, Rockwall and finally found the truck I was looking far and price in Terrell at Randall Noe. But I'm a tight wad anyway!

 

[JWChessell]

Harry V:



This is how I did it last July, after I wearied of searching the Dodge website state-by-state, city-by-city and dealer-by-dealer. I began calling fleet managers at different dealerships until I found one who had some sympathy with my search for a particular truck -- I actually eventually found two such fleet managers, in different states.



They each used the internal Dodge inventory computer system in the same manner as they would have if they were searching for a truck to "trade for", and then drive back to their own dealership and sell to me. The system will show what vehicles are actually ON dealers lots in the dealers' own inventory-for-sale (not trucks that have been specially ordered by customers). It will NOT show trucks that have been (were) ordered by a dealer for their own inventory but have not yet arrived at the dealer's lot.



Any dealer can search this system on any radius they choose, up-to-and-including the whole country. They can inquire for specific features so the system will limit its responses to vehicles that match the inquiry. In my case "white 3500 QC SRW 4X2 3. 73 auto trans, Laramie interior. " Each of the two fleet managers that helped me found the same five trucks -- one each in So. Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, Texas and Oklahoma. I began negotiating with those five dealers, and bought the one in Oklahoma on July 29th.



This requires a certain amount of "BS'ing" on the phone, as you have to get the fleet manager to "buy into" your problem, even though they aren't going to get anything out of it unless by some happenstance they have the truck you're looking for. After I closed the deal in Oklahoma, I sent each of those two fleet managers a bottle of booze -- I figured they would find a good use for it one way or another -- and I may want their help again in the future.



Two dealerships that I KNOW have a LARGE number of '03 trucks on their lots, because I have been at each of them, are Chaprell Dodge in Ada, Oklahoma -- Fleet Manager Art Chapman, 1-800-880-2427; and Thomas Dodge in Bend, Oregon -- Fleet Manager Greg Thiessen, 1-888-783-3031.