Short Bed Availability

[agoldbach]

Gentlemen, I recently inquired a local dealer about a price on a new 3500 CTD. I want a short bed and this is the reply I recieved:



"My name is David Aldus. I am the internet manager here at Tri-City Dodge. Thank-you for your e-mail about the 3500. Heres the scoop. You can only get the single wheel 3500 diesel in a long box. Is this going to work for you? Let me know and I will price it out. Also are you self employed and have a tax ID ? Do you belong to the farmers bureau? I ask these question because there is other rebate money available and I want to give you exact pricing. Let me know. "



My question for my fellow TDR members: I thought we could get the short bed and 3500. Was I just not paying attention and has it always bee like this, or is he full of crap like most dealers are?



Please let me know.



Thanks, Adam

 

[Steve G]

You can get a 3500 SRW SB!!!! I took delivery of mine last week.

I think he screwed it up. You can only get the DRW (dually) in a long bed.



Steve

 

[agoldbach]

Thanks Steve,

That's what I thought. I just found a 3500 SRW/SB on ebay. Dealers are idiots for the most part. This will be my first CTD and I feel like a little kid a weekbefore Christmas! Thanks for the input.

Adam

 

[codyc]

I also just took delivery of a 3500 SB SRW. What fools some dealers are.

 

[agoldbach]

The saga continues...

Here is my e-mail traffic from this local dealer here in NH, starting with my reply to his e-mail which I posted above.



"David,

First, Let me thank you for the timely response. Secondly, I think you should check again. You can only get the Dual rear wheel in long bed. The SRW 3500 is available. Check the below posting on ebay. That is the exact truck I want except different color. I am not self employed, and I am looking into joining the farm bureau. But for the sake of pricing, don't figure the $500. 00 Farm Bureau rebate in when you get me the quote. Let me know what you come up with.

Very Respectfully, Adam "



"http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2403481974&cat



His response to me:



"Good Morning Adam



I understand what you see on e-bay. I can only tell you what Chrysler allows us to order. The short bed 3500 in a single rear wheel package is not available.

You can go to Chrysler's web page and check it out. Yesterday when I went to built your truck It does not offer this. Adam what I did do is price out the long bed. With all the equipment you want the MSRP comes to $41190. Invoice is 36817. 00. Currently there is $1500 rebate. So if you decide on the long bed on a order and you are willing to give me a 500 dollar profit your cost would be 35817. 00. If the rebate increased before your truck came in you would receive the addition money. Stay in touch Adam and let me know what you would like me to do.

David"





Can you all offer me some insight which I may use to move this dealer off top dead center? Why would he not be able to order a 3500 SRW? I went to the damn Dodge website and configured the exact truck I wanted, then sent him the invoice I printed from the website.



Here is my last reply to him:



"David,

Good morning to you as well! I want to make sure that you understand that I am not attempting to be difficult, I just think that there is some misinformation happening here. I went to the dodge website (www.dodge.com) and was able to configure the exact truck that I want. I have attached the printed invoice to show you. The question I have is can I order the truck without putting money down, or do you require a deposit. Second, Can I use the 1500. 00 rebate as part of my down payment? Third, Just to make sure, I am allowed to inspect the vehicle before I accept delivery and can decline if there is a problem correct? Finally, I have not taken any test drives yet and thought I could come by on the weekend sometime and try them out if you will be around. The bottom line is that I need a short wheel base 3500, Quad cab. I am POSITIVE that they are available and I hope we can find the disconnect here. I look forward to hearing from you.

V/R Adam"



Finally, here is the last e-mail I received from him:



" Adam I do not think you are being difficult. If you come in this weekend to test drive, I do have a 3500 to test drive, then I will show you the ordering guide. Sometime dodge plans to release something an post it and it never happens. To answer your other questions. You are never required to take delivery of a vehicle from our dealership unless it is exactly what you order without problems. Yes you may use the 1500 as a down payment. We do usually ask for a deposit on a order vehicle. It can be on a credit card and we will credit it back upon delivery if you want. This again can be discuss when you come in. Again thanks for the response and I hope to see you this weekend.

David"



I may go by this weekend, but dealing with this guy doesn't give me much hope. Please help me with what I should do.



Thanks!!!

Adam

 

[DodgeSales]

Yes I agree, they are available!

I guess there are allot of unknowable sales people out there.

Just as a note I am a Fleet/Commercial Sales Manager for Dodge Trucks, Almost 10 years, Have owned three myself have bombed one and waiting to bomb my current one, as a service to TDR Members I can get you a great deal on a great truck just the way you want it. I will do everything I should to make the buying experience Great Too. I can not post prices as to the forum restrictions. PM me, or e-mail, or call toll free 1-800 382-1436 Please call me with any questions, or just to chat.

All Dealers are not Stealer's!

We are straight up no BS

George Sellers

CVM Motors (Dodge)

Mechanicsburg, Pa 17050

Fleet/Commercial Sales Manager

TDR Member

NHRA Member (yes I race)

NRA Member

MDTDR Member

 

[David Muench]

Just be armed with the facts.



Here are the facts.



You can get a short bed 3500, but only as a quad cab. When you do that, it's a single rear wheel, and there's no option for dually. It's just standard single rear wheel. This is what I have, BTW. Oh, and the Cummins SO comes standard. You can't get it with a Hemi or V-10. That's why the base price is so much higher than you might expect.



You can't get a short bed dually of any kind.



You can't get a short bed regular cab.



So either you've got a communication problem and he's trying to order one of the unavailable versions above, or he's just a dummy that can't work the dodge order system.



If he can't figure it out, I'd just let him know (politely if possible) that you'll have to take your business to a dealer who knows how to operate their ordering computer. If that doesn't light a fire under them, go elsewhere. There's plenty of pictures of my 3500 quad cab short box SRW in the link in my signature if you need more proof.

 

[loncray]

My money is on the salesmonkey trying to order a REGULAR CAB short bed - not available in 3500. I didn't see the words Quad Cab mentioned anyplace in the postings - only looking at EBay showed it to me. Maybe you should try emphasizing the Quad Cab part of your order and have him try again? If it really is a Regular cab short bed you want - you're out of luck.

 

[agoldbach]

I was just reading the string I started here and I realized that I should have let my anger subside before posting. I apologize to those of you who are dealers on this board. I was a bit harsh in stating that dealers were idiots for the most part. I should not have made such a generalization. I appreciate all of your help, and I may have to send my business to those dealers who read this board and have helped me. Thanks again for all of your advice!

Adam

 

[DodgeSales]

Adam, If I can do anything to help just let me know.

George

 

[VietDoc]

Regarding price..... $500 over invoice is too much IMHO. I went to 2 dealers and asked for their best price. Then went to the one nearest to my home and told him I shopped a couple of others dealerships. He was up-front and said they beat those two and others all the time. I had one for $300 UNDER and 2 at $500 UNDER invoice. And I get to keep all the rebates... Currently $2000 from Dodge plus $500 FB.



What this "David" is not telling you is there is DC holdback of 3% from invoice less destination charge from the dealer until the truck is sold. The holdback is about $1,000 to $1,100. So the real invoice is less than he is quoting you. If you go to www.kbb.com (Kelly Blue Book) it will give you the MSRP and the fake invoice. I got $500 under the fake invoice and the dealer is making $500 of which $100 goes to the salesman. The dealer here is fairly new and discounting all vehicles for 2 reasons: 1)Sales are slow so they are trying to keep the inventory moving and they are building a large customer base for the service bays.



It sounds like David is trying to make $1500 off you and not $500.



For $1000 you could fly to Utah and drive a new truck home. Another option I understand is to buy the truck from another dealer and have the truck shipped to you. You would still be $$ ahead than paying $500 over invoice.



btw Our '03 is a Quad 4x4 Short Bed, Single Rear Wheel. If "David" won't help go someplace else.



If you need more info send me an e-mail

doc

 

[Prairie Dog]

When I bought my truck the dealer started at $1000 below the so-called invoice, that was before the haggling started. This was at Monroe Dodge in WA. state. The only problem is that their service dept is so bad I wouldn't go there again. The Diesel mech is ok but the manager is impossible to deal with.

 

[krabman]

Just an FYI, the price on kkb is the correct invoice price. It will exactly (outside of typing errors or outdated info etc... )match the actual dealer invoice. They dont list the holdback on the page where you price it out but do mention it elsewhere on the site. When you get the invoice in your hands all the numbers will match and the last option on the list (just as if it were an option such as heated seats) will be the actual cost of the holdback and it is listed as just that... dealer holdback. If you didnt see it on an invoice you were shown then you were not shown the real invoice. Not an uncommon practice. This still will not tell you the cost of a vehicle since the dealer gets many unpublished incentives that reduce the "real" cost. Still arming yourself with as much information as possible will help you get the best price from the dealer.

 

[klenger]

Unless it's changed receintly, the prices on the websites do not include local advertising that Dodge charges the dealers. It varies from location to location. The dealers have to pay it, and so do you. Many shoppers get irate with the dealers when they see these charges, and don't want to pay them.

 

[rbattelle]

Why is it MY fault that the dealer has advertisements? I'm not going there because I saw an Ad, I'm going there because I'm a consciencious consumer who does his homework.



Also, I have not been seeing invoices with the dealer holdback specified on them. They have been giving me what appears to be the printout from the ordering system. Should I press the dealer for the more complete invoice suggested by krabman?