For those of you who are into trucks and buy / trade quite often....where do you find your best deals? How do you prefer to purchase? New from dealership? Used from dealership? Used from individual? Buddy that has wholesale license? I have found good deals on guns, tractors, land, etc.......but I seem to have a difficult time finding “good deals” on trucks. Any secrets? Something I don’t know?

Lots of variables.. Keeping forever? Buy new. Trading every 2 years? Buy used.

The internet has significantly aided the buyer and not the dealer. Too easy to shop 200 trucks in an hour.

Do your homework on comparable vehicles and you'll do well. My only advice is that pencils are sharper at the end of the month..

Look for high volume vehicle dealers.!!.They are looking to make the money on the back end... financing, ext warranty, accessories etc...2 Ford places that I usually deal with are Grapevine and Whitesboro Ford...I have a good friend that works at a big Dealer in Dallas and when I buy a new truck, he is always astonished at the price I buy them for...Last sticker price of mine was 75.9.. Walked out buying it for 62.5

High volume dealers, shop at the end of the model year and last years model after the new years model is already out if you can.

Used vrs. new is always a debate. Seems like to me lately that used vehicle prices have gone just as crazy as new.

I’m not a guy to spend hours pouring over internet pricing, but I’ve always gotten my best deals in September.

In sept. 2015 I bought a new 2015 Z71 Crew Cab LTZ with a sticker price of $53k for $41,500 out the door. It has 300 miles on it and they wanted it moved.

Bought my current truck in September as well and saved about $10k vs. what I had been quoted in Months prior

Best deal was a 2008 F250 Lariat 4x4. Sticker showed $56k and the internet sales lady said she would do it that day for $31k because it’s been there 9 months. With trade in and TT&L I was out the door at $22k. Traded it in 4 years later and the dealer gave me $30k trade in value.

Once I leased a 1996 Toyota Tacoma extra cab V6 4 wheel drive with every option including Chrome light bar, nerf bars and brush guard. Charged myself 110% of sticker, then wrote myself a check back for all of the profit and used it as a down payment on a house. Then sold the truck 1 year later for 2k more than the payoff.

I find that if I stick to a place I get a better deal over time. I tend to by used vehicles from the dealership in their brand (in other words a Ford from the Ford dealer, not the used Ram they have there). Two things happen, they know I am a serious buyer and they hope I will use them for service. I usually have 3 vehicles at once to accommodate my needs. One is always a 4X4 pickup. I print the KBB "scale" from the internet for what I want to purchase and I print one for what I want to trade-in if applicable. I then correspond with a few dealers regarding what they will give me for trade and what the "new' vehicle will cost me. I take this information to the dealer of my choice and show them straight up. I tell them they need to give more for the trade and be less on the purchase if they want to retain my business. I remind them how many vehicles I have bought from them as well as the one I didn't because they wouldn't make the best deal, and I remind them who I referred to them for a vehicle purchase (whether they bought or not). I try to use the same salesperson (if they are there). Most of the time this has been successful and I got made a purchase that I felt was fair and the best I could do. On occasion I have walked. I usually wait a few days and get a call from the saleman or manager asking if I bought yet and what they can do to get my business. I tell them the whole thing again and leave it to them to give me the deal I want. That has worked all but once, and I did buy somewhere else. I remind them of that too. Don't rush, don't buy compulsively and don't be shy about sticking to your guns but always be patient and polite. Speak to the manager yourself if you aren't getting anywhere and in a privately owned dealership don't be afraid to ask for the owner directly.

I read that if you buy at the end of the month, they are more willing to work with you on price to get the deal to happen so they can meet their quota. Later in the day will also get them to work harder to make the deal since they want to go home and you are their last hope of the day to make that happen.

Here in Tyler, the dealers have a captive market and they are not willing to negotiate. I've tried multiple times since they are so close to me, but it's always been a waste of time.

Last two vehicles that I bought, I spent some time online looking up what's available and deciding exactly what I wanted. Once I make that decision, I start looking for that vehicle online. Posted prices for dealerships vary all over the place. I print out the lowest priced ones and tried to get my local dealer to match that. They said they couldn't and that it was a trick. I went to the closest dealer with the best price, which was in Rowlett, and told them that I wanted to buy a truck, but that their price was a little higher then the guy down the road another half hour. They played their games and tried to add a bunch to the agreed to price, but I just kept telling them that for a couple grand, I'm more then willing to drive half an hour. In the end, well into the night, the deal was made and I got my truck for thousands less then my local dealer and a grand less then their internet price.

I find that most of my money is made on my trade in. For the most part I always buy new as I don't find the value in buying used. Especially the last four to five years. The used market is tough. I am not a mechanic, prefer the warranty, and don't really have time to be inconvenienced with repairs. That being said in the past I have traded every two years or so and that has seem to run its course. The price of a good pickup is insane. I shopped a few months back and deciding to keep driving what I have.

I try to get a new truck every 4 years. The one I trade in will have less than 40K miles on it and not be beat up and have been garage kept. I look at Blue Book and other sites to see what it is worth. Then look at what I want costs at different dealers. Figure out what I will give and go from there. After they tell me what it will cost me I tell them what I will give. If they won't do the deal I start playing one dealer against the other. It becomes a game and in the end I usually get the truck for about what I figured it was going to cost.

I would say new. I tried to buy a used Tacoma back in 2009 and new ended up being a better deal. When I asked for a 10% discount off their asking price they started crying. When I bought my Tundra I went to the same dealer that I bought 2 Tacomas from. The sales director that I bought my last Tacoma from had just moved back from Oregon to run it. I had them down to bottom dollar on Tundra and then whipped out a customer loyalty post card that I thought would get me a further discount. They said they were as low as they could go. I said this customer loyalty card is not worth the paper it is printed on. They let me walk over $1000. Now I had a good target to shoot for. I got on the internet and just started making offers on trucks online. Finally one internet sales dude said yes. 8 months prior I was talking to a guy in Mount Pleasant. He was promising to beat anybody. When it came time to deliver I found he was just blowing smoke. I had been texting and talking to the dude for a couple of months.

In 2012, I traded a loaded 2010 FJ Cruiser with +40K miles for a basic brand new Toyota Tundra for no difference in value. I drove the Cruiser for those 40k miles for $4,000 dollars difference between initial purchase price of the Cruiser and the price of the new Tundra. Only time I ever felt like I came out a head of the game. Actually ended up walking out with a new truck, 16K check in equity from the cruiser that I used to buy a new boat. Truck loan was about 6% lower than what the boat loan would have been.

I generally buy new and keep vehicles until the wrecking yard doesn't want them. That said, I have no idea how to buy a new one and later figure out that I could have done better. Next time, I promise that I'll do some research. And, where is that class on how to buy a car?
I have been driving Toyotas for awhile. My 2010 Tundra has about 150,000 miles on it and seems fine. However, I won't buy another one. Even the new ones, according to the stickers, get about 14 mpg. That adds a lot to the price of ownership.

Two best deals, albeit a little different from each other.

1.) Bought my wife a Yukon and me a 2500 at the same time. I scouted a couple different dealerships, and their eyes lit up when I told them I wanted two vehicles. Got them down to their lowest dollar and then made them compete against each other. Came back with KBB on my trade in and they laughed and low balled me. Pulled out my Manheim sheet and called them on their BS. Ended up getting roughly 30k off sticker between the two trucks plus an extra 5k on my trade in compared to where we started.

2.) Bought my wife a brand new body style navigator last year. No one would budge off sticker, but I had preferred pricing through vendor relationships. One dealer said no one would take it, but found another dealer who took it. Got 7k off sticker and was the first one in Dallas with one of the new body styles. Needless to say, I sent the other dealer an email letting him know that he should stop using absolutes like never, always, no one, etc. when working with customers.

I just got 15000 off the striker price on a new Dodge 2500 diesel.

yep, end of the model year and end of the month. Find what you want on dealers lot and start making what you think are lowball offers. You might be surprised. When I bought my Tundra the first dealer I dealt with was at their bottom. They let me walk over $1k so I did. It got kind of ugly when I told them I was selling my Tacoma myself and they said "good luck with that". Then they told me they would not honor the customer loyalty discount on the card they had just sent me. That was the final straw. I stewed over it for awhile and then started making offers on the stock vehicles on the internet. I ended up with 15% off MSRP on a Tundra which is definitely above average.

15% off of a Toyota is really good, especially a Tundra.
I got 13.3% off my '18 Tundra at the end of Dec '17 and thought I did pretty good.

Yep, RAM has some pretty good offers right now.

Since I sold my travel trailer in early 2017, I have not needed my 2500 to pull much, so decided to downsize back to a 1/2 ton. Went in the past weekend, well researched on value of my trade and what I wanted to replace it, and started haggling. I walked original deal from Moritz in FTW as they were about $2,000 away. Went second to Autonation and dealt with salesman who in the past has gotten my business on two Jeeps and two pickups. For some reason, he wasn't willing to haggle as much this time, so I called Moritz back and offered to meet them halfway. They agreed and I went down and picked up a SWEET 2019.

Be well informed when entering the door, and stick to your guns. My wife learned many years not to go car shopping with me. She does not like the back and forth.

Buying older used trucks, facebook marketplace, offerup, and still good ol craigslist.

Most recently i bought a 2008 ram quadcab for $5,000 cash, only 160,000 miles and runs like a champ, from a dealer in Dallas.

Before that I drove a '99 F150 I pocked up 3-4 years ago for $2,000 on craigslist.

I have had good luck so far. Buy cash cars and try to runn em into the ground. Haven't succeeded yet

One of the best tools to use in negotiating a price, is being willing to walk away. Another tip is do not become emotionally attached to any vehicle. There are many to chose from. Final tip is that a good deal is made when you buy a vehicle you like, at a price you think is fair.

I hate buying vehicle and tend to keep mine a long time because of it.

Me too. I buy new and drive them until the wrecking yard doesn't want it.

Truck I just bought I never stepped foot into the dealer til I was signing papers. Called 4-5 and let them fight it out over price and then had a few rebates they didn’t know about through work and insurance. Let them get the number I wanted without the help of those. Took me the better part of a month plus but I wasn’t in a hurry whatsoever and the came down over $15k from where we started.

I internet shop to find the best dealer price and then show up to haggle more. Except this last time. Wife wanted a 2020 Kia Telluride. Yea I never thought I would step foot in a Kia dealer either but we bought one. Just a few cubic feet smaller than a Tahoe and easily $10k less than a comparable Tahoe- even when paying near MSRP for the Kia.

I must say...the Kia Telluride has impressed me.