I’m considering purchase of a single GMC 4 door Yukon in a year or two and I’m looking to save money but buy new. I can’t seem to find much about fleet sales and if I’d really do any better.

I don’t want, or want to pay for, all the goodies. I just want a 4x4 with towing package.

Are you looking for a dozen or just one? Typically dealers will have a person on staff to handle fleet sales. This includes bidding on rfp's for multivehicle purchases or handling business accounts that have a fleet of vehicles and buy in bulk.

Just one. I’m trying to avoid the dealers until I have as much info as I can.

You might try Carmax

Shop around for dealers who will process a custom order at minimal markup.

Another route is find a dealer that specializes in used fleet vehicles. Some are ragged. Some are really lightly used. You just have to shop.

Might look over inventory from car rentals.

PC

“I’m looking to save money but buy new” so it sounds like he wants a new one.


I don’t know where “west” is (your location), but there are a couple of dealerships in the San Antonio area that have fleet/commercial sales departments. Ancira Winton Chevrolet on Wurzbach is one of them. Ancira Buick-GMC in Boerne is another. We bought a Suburban through the fleet sales dept at their Chevy dealership several years ago.

You’ll do a ton of searching and finding very few that you won’t be dealing with a dealer of some sort.
Avis is about the only one I know of that does much in the sales of their own fleet.

My 2016 Expedition was an Enterprise Fleet vehicle I bought through a local dealership.

Have you looked at the Expeditions??? I’ll take the Expedition over a Yukon or Suburban any day. Seats are way more comfortable, ride is just as good in my non air assist self leveling Expedition as the inlaws super fancy Suburban. The Ecoboost motor is a beast. Plus you’ll be about 5-7k cheaper than a similarly equipped Yukon/Suburban.

Mine is an XLT with no options other than a moon roof and 4x4.

when you're about 30-45 days from buying, contact the internet manager (not fleet manager) at 5-6 dealers, telling them you are ready to purchase and ask for their best price on your specifications. Let them know you are contacting several other dealers, but are going to buy this vehicle from one of them.

Before you do this, do all the shopping and get your ducks in a row on exactly what you want and don't want, do your test drives, etc. The actual shopping once you know what you want can be done mostly via e-mail.

We buy a new vehicle every 12-18 months and have learned this is the way to save time, frustration, and get a good (but perhaps not the best) deal. If you really enjoy grinding the dealers, forget about internet and go in and do your thing , planning to spend a day or two fucking around with multiple people at the dealer.

Make sure you de-couple your trade-in and financing from the price of the new car.

i am not a new car guy. But based on your post I do not think you are going to find a way to save much money. My guess is go to a couple of dealers at the end of the month. If they have what you want. Chances are one of them will want to move it and that is about the best price than can be had. My take anyways.

If you truly want the best price, I'd recommend figuring out the specific vehicle options you want and going to a broker with those specs and the price you want to pay. The broker will search far and wide, negotiating for you, then report back once they've found the best deal for you. I paid $300 to get my Taurus for less than invoice with all the options I wanted and some additional ones thrown in for free in two days after hiring my broker.

I’d actually prefer a Ford but I’d rather have a non turbo motor at this point. Though, I did enjoy the F150 3.5L I tested.

However, what I’m seeing is fleet vehicles aren’t much cheaper or any easier to buy. Maybe I’m using the term wrong. I’m looking at a work truck package with a couple options.

It actually looks like another Toyota Tundra Grade model like I have is the best value. I was looking at a full size SUV though. I can buy a new Tundra for only about $6000 more than I paid for my last Tundra brand new for a similar truck.

Thanks all!

Bigger towns have dealership lots that are strictly commercial sales. I first noticed or paid attention, when I saw about 40 white standard cab 8' bed p/u on a lot. There were several vans that fit the profile too.

You might get a dealer to piggyback your truck on a large purchase they are doing.

I bought an XL model a couple years ago. It was like searching for Bigfoot. I have no proof but my experience tells me there are 400 XLT models stocked for every XL model. I would have found something sooner had I wanted a F-250/350.

quote:

Originally posted by Riley:
I’d actually prefer a Ford but I’d rather have a non turbo motor at this point. Though, I did enjoy the F150 3.5L I tested.

However, what I’m seeing is fleet vehicles aren’t much cheaper or any easier to buy. Maybe I’m using the term wrong. I’m looking at a work truck package with a couple options.

It actually looks like another Toyota Tundra Grade model like I have is the best value. I was looking at a full size SUV though. I can buy a new Tundra for only about $6000 more than I paid for my last Tundra brand new for a similar truck.

Thanks all!

What is the particular reason you are not interested in the Ecoboost?

I’m not sold on the reliability of the EcoBoost yet.

quote:

Originally posted by Riley:
I’m not sold on the reliability of the EcoBoost yet.

True that the Vortec motors in the GMs have been going at it a long time. I have a 2000 5.3 Silverado goingbstrong. They aren’t without their flaws but the 3.5L has been around for almost 8 years now in multiple platforms with plenty of specimens going well past 200k. No inherently serious issues.
I was skeptical too, I even posted it about it a bit here back before I bought. I did a ton of reading before committing to the Ecoboost instead of going a little older for the 5.4L.
I am quite happy with my choice so far and hope to stay that way, but just in case I bought from a place that offered a lifetime powertrain warranty.

We have bought two cars through Enterprise rental cars and both have lasted over 100k without anything more than standard maintenance

Here's a quick listing of Yukon's available since I don't know where you are..

https://www.enterprisecarsales...asc?campaignid=offer

Back in the day, I worked with the same fleet salesman for both my 2002 Chevy Avalanche and 2004 Suburban. I bought new.

I got a good deal on both. He told me besides fleet sales, they can do individual sales to boost their sales numbers. Both were stress free endeavors.

Just call the deanship and ask for a fleet salesman. That's what I did.

I hope what I am about to say is not offensive. But if you are looking for a new vehicle in a year of two you are wasting your time. What might be available for sale at that point in time, its price etc. is simply not known. And cannot be known. NO dealer on the planet can sell you a vehicle that is not available.
OK having said that. The best way to buy a vehicle is to be ready to buy one. Like right now. This is a business that runs on monthly numbers. Fleet sales is not applicable, unless you have a business with a fleet account to run it through. Go to the GM site, configure what you want. Oddly you can't send that directly to dealers. Go to 3-5 dealers with that info. You can do that by email or fax, but I prefer face to face as I like to make sure they know I am not window shopping. Tell them you are buying or ordering a vehicle this week once you have competitive offers, Like today, but not till you have 3-5 offers in hand. Your challenge is that you can order what you want, but there may be something close on the lot, so you have to evaluate that.
If negotiating things is not your personality as was suggested a broker may be useful, but otherwise its wasted money.