How to Buy a 2021 Ford Bronco At a Discount, No Haggling Required

You’ve probably heard of auto employee discounts at new car dealerships before. Sometimes carmakers run “everyone gets employee pricing” promotions. But there are actually a few ways you can participate in these employee pricing plans without being an actual employee, a relative of an employee, or working at a company supplier. And with the new 2021 Ford Bronco‘s debut getting fans excited even while the 4×4’s $100 reservation system doesn’t prevent dealer markups, we’re going to tell you about a Ford employee discount program that’s available to (nearly) everyone: Ford X-Plan.

There are some hoops to jump through in order to get X-Plan eligibility—it’s not a magic word that unlocks lower pricing simply by uttering it. But before we tell you how to get it, what is X-Plan? It’s a fixed pricing plan based on dealer invoice price (the price a dealer pays for a new vehicle), so there’s no haggling. Ford and Lincoln models that are eligible for X-Plan pricing use the following formula to determine the final sale price:

Ford: (Dealer Invoice Price) – (0.4% * Dealer Invoice Price) + ($275 Administration Fee) = X-Plan Price

Lincoln: (Dealer Invoice Price) – (0.4% * Dealer Invoice Price) + ($275 Administration Fee) = X-Plan Price

Because of the way the math works, X-Plan pricing is generally pretty close to the invoice price, and also the discount is more impressive the more expensive the vehicle’s invoice is. For a hot vehicle like the 2021 Bronco, it should give buyers the ability to buy for well under MSRP, rather than paying MSRP or more—which could mean huge real-world savings for buyers who want a Bronco close to launch, when demand will be the highest.

So how do you get it? And just to clarify the terminology, X-Plan participants generate “PINs” to get discounts on vehicles. The easiest way to get a PIN is to work at, or be married to someone who works at, Ford or one of its approved supplier or fleet companies. Every employee or eligible partner employee can create a limited number of X-Plan PINs per calendar year—check the plan details for specifics.

Ford and Lincoln also extend this benefit to members of certain organizations and groups. The one that’s best known for providing X-Plan pricing as a benefit is Mustang Club of America. If you purchase a membership—currently $25 for one year—and then wait 60 days, you can generate an X-Plan “PIN” to give to the dealer. Currently, Mustang Club doesn’t require anything other than payment and registration to become a member—Mustang ownership isn’t required. If you don’t know a Ford employee or supplier, this is going to be the best bet.

There is another way, and this one will probably appeal most to people who already own some Ford stock. If you own 100 shares of Ford (at the time of this writing, less than $7 per share), and you hold the shares for 6 months, you can participate in the Shareholder X-Plan by following the process outlined in this document (PDF file). Check the plan details for specifics. Because of the cost, and the wait time, this will be less attractive to people looking to get a deal on a new Bronco than the Mustang Club process, but if you already own the stock this could be a good option.

Outside of X-Plan, there are other Ford discount plans. Ford employees can use A-Plan pricing, which is even more heavily discounted. Z-Plan offers the same pricing to Ford retirees. D-Plan is for Ford dealer employees and their family, and it’s $100 more than A-Plan—still a great deal. But, if you fall into any of these categories, you probably are already aware of the incredible discounts you’re eligible for. X-Plan is still a great deal for those who are eligible, and might be the ticket to unlock big savings on a vehicle that would otherwise sell for more than MSRP.

One last note: There are X-Plan exclusions, and the plan is subject to changes, so check the fine print before moving forward—and check with your preferred dealer. Some vehicles are excluded. The list of excluded models is available after logging into the Ford Partner site using a valid Partner code. It’s our understanding that the 2021 Ford Bronco First Edition is excluded from X-Plan pricing, and we’re working to confirm that with Ford. We’ll update this post when we get that confirmation.

This article has been updated to remove some outdated plan information.

The post How to Buy a 2021 Ford Bronco At a Discount, No Haggling Required appeared first on MotorTrend.