:doh:In my research and desperation trying to find a Patriot with FDII I found this site. Can anyone shed some light as to the reason that Jeep dealers in the tri-state area have no FDII's in stock? I find this very curious. I do know that they are flush with Liberty's and Grand Cherokees so I'm wondering if it might be a conscious decision at the corporate level.:confused:

Also if I go into the dealership and place an order for one can I expect to pay a premium for it or will I be able to negotiate normally?

Has nothing to do with corporate
Has to do with what the dealership orders,
They believe they can turn over fdI and 4x2's much faster than they can a fdII,
So they will order 1 fdII for every 10 non fdII's
Much the same way its harder and harder to find manual cars on lots over auto's.

Welcome to the site.

I ordered a 2011 4X4 M5 Latitude in Mineral Grey Metallic w/ All Weather and Tow groups (non-FDII). Invoice + TTL, minus rebates. I purchased the MOPAR roof rack crossbars and cargo cover from the parts counter. I got what I wanted.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/261852_1808431056118_1400212990_31514756_4782893_n .jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227137_1701978114861_1400212990_31424028_5804724_n .jpg

That makes sense TERASEC. My logic was that being surrounded by water here on Long Island they would be able to sell a good percentage of FDII's since the towing capacity is one ton vs half ton.

Thanks for the welcome MURMAN. Glad you got exactly the vehicle you wanted and the price was base off invoice. I would be very happy to order a FDII based on invoice but I have a feeling that's not going to happen. A dealer already gave an off the cuff estimate of 31K and I just laughed at her.

I want the FDII for the extra towing capacity as well as the low gear option as at some of the launch ramps around here it can be a necessity. I also want the most basic configuration I can get so I'll probably have to special order it or pay for options I don't need.

Thanks for the input guys.

Find another dealer...

My wife and I went to the dealership, test drove a 2.4L w/ a CVT and a M5. Decided on the M5. We sat down with a sales guy and gave him our build request. He input the data into an ordering system, printed an order sheet, brought things down to invoice, added TTL, subtracted the rebates, circled the bottom line, asked if we had any questions and told me to call him when I was ready to purchase the vehicle. It was quick and clean. No stress, no games, no off the cuff. I called back the next day and he input the order.

Don't think it will be so easy in my area so as you say I will have to try different dealers until I find one willing to deal reasonably. I'm not under any pressure to buy immediately so I have that on my side. Thanks for sharing your experience MURMAN.

A dealer 12 miles from my house would not give me the $500 Veterans rebate. I called the next closest dealer, Lithia Jeep in Reno, NV, and they gave me the rebate, along with a current $1,000 rebate. I was going to get the COSTCO price, but Invoice was a few bucks less. Discounts (Sales, Invoice pricing, the COSTCO price...) and trade-ins, drive down sales tax. Rebates are like somebody putting cash in your hand and do not drive down sales tax.

Back in 07 we had to order to get an FDII. There were non on dealer lots in the area. It worked out well since we could spec it exactly as we wanted.

Rebates are like somebody putting cash in your hand and do not drive down sales tax.

The tax code in every state is different. I have bought 2 new Patriots, the taxable purchase price on each was AFTER factory rebates.

The tax code in every state is different. I have bought 2 new Patriots, the taxable purchase price on each was AFTER factory rebates.

Outstanding! That would have saved me $112.50.

Outstanding! It saved me $350 on 2 Jeeps. Which WAS cash in my pocket. How much is a COSTCO discount?

The COSTCO discount on is a little less than the difference between MSRP and Invioce. I don't think the Patriot was on the COSTCO list (The Compass was. I initially was looking at a Compass via COSTCO and was contacted by Lithia Jeep), but the dealer (Lithia Jeep Reno) was a participating dealer, so they were familiar with the price reduction.

After having no luck finding a FDII, I emailed Jeep Corporate to ask why no dealers had any FDIIs on their lots. They replied with links to 3 FDIIs within 75 miles of my area. Only 1 was close to home. It was a Sport with FDII, Power Value Group, UCONNECT with Bluetooth and A/C. Someone ordered it and the deal fell through. Here is a link to the car:
http://www.herbeedodgechryslerjeep.net/new/Jeep/2012-Jeep-Patriot-c0ba920f0a0d048e009bf20189771cee.htm
Forget about it! It's already mine.:D Picked it up Saturday.:pepper:

Got it for invoice less the 1K incentive plus an additional 1.5K off for financing with a balloon loan with no prepayment penalties. Probably could have negotiated for less as they started their offer at invoice. With the discounts and the fact that it was very close to exactly what I wanted after a lot of searching, I took it immediately. Plus I hate the whole car buying process. Took the high end extended warranty at 7 years/ 85,000 miles. We keep our cars as long as possible. Peace of mind as Jeep/Chrysler has not had exemplary reliability in the past especially with all the annoying things that tend to go wrong as a vehicle ages.

Thanks for all the encouragement. There are some pics in the Newbie forum.

Thats one nice jeep.

Congrats!

I'm looking forward to learning all I can about this vehicle from this site. Thank you again.:)