RxDawg, assuming the car you were quoted on was a V6, with Auto, 3.31 rear, and security system, the way I figured the numbers out was as follows:
Invoice - 21,078
Options - 1554 (Auto, 3.31, Security)
Destination - 850
And the part you don't see on Edmunds.com:
Fuel Charge - 46.50 (You didn't think that first tank of gas was free, did you?)
FDAF Assessment - 450 (What FoMoCo charges, per unit, to the dealer to have Dennis Leary interrupt your football game with corny truck commercials)
Total Invoice Price - 23978, or roughly $100 less than you were quoted on the car.
How that breaks down for the dealer:
Salesman's commission - $100 (Minimum deal. May be less depending on dealer, but most are paying $100 minis now)
Dealer profit - $718, or the holdback. Because you're ordering and not buying an in stock unit, his cost to carry the car on his floor plan is negligible, so the dealership will get to keep most of the holdback.
Now here's where things get sketchy...
Some unscrupulous dealers will add a bunch of BS charges to the car, for things like VIN etching in the glass, nitrogen filled tires (seriously? our atmosphere is 78% nitrogen), dealer prep (which the service department gets paid for in the PDI that Ford pays them), outrageous documentation fees, etc. This is all BS and you absolutely should NOT pay it. Your buyer's order should look like the below:
Sales Price - 24,100
Rebate - (1,000) *may appear after taxes are added, depending on GA law
Final Sales Price - 23,100
Sales Tax - 1617
Title, Registration, Documentation - ~$200 (If it's more than this, make them justify it)
The other place a dealer will make its money is in the "Business Manager"'s office. If you finance with the dealer, they will make $100 for writing the contract if they contract you at buy rate (the rate you're actually approved for with the lender) or the points if they contract you higher (let's say you're approved at 5% and they contract you at 9%, that 4% is profit for the dealership). Get pre-approved for your loan and see if the dealer can beat it. They oftentimes can. My wife got a point better through the dealer on her Expedition than she did with her bank. That she works at. Managing a branch.
Also, they make money on ALL the products sold in that office (warranty, GAP insurance, credit life/disability insurance, etc.) Your best bet is to get a
warranty quote online on an ESP warranty, put enough cash down where GAP insurance isn't necessary, and skip the insurances. We were quoted something like $1700 on a 5/75 warranty on her truck, but online found it for $900. We showed the dealer, got the better price, and rolled it into the deal. I've had deals when I was in the car business that were $800 losers on the front end become $3500 winners on the back end. It sucked for me, because I only made a minimum commission on the deal ($50 at the time), but was great for the dealer. It really sucked, because Murphy dictated those were the deals where you'd get the customer at 10 AM on a Saturday, skip lunch, and they'd wrap up around 7 PM and all your friends pushed out 2-3 cars that day while you worked all day for a minimum deal.
Lastly, treat any trade in as a separate transaction. Get honest appraisals from Intelliprice, KBB, NADA, Edmunds, etc. and use that as a guideline. Your car isn't in "excellent" condition. Nobody's is. Go with Fair-Good pricing, don't expect minor adds like power seats to really mean anything, and use that as a guideline. If the dealer appraises your car for way less than what the guides are showing you, ask why, and get him to justify it. They can pull up auction records around the country showing what cars like yours are going for wholesale. If he can buy 2004 V6 Mustangs for $3,000, don't expect $5,500 for yours. Disregard all emotional attachment you have to your car when trying to figure out what it's worth.
Your dealer is dead on with his price quote as best as I can figure it. And it's a very fair deal for both of you. You're buying a "hot" car at a good price. And your dealer is making a fair profit on it. Unfortunately, markup in new cars is minimal, so you don't see the huge discounts that you may hear about, especially on a new model year that's a substantial change from the previous year. Even the $37K Premium GT I'm about to order only has about $2400 of markup, or roughly 6%.
People lie about the price they pay for their cars and their houses. They say their houses cost more than they paid, and their cars less. Keep that in mind when discussing car deals with people.