knightro84
Well-Known Member
I factory ordered my truck from them in 2018 when I lived in Florida. Craig and I agreed on a trade-in allowance on the vehicle I was driving at the time, as long as I kept the miles under a certain number. When I ordered, it was 7% below invoice, plus Florida tax/tag and a $699 processing fee. I also would get either the $3,000 consumer cash that was available when I signed the order, or if incentives at delivery were higher, I'd get those instead. The $1,695 destination charge was not added again anywhere.
The order process was very simple. I sent Craig my build on 10/4/18, he priced it out, we agreed on the trade allowance, and I signed it and sent a $500 refundable deposit (or it might have been $1,000, I can't remember - but it was definitely refundable if I didn't close the deal for any reason). I had a VON the next day and a VIN was assigned 5 days later. Truck was delivered to Koons on 11/20/18 and I picked it up 12/9 due to Thanksgiving and work travel plans eating up my weekends between then.
Drove up there, arrived when the dealership opened, and Craig was quick to greet me and sent my paperwork to the finance office. After that, he brought the truck around - he asked me if I needed or wanted any help going over the truck and I told him I wanted to go over it myself, which he obliged and let me know he'd be available for any questions I had.
It took longer than I was hoping to get called up to the finance office, and once there it was typical finance office stuff. I know it's their job to push the warranties and extras, but I didn't want any of it so got the deal signed and was on my way. I will say the finance guy I dealt with was on the pushy side. The deal I ended up finalizing was exactly the deal I negotiated with Craig 2 months prior. Literally to the dollar. They estimated tag costs for Florida, even though I knew what they would be exactly - so I ended up overpaying those but I got a refund check from Koons within 6 weeks for the difference.
I was there for a total of maybe 3 hours.
Craig is the real deal. He doesn't set the processing fee. He's not going to BS you. If you buy a truck off their lot at their "Koons Price", they add freight back in - but they are clear about it on the vehicle postings. As far as I know (from reading multiple dodge/ram/jeep forums where Craig posts group buys), freight is not added again on factory orders. It wasn't on mine. I will say that if you're buying a truck out of their inventory, it does seem like it might be pretty tough to end up at the "Koons Price" listed on their website. But there were plenty of dealers in Florida that played that game too - basically show all available incentives that maybe 1 person in the entire state would qualify for to get you in the door.
My deal, even with the $699 processing and the cost of me driving round trip to Virgina from Florida, was still a couple grand better than I could have done locally.
If you're looking to factory order a Mopar and live within a reasonable distance of Koons, I'd definitely recommend giving Craig a shout. There are pages and pages of happy customers who have ordered Jeeps from him on different Jeep forums, and from what I remember most of the negative comments tended to revolve around their finance office.
