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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Toyota Highlander Prices Paid and Buying Experience
4167 messages, Last post on Nov 28, 2009 at 7:14 PM
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First of all, this is a great forum and was very helpful when it came to buying our new car. I thought I would post my experience and hopefully it will help some one else out. I am in Houston and the new car price/invoice at Edmunds did not include all the extras packages the dealers throw in to increase the MSRP. I thought KBB did a good job of adding those packages, it was a pain to go through the list and add everything but it was pretty accurate of coming to the same MSRP as the dealers here and an invoice price. This car is for my wife and she wanted a Grey 08 limited with nav which was hard to find. I found two, both demos in North houston. One was not kept well at all, the interior was already torn up. The other was pretty well maintained but the dealer was not willing to work on the price.... MSRP 41500 and were only willing to go down to 38,100 saying that was at invoice. So we walked out. We had contacted them through the internet. One thing I have noticed in Houston, I dont know if it is true for the rest of the country, the internet department say it will charge $150 above invoice but there invoice is at least $1500-1700 above the invoice listed in KBB. One dealer let me take a look at there invoice and the extra money came from extra fees. And most were not willing to waive these, kinda odd since cars are not selling these days. We decided to go for an 09 Limited. We thought the 08 is already a year old car and already depreciated one year and starting on the second year. The only benefit for the 08 is a 2.9% interest for 60 months so that saves at least $2000 in interest. We are only planning on keeping the car for maybe 3 yrs maybe longer. What are peoples thought on this, were we on the right track in our thinking? Anyway we could not find an 09 gray with nav but my wife found one she liked without and it ended up being at the first dealer we had walked into 2 months ago. They were pretty aggressive, there was at least another few hundred dollars to play with, I think but I did not have a real idea how much I can get an 09. I dont know if there was any holdback on the 09s? 09 Highlander Limited FWD MSRP 38,900 Invoice 33,600 Options: JBL, heated from seat, power gate, rear AC, Moonroof, Option F package and vehicle shield package Selling price 34,200 so about 600 above invoice. I think it was a decent deal. A friend had recently bought similar equipped car but an 08 for $300 cheaper. Thoughts.... advice what I could do better next time ( this was the first car I have bought) As per the articles, shop around before you buy for a car loan and get pre approved, My bank offered 4.8% ( excellent credit) for 60 months. When we bought the car, the dealer offered 7.1% through the SAME bank. At that point we said we had a better deal with the same guys and were already pre approved. The questioned it at first, I didnt have any proof with me and the bank was closed on Saturday. I told them we could wait till Monday and buy then. At which point they came back with 4.79 through the same bank. I guess they make some fee by bringing the bank business. I know you should get GAP insurance when you lease a car but should you get it when you buy? it adds $9 to our monthly payment but I have 10 days to opt out. Also, anyone know of a place in Houston where I can add a good in Dash nav? Sorry for the long post. Any input would be helpful Thanks |
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Replying to: rjohnson1987 (Dec 07, 2008 8:05 am) Nonetheless, you should be able to get a wonderful deal on this particular vehicle. I'd offer 30K. |
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| I bought a blizzard pearl with with nav sys, ect leather, moon roof in march 08 in bryan, tx for 37500, it also had some option packages on it. it will really pay to shop around and dont believe the salesmen on their prices, if you get the extended warrenty offer half of what they ask, there is a toyota dealer in kansas that whole sales the toyota warrenty for usually a third of what dealer want. it is the same national warrenty. I hope this helps. | |
We are looking at buying an '08 Sport or LTD for my wife. In our area Central FL, all the dealers list a Dealer Fee of $699.99 plus many have the Toyoguard added at $619. Been through this crap many times over the years and I'm pretty sick of the effort.  Assuming what we want is in inventory, can anyone come up with a valid reason not to buy from Jim Barkley in NC? We happen to love Asheville, and I have already figured a cheap way to get there, so traveling is not an issue. Airfare is $29 one-way to Greenville, SC, and a one-way rental car is cheap through Budget.
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Replying to: jam8 (Dec 08, 2008 7:04 am) I believe I checked their website for AWD Sports before I purchased, but they didn't show any available. I ended up buying from a dealer close to my home, but as it turns out, I've paid about $1k more then what I could have paid if I had waited to buy from Asheville. I knew I left a few bucks on the table and was ok with doing so as I wanted to support the local dealer and I knew they don't have the volume to compete $ for $ with some of the larger dealers, but I didn't think I was $1k off the mark...
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Replying to: rjohnson1987 (Dec 07, 2008 8:05 am) |
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Replying to: jam8 (Dec 08, 2008 7:04 am) I'd have a hard time being a loyal Toyota buyer if I had to deal with this everytime I wanted a new car. Find an internet deal and drive a few states away if you have to. They will still service and do warranty work on your car at home. $1300 is a big chunk of change to just line the dealer's pocket with.
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Replying to: wvgasguy (Dec 08, 2008 10:15 am) I'd have a hard time being a loyal Toyota buyer if I had to deal with this everytime I wanted a new car. Find an internet deal and drive a few states away if you have to. They will still service and do warranty work on your car at home. $1300 is a big chunk of change to just line the dealer's pocket with. I know. Our last 3-4 new vehicles have been Hondas, and I have a great contact at one of the local dealers. I currently drive a 2006 Honda Pilot EX-L and my wife has a 2003 Honda CRV, which is getting passed down to our 16 year old. The current deals on the '08 Highlanders is hard to beat. Dealing with the local Toyota dealers is more hassle than I have time for. Jim Barkely seems pretty easy to deal with based on what I have read. I don't mind paying a little more to deal locally, but even $ for $ the locals need to be $1,300 lower than JB to be even. Oops -couldn't figure out how to turn off the bolding. |
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Replying to: carsearch2008 (Dec 07, 2008 7:58 am) Also, these guys have to much time on their hands since they have not been movin' horses. A little more dittle time cruisin this discussion forum to see what they are missin' Everyone out there reading. Do your homework. This is the time to DRIVE YOUR HARDEST DEAL when at the showroom. If it doesn't work just walk. I assure you, deals will only get better with Toyota as time wears on. 
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Replying to: 1headlight (Dec 08, 2008 3:17 pm) Who are the suspected DID's? Speaking of homework, I felt like I did mine, but turns out still could have done a bit better on price, although I was satisfied with the deal at the time. Unfortunately, when I bought, it seemed as if the specific Sport, AWD model with the color/options I wanted were all but just about gone in the SE. Now, I go and check one of the dealers website and they show 3 of the same vehicle available again. So, it's possible for those looking for an 08, there may be more 08 inventory in your area and/or in the pipeline to your area then you're led to believe. In my case I bought when I did not because I absolutely had to, but because I was concerned about what I wanted being gone. Just another tactic that can be used against the buyer I reckon. I don't disagree that now is a great time to drive the hardest deal, but I was surprised with how many dealers didn't seem all that aggressive in trying to make a deal. Some didn't even follow up. Should be interesting to see what kind of deals folks are able to get on any remaining 08's early into next year...
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