- #1535 of 2226
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Re: Negotiating for Seattle/Bellevue area ES350 deal [remarhcs]
by remarhcs
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Aug 18, 2008 (9:44 am)
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Replying to: remarhcs (Aug 15, 2008 3:22 pm)
Okay, so I just bought the above car at Tustin Lexus -- but without the parking sensors which would have been $400 invoice more. We agreed to go there based on him selling the car OTD for $38.5k. He stated verbally that he'll make the deal happen but wasn't permitted to ever quote under invoice in writing. But I warned him, don't waste my time because I'll just walk out. He acknowledged and we scheduled an appointment for the next day. It was a 1 hour drive for us to get there, with wife and baby in tow. We showed up, test drove the exact car, then went inside to do the deal. I saw it coming though... as we went through all this paper work, investing all this time before getting to the price. Then it came... what is your offer? I immediately answered, we previously agreed to $38.5k out the door. He didn't remember that, and I started getting ready to leave. My wife didn't want to leave, so we started haggling and going back and forth about prices and showing me the invoice. Their invoice was $37119 for this exact car which included holdback and wholesale reserve ($1003). I told them I wouldn't pay for that, so they took off $1000. I still didn't want to play that game as he wanted me to make an offer base price rather than OTD price... giving him more numbers to play with. He kept "going to his manager" and coming back with different numbers and went on like this for quite some time. I offered $35600 + TTL (no holdback/no wholesale) and said I'd walk out if I didn't get it. And they wouldn't go down below $36119, so we walked out. My wife was telling me, I hope you know what your doing. I was basing my prices largely on this forum. Other dealers weren't getting down to these kinds of numbers. As we were loading up the baby, they approached us and said the salesguy would take a smaller commission and give it to us for $36000 + T&L. I almost had a single tear.
I told him to run the numbers, and we'll see where we get. I already knew we were around $39.5... and it came out to $39,346. However they botched the county tax seeing we were in LA county instead of Orange county, so they attempted to add the 0.5% tax difference. I said no... that's the price, so they agreed to eat the taxes. When I saw the final breakdown, it appears they took the difference out of the "estimated" license fees.
We did qualify for their tier 1 credit and financed at 3.9% over 5 years. One last annoyance, was that the car we purchased had $1995 chrome upgraded wheels which we didn't want. They didn't have anyone there to change them as it was 6pm, so we had to drive back the next morning to pick up the car.
So basically we paid $846 more than what we considered to be a great deal and it came down to us having limited time and energy to deal for that price. Hopefully we don't get haunted by DMV for underpayment of license fees. But the car is going to Washington state so I'm not too worried, but not sure how that's going to work.
But I did feel like we were bait & switched and not too happy about that. If I could do things differently, I would simply give the dealer an ultimatum and say, quote me this price out the door or I won't show up. That was my mistake. I hope someone else can take my experience and do better!
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- #1536 of 2226
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Re: Negotiating for Seattle/Bellevue area ES350 deal [remarhcs]
by madd66
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Aug 18, 2008 (10:45 am)
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Replying to: remarhcs (Aug 18, 2008 9:44 am)
Hey, that sounds like a great deal (even though you had to go through hoops to get it)!
I'm in the process now of getting all the numbers via email and having some success. This is of course after they try to get me to come in and discuss the car but I usually write back saying something like "to help maximize your time and mine, obtaining all the numbers up front ensures the process is quick and efficient when/if I buy the car. I'm sure you'll agree time is an important commodity in this day and age and I'm certain if we can get the basics out of the way, we can do business together"...or something to that effect. Since I lease I always ask for the buy rate too. It's down to Lexus and BMW at this moment.
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- #1537 of 2226
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Re: Negotiating for Seattle/Bellevue area ES350 deal [madd66]
by remarhcs
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Aug 18, 2008 (11:13 am)
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Replying to: madd66 (Aug 18, 2008 10:45 am)
Good luck! Btw, we used to have BMWs, and this ES350 is the size of a 5 series. So far we are very happy with the ES350 because the options are so superior as you get so much more for you money. But nothing drives like a BMW, but as new parents, performance and aggressive agility isn't important for us anymore (okay me...). The nav system is industry best. I really like the subtle details like showing me in advance which of the six lanes is valid to be in rather than "keep left" or "keep right".
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- #1538 of 2226
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Re: Price I paid in Bay Area California [thepope69]
by ganja
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Aug 19, 2008 (10:15 am)
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Replying to: thepope69 (Aug 10, 2008 2:41 pm)
Its a great price. Did you deal with the internet sales manager there?
Let me know
Thanks
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- #1539 of 2226
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Re: Price I paid in Bay Area California [sunnfun]
by kchang88
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Aug 19, 2008 (4:02 pm)
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Replying to: sunnfun (Aug 11, 2008 4:25 am)
Hi,
Did you buy it in Virginia? Which dealership? I am in the market to get one, please help. Thanks,
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- #1540 of 2226
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Re: Buying in Metro DC Area (MD,VA) [mayfletcher]
by kchang88
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Aug 19, 2008 (4:10 pm)
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Replying to: mayfletcher (Aug 14, 2008 8:09 pm)
I am in a similar boat, please let me know if you find any good deal in DC/VA area. Thanks,
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- #1541 of 2226
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Re: Buying in Metro DC Area (MD,VA) [kchang88]
by mayfletcher
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Aug 20, 2008 (2:51 pm)
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Replying to: kchang88 (Aug 19, 2008 4:10 pm)
No one has responded at all to my request for info so if you hear something plse share it me also.
Thanks
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- #1542 of 2226
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Re: Price I paid in Bay Area California [kchang88]
by sunnfun
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Aug 20, 2008 (6:00 pm)
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Replying to: kchang88 (Aug 19, 2008 4:02 pm)
We bought at Rockville Lexus. Got it for about $1000 under invoice at the end of July. I emailed all of the Lexus dealers in this area, even as far as Baltimore. No one would deal except Rockville and Alexandria, and Rockville made more sense location wise. Using VA tax rates, and getting the ES350 with Nav and Premium Plus, you should be OTD around $38 or just over $38. I would not pay more than that since 2009's are almost here.
FYI - I don't have my papers in front of me but I believe invoice was around $36500 once you subtracted holdback, etc.. and then add TTL.
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- #1543 of 2226
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Re: Price I paid in Bay Area California [sunnfun]
by mayfletcher
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Aug 20, 2008 (8:11 pm)
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Replying to: sunnfun (Aug 20, 2008 6:00 pm)
kchang88 - Thanks for that info. When did you make your purchase?
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- #1544 of 2226
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Re: good price for Lexus ES 350 in Florida [mynewcar3]
by about2buy
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Aug 21, 2008 (9:14 am)
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Replying to: mynewcar3 (Aug 12, 2008 1:24 pm)
From what I have read elsewhere the only change for 2009 is the Royal Ruby Metallic color is being changed to the Matador Red color. One would think there would be some other minor tweaks but perhaps not.
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