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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Lexus RX 350 Prices Paid and Buying Experience
3130 messages, Last post on Dec 04, 2009 at 2:38 PM
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I finally decided to go down the proven path of Zopuh and others who bought their cars from Northern California dealers and drove it back to Seattle. Here are my experiences: Researched this car for the whole of December, and wanted to buy the car at or close to Invoice price (who does'nt?). I wanted to time it towards end of year because of the bidding war that tends to start between dealership in winning new customers. I started soliciting quotes a few days before Christmas, and geographically contacted dealerships in Seattle, Portland, Northern and Southern California. The best offers came from dealerships in California. I choose Northern California because of proximity and also because of a cousin who lives there and who was able to do some ground work for me before I went to the dealership. I bought a RX 350 AWD with Prem Package, Nav, 18" wheels, heated seats and few other less expensive options. My MSRP came to 45706. I bought this car at 39388 (same as Zopuh's price) + TTL. Based on the ease with which I was able to get the dealers to agree to that sale price, I now think I may have been able to get the price reduced further if I tried. Overall, I am happy with the car, the price and the overall dealer experience. I bought this car from Putnam Lexus in Redwood City, CA. I considered Lexus of Stevens Creek, but the sales guy I was dealing with blew the deal for himself by changing the car on me a day before I was to go to California. I drove the car back to Seattle area, which is a 13 hour drive but leaves about 2000 bucks in my wallet based on the price difference between Seattle and California. Historically, dealerships in Southern California under cut prices that Northern California dealers offered. I could write more details about my buying experience, or answer specific questions any one out there may have. This board has been extremely helpful in my buying decision, and I will contribute back to this board by talking about my experiences. |
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I was kind of late after reading those posts from Zopuhd and others regarding purchasing this vehicle from CA. The sales man from LOSC did not offer that price because it is almost last 2 days of year 2006. I'm not too sure how the price going to be changed during the whole full year. Is year end (Nov or Dec) the best time to get the best offer? Can anybody give some advise or suggestions here? Thanks!
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Replying to: lovecd (Jan 01, 2007 1:05 am)
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Replying to: chasv (Jan 01, 2007 1:56 am) Having contacted 13 Lexus dealerships on the West coast (from Seattle, WA to Long Beach, CA). I can say that the best first Internet quote I received was from Putnam Lexus of Redwood City (Lexus of Stevens Creek where I actually bought the car easily matched that offer). The price offerd to me was $39388 on $45706 MSRP (KBB invoice of $40283 for this car does NOT count the $495 Lexus advertising fee, so the real invoice might be different from what you see on KBB.com). Magnusson Lexus and Coliseum Lexus in the Bay Area followed up on their reasonable initial offeres trying to get my busiees but it was too late. So. Cal. dealers (Westminster, Mission Viejo) gave reasonable offers but seemed to be short on AWD cars so they were kind of inactive/slow in further negotiations (probably because AWD's are harder to get in So. Cal). Longo Lexus doesn't sell car out-of-state any more. So, No. Cal. came out the winner in this dealer contest. Lexus dealers in Oregon couldn't compete with CA prices as expected. Seattle area dealers weren't willing to get close to the invoice price. However, dealing with L of Seattle was much more pleasant (I have no hard feelings left for them) than L of Bellevue (salesmmen at which are full of s... - they simply lie in you face). Instead of giving me a reasonable initial quote like L of Seattle did, L of Bellevue salesman started off saying that they have a sale price of $44000+ on the $45706 (MSRP) car. Yeah, right.  Lexus of Spokane in WA told me the best they could offer is $1000 off of the MSRP and advised that I try my luck in Seattle. At least I didn't waste my time with them. Bottom line: No. Cal. are very aggressive and competitive selling the RX350 AWD. Buying a car out-of-state is worth it and not scary at all, and saves you a bunch of money (and nerves too). I love the RX (that's my second one)!  Zopuh
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Replying to: zopuhd (Jan 01, 2007 4:17 am) I will probably try Putnam Lexus of Redwood City and see if I can get any luck. Should I just send them a request or need to talk to the specific sales man as you spoke before? The other thing is, LOSC insists that they will issue me the temporary registration pass if I drive the car back by myself. Other wise, they are not allowed me to drive it. In this case, I need to pay registration cost on both State, CA and WA. Zopuh and zozk, how did you handle this? Many thanks! |
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Replying to: lovecd (Jan 01, 2007 12:47 pm) Send me private email if you need details. I got an email quote from the Fleet and Internet Manager (that's his title) over there after I sent an quote inquiry via their web site. Another Edmunds member bought the RX two days ago from a different sales manager at Putnam at the same price that I got quoted ($39,388) - so it seems they all are on the same page price-wise. The temporary one-way pass costs $16. The LoSC guys especially their Finance Manager know that. They put this pass on your windshield. Other than that and 8.25% CA tax and a $8 CA tire fee you won't pay anything in CA. You'll do the real registration in WA. Zopuh
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Replying to: zopuhd (Jan 01, 2007 3:13 pm) I would suggest you send a quote request via their web site. I sent them a "to the point" message asking them to quote the best price possible since I was accepting quotes from various dealers and will make my decision within a few days. The first quote that came back from Putnam was not their best. I had to give them this magic number and ask them to match it. They did match it. I can PM message you the name of the sales guy I dealt with. The guy I dealt with worked at Stevens Creek before he moved to Putnam, which was not necessarily a good thing for me as a buyer. I have not read your past messages, but from the most recent message it occurs to me that you have decided to buy from Putnam. I would suggest you keep them guessing until you have gone through the transaction. I found Putnam to be a good dealership to buy from. They stayed true to their words, gave me the quote for a vehicle and stuck to it. The finance guy was very quick and efficient. Overall, I would recommend Putnam to others based on my experience with them. About the registration process, I would "ditto" everything Zopuh said. Take the one-way pass from the dealership. Putnam did the same thing for me that LoSC did for Zopuh. The one-way pass allows you to drive from the dealership to your home (nothing more, nothing less). Once you reach home, you are expected to register with WA state. One last thing: If you are going from WA state to CA to buy this car, I would suggest you get quotes from LoSC, Putnam and Magnusson before going there. The other dealers may serve a contingency plan if the deal with the first dealer falls through for whatever reason. Best of luck with it. Plan ahead and follow through quickly.
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Replying to: zozk (Jan 01, 2007 10:20 pm) |
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Replying to: zozk (Jan 01, 2007 10:20 pm) Thanks for your message! If you don't mind, can you PM me the name of the sales guy you dealt with in Putnam? My email address is: tshauni  yahoo.com. Thanks again! Lovecd |
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