Toyota Venza Prices Paid and Buying Experience

Replying to: katylin1 (Jun 28, 2009 5:17 pm)

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• katylin1 (Jul 05, 2009 4:37 pm)
  • qs933 (Jul 05, 2009 5:22 pm)
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    • svofan2 (Jul 06, 2009 4:42 am)

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Replying to: katylin1 (Jun 28, 2009 5:17 pm)

 Warning: LONG and DETAILED!
 
I live in the Bay Area and was looking for a new car because I'm pregnant. My husband and I own an '06 Honda Hybrid. We wanted something bigger, but not a behemoth. Weird as this might sound, we don't own a TV, so we went to the dealerships with only the commonplace Rav4 and CR-V in mind. At the Toyota dealership, my husband fell in love with the Venza. However, at that time I wasn't in the mindset to look at it as I thought we could upgrade to the space we needed with something less pricey.
 
However, after looking at both the Rav4 and CR-V, I just couldn't justify a car that would only give me only about 4 more inches in the back as I wanted this car to carry a lot - take long trips/vacations with the baby and maybe even last through another child (another carseat)! I decided to consider the Venza. We went to the dealer that day and test drove a 4 cyl base model. I was impressed - a big boost in room and engine power plus luxurious styling but with a lower price than I'd assumed. I thought the price would be higher because of the looks!
 
4 Cyl:
 
The dealership I first test drove the car at got the first whack. At that point, we thought we'd trade-in our Civic Hybrid and they gave us a good price - pretty much KBB! However, the Venza they quoted at $69 over MSRP, plus throw in the special paint charge for the Blizzard Pearl color we liked for an overall savings of $150 off MSRP. We told them we'd think about it.
 
We went to another dealership and decided we'd say nothing about our trade-in as we wondered if it was holding us back from getting a good price. We weren't 100% about trading it anyway. The salespeople that helped us there were awful. First they told us they could go lower if we'd buy tonight. I was not keen on that, but said maybe, depending on price. Then they didn't want to give us a price until they'd run our credit! When I declined, our salesguy handed us over to someone more forceful.
 
This guy gave us a price that was $2,000 over the first one. When we asked him how that was price matching, he clarified that they wanted us to buy their Bronze floor model despite the fact that we'd said we wanted the Blizzard Pearl, Black or Red! Their Bronze floor model came with what they call the Z1 package. It's really just the Preferred Accessories Package (floor mats, cargo net, cargo mat, bumper guard and first aid kit). The MSRP is $432 and they were charging us $2,000 extra! I was really pissed. So he lowered the price again by $44 and expected me to jump for joy. We walked out.
 
When we got home, we decided we'd had enough of going in person. I started emailing dealerships for price quotes. The prices that came in were shockingly lower than what we'd previously gotten and no pressure! Everyone quoted invoice and how much above it they were (avg $2000 over invoice, $750 off MSRP). I even accidentally asked for a quote from the first dealership and the quote that came back was $400 cheaper for the same exact car!
 
V6:
 
My husband had been pestering me about the V6. I balked because the V6 usually comes with extra packages that inflate MSRP whereas the 4 cyl comes pretty bare. I grew up with a car dealer for an Uncle and basically he said factory installed added inflated markup. I made a deal - if we could get within a couple hundred of base MSRP ($27,800 before TTL) on a FWD V6, we'd buy it. I never thought in a million years it would happen with all the added packages and markup.
 
We first tried carsdirect as he'd heard about them. Meanwhile I was still getting emails/calls for the 4 cyl. I told them we had changed our preference to a FWD V6 and the guaranteed low price I had gotten from carsdirect. If they could compete, then we'd play ball. And play ball we did!
 
I started getting email quotes $1100-1500 over invoice. This came as a surprise as they would not go below $2000 over invoice on the 4 cyl. One dealership in particular caught my eye. The salesguy also happened to be the fleet manager and when I told him about the change to a V6, he immediately offered us a Black V6 at only $300 over invoice. This car came with Convenience, Safety and Z1 packages and he would throw in his dealership's protection package (door and rim guards) which normally cost $358. Something to consider though the added package meant a higher price. Two other dealerships with Blizzard Pearl V6's also made our list.
 
The best discount I had was $573 below invoice. However it was more car than I wanted to buy as it included JBL so the price was actually the highest. Another was about $650 over invoice, but it was the dealership where they gave us a good price on our trade and if we were going to trade, it would be the best overall. There was still carsdirect, cheaper at their guaranteed low price, but they still hadn't given me a firm offer.
 
We debated. We still hadn't decided on the trade, but I was leaning towards keeping it. Thus the dealership who wanted the trade gave the worst deal, though still lower than the Venza with the JBL offer, but more than the carsdirect guaranteed low price The rep at carsdirect was aware of the pricing I had been getting and said he could do better, just give him more time.
 
The dealership with the Black Venza had asked me to get in touch, so I called. They asked me what I had and I started to tell them that I'd gotten an offer for about $500 off invoice. As soon as I said that they immediately offered their Black Venza for $500 off invoice, dealer installed protection package still thrown in. They didn't even give me a chance to finish my sentence as the car I had been talking about included JBL and thus had a higher price tag! This brought their car to the cheapest - yet with more options.
 
I immediately said it was a contender, but would need to think about it. Not 10 minutes after I hung up, carsdirect got back to me - he'd found the lowest price he said he could get, but guess what? With the new offer, the Black Venza was still lower priced with more options! Winner, Black Venza!
 
Finale:
 
We went to pick it up that very night. All in all I saved $3226 off MSRP of $30,382. My OTD price was also less than the MSRP of the car and the price before TTL was about $650 lower than base V6 MSRP. I did promise my husband that if we could get within a couple of hundred of that, we'd buy it - well we did even better and I aim to keep my promises We are now the proud owners of a Black V6 Venza. Not only do I have a new car that I love, I have the memory of a buying experience I won't soon forget. I am never, ever going to the dealership again except for a test drive. And then only that dealership gets the first crack at us. After that, it's internet quotes all the way!
 
PS - They didn't care that we paid in cash. I think they actually even prefer financing - more money for them.

Replies to this message:
• jkl99 (Jun 30, 2009 9:54 am)
  • vestirse (Jun 30, 2009 11:58 am)
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• svofan2 (Jun 30, 2009 11:35 am)

Replying to: vestirse (Jun 29, 2009 10:15 pm)

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• vestirse (Jun 30, 2009 11:58 am)
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  • jkl99 (Jul 03, 2009 11:12 am)

Replying to: vestirse (Jun 29, 2009 10:15 pm)

Replying to: jkl99 (Jun 30, 2009 9:54 am)

Jkl99, email City Toyota in Daly City for an internet quote
 
And thanks for all the compliments, svofan2. Yes, being flexible is good. It probably would have been harder if I wanted one specific set of packages. My husband really wanted the Safety package (for the backup camera) and the Convenience package (for the smart key), but that was easy as most of the V6's out here in the Bay Area come with both of these packages anyway. No such thing as a base model, except at maybe 3 dealerships (I think Salinas has a Red V6 that's pretty base).

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• svofan2 (Jun 30, 2009 5:05 pm)
  • vestirse (Jun 30, 2009 6:32 pm)
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• jkl99 (Jul 03, 2009 11:12 am)

Replying to: toyotaslast (Jun 29, 2009 2:28 pm)

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• toyotaslast (Jul 01, 2009 3:02 pm)
  • md_outback (Jul 01, 2009 3:49 pm)

Replying to: vestirse (Jun 30, 2009 11:58 am)

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• vestirse (Jun 30, 2009 6:32 pm)
  • svofan2 (Jul 01, 2009 4:06 pm)
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Replying to: svofan2 (Jun 30, 2009 5:05 pm)

Sì, señor (o señorita)! I am originally from Miami. When I was a little girl, I picked this as my screename randomly out of my Spanish language dictionary. Not sure it was such a good idea, but it works for me

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• svofan2 (Jul 01, 2009 4:06 pm)
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