[arc300]

Here is the latest on my negotiations. I took the TMV in from Edmunds and told them what I wanted (3rd time in, they know who I am by now

).

TMV quote: 31,253 (it was 30,253, but added $1000 since the rebate is over). This TMV included, LP pkg, LSD, Heated seats, sunroof.

Invoice price of dealership car: $31,400 which includes the PDI ($350). This is the same as above but with cargo net, trunk mat. I told them that I wanted tint and clear bra. Silver w/ivory interior. I said I would go $32,500 +tax,title and fees. They initially said $34,000. I said no. Then they started to say....$33???. Maybee $33k even, or maybe $33.5k. Didn't stick around to find out....it was already a two hour lunch break

If I could get $33,000 +tax+title+other fees, should I do it? Still seems high to me.

Also, the car they said they could sell me right away had Dunlop tires on it. They looked sweet, but I am clueless about tires. I do know this is different than the standard Bridgestones. Any questions I should ask about them?

They made a big deal over the silver/ivory combo. They said its more rare than the others. BS?

They know I am interested, I am thinking of waiting a few days to see if they call back.

 

[gabe]

They made a big deal over the silver/ivory combo. They said its more rare than the others. BS?

I think they are right to say it is rare, I have a Silver but have never seen it paired with an Ivory interior. With that said I dont think they have to charge more for that combo. The price 33 + TTL seems a little high to me, but in the end its your decision.

 

[jdogg]

So let me see if i understand correctly, and please correct me if i am wrong. Invoice on the car is $31,400 total. You offered $32,500 however, you want a tint job (~$300) and clear bra (~$300) So they are making less than $1K on the car (~$500) I don't think that that is a reasonable offer. Maybe without the tint and clear bra but you have to realize that the dealership usually charges at least double what it would normally cost (e.g. you can get a good tint job for like $150) Just my .02 and if my numbers are off, I apologize

 

[louiee_g]

i have the exact car that you are looking for. i have the silver with ivory leather interior. it has all the options...luxury leather with piping and wood switch plates, lsd, heated seats, trunk mat, cargo net, etc. i bought my car on April 27th and before any negotiations, the first offer that the dealership gave me was $31000!! i was shocked because i also used the edmunds tmv and knew that the price of the IS300 should be around this price, but i had no idea that the dealership would admit to it so soon. I didn't even mention the edmunds tmv to them at this point. Nevertheless, i still tried to negotiate a price of 30,500 by showing them the edmunds tmv. they wouldn't budge on the cap cost. but to compensate, they gave me a lower money factor and no security deposit. this was a lease. i thought they would try to rip me off because i'm only 23 but i look 18.

i would say that the edmunds tmv is pretty accurate. just appear confident with your research to the dealer and they should be able to give you a better price...unless the IS300 is in greater demand in your area. although, the tmv also considers location in the estimated tmv, so the price you see should still be pretty accurate.

about the rarity of silver/ivory, my dealership said most people prefer silver/black because it appears sportier...so i guess lexus would make less of the silver/ivory. i got the silver/ivory because it looks more luxurious and "cleaner" to me. that's just my opinion.

 

[arc300]

thanks everyone!

jdogg, the tint job is $190 at the dealership....and they did say by going somewhere else it would be $150. I think I will settle with lexus doing it. however, the bra job is $500...might hold off on that.

I think you got my numbers right. My post was a tad confusing

Here it is in summary:
Silver/Ivory
LS Package (all the goodies)
SR Moonroof
LD LSD
HH Heated Seats
Cargo net
Wheel locks
Trunk mat
Tint
Bra

They want high 33's (maybe low 33's)...I want $32.5k.

Did you say that my offer is unreasonable, or is the dealership's unreasonable?

 

[SilverLex]

The clear bra could run close to $500 if that includes the bumper. If you're looking at just doing 10" up the hood and the mirrors, it should be about $150.

 

[webguyIS]

arc300, you should have never offered them more money. When they said "no" you should have said "ok, well I'll check with another dealership", picked up yer stuff and walked out the door. For them to flat out say "no" they sure aren't looking for your business very hard. Just lay low with them for a week or so, see if they give you a call. Otherwise go in there and tell them that's your "final offer" in a Regis-like voice. =)

 

[jdogg]

I definetly think that with the two "extras" that you want (clear bra & tint) you are making an unreasonable offer... The dealership is only looking to make a measly $400 bucks, I don't see it happenin... I think that them making AT LEAST $1000 would be reasonable... But like WebGuy said, wait a week, and then give them your final offer

 

[webguyIS]

Generally you should expect to pay about 2-3% of the car's original MSRP as profit to the dealership... so I think $600-700 is reasonable for them. If they don't think so, remind them of their holdback (another 2% of the MSRP) and that you are considering other dealerships, it's just a matter of "who wants the money". See what their reaction is. =)

 

[arc300]

Thanks guys!
I think I will redo the numbers but leave out the "extras" i.e., bra and tint. I need to try and baseline my numbers cuz god knows, I am starting to confuse the heck out of myself.

Denver has only 2 Dealerships in the area. Haven't gone to the other one yet...but looks like I just might have to stop in

Now that I think about it, I do think I blew it by going up $400. Damnit!!! I told the salesperson I would go up to 32.5k....but when they brought in the "heavy-slugger", I didn't budge.

Thanks again!

 

[mjoo600]

Hey arc300,

I have also recently been shopping for a car, and am picking up the car later this week. Here are some numbers I pulled from Edmunds:

Base Invoice - $27,108
Leather Pkg [LP] - 1,444
Sunroof - 800
Heated Seats - 352
Limited Slip D. - 312
Trunk Mat - 40
Cargo Net - 23
Destination Chg. - 545
PDI (???) - 350
--------------------------
Total Invoice......$30,974

I am not sure what the 'PDI' is, I'm assuming it is some dealer advertising fee, which may or may not be legit (did you see the fee on the sticker of a new car, or did they bring you a questionably 'authentic' printout which can easily be made...I doubt most dealerships would go to the trouble and risk, but try asking if you can keep a copy signed with the salesman's name and the words "these prices are from an actual invoice"...then again, you'll probably piss them off, and not accomplish much - I was given one of those printout sheets w/ a questionable 'BSA' or something charge of $385, but left it alone, just mentioning that I would be ignoring it for negotiating purposes).

Anyway, it seems that we are off by $425, let me know if I missed anything.

Originally posted by webguyIS:
Generally you should expect to pay about 2-3% of the car's original MSRP as profit to the dealership... so I think $600-700 is reasonable for them.

I agree with webguyIS, so with the tint ($190) + $700, so $31,864+TTL should be a good target price. Given that the TMV is low due to sales being so sluggish, I think it is quite reasonable of an offer.

As far as TMV, I think that the TMV price does not reflect any dealer incentives or rebates, there is an explanation of TMV at edmunds...

I didn't see where your are from in your profile, would be interested. I am here in the NYC area, just picked up the Hi Performance Lease Program (i.e., a money factor of 0.00228, or 5.47% APR). With [LS] Leather Pkg, Heated seats, sunroof, trunk mat, and wheel locks, and destination charge, Invoice Price came out to $30,236. With the 'BSA' advertising charge of $385, it came out to $30,621. Negotiated to $420/month for 39 months, with 15,000mi/yr instead of the 12K standard (at 15K mi/yr, residual is 55%, vs 57% for 12K mi/yr) . With ~$800 down, 1st month $420, Sec. Deposit $450, Acquisition Fee $450, Registration+Processing $220 (I know, a bit high, let it go), TOTAL came out to $2,358 due at signing.

Sorry for the long post, hope this helps.

Louiee_g,

You got a sweet deal. Just curious, what credit rating tier were you in (700+, 650+, etc.) and what rate did you get?

(Typo corrected above-- 0.00228, NOT 0.00280. Lexus Financial Services' standard Tier 1 rate, for top credit scores, is 0.00300. Multiply by 24 to get equivalent interest rate.)

[ May 15, 2001: Message edited by: GSXR600 ]

 

[mjoo600]

Also, for anyone who is interested, I made a Excel spreadsheet so you can play around with the numbers for lease deals and have some more ammo when negotiating. Just let me know. Edmunds also has a good article on leasing at:

Edmunds - lease calculations

and

Edmunds - calculating lease payments.

 

[louiee_g]

Originally posted by GSXR600:

Louiee_g,

You got a sweet deal. Just curious, what credit rating tier were you in (700+, 650+, etc.) and what rate did you get?

(Typo corrected above-- 0.00228, NOT 0.00280. Lexus Financial Services' standard Tier 1 rate, for top credit scores, is 0.00300. Multiply by 24 to get equivalent interest rate.)

[ May 15, 2001: Message edited by: GSXR600 ]

hey GSXR600,
i am in tier 1 credit rating with a score of around 758. the reason it's so high is because i don't have much credit but i'm soon to be a college graduate so that helps a lot. they gave me a rate of .0023....00228 is the lowest i've seen someone get...congratulations. the depreciation they gave me is 56% for 15k/year as apposed to 58% for 12k/year. is the difference in residual due to location or due to time of purchase?

 

[mjoo600]

hey GSXR600,
i am in tier 1 credit rating with a score of around 758. the reason it's so high is because i don't have much credit but i'm soon to be a college graduate so that helps a lot. they gave me a rate of .0023....00228 is the lowest i've seen someone get...congratulations. the depreciation they gave me is 56% for 15k/year as apposed to 58% for 12k/year. is the difference in residual due to location or due to time of purchase?

louiee_g,

Your credit score is pretty damn impressive, considering that you say you don't have an extensive credit history(?). I wasn't aware that being a recent college grad raised your score so much, could you explain a bit further if you know? As far as the residual percentage is concerned, I know that the Lexus Financial Services sets the residual upper limit. I'm not sure if it varies by geographic region, it's possible that LFS dropped the residual between April and May, though not sure how likely. Maybe someone else could comment on it. I do know that the $1,000 manufacturer-to-dealer rebate ended in April, but I don't see how that would affect the residual itself. It's very possible that they quoted me a lower residual and took the 1% as profit.

Again, nice price/deal you got, even more so w/ the LSD and piping and wood switch plates, and that market prices are higher in the west coast than here in the NYC area. I just picked up my IS a couple days ago, it is definitely a sweet car, I have no regrets (o.k., maybe a small one that I didn't get LSD, but I didn't want to wait).


For anyone who wants to know their credit score, go to -

myfico.com - credit score

That way, you know where you stand, and they can't try to charge you a higher interest rate (some dealers will try to markup the APR, though it is less likely that this would happen at a Lexus dealership).

As far as the Hi-Performance Lease Program is concerned, it has a special interest rate of 5.47% (or 0.00228 money factor) which is good until the beginning of June (I am NOT absolutely certain about this, though). I went to one dealership two weeks ago (hint: it was in NYC), and the sales manager (his desk is by the upstair elevator, can you tell I really liked him

) tried to pressure me and lie by saying that the lease program's special interest rate would end that week. Too bad for him, the salesman had already shown me minutes before a page in his black book showing that the lease program dates (I have since forgotten the exact dates, though). He also tried to B.S. me by saying that you cannot negotiate the capitalized cost if you want the 0.00228 money factor.

For anyone in the NYC area, I could find out if I can get you the same deal as mentioned in my first post in this thread (though I'm not sure if the salesman is willing to let another one go with minimal profit margin), let me know.

[ May 21, 2001: Message edited by: GSXR600 ]