jagtoes

Car sales selections are based on data both dealership and mfg. supplied. The look at the most sold features for their area and the country. This would cover color and options and their normal monthly sales history. They also trade with other dealers for usually color combo's . A special order is first searched throughout the US and if not available then it goes back to the factory. When you sit down with the sales person and ask for a color they don't have on the lot they either look it up in their book or on the computer database. Pretty simple process.

LexBob2

Yup. Dealers do this all the time, every day. In the search process they'll try to sell you something they have on the lot.

garsarno

The dealers have "shuttlers" that exchange cars all around. If you need a red Lexus ES350 and your selling dealer does not have in inventory, they search and find one closest to them and do an exchange with that dealer. I have heard dealers in Scranton, PA switching cars with dealers in New England.

ThumperPup

yes i know they can trade and all
but it also comes down to what they want in stock a dealer can order what they want ontop of what sells most
i don't think a mfg can send a dealer what they don't want thought i may be wrong
but if a dealership says don't send me a base model then they won't send them i think

it comes down to how many base models have you really seen before
i think i have run into 3 or 4 base model ES350's in the past year and never the same year

but yes they trade they transfer
but they charge for that trade or transfer the cost it takes them to get it plus a little proffit for themselves
it's called a transfer fee i have seen them as low as 150 and high as 1000

garsarno

I think there is a profile sent from the manufacturer to the dealer suggesting what their stock vehicles should have. In the 2011 ES350 case (back when I bought ours), the local dealer had 7-8 ES350 stock vehicles, all had the rear spoiler and bodyside moldings. About half of them had navigation. That was the only difference outside of colors.

pseconds

Back to my original topic... I took the advice of several posters and went for a 2010.

The prices around Minneapolis seem to be a bit higher than other areas, but I found a Certified Pre-Owned 2010 with more features in another city for not much more than the 2009 non-cpo's one here.

They said they could ship it for $250, but I bought a one-way airline ticket for $40 and will just drive it home.

LexBob2

Good choice! I hope you enjoy the new car. Did you get the one at McGrath Lexus that you mentioned?

Let us know how the drive home goes.

garsarno

Great deal on the airline ticket. Hopefully they will give you a full tank of gas too.

pseconds

Yeah, I was shocked to find a ticket for $40 from Minneapolis to Chicago. It's on Spirit Airlines. I dropped a lot of hints that I'd like a full tank. We'll see if they come through...

garsarno

Insist on the full tank. It s/be a courtesy.

garsarno

I would also use the strategy to sit in the car, start it up and look at the gas gauge before you sign off on it (use the excuse that you want to check it out again". Check the oil level too before you drive off too, noting that it is full and it is new oil. If the tank is not full, tell them "come on, no full tank of gas". "It needs to be full. What kind of dealership are you?" I would think this would be taken care off prior to your arrival but you never know,

ThumperPup

did you actualy take care of papper work have it faxed and then overnited back with signatures payment transfers and all ? if you are waiting to do that and you have only left a deposit for them to hold the car then yeah im sure you can figure a few things out for a free tank of gas a fresh oil change hell maybe even new wiper blades before you sign the final pappers

BellyBumpe

pseconds, do you mind sharing a bit more detail about the dealership . salesman? I am also from Minneapolis and don't mind flying to Chicago to pick up a CPO 2010 ES with similar options.

To everyone else - anyone willing to sell me a CPO 2010? I will fly and pick up the car. Thanks

sford52

PS - Congrats on the new car. I agree that out Twin Cities market is under tight control - both Lexus dealerships are owned by the same people, and keep our prices artificially high. There are other places (like the BMW dealerships) that are pretty good options. BellyBumpe, take a look at Poquet and a couple the dealerships in the southwest near 694 and France/100

pseconds

Hey BellyBump, I've found that Lexus cars sold in Minneapolis seem to be more expensive than other markets for some reason. I bought my 2007 ES 350 in Atlanta, GA for about $6,000 less than the going rate in Minneapolis. When I started looking around again this spring, I saw a 2010 in Chicago I liked at McGrath Lexus of Westmont. It was about $4000 less than the 2010 CPO ones here.

I blindly took the first sales guy, he was okay, but I think anyone there would have been good. He didn't really do much except hold the car for me and fill out the initial paperwork when I arrived.

I bought a one-way ticket for $40 on Spirit Airline (different days of the week have different prices) and took a cab to the dealer. They re-reimbursed me for 1/2 cab fare.

The dealership is big, nice and clean. I went back to the shop area, also very clean, like better than my kitchen.

Be warned though, the paperwork process was bumpy. In addition to the $164 document fee, temporary sticker fee, and a few other fees, you also have to put out another $500 so their third party service can register the car on your behalf (in addition to the MN Sales tax). You are required to do this if you finance through Lexus. If you pay cash, you don't have to pay this. The problem is that they registered my car to an incorrect address and instead of transferring my personalized license plates, they bought me new ones and charged me to overnight them. I had to go to the DMV again to fix all of this and pay additional money for the plate transfer. The whole point of the service was so I wouldn't have to go to the DMV.

The delivery guy who goes over the car with you is awesome! He was very patient and very knowledgeable about the car systems. I think his name was Kraig. They should put him in charge.

As a CPO, I was told that it had the 30k service performed, which I thought included replacing wiper blades, but they had clearly not been replaced. Also, the car had a dead battery, so they replaced that before I left too. Part way home, the whole drivers wiper arm went flying off on I-94. When I got home, I discovered that the full size spare is not road worthy; it has a 2"x2" hole punched through it.

The car's computer had not been "reset" either, so it had all the previous owners info in the nav, phone book, and other settings.

The whole vehicle registration process was a headache, and they apologized and refunded some of my money, but it took me a lot of time to resolve. They did their best to make good with me, but it kind of soured my perception of the process.

Based on the fact that there were a number of issues with the car, I'm really glad it has a warranty, although I doubt the dealership will do anything about my spare.

So BellyBump, I guess my advice would be to find a car you like and is priced fair, and the dealership is really just secondary.