wasjr

In addition to edmunds, also look at cars.com, autobytel, truecar, kbb.
Some take some navigation of site to spec car without submitting to a dealer for a price. Also, some do not have invoice numbers for accessory packages and individual accessories (trunk mat, wheel locks, cargo net, etc).

dspcap

I paid for consumer reports out of curiosity... it was the same as edmunds and trucar. Not worth the $15.00.....

Neoxagon

If we use Costco, how are trade ins factored in?

ElliotB

Trade-in value can vary greatly from dealer to dealer. A lot of dealers will try to give you a great price on the new car and steal the trade. The dealer I used was very fair and game me more than other local dealers had offered.

I suggest you go to Carmax as a starting point. This will give you a good idea of the true wholesale value of your current vehicle. Then shop the dealers and see what they say.

wasjr

+1 on Carmax. You can also get estimated values from kbb and edmunds. Kbb will be higher than edmumds. Some dealers will give you kbb and then raise price of car you are purchasing.

With Costco I assume that purchase price is locked in. Be sure that is the case, then what the dealer will give you on trade is "real money" (as an old school dealer used to tell me). If you have checked with Carmax and online, you will know if he is in the ballpark. As ElliotB alluded to, always set purchase price before you discuss trade.

Assuming your state is like TN, your trade is also credited against the purchase price in the calculation of sales tax, so you need to add the sales tax savings to the trade credit the dealer is giving you to compare to what you need to get in an outside to Carmax or a private party.

Gunners4lf

Hey Guys,

First time posting here and new on the forum. We just purchased our ES 300h on Dec. 29th.

Sticker was $45,3...something. We ended up getting the car for 41,500 before taxes, reg. etc.

We were out the door at 46K but I was sure to negotiate the price before I talked about my trade in. We got $8,500 for my 2005 325i

I can only speak for SoCal but the car is in demand but if you go to the right dealership they will make the deal for you. We had a great experience at Jim Falk of Beverly Hills.

Midnight_RX

Hey Gunners4lf,

I'm in socal trying to find an ES300h with luxury, nav, blind spot, park assist, etc. So far I've gotten a lot of $500 off MSRP and the best was about $1500 off MSRP. Would kill for $46k out the door!

Was wondering which packages you got with your deal? I actually bought my first RX from Jim Falk and had a good experience as well.

Gunners4lf

Hey Midnight_RX,

I did a pretty good amount of homework and checked out Longo, Santa Monica and JF. JF was the only dealer to have my car in the color I wanted (Fire Agate) with the Luxury package...I have Park assist, BSM, nav, etc. basically everything minus the hi-beam lights. Maybe it was because I was at the end of the month (purposeful) but I think you could get a deal like I did for sure.

The salesperson that helped us was a guy named Simon.

I'll add that when I talked to Longo after the negotiated price with JF was agreed to, they told me to "buy the car", in other words, it was going to be a stretch to have them beat that price.

Good Luck!

ElliotB

You should be able to get your car for about $500 over invoice. Check around. Try Trucar.com or Costco if you can't get a great deal on your own.

Gunners4lf

Invoice for my car was 43K....you can do better than that if you're willing to walk away.

Arty101

You did pretty darn good at $1.5K under invoice for your car. Costco pricing was only $1K under MSRP in my area.

Midnight_RX

Thanks everyone for the advice!

Negotiating prices right now, will post as soon as I have a deal done (hopefully this weekend). This board really inspired confidence in asking for a price WAAAAY below what they were initially offering.

mrBillFL

IMHO,

Gas is cheap right now... Hybrids demand is down,

but, if something happens anywhere to interrupt oil that could change PDQ.

Midnight_RX

Just drove got home with the new es300h!

Ended up paying $42,611 + TTL for a black/parchment luxury package with blind spot, park assist, nav, HID, rear side moldings, etc. MSRP was $46,160 (that's including destination fee). Gunner4lfe's even more amazing deal helped me knock down a ton from the $500-$1000 off MSRP I was getting quoted originally.

Ended up going to Lexus Escondido, which has an amazing showroom if you've never been there, since Jim Falk didn't have the color combo I wanted.

bc6152

I bought my 2013 350 thru Costco. I checked Sam's Club, Tru Car, American Express, all of which give discounts for Lexus cars as well as just about any other car. Their plan is that one pays a fixed price over invoice. Remember that the invoice price already includes a dealer profit. It is seperate from dealer COST. I believe that I saved about $1000.00 off what others paid for my car and was very satisfied with the deal. BTW, I got mine on September 29th., 2012 when they were in very short supply. (Had to wait 3 weeks). As far as a trade-in, your trade is valued just as it would be in any other deal. You get wholesale value - not retail. Do some research before you go in and determine what value your trade would be. It pays off. They initially offered me $11,000. for a 2006 Avalon w/NAV, final offer was $16000. for the Avalon...I had printouts from 3 online vehicle value sites in hand... Good Luck!