Blk96Supra

iTrader: (9)

Hey guys, i'm thinking about picking up a ES350 sometime in the next couple of months because the wife is sick of both my 2 seaters. So i was hoping that some of you guys might be able to help me find the best deals. OR any suggestions on when to look or how to get the best pricing and all that good stuff.

Im not in a big rush to get one so i was thinking about maybe December might be a better time since its end of the year type thing. But If it doesnt matter then maybe sometime in the fall would be nice also. So any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. Sorry if this topic has been asked already but i suck at using the search feature.

codex57

Just e-mail all the dealers for quotes. I'm taking a shot, but I'm willing to guess Longo will give you the best deal. After you get the initial round of responses (most won't have a price and will just tell you to come in and discuss things), start playing them off of each other. Use carsdirect.com to get a baseline price and discard any dealers going over that price. I'm positive you can beat the carsdirect.com price. That's a worst case scenario, and on a car like the ES, many dealers' opening bid will be lower than the carsdirect price (esp in SoCal).

I haven't checked recently, but a non-Ultra Luxury car should be well under invoice. A UL car should be right around invoice or just a bit under. There's tax of 8.25% for you and a regional dealer advertising fee of about $400 or so.

If it comes down to equal bids, might I recommend buying from Cerritos? I want the city to have the tax revenue. Maybe the city will even send some to my poorly underfunded old high school, altho I doubt it cuz nearly all of the politicians have idiot kids who couldn't get in so they divert funding out of jealousy.

SmokeyES35

see the sticker price... take a couple of grand off of that.. and get that price out the door. Go late in the year.. get last years model, new. When speaking with salesman.. mention the M35, the G35, beamers and mercedes and that you still havent decided what you wanted. And have a hefty downpayment, its shows you mean busisness and can basically get any car you want.

Blk96Supra

iTrader: (9)

codex57
Thanks for the advice. Cerritos Lexus kinda sucks! i might have been me, but last time i was there it took a while before someone even came out to me and then when there was someone he didnt want to help me. I just felt like they didnt want to help me because i looked kinda young. But i didnt feel like they wanted to sell to me. Funny thing was i rolled in my Supra. Anywhere else i would have a sales person by my door before i finished parking.

nlkccom

I've heard quite a few negative things about Cerritos Lexus, very unprofessional I heard. I got mine at Longo, and they are great. I got a pretty good quote (IMO) from them through email, went in, test drove the car, did a little more negotiation, and I was outta there with my new car in about 3 hrs. And that's mostly waiting for paper work process.

I've also heard good things about Glendale Lexus, might wanna give them a try as well.

oceanbluel

I went to Vista Lexus in Woodland Hills and had the best experience. I got 1000 under Invoice. I started by emailing the dealer. I knew I could get just as good a deal at Keyes Lexus in Van Nuys. But Vista was closer to my house and smaller and more personal to deal with. I had a very fast and easy verbal negotiation with Larry @ Vista.... after a few emails in which he said to come in and he would meet my price. Had the car later that day with eveyr option I wanted. Now is a very good time to buy. they have their special going on if you need to finance. Check out the Lexus website for current deals.

Good luck!

LexTund

In my opinion, the most cost effective way of buying a Lexus is to buy a dealer owned loaner car. They generally have low mileage and given the age and financial status of Lexus drivers (middle aged and well off), the cars are generally not abused. The only problem is they are not overly loaded up with options and the colors are also limited. I looked at numerous dealer websites and noticed that the asking prices are all identical, so you will just have to tough if out and visit them. Also, try to sell your own car(s) privately as tying the trade price in with the new car price will only make the price comparison difficult. Good luck.

codex57

No, they suck. I wish they didn't, but they do. I got ignored a couple times too. Eventually, I got help, but by then, there's no way I'd buy from one of those sales people. They changed management, but back in the day, Toyota of Cerritos sucked too. You'd think, with all the rich kids in the area, the sales people would know better. Me and my buddy rolled up in his BMW. We were still in high school, but I was looking for my first car. Sales guy walks up, asks how old we were (16), then spins around and walks away. His sales manager happened to be watching and yelled, "what the hell is wrong with you? Can't you see they can drive? In that car? Go give em a test drive!" But we were so pissed, we left. I bought a Honda instead.

Still, I have no experience with Cerritos' fleet/internet people. They might be ok. But that's why I said Longo is prolly your best bet. I did get a great deal from them. It's just I'm in NorCal now and a NorCal dealer matched the Longo price. Saved me a trip. I've dealt with Glendale Lexus in the past. The internet guy is good too. They might sponsor part of this board. It's just that that time it was for a friend and I couldn't convince her to drive down to Glendale.

I'd never buy a dealer owned car in Cali. I've seen how people here treat them. Since you can get a ES under invoice in SoCal, I'd rather just buy new.

fluke

Hello,

Just went with my friend and his mom today to test drive the ES350. Dealer would not budge on the MSRP. Pretty stupid because there is only 1 Lexus dealer here in Las Vegas. How does it work if she looks into getting it in Cali, like Longo? Then she looked at an IS250 and they wanted 34k w/o navigation. We walked out in a second.

MD350

Good thing you walked. Yeah, I hear the CA dealers sell them for under invoice. Worth a one way Southwest flight and a 4 hour drive back to save thousands!

Heck, I bought mine in August of 06 when ES 350 was on a wait list and I still paid several thousand under sticker.

Good luck

codex57

Call/e-mail Longo and some other SoCal dealers. After you get your price, just go down to that dealer and pick up the car. Totally worth the Southwest flight and drive back. I was going to do the same, until a NorCal dealer decided they could match the Longo price (my local dealers suck too). I drove a total of about 6 hours to get the car (only about 2 in my Lexus), but it was worth it for the price savings.

There are tax/registration issues, but you can see if the Cali dealer knows about them. Or, maybe some other NV resident can chime in. I know Longo sells cars to people from many different states and I imagine many other SoCal dealers do too cuz of their pricing.