Susan7639

Made an offer on a GX 470 yesterday in Columbus, Ohio. Thought I had done my due diligence through Edmunds and was well educated on price. Before driving the Lexus I had gone through the process on the BMW X5 and Volvo XC90 and the final dealer price was right on Edmunds. Edmunds was saying the TMV of the car at about $48,000, sticker is 53,000. I offered 47,000 thinking to come up to 48,000. The lowest they will go is 50982, which I can not do. I am crushed! Any insight into what may be going on, could Edmunds be that off? Anything I can do? Thanks for any help!

The G Man

The Edmunds TMV are not too accurate, its not updated often enough. The invoice price on Edmunds however is very accurate. The GX470 should be selling at invoice price now. Take that Edmunds invoice price and add about $800 on top of that for the Lexus advertising fee and offer that to 3 or 4 dealers. I bet one of them will meet it or come close.

Good Luck

cssnms

Susan, you can do better elsewhere - shop around and take your time. Edomons is not the car buying bible that dealers follow. That said, there are a couple of things working against you at the moment even in today's economy, supply and demand which in this case the dealer may not have to budge because they only have a couple 2009's in inventory. Additionally, buying early in the month can work against you. Visit a dealer at the end of the month, dealers are more desperate to make their quota so they are more inclined to negotiate.

Something else to consider, a 2008 model. If you can find a new leftover 2008 on a dealer lot they will be more anxious to get rid of it and you will get a much better deal. This was the strategy I employed when I bought my 2005. There is no material difference between the 2008 and 2009 models.

Susan7639

ARGGGHHH!!!!
What I offered was approx $1000 above invoice and they truly looked at me like I had two heads! I am so totally confused and bummed.

Susan7639

Quote--
Something else to consider, a 2008 model. If you can find a new leftover 2008 on a dealer lot they will be more anxious to get rid of it and you will get a much better deal. This was the strategy I employed when I bought my 2005. There is no material difference between the 2008 and 2009 models.[/QUOTE]


Thanks for your insight, I wonder hpw I would go about locating a 2008 model??

cssnms

That's the easy part! Call around and ask. Go here http://www.lexus.com/ enter your zip code to find dealers in your area, you may have to click the button "more dealers" in order to pull a list in your state. Also try www.autotrader.com enter vehicle info and yr range 08 - 09 enter your zip and distance from your zip i.e. how far you would be willing to drive to pick it up. Dealers often list new cars here especially leftovers. If you find one call and talk price over the phone, it's not at all uncommon to do the deal over the phone before driving 300 mi - bought my last car this way.

The G Man

Is that Edmunds' invoice you are taking about? If it is, then its not a bad deal. Lexus and Toyota have something called the Lexus advertising fee, which they charge to every dealer, no other car manufacturer have this fee as far as I know. Edmunds does not include this fee in their invoice price, that ad fee is about $800 per vehicle. Considering that, the deal you got is actually $200 above invoice, which is not too bad.

LexusBob

Gman, it was what Susan offered, not the dealer. I also recommend trying to pick up a prior year model. Another suggestion is to wait until end of Aug or so to pick up a current year model before new ones start to arrive.

Racing AZ

It's time to do the "file folder on hand" play. You go in there with a bunch of paper print outs showing them that you did your research on the net and even show them that you based your offer off Edmunds. You can even try and ask for the dealer's invoice. May or may not work but you need to show them that you're an informed buyer and would not be taken in.

If you have the patience to wait, put it off for some time and when the dealership experience some sales slowdown and needs to meet quota, I can guarantee you'll get a phone call from them.

As an option if you don't mind a long drive to take your car home, look at buying from an out of state dealership. You can take the best deal and also avoid paying sales tax.

LexusBob

Sound advice, but wouldn't you have to pay sales tax where you purchase the vehicle (if there is a state sales tax), or at time you register in your state? Just curious.

cssnms

Not true... As LexusBob pointed out, she will pay sales tax in her state when she registers the vehicle.

schan1w

I usually use carsdirect.com to get an idea of what the current pricing is because carsdirect shows that price they can get the car from the dealer at. Unfortunately, for you, it seems that carsdirect is showing you can only get the car for $3k above invoice in your zip code. For an MSPR of $53K, the invoice is $47.5, and the carsdirect price is $50.5. I usually assume I can negotiate the car down $500-1000 below what carsdirect is showing. So, expect around $50K or $49.5, which would seem about right where they are at if you can get them to come down $1k. When I bought my GX in late 2006, carsdirect was showing a price of $1k above invoice. I got mine for $500 above invoice. I just think inventory must be low now that Toyota has really cut back production. But I just looked at my zip code in California, and the carsdirect price is $48.8K for a MSRP of $53K. So, it looks like in some areas, you can still get close to invoice, but not in your area.

nate579

iTrader: (4)

Another thing you can try that worked for us is sign up on Cars.com or Autotrader.com, build the truck you want and the dealers will contact you with their price. It worked for us twice. Each dealer has a internet sales manager. We purchased out 06 GX for 49500, fully loaded, 0 miles. Based on the email price they sent us. They tried to back away from the deal, but since I had their email in writing. There was nothing they could do as opposed to blaming it on printing error on a ad. You will usually get 3-6 emails from dealers with their best price.

Of Course this was back in 06, but sales was better than. You should be able to find a great price now. Good Luck.

Rob Daman

It's weird that car dealers won't give much. My friend had that hard of a time buying a Mustang just last month.

kalvano

Lexus has cut production way back on the GX's, and they are hard to find right now.

Why should they negotiate? If no one else is in the area, then why should they?