outdateboy

Hello all,

I am grateful to find this active community of Lexus IS owners. I am thinking about buying a 2009 or 2008 Lexus IS 250 RWD NV LL PA. Since I've never bought any car over $20k, I have no idea how much negotiation room there is in northern california for such a entry-level luxury car.

I checked out edmunds and found this numbers:

Base Price
$32,325 MSRP
$28,445 Invoice
$29,440 TMV

Regional Adjustment
for Zip Code Change - -
-$398 TMV

NV Navigation System
$2,550 MSRP
$2,150 Invoice
$2,212 TMV

LL Luxury Plus Package
$2,380 MSRP
$2,142 Invoice
$2,179 TMV

PA Intuitive Parking Assist
$500 MRP
$400 Invoice
$415 TMV

Destination Charge
$825
Total with Options
$38,580 MSRP
$33,962 Invoice
$34,673 TMV

Questions I have:

I don't plan on stopping by every single dealer in the area to negotiate. I think what i will do is email/fax my specification to the dealer and negotiate from there. What I want to know is what my bottom line price should be.

Is the TMV price on edmunds close to the best deal I can find?
Is there a way to figure out the best price based on the MSRP (something like MSRP x 1.05?)

I know that not every dealer has a car with my options in the inventory. Is special ordering such a car gonna cost me a lot of negotiation room?

AM1

iTrader: (6)

dont go to any dealership unless you want to spend the day being bothered by sales people. go through email and do all the negotiation and get a deal done before going to the dealership, that way all you have to is go there to sign the papers and pick up the car. i would also suggest working with the fleet manager or the internet sales manager. pricing is all on supply/demand and your skills at negotiating.

Fizzboy7

AM1 is absolutely correct. The best deals are when you pit many dealers against each other over the internet. I did this with mine and came out way under invoice in early 2008.
A few other points... DO NOT ever trust Edmunds TMV. It is always off and does not accurately reflect current deals. The best way to check which deals are actually going down is to go to Edmunds town hall forums and see what people are paying for recent purchases. It's all there, pages and pages worth of stuff. I used that for my sale and went a little lower as my target. It worked. Do your homework online, see what others are paying in your region, email all your local dealers with what you want to pay, and you will have good results w/o the huge hassles of negotiating in person.

damnboy

This will help.

Official Discount off MSRP poll


OFFICIAL Pricing Thread

How much paid for 2009 IS 250

561Lexus

LISTEN!!! I have had 9... Negotiate negotiate negotiate! Go in there AFTER you have looked on Consumer Reports and other websites to find the rock bottom price. If you have to tell them look this is what I can afford... If they dont give it to you... give them your phone number and tell them to call you if anything changes AND LEAVE! they have called me every time. Show them your serious though...

speed_Demo

Don't follow the listed price on your research, those are guiding you(), but you don't have to settle for it.

Dealer will give you paper on how much their invoice/price to sell. But you can still negotiate!!

You can get invoice price or lower! at the currend market condition.

If you special order, then you probably have to pay more vs what dealer have in stock.

Some dealer install accessories to increase the price of vehicle, you might want to look at invoice price accessories, and get an idea how much the vehicle really cost.

outdateboy

A sales manager emailed back with the following (without negotiation)

2008 IS 350 VN LL WL LM GN + Rear Lip Spoiler for $38,900 + tax + fees. That is already lower than Edmons's 39535 invoice. Edmund's TMV price shows $36,1xx. Does that mean others are getting deals well below invoice (in the $36k range)? I guess at this time of economy, I can go as deep as $3k below invoice? I am just suspecting whether there is a mistake in edmund's TMV number or invoice number.

AM1

iTrader: (6)

generally, and this is GENERAL, you should be getting at least the TMV price or lower. which means according to what you are telling us they are wasting your time by "offering" a price higher then what most people are paying for that car. contact other dealers and use what they tell you as leverage against the other dealers.

dojoman

iTrader: (5)

Are you in Bay Area?

outdateboy

I countered 40k out of door. The sales manager replied with ALL CAPS saying that he transported that car from Seattle and claimed the price he offered me is very fair. From other dealers, it does seem that's the only 2008 IS 350 of that color in the Bay Area. I think he's exploiting this fact to keep the price high. Well. I am walking away if he is not willing to sell.

outdateboy

Yes. i am in the bay area.

JKA.nyc

Shouldn't 08's be going for about 2-4k below invoice nationwide? I know pricing is different depending on region, but it's an 08... I just priced an 08 350 for my area (NY) and the TMV price came to 4k below invoice.

Gus738

Very intresting thread, I too am in the market for an is 350, Granted I have had comments by a few members, but I see you are getting very great advice, god i wish i can be helped as much as you op.

looking for is 350, has to have alest HID. zip code 95019 bay area i guess

AM1

iTrader: (6)

i missed the fact that you are looking for an 2008. for reference i got a similar 2008 IS350 for 1k under invoice with no negotation around october. at that time 2009 models were slowly trickling in. now that it is 2009 and that sales guy is asking for that price? if that was me and that guy was in front of me i would tell him to go **** himself and would never go back. remember 2009 models are out, which means that the longer the dealer holds onto a 2008 model the less they will make on it. salespeople suck. i would go to anotehr dealer.

tex2670

"Very fair" sounds to me like there's room. Tell him you don't want "very fair", you want the absolute best price he can give you. Of course, it's best to have multiple offers for comparison purposes.