lexi06

I feel dealers are selling cars with more than what the customer wanted in the first place.
Dealers just cash in more that way, and if it's a special order they'll still cash in 'cuz they'll sell it
at list price. It's a win-win situation for them. In the end, the customer ends up paying more
than what he/she originally planned. Blowing off steam...

tdog09

Sux that this is happening to people. I had to special order my 350, but only bc of the color I wanted. Here the only 350's there were getting (end of Dec) were Sport + nav only in Blue/Black Onyx, Metador, Tungsten and SMG, with limited interiors.

I got $2000 of MSRP on my special order, but I'm sure that's bc they're a high volume moving dealership.

integlikew

You need to deal with more then just one dealer. You wouldnt have to special order if you checked inventory of 5-10 dealers. I orginally went into my local dealer and put a deposit and they lied to me about have a car for me. After the car came in they said someone else just bought it. But i know it had somes name on it before it even arived to the dealer. Anyways my dealer never ended up finding me a car. I searched 10 dealers around me and few said i had to special order because i would never find on. And i even heard " as you should know its like finding a needle in a hay stack" in one of my emails. Well after all the dealers checked their allocation list as soon as they got it in several dealers did get in the exact car i wanted. Some did have people waiting before me so they were already sold but i found one dealer that no one was waiting for it. Took 1 week of searching and around 3 weeks for it arrive. This is alot better then dealers telling you " NOPE you need to special order it, 4 months". They like you to agree to this. They sell the the normal stock they have comming in to people who wont wait and want the car now or their goign somewhere else and they still sell another car to you because you agreed to wait. Its a win for both of you. Unless you want park assit or pre-collision i say you should not have to order you vehcile. They have every color interior and exterior comming to dealers around you. If you only shop 1 dealer your odds arent as good as if you shop 10 dealers.

tdog09

I disagree on the interior/exterior color combos. Depending on what region your in you'll only get certain color combos on certain builds. I dont believe they're sending IS350's in BWB or Glacier Frost in any type of config here in the northeast.

charlesmsn

i agree. you must deal with multiple dealers.
when they know you aren't locked into what they have to say, they're more willing to deal to keep your business. one dealer would give me information that I could use to bargain with the other.

(yeah, I know if I was a dealer, I would hate people like me, but everyone's out to make or save a buck. that's business.)

syn1313

The combo i wanted was so simple and they still told me it would take up to 8 weeks to get. i wanted the dark grey and balck int.. or even black with black int.. they tol me that black on black and hard to find... they have black with light int.. don't want that....

TurkEclisp

Im in Charlotte, NC.. Got IS350 BWB.. thats about it no options except for preffered customer pacakge and bigger tires.. I would of liked to have the ML. but i already had went up when i made the decision to get this car..

integlikew

You guys are listening to the dealer to much. Just beacuse they tell you " ohh man that going to be a tough one" doesnt mean they dont send many of that color to you side of the world. I could sent you a list of emails from 10 different dealers i talked to and i recieved so many differnet stories its not even funny. 1st i found deposits prices of 500, 1000, and 5,000. No every dealer has the same price. 2nd i found dealers say no way MSRP price only no bargin. And i found dealers go as low as 3,000 below msrp with most around 1,000 under. 3rd i found some dealers tell me its going to be 4 month special order no exceptions down to 2-4 week wait. Every dealer is different so you need to work with what you got. Im going to paste a few emails on here so you can see how some of these dealers are around the LA area.

OK heres one that the guy was trying to sell me a sports package even tho i was looking for luxry package. I wasnt really looking for black/beige either but told him i would take it if he had one and this is what i got.

Dealer:
Sorry but I do have a Black/beige FULLY loaded IS350 Navigation / Mark Levinson / HID headlamps / Sport package available right now... $43,764 + tax
Me:
Price is good and the color i would probley take but the sport packeg i dont want. Has to be a luxury package.
Dealer:
This is the Performance Luxury package Loaded the only difference is this has a better suspension than the standard Luxury edition... Please advise...
Me:
I have never heard of a performance luxury package. It should have either a sport package which has a aluminum doorsill pads, pedals and around the shifter, or it has a luxury package which has wood trim around the shifter, normal pedals and illuminated doorsill pads. The sport also doesn't have a power rear window sunshade. The suspension i don't mind either way. Ifthe vehicle truly does have the luxury package (which doesn't sound like) i would be more then happy rush down tonight. Thanks JIM
Dealer:
You're absolutely correct... I was going off of site unseen information and I looked at the build myself after responding to you... Sorry... It's the first sport package this store has gotten and it's on our staging lot at the moment (I have not had the opportunity to see it yet but I hear it's HOT!) Do you want to leave a deposit so I can preference you a luxury package?

So thats one jackass that i should have took his job as he knows less then i do. Next is some chick that email after email swore if i didnt by it from her i was never going to find one. It was going to be impossible to find this car. This email was after a phone call and she told me to come in a leave a deposit or i wasnt going to be able to help me find my car. I told her if she wants to sell a car check her allocation and call me if she sees the car, if she dont want to do that then stop helping me and ill find it some where else. Then i got this email.

Dealer:
Dear James
As you have discovered for yourself, you are looking for a needle in a hay stack. The factory does not make enough of these cars to cope with demand. I told you in my last email that if I found what you were looking for I would give you a call. I didn't say I was going to stop helping you. I received my allocation yesterday as a matter of fact and I received 1 IS350 smokey granite/black with luxury. Exactly what you want. I was unable to put your name on it b/c you did not provide me with a deposit. The car went to someone else we had on the list looking for the same car who left us a $2,000 deposit. I am sorry.
Me:
I told her she was lieing and ill find my car with or without her help. Either she didnt really have a car comming in or she already had the car sold so my deposit wouldnt have held me the car anyways. And if it wasnt sold until 30 min after she got the list, she ****ed up and should have called me when she seen it was on the list. I would have bought it from her and she would have had a sale insted of another sales person. So i told her if you would like to make a sale please call me when you see one on the lsit.
Dealer:
Will do
Me:
The same day another dealer called me and it was on their list and i went and bought it. So i sent a email back. Pretty nasty saying my needle has been found and i bought a car today. So thanks for telling em i would never find this car.
Dealer:
can't win em all. Congradulations! I hope you realize how lucky you are to get that vehicle!

Heres another one that wanted MSRP and a 5,000 deposit to look for me a car.

Dealer:
price quote results
MSRP $44,429 Selling Price: $44,429 plus tax and licensing due to the lack of availability for this model and package discounting is not yet implemented
Me:
do you have my car? Or have one comming in?
Dealer:
With a $5000 deposit, I can add you to my allocation list and we do place orders every two weeks. With that said, the wait time for your Lexus would be about 6 weeks.
Me:
Please give me a call if you find the vechile im looking for as i will sign the papers that day. Im already pre aproved and wating to buy as soon as i find the car. But i would also like to let you know most dealers ask for a 500 deposit and are selling the car for 1,000 under MSRP. Wait times can very.
Dealer:
I appreciate your honesty. If anything changes with my pricing or inventory, I will be happy to updated you.
Me:
Ofcourse i sent an email after saying i found the car for 1,500 under msrp and i bought it.
Dealer:
Smart move, I just know you will love your Lexus.

I had many more emails and phone conversations with atleast 7 different stores. And all this time i had a 500.00 deposit at my local dealer. (thats not were i found the car and i had to go back and get my deposit back) They legally cant keep the deposit for any reason. So youll notice they all say its fully refundable.

The moral of the story goes if i would have waited on my local dealer where i first ordered it and put a deposit before i started my search. I would have still been waiting for a car (who knows how long) and i would have payed 500 more then i ended up paying. Spend some time search all the dealers and you will find that imposible needle in a hay stack as some dealers told me.

Solomoan

I used Reliable Lexus in Springfield to compete against the local guys, and it worked to the tune of about a $2,000 savings over what their original "bottom line, final, all we can do" offer.