i2IS

iTrader: (3)

Hello,

First of all, I wanted to thank CL for great and helpful information. I did a lot of research in this forum and got a lot of help from members. Anyways, I have posted on “Official Discount Thread” but there weren’t many replies, so I thought that I would start a thread.

I am currently in the market for an Obsidian/Black 08 IS350
A dealer offers me $40750 for an 08 IS350 with:

LT- Luxury Package
VN- Nav with ML
Z1- Accessories
LR- Rear Spoiler

The MSRP is $45650
Dealer invoice is $39900
Kbb invoice is $39581
Basically its $850 over dealer invoice

So I got 3 questions,
1. Is it true that IS350 with well equipped packages (LT,VN) are rare and dealers are not willing to discount as much as IS350 with other options?
2. Why are dealer invoice always higher than Kbb? Did they make it higher intentionally?
3. Is this a good price? Should I go for it now? Can I do a better job on it?

Thanks in advance

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

1) Yes...
Normally they will go as low as $1,500 to $1,000 over dealer invoice.
If it closer to when the year of the car came out, it would be no less than $2,000 to $3,000 off of MSRP

2) They are normally higher because KBB and other sites do not include the Toyota Development Advertising (TDA), Wholesale Reserve (RES) and Dealer Hold Back (HB) Fees.... Which vary from state to state...

3) $850 over actual dealer invoice for a fully equipped IS350 is Very Good.

Joe Z

stvn

thats basically the same car as mine except i didnt have the oem spoiler. i think i got charged about $39500, a couple hundred below invoice, before tax and registration. When i bought the car the salesperson told me that most of the 350s already came loaded with luxury and nav, and that there were very few "base" models. when i was looking through their stock it seemed to be the case.

i also bought it around christmas when they were having their december to remember sale. i think they were trying to sell as many cars as they could because about 8 other people bought lexus that day. i remember i had to wait a couple hours just to sign my papers.

overall i think its a fair price.

Zanorath

Man, I wish I had got that deal, I walked out of 3 dealerships only to go back to one a few weeks later and get the same price. $37500 for base model with Heated/cooled seats (PT package). This was in 06 though, and the actual price before mandatory addons (summer package, spoiler, PT) was $35000 I believe.

moolman

The difference between the KBB and Edmunds invoice and the dealer invoice is only the TDA, which is the advertising fee. The holdback and wholesale reserve are already calculated into the KBB and Edmunds. At least on Edmunds, it says that there are sometimes advertising fees for cars and that Edmunds doesn't list it. Now the question is, is this TDA fee legit? And of course it's a grey area because we're talking about the wonderful world of car buying. Yes, the fee is legit because Toyota does charge the dealer. At the same time, dealer invoice is total BS because the dealers don't actually pay that price. They pay less than that, even less than after you consider the holdback, dealers get incentives depending on anything from volume, sales goals, customer satifaction surveys, etc, etc. Obviously, you can negotiate the fee and see if they will take it off. When I was buying my GS, I paid KBB/Edmunds price + TDA, I would of tried to negotiate off the TDA but they had my color combo in the options I wanted and they were the only dealer in all of SoCal that did, so they had me by the *****. So I thought that the TDA fee was worth paying to get the car.

llamaboiz

you guys in da mainland with your 'invoice' prices suxor... we only have servco here in hawaii so if we wanna play in the lexus sandbox we gotta pay or its 'take a hike'... so to answer your question, imo that is, yes its a GREAT deal

kickin8

iTrader: (1)

better deal is = or < invoice......

if you have the taste of lexus coupon, USE IT......

if you are not in a hurry....try carsdirect.com a few days before the month ends....you might be able to get a BETTER deal.....

good luck

Tajman82

If you are willing to wait till the end of the month then try lowering it to 500 above invoice or take it at the price they're giving you and ask them to throw in free tints. I got a sick deal on mine. I went in a week before the end of the month and got approved for the loan and all but then walked away from the deal as I was not happy with the deal and the color (Blue) was not my first choice. So the last day of the month, they call me and tell me they got the exact car I wanted with everything I asked for and I got it for 500 below invoice. Reason being is that if that dealership does not meet their quotas for the month they were to be fined 40k or some penalty by lexus, but they figure they take a loss of $500 then 40k...so I went back in got the car I wanted and free tints Good Luck

i2IS

iTrader: (3)

Ahh, thanks for the inputs guys.

I got 1 more question, are dealers not allowed to make any changes on the vehicle when it is arriving / arrived at the port?
For example, request the mechanics not to install the spoiler..

Thanks

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

^^ If the car has NOT arrived at the port yet, it can be requested NOT to have the Spoiler added... IF it already arrived at the port, its too late...

The dealership should & would not be installing a spoiler on their own, unless the plan to put the car in the showroom floor with some "add ons".

Joe Z

moolman

The dealership did not take a $500 loss on your car, if they did, they would be out of business. What really happened is that they took less profit on the your car, and maybe they were trying to meet an end of month quota to get an incentive from Lexus, or the dealership was giving salesmen an incentive, etc. etc. I don't think dealerships get fined for not selling enough cars from Lexus, what does happen is that if they don't sell many cars, they get crappy allocation, meaning they get the worst colors or not enough of the popular models, etc.

Just remember that, invoice price has no meaning anymore because it's posted on the internet, it's not the true cost of what the dealer is paying.

I'm a hard negotiator and always pay very close to invoice for all my cars and I hate it when the salesman or manager, says to me "we're losing money on this deal", yeah right, so you guys sell cars to lose money.

i2IS

iTrader: (3)

Thanks Joe, I owe u a big one, maybe some beers next time when I drive to SoCal

moolman - looks like I need to work harder. Thanks for the info

Still can't believe some members in California & Florida are getting invoice price for the same package

moolman

paying $850 over "dealers" invoice is not a bad price. You really don't need to work harder to get a good price because you already did. SoCal just gets good prices because dealers sell a lot of cars here compared to other parts of the country. Also, we have so many dealerships here. I'd be happy with your price especially if you found the color and options you want. I think reasonable considering this is a Lexus is $1000-1500 over invoice. Now if it was a Ford, I'd be looking for invoice or below.