Hi all.

New member to the forum. I was close to getting a slightly used 2IS twice in the past 2 years but I postponed it. Now seems the right time, but I prefer the 3IS and I'm ready to wait a few months. The car would be for my wife as a graduation gift. It would be our first new car, first Lexus (excluding my two 1:18 IS300)

We're both pretty sold on the design, I read every single opinion and first impressions since its unveiling and she knows the options she wants (roughly, from what's been said on the web). We need the car for july-august. Here's where temptation kicks in :

I know that at least one of my local dealers (I have the luxury of having 5 in a 15 minute-drive radius...) is taking pre-orders right now. Rep says they take orders for their second "batch" which is due for mid-august. He also says if we end up not liking the car, we simply walk away...

Forgot to ask him the million-dollar question : is there any non-refundable deposit? There probably is? If not, that would be too good to be true... I'm not willing to buy a car without driving it, let alone sitting in it before. I'd rather wait a few more weeks. I never was an impulsive buyer.

The other thing is that prices for different trims are unknown and the rep told me they guesstimated using the 2IS prices... how can I commit to buy a car when I don't know the price?
Lastly, I would prefer to wait for more thorough reviews and opinions (than ones from events organized by Lexus) before committing, if there's a non-refundable deposit.

As you can see, it's a dilemma. What are your opinions and experiences on this (please keep in mind we're noobs in the new-car buying experience)?

 

ask them :-)

 

You can get on the list with no deposit, depends on the dealer and who you are dealing with. If its a rarer model like an F-sport you likely will need a deposit.

Sadly unless the car blows me away in person I think I'll be looking for something else. Lexus is dropping the ball with me.

 

Thanks Blueprint. I find it hard to believe that you can order a car to your taste, and if you don't like it, you walk away and the dealer is stuck with it. Doesn't it encourage some kind of abuse? And is it a common thing among Lexus dealerships (at least in North America)?

I understand the new IS isn't to the taste of everyone. I personally like the new style, especially after seeing it in person.

 

When the 2IS came out in 2006, they were in high demand in Texas where I live. I started looking seriously at 2007's in spring of 2007, and the dealers were selling them at list price, and additionally throwing on the ugliest set of $2,000 chrome rims I could possibly imagine. It was pure dealer rip off.

I don't know the delaers where you are, but based on that experience, have absolutely zero trust in a Lexus dealer to sell me a new "hot" car at a fair price. There is no way in hell that I would commit to a car without knowing teh invoice price, the selling price, and if any of those two prices included mandatory dealer add-ons.

I ended up calling around at the time and getting a good deal from a long distance dealer (purchased in a 2007 in June of 2007, so they were moving inventory) and driving it home for a total of $6,000 savings vs a local dealer.

 

If you plan on getting the new IS this summer, you are basically saying I am willing to pay full price to be one of the first. If that's a financial decision you are okay with, that's your call. But be prepared for a good 3-4 years of hearing about deals that are 10-20% cheaper. That would soil the ownership experience for me. At the very least, how about waiting until Decemeber when Lexus goes out of their way to push cars?

 

There should be a refundable deposit to pre order. But depends on the dealership.

 

Thanks for the answers.
Fizzboy7 : Although there's no way I'm committing with a non-refundable deposit, my main worry is exactly what you stated : I want to negociate the price and go to the dealer with an invoice price in mind. This looks difficult to do if I want to be among the first owners. Truth is I don't want to buy the car this summer, but rather need it (latest would be at fall)...

By the way, since it's a 2014 model, do you think the dealerships will be lowering prices at the end of 2013?
Appreciate your help!

 

They'll be able to sell it to someone else, they won't be stuck with it.

 

I know. What I meant is that the dealership is "stuck" with a car to your taste and has to sell it to somebody else, probably at a lower price. I don't doubt it will sell, though.

 

longer you wait, better the price :-)

 

But its not like these cars can be configured really in some custom way, you've selected from a series of packages and predetermined color pairings....in e early days they'll sell the car to someone else for the same price.

If you were ordering a lime green one with leopard print seats, maybe.

 

The golden rule is to never let a dealership know you "love this car" or worst that you "need" this car, it's best to say you are considering this model as your next purchase. The moment you tell them you must have this car will be the moment you pay full retail or more on a brand new model just released.

 

Yeah the way it works is dealers order/get their allocation and you can put in your "order" and they can get cars from their "region". Dealers order what sells, a lot of black/white/silver/beige leather . Traditionally Lexus has underestimated F-sport demand so there might be more of a waiting list/demand for those models. I know my dealer has white/red f-sports as well as the southern region coming.

You can put your name on the list for one of those cars, usually no deposit is required unless its a really highly anticipated model (The 2002 SC 430 comes to mind). If you don't like it, you can walk away as they likely have a few people interested.

Expect minimal discounts initially as the dealer will simply want to make as much money initially since the car is new and hot before they need to offer discounts. When we shopped around for our Vossen Project GS last February/March, we basically got the $1500 loyalty discount and a few $$$ off. Dealers were pretty blunt they were not discounting. Fast forward to November and my wife-s F-sport had tons of incentives.

 

You're right. Do you think they'll discount those models which sit in the lot (the ones people ordered but didn't buy)? If so we might wait a few weeks for models to become available...

Didn't think about it this way.

I read somewhere that a rule of thumb is that invoice is roughly 10% less than sticker price. I'm guessing our chances of getting anything close to invoice are slim to none?
Again I ask : can we expect the dealer to negotiate more on "available" models rather than "order" models, since they would want to lower their inventory? Or maybe that doesn't apply to a new and hot model?