Hi,

Just placed a deposit on a starfire pearl on black leather RX450h on it's way to the dealer. I expect to take delivery in about two weeks.

Are there any current incentives on the RX450h? The dealer told me there were no manufacturer rebates, low APR finance rates, etc on the hybrid, only on the RX350. What should I pay above invoice?

Also, dealer is pushing the extended warranty and maintenance plan, along with a package where they put protective coating, and repair all door dings and windshield chips for $595 for 5 years. I don't care much for the coating since I do my own detailing, but I'm tempted with the unlimited PDR for 5 years. Have any of you guys picked up the service plan, extended warranty, or other after thoughts?

Thanks!
-Brian.

 

My wife wanted the dent repair and I didn't. Finance guy started at about $600 for 5 years but we got him down to $400. We also added the 8 yr, 100k mi Lexus warranty as well. You can negotiate hard on these items so do your homework first and don't take the first number they offer.

I'm assuming you are talking about a 2012 model, and according to TrueCar.com there are no rebates to the buyer or incentives back to the dealer. That is usually the case this early in the model year. I've had good luck with TrueCar.com in getting to a good place where you should be negotiating. I'm surprised you have placed a deposit on the vehicle without knowing the final price.

 

You can go the lexus.com and enter your zip under their sales promotion. This will tell you if there are any promotions / special financing in your area. Currently, there is nothing for the 450h here in N. CA ... also, in NJ, NY and CT. I can't help you with price because that is a pretty fluid area and I purchased my 450h about 15 months ago. Prices were much lower back then. Last time I looked there were some pretty low rates available for new car loans from various financial institutions. If you have a few of these rates with you when you go in to buy the car, I think they will match the rates through Lexus finance.

 

Yeah, PDR is a debatable one. Without the insurance, body shops charge about $50 to do a PDR. Remember though it's paintless. If your ding has a paint chip, PDR insurance will not cover the cost of the repair. Your regular auto insurance might.

 

My order price was about $500 above invoice. Looking at TrueCar, it looks like there is about $905 in dealer holdbacks (thanks for the link). I was curious what others are paying for their 2012 rx450h's (amount above/under invoice).

Thanks!

 

I bought a 2012 RX450 a few days ago... MSRP was $54,959. and I paid 51,518 so about $3,450 below MSRP....invoice was about 50,400 so i paid about $1,100 above invoice... to be honest, i didnt negotiate very hard and did 95% of my deal over email and phone with the dealership.. it was rhe only one in Florida with the features and colors i wanted, and its a surprise Xmas gift so i jumped on it. theyre theowing in the big roof ribbon as well for the surprise.. i wasnt expecting the cold pitch for the 7 other add ons like "ding protection", "extended warranty", "tire protection", "LoJack recovery", "window etching".... i was kind of turned off by it because how can they expect you to drop a few more thousands whenyou close on the vehicle without having done any research or read any of the fine print. i turned all of it down... i have a 2001 Lexus and a 2004 Lexus that have had ZERO issues combined. plus, i can get an extended warranty cheaper at any time, even through my insurance company USAA.. it really was very slimy how they try to guilt you into getting these other inflated products...

 

my 51,518 price included $875 for delivery and processing.... and i had to pay an extra $700 Dealer Fee and $98 processing fee to process the DMV stuff... they do everything on site in real time as if it were a real DMV so they pass that on to the customer... i could have been a ***** and argued for an hour to cut down the dealer fee or dmv fees... again, it was the only hybrid they had at that dealership, and after contacting 4 others in Florida, it was the only one with features/colors i wanted, so i took it... i gave a $1,000 deposit on a CC to hold it a few days, and when i settled, i asked what max CC was and they let me do another $5,000 CC for $6K on the CC total... so it felt good to sneak that by them...

 

Dealer holdback, usually around 2%, is not usually given up by a dealer for that is his last line of profit. Dealer incentives are a different item and represent cash rebates from Lexus back to the dealer to help move inventory, usually done at end of model year or with slow moving vehicles.

 

the dealers will probably tell you they dont get as many holdbacks for the hubrids as the other cars.. might be true.. your biggest leverage is at the end of the year when theyll have to owe axes on the vehicle.. they want to dump everything ithat last week...

 

I think you got a decent deal except for that outlandish dealer fee of $ 700. I see no reason for that type of charge other than pure greed by the dealer. A few years ago, a dealer (finance person) was asking for a dealer fee of ~ $ 300 in my purchasing of a car. I told him that price was not included in my agreed upon price with the salesman (they only mentioned that fee in the final signing of the papers). The finance guy said I could talk to the salesman again to re-negotiate. I went and found the salesman and told him I would purchase the car only if he lowered the price another $ 300. The salesman agreed and I then purchased the vehicle. Processing fees for DMV transactions in the office are common and usually reasonable. Oregon even has a statute limiting what a dealer is to charge for the DMV service:

Oregon Fees and Charges

By Oregon Administrative Rule, the current maximum a dealer may charge for processing the title and/or registration paperwork for a vehicle is $75 if the vehicle dealer does not use an integrator or $100 if the vehicle dealer uses an integrator.

 

In NJ, DMV and office fees are preprinted on the purchase order but do not have to be paid. So technically that is negotiable. This is per my BIL who has a NJ dealer's license. I imagine the dealer fee may be harder to get waived. Taking it out of the sale price like Jim did is a good idea. I received a decent discount two years ago on my special order. It was similar percentage-wise to what I would have gotten on a 450h coming in. They didn't try to sell me all the extra options and plans. The only thing I took was the extended warranty.

 

I was going to mention that fee as well, that is nothing but added profit and is a sneaky way to charge a higher price once the deal is negotiated. I'd scream bloody murder if I was in the finance office signing the papers and saw that on the contract. Here in TX it is customary to tack on a $50 to $125 Document Fee, a charge to cover their time in handling documents for the sale. There is disclaimer in bold that states that this fee is not required by law and is not an official fee, in other words it is negotiable. I've always paid it as by that time I'm tired of negotiating and the fee isn't so high to cause me any heartburn. I wonder what other states charge for this 'service'?

 

The document and DMV fees are somewhere around $250 to $275 I don't have my paperwork on me. I have received a nominal refund from the dealer in the past because the DMV charges were less than they thought.

 

every Lexus Dealership around here has a "dealer fee"... it covers their costs for advertising and work done on their lot... yeah, its gravy for them. a lot of other car dealerships have that as well, its pretty common down here. the companies that advertise "no dealer fees" are kind of hack in that theyll get that money in the price... in the end theres a magic price theyre comfortable with, so this dealer fee is all relative to that price

 

Maybe so, but if you negotiating hard on a price and agree to a price, and then get hit with the Dealer Fee at signing that is really a shady tactic, imo. It seems that not all dealers in FL do this so how is a customer to know whether he is going to get slugged with another $700 at the signing table? If that is the way they do it in FL fine, but the first thing I'd be asking when going in the door is 'how much is the dealer fee?' and use that as part of the negotiating process.