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Lexus RX 330 Prices Paid and Buying Experience
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Comments
Nothing over invoice is a good deal on this car. I paid nearly $6,000 below sticker and $560 below "invoice". I even cut in to their dealer hold-back, and that was in early April of this year. Admittedly, they were not happy about the deal I insisted on, were quite ornery, but in the end, the sales manager on duty took it ... once I said the magic words "I will buy the car today" -- but only at my price, of course.
You should be able to do as well, if you are a tough negotiator, do your research, and put your poker face on. Heck, these days you can negotiate with the intermet/fleet manager over the phone.
I checked Edmunds.com, then paid the $12 for the Consumer Reports pricing service on this car. It paid off in spades!
so IMHO, to purchase a premium vehicle (especially Lexus) with high reliability, top safety features, few recalls, and a high resale value within two to five hundred dollars over invoice one wouldn't be considered a fool.
1-5 hundred over the best deal for hi-end car is OK. for low end-car may be not OK because the percentage.
Because U don't need to spend more hours in dealer, or drive to another dealer to locate the best deal, or search the web,use the phone etc.... to negotia several hundred dollar.! for me I don't like that!
If u can drive hi-end car. I think your income or hourly pay will higher than the time u spend. or IF you just I want "the best deal in town" . that is good too.
Like some people talk about use premium or regular gasoline.
No matter how the gasoline price is sky high.
The premium is higher than regular around 20cent per gallon.
If u use 1000 gallon per year. that is $200.
In case u drive MB E320 would u mind spend $20 per month to use premium gasoline. (just follow the owner handbook by carmaker)
Several months ago a class action lawsuit against the LosAngles local dealers.
Because they lower monthly payment (looks like good deal) but use the very high interest rate,& did not explain to lots of car buyers. For some buyers they don't know the math & don't know how to calculate the good deal! Several hundreds dollar is a lot percentage in their income.
So why is the good or best deal? all depend which side u are in & on a lot of conditions & TIMING !!! demand & supply!
Like my deal. I'm still in waiting list to wait next shipment. All dealers is low on inventory for RX330 in SoCal during May & June. I think may be lexus do some adjustment for the quality control about the complain so lowing the supply (I hope so.)
So the BEST deal is different from time to time !
May be the June' best is 1K over invoice ! July's best deal is below invoice 1K.
Yesterday I purchased my RX330 Black Onyx, Gray Leather, Nav, Tow, 18s, HID AFS, etc... for $712 over Invoice. Maybe not the best deal as many members here are doing better, but I only wanted Gray interior, and everyone seemed to have Tan leather with Black Onyx. I know for a fact that if I took any color combination (same options) I would have saved substantially more. The upside to the deal is the dealer is only 25 minutes away with pick up from the home or office, valet service, Lexus loaners, and very nice people (McDermott in CT) I was really expecting to have to leave the state to get an invoice up deal. I only went to one dealer, gave him a check, and walked out 1 hour later... I take delivery at 3pm today.
Ultimately my internet negotiations saved me $4,483.00... AND I got the exact model, color combination, and options I wanted.
Now I have to slave away researching and negotiating the best price for the Family Disney Vacation at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
I agree with you about internet research and comparison shopping. It is educational, informative and can save money! Case in point, I started with internet shopping 3-5 years ago for a beach house. My family bought a practically oceanfront house 2-3 years ago in a place along the eastern seaboard that has been undervalued (though the prices have escalated rapidly in the past 2-3 years). Now the latest is that even the average upper middle class person finds it hard to buy anything near water, esp. the ocean (CNNFN or MONEY magazine article).
The internet research started this for us.
Regarding shopping for the RX, I saved about $4500 under MSRP for my 2005 RX as a result of these forums and internet research (otherwise, there would have been too many walk-ins, telephone calls or faxes required to find the best price/ quality possible).
I am trying to find a dealer in the Dallas, Houston, San Antonio or Austin area who will be willing to sell a RX 330 closer to Edmunds TMV. I am looking for an RX with premium plus and navigation.
Does anyone have any recommendations ?
Thanks
I thought I was going to have to drive an hour or two to a larger Lexus dealer to get my vehicle at TMV (or xxx above invoice), but I was able to purchase at a small margin above invoice (see my previous post) from my local dealer.
Good luck (I'm very happy with the car... smooth, quite, and solid... The dealer gave my wife a dozen roses at delivery) :shades:
Does anyone have any recommendations ?
In my recent buying experience, most any good size Lexus dealer will cut you a good deal, if you have done your homework and are willing to start bargaining well below invoice. A smaller dealership, with fewer cars to sell, and make a profit on, will be far less likely to deal because they need that profit to survive. A higher volume dealer can get by on a lower profit margin, and may have other incentives for selling you the car.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I paid $6,000 below MSRP and over $500 below invoice. I did not have to do extensive research ... just Edmunds. com and the $12 Consumer Reports Car Buying Kit which provided significant savings that other on-line services did not offer. I did have to bargain hard, and was willing to sit and confront a not-so-happy salesman, but I got my deal, and we shook hands and both went away happy.
Having said all that, two months later I am not happy with the car and am looking to sell it! Transmission hesitation problems and excessive wind and road noise are ruining the ownership experience for me, and for thousands of other RX330 owners world wide. A word to the wise.
I am ready to buy an RX330. Have not bought a new car for 7 years and am
terrified that I will roll at the dealer's. I am in Boston and was already told by Lexus
in Danvers(on the phone) that she perceives alot of value to this car and will not work up from the invoice - end of discussion. What is the best I can hope for from
the remaining (2 dealers) in my area? I want blue/gray with premium package. Cars.com gave me an invoice of $35,486...for once I don't want to get fleeced!
Anyone who has suggestions or stories on great deals or who to work with? I've heard Bellevue won't negotiate, they also own
Lexus of Fife. I have been to Lexus of Seattle, nice guy there, but I'm non-commital, until I know my bottom line on best pricing!
Don't know if my best option is out of state... Feed back appreciated!
SW
I bought an AWD+Premium+Nav+DVD Entertainment last year in Settle-WA.
The negotiation with Internet sales manager was easy and stright-forward.
I got $5000 below MSRP (a few hundreds above invoice).
I tried Oregon. They won't negotiate the price at all in the first call but they will call you back with a few hundreds lower later.
You can try the dealers in CA. They can lower the price more. :shades:
Balise Lexus in Mass. http://www.baliseauto.com/en_US/ click on search new Lexus... advertises Invoice and Msrp on their site. Plus read back a couple of pages on this thread and you'll see some Boston Dealers that deal.
BTW I love my New '05 Black on Gray Premium Plus w/Nav RX330... The whole family just took a short 2 hr trip to Wrentham Mass for a wedding... it was so smooth on the road and the Navigation was spot on, I'm so use to using Mapquest it was hard not to go to the PC and print out directions but the Nav gave the best route and was fun to use. My kids had plenty of room... my 12 year old is 5'11" and had plenty of room to spare. I was able to lean the front passenger seat back (I'm 6'2") and it didn't bother my little 7 year old. My wife drove and I read the owners manual we're up to 450 miles.
I'm going to put on a Lexus OEM Thundercloud grill just because I like the chrome horizontal lines, a Lexus OEM hitch for my kids bikes on a Thule bike carrier, and maybe a Thule roof cargo box for the OEM rack. Thule has a nice aerodynamic High gloss black box that's a good size but short enough that the auto rear door will still open all the way(Evolution 1600 672B). That will be it for adds... Maybe a rear DVD, I think I can get the Lexus one?
This is a very, very nice vehicle. Those of you out there who are like me that research the heck out of everything will be happy with this SUV.
They first insisting on getting our personal information so they could run a credit check as they could not now trust our personal check and then began to re-negotiate on the agreed upon price by adding on charges. They wanted to charge a processing fee which they had earlier agreed not to charge and had left it out of total cost and was a very blatant and sleazy attempt to now squeeze a few hundred dollars from us. We now understood why that had not wanted us to wire the money or bring certified funds – they wanted to still negotiate on a previously agreed on total price.
We do want the cars, but will not do business with someone who very blatantly goes back on their word and treats customers with impoliteness. So we surprised them by demanding our deposit and walking out and not giving in to their sleaziness. They would not give us any thing in writing regarding refunding our deposit, but I am expecting to see a refund on my credit card statement as of today....
Send your request for quotes out to local dealers through Edmunds, you can include dealers from bordering states.
If it's a week-day you will be flooded with email offers within a couple of hours (some dealers will be quicker to respond than others and some may not respond at all)
The dealers will try and coax you into the Dealership (via email without committing to a price) for a test drive and to build excitement, Excitement sells... as a buyer you don't want to be excited until you get the Keys to your RX at the price YOU want to pay. In your emails be shrewd and exacting, but not so tough that you turn the salesman off... I highly recommend reading "Confessions of a Car Salesman" at the edmunds site, it really gives you a sense for what's going on at dealerships these days.
Once you break the email ice, start talking numbers and when you want to buy, the internet sales manager will start quoting you numbers. If you know the Invoice price for the RX with the options you want, the numbers will look familiar or close to what you want to pay.
Email the other dealers and tell them "The guy at "This Lexus Dealer" quoted me i.e. "39388" for the model I want etc... Go round and round til one of them hits your magic number, compare that number to what we're paying here on the forum.
Get them to commit to that magic number in email including taxes, destination, conveyance, and THEN go to the dealership with an "almost" done deal before you walk into the dealership. If they try any funny business with the bait and switch, or hidden charges... Walk.
Of course, know the vehicle you want to purchase well before you start the process. Also know the vehicles competition i.e. Infiniti FX, Acura MDX, BMW X3, Volvo XC90, and so on. Get all your test driving out of the way before hand.
Hope this helps some.
I am looking at '05 330 with Premium Plus Pkg and Navigation System in the Washinton DC area. Could you please give me information about your best deal and the name of the person that you deal with in Washington DC area. Also did you get the car at invoice price. I went to Pohanka and Lindsay dealship yesterday. Pohanka's deal did not talk to me because they said that they don't deal with invoice price. Then I went to lindsay dealship offer $40,000 for '05 RX-330 AWD with Premiun Plus Pkg and Navigation System (almost $1000 more then invoice price). They still do not sell to me. Am I offer too lower. Please Help!!!
Lexus of Danvers initially trys to play hardball on price, however, they will deal. See my post #2047. I paid 40,500 for a 330 w/msrp of 45,083. This is approx 300 -500 over dealer cost. Dealer cost per NADA.com is 39,420 adding 400 for lexus dealer advertising brings cost to 39,820. I had them include winter mats and install mudflaps (200-350 value depending who you ask) bringing total dealer cost to 40,020 - 40,170. My experience was, know exactly what you want, color, options etc., let them know you are ready to purchase today and deal via phone with the internet manager. I phoned both Lexus of Danvers and Lexus of Watertown. The response from each was " We cannot sell that vehicle at 40,500," I was polite, left them my name and phone number and told them I will be contacting other area dealers and if they change their mind to call me back. Both dealerships called back within an hour saying if I would sign the deal today they would do it. Neither dealer had my preferred color combo in stock. I chose Lexus of Danvers for two reasons, they had been servicing my gs 300 and I was very satisfied with service dept and they had my color combo being shipped from the manufacturer in 14 days. I gave them a 500 credit card deposit. 3 weeks later they called saying vehicle had arrived so I went in to pay for it. DO NOT fall for the trap of paying an additional 195 processing fee. I was told by the internet manager and his manager that this was NOT negotiable. To quote them "We have never and will never negotiate this." I am a sales director for a professional services company and if I ever tried to charge my clients for preparing an invoice they would laugh at me. However, included in the processing fee is the service of getting the proper insurance documents and going to the RMV to pick up plates. I felt this was worth 50 and offered them 50 for the service. Again they said no. I believe everyone is entitled to a fair profit but 195 for this? I told them thanks but no thanks, handed the paperwork back to them and began walking out of the dealership. My wife was pretty upset w/me as this vehicle was for her. Needless to say they stopped me before I could take 5 steps and said we have a deal. It appears from my research and experience you should be able to purchase for 300-500 over dealer cost. Good luck!
Can you provide the dealer name and location please.
Does anyone know if you can buy a RH Drive model. I live in NZ and prices start at around $80,000NZD ($58,000USD).
Thanks
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Share your vehicle reviews
1. What grade of gasoline does the vehicle take?
2. Roughly how much is routine maintenance(oil change, tire rotation, new brakes, etc).
I live in SC and we have to pay property taxes every year on a vehicle. Hopefully getting answers to these questions will help me make a decision. Property taxes on the RX330 can range anywhere from $1,000-$2,000 depending on the price of the vehicle.
Thanks
My dealer also tried to squeeze a $350 "preparation" fee out of me after giving me the total "out the door" price on the phone. I, like you, was prepared to walk out the door, but my husband stayed with me and we negotiated the deal back down to the previously quoted price.
After they handed me the keys, the dealership staff flew out of there like bats out of Hades--leaving me alone with my car. It was after hours--10:15 p.m. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out all the adjustments--turned out they locked the lot gates and I wasn't rescued until 11 p.m. I had written a previous post about it in this forum.
Never got much of an apology--I certainly didn't feel that Lexus treated me as a valued customer! After a few weeks, I called the corporate offices, who were very helpful.
I have found that dealerships for other luxury brands have changed their tune in terms of hard sell tactics. Lexus surprisingly seems sleazier, in my experience. However, I kept my ES300 for ten years with no problem, and I absolutely love my new RX, so brand loyalty has kept me with Lexus despite their shenanigans.
UPS says my Thunder Cloud Grille (the best part of the package to me) will be in on July 14th all the way from Japan, I'll post a link to some pics once it's installed, it'll probably be on one of the Lexus owners sites... TC Grille / Black Onyx = Awesome OEM Green footwell lights and rear airplane style seat back drop down trays may be next.
Can someone please confirm for me whether or not the in dash 6 disk CD changer is included within the Premium and/ or Premium Plus packages? I have seen conflicting info.
Also, does anyone have any info on whether the 18" wheels are worth it? My dealer in Greenwhich, Ct is quoting $39,200 for an MSRP $42,733 AWD RX330 which includes Premium Plus, 6 disk CD, heated seats with wipers, 18" wheels and towing pkg. Is this a good deal?
I am wondering how easy it will be to get exactly what I want instead of these "pre-packaged" deals. I may decide to do without the 18" wheels and towing pkg.
Thanks so much! I'm looking to buy this week.