2013 and Earlier - Toyota Sienna Prices Paid and Buying Experience
Please continue posting your Sienna deals here.
Past Sienna price discussions:
Toyota Sienna-What did you pay?
Toyota Sienna-What did you pay? II
KarenS
Vans host
Past Sienna price discussions:
Toyota Sienna-What did you pay?
Toyota Sienna-What did you pay? II
KarenS
Vans host
0
Comments
We paid $24,031. Here's the breakdown:
Sienna LE $22,148
TO Pkg 128
UN Pkg 271
FIE 399
Fuel 6
TDA 398
Destination 480
____________________
TOTAL "Invoice": 23,830
We paid $24,031. Difference: $201
Of course I think the TDA (advertising) and the FIE (factory installed equipment) are a load of crap and are most likely just profit for them. Still, I feel it was the best deal I could get in my area (NYC metro area). I checked at more than one dealer to see if they could do better and they were all like "buy it from the other guy; I can't come close to that number let alone beat it."
Should I have argued on the FIE and TDA charges?
Tina
I'M DRIVING MY WIFE CRAZY BECAUSE I KEEP HEARING ABOUT ALL THE GOOD DEALS....I JUST CAN'T SEEM TO FIND ONEEEEEEEEE.....
Of course they did charge me for advertising (398) and for "factory installed equipment" (399) and for fuel (6). I think these dealers just come up with something to call their PROFIT when they know they're dealing with customers who have all the invoice prices and are doing their homework.
Good luck in your car search!
Tina
Here is the breakdown:
LE invoice: 22148
UN: 271
TO: 128
EF: 36
N1: 190
SK: 80
Destination: 480
Total: 23333
Quote: 24000
Will go and pick it up tomorrow (5/13). I hope
the deal will go through.
Why? are you in this area? Where are you shopping? And what kind of quotes are you getting?
Base: 23,930
destination 480
HE pkg: 1020
TO 128
EF 33
total: $25,624
the difference between the real invoice and what I'm paying is $576 and that is without all the garbage that they are throwing on to the invoices to make it look like you are paying only a couple of hundred of dollars over invoice, when actually you are paying closer to a thousand! So if your interested, I purchased mine from Downing Halls Toyota in Lockport NY. Stop and see Niagara Falls while you're here it's very close by. Good luck
I too am in the South East. Got a quote on loaded XLE from a dealer in IN about 7% over invoice. I'm hoping to find better.
What is this FIE? Is that only in the LE and CE, or are they sticking it to all models?
I sent one e-mail to about 25 dealers within 50 miles and got about 10 responces.
In the mail I specified:
CE base invoice -- $20 602
Extra Value package - $847
Tow package -- $128
bumper protector - $40
Invoice price $21617 plus 2%($432) over - $22055, to which I had to pay 8.5% tax at the end.
plus delivery --$462
plus handling fee - around $400 -- $23 000.
Looks like the price I got was $438 over the invoice, but then I had to pay delivery and handling fees(including registration, licence etc.) My out of pockett expences were roughly $25000. Plus I got exended warranty for 5 years(100K mls) that was applied towards financing and lowered my interest from 8.9% to 8.5%, and increased my monthly payments from $300 to $330.
The best offer was from Berkeley Toyota, I was given flat price, came over there and filled out the papers. End of deal.
But the best part was the next day. If you are intrested, please read my follow up.
Thanks.
Well, when we were ready for test drive, fleet manager asked us to file the papers first and then to look at the car and drive it. If we will not like it - we will toss the papers. He didn't play any tricks - it was Mother's day and I arrived late at the lot. We (silly) agreed and when we were shown the car - we were a bit disappointed.
There were some minor problems with it. The guy wanted to go home and started to pressing us a little. He didn't mention that garage was just across the street, so we could roam the lot and pick the car ourselves. He was just calling there and the car was delivered. Well, we bought it. My whife didn't like it, my home folks didn't like it etc., so when I came back to the dealer (to bring the keys from my trade-in and pink slip), I asked this silly question: "if it is possible to switch cars, because i accidentally dropped by the garage and saw white CE that I liked. Off course the manager said "no", I was not leaving, he explained it to me a couple of times, I explained to him why I didn't pick the other one the day before and finally he allowed to do that!
Amazing! So now I have white CE that suits us perfectly!
Soo, my great thanks and highest rankings to Berkeley Toyota's manager Tim, who showed real respect for the customer in very tough situation.
His advice at the end was: NEVER sign anything sight unseen, even on Mother's day, and even at his own dealership.
Berkeley Toyota, at 2400 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA.
T.D.A. $ 247.00
M.A.F. $ 323.00
BASE VEHICLE HOLDBACK $ 430.00
PIO HOLDBACK $ 96.00
WHSL. FINANCIAL RES R $ 215.00
The dealer assures me that any dealer has to pay these costs. Should I expect the invoice price to include these covering these charges?
Also, I thought "Holdback" was a credit to the dealers, not an extra charge. So I don't know what they're talking about.
I suspect they're inflating the invoice to make you feel good about the deal you're getting.
This is substantiated by one initial quote we've gotten that is very close (within $200) of our target price of 3% over invoice, less 2% holdback, plus destination charge, which comes to a profit of $700, which is not bad for filing paperwork.
The best solution is to forget about costs and prices and just make it competitive. Develop your target price and keep on playing one dealer against another until they bottom out. When they do, you have your best price, and it's independent of what the car cost.
We have just begun this process for ourselves. We are emailing dealers within about a hundred mile radius (we're in San Jose), have received about five replies so far, and are beginning the process of negotiating from there.
Just ignore all the talk of their invoice and the MSRP, and open it up to bidding. Our approach will be to tell each bidder about all the bids that are better than theirs, but not the bids that are worse.
CA has different smog requirements, so I'm wondering whether perhaps the invoice prices are different. The Toyota dealers I've talked to so far are telling me the invoice prices are higher than my estimate, but I haven't drilled into what they're claiming is on the invoice.
The Toyota web site shows the same MSRPs as the ones published by Edmund's, but I don't know if that tells me anything.
Any help along these lines, thanks.
Only pay for the following:
1) Dealer invoice + negotiated profit to dealer (approx. up to 3%),
2) Destination charge ($480),
3) Tax + title and registration, and
4) Nothing else
Never pay for all the other non-sense stuff. If you don't feel that you're ready to negotiate, I suggest for you to read-up on 'How to buy a new car' from the library. I know because I did. Because of all the books I've read, I only paid $535 over invoice for my Sienna XLE with no Advertisement fees and all those fees you mentioned. Good luck
I ask this because, as I mention in another post, I've gotten an opening quote that's 4% over net invoice. Seems pretty good to me, but then again, $535 for transferring a car from the delivery truck to you is also pretty easy money.
I got my papers in front of me and clearly saw my mistake. The numbers were from different estimate.
Here are my real numbers:
Berkeley Toyota offered $23000 for CE with EV, Towing and bumper cover.
If to break it down:
base invoice 20602
EPV 847
Tow 128
bumber cover 40 all together 21617
-------------------------------------------
included are:
delivery 460
TDA 247(?) all together 22324
--------------------------------------------
So I paid 3% over their "invoice" price.
My mistake was paying those 3% profit AND 8.5% CA tax on destination charge and their TDA, which account to $1167, otherwords I overpaid about $130-135.
All and all I paid $676 plus $130 -- $800 profit,
you are right. Considering dealer has 2% hold back
- they made awsome profit.
Still, I don't consider myself robbed, because 3%, and even 3.5% above the invoice is pretty good price, and it's almost $2000 less than carOrder's.
Besides, I was able to change car AFTER the deal was sealed!
Hint. When you get your new car, don't rush to call your insurance. Wait for a day. If anything wrong will accure - you have the chance of going back to dealer and swapping cars, otherwise your car will be considered used.
It's not a warranty, it's an insurance policy, and a pretty expensive one at that, and one which is difficult to collect from.
You're better off taking the money and investing it for the three years till your factory warranty runs out.
We're going to buy a car and basically drive it off the delivery truck. For shuffling paperwork and handling our check the dealership will probably make anywhere from $1000 to $1500, counting holdback and everything else.
Sure seems like easy money to me. But something's got to pay for all those spiffy showrooms and sales managers that sit on their rears.
In fact, we are offering to place a factory order. In this case, they would get our money thirty days ahead of when they finally pay the invoice, assuming they pay their bills in thirty days, so they're earning interest on our money for thirty days, on top of the 2% they're already getting from Toyota.
The dealer cost is, in the final analysis, irrelevant. What counts is that you get the lowest price in a competitive situation, and it sure sounds like that's what you did. So you know you got the best deal you could, and the cost doesn't matter.
For this forum's information, we are looking for a 2000 Sienna with UN UP TO EF. We have collected about ten initial bids and are proceeding from there. We will keep posting to this forum with our progress. Wish us luck!
Was there a tradein involved that made them more willing to do this deal?
Looks like we've hit bottom at 24,500. Even the Costco (Sam's Club to you?) price is 24,700. Only some of the dealers will get to that price, and nobody will beat it. Heck, one of the dealers stopped at 25,000. Let's see if any of the dealers has a change of heart overnight.
1985 Corolla 108,000 mi. 1 oil sensor replaced. Car totaled after another car ran a red light in 1993. (Body was in excellent condition- no rust- despite Wisconsin winters and parking outside.)
1994 Camry 88,000 mi. Still running, no rust. 1 wheel alignment early on to correct bad tire wear.
1985 Cressida 140,000 The power sun roof
failed at approx. 40,000. Got rid of car when it became a 3rd car in a two car family and the right rear wheel needed replacing.
1995 Avalon 40,000 My dad's car. No problems, rides like a dream.
2000 Sienna 1,076 mi. Yeah, it's early, but what do think I can expect?
The only maintenance done is brakes, belts, oil, and in the case of the Corolla and Cressida, mufflers too.
All cars are in Wisconsin winters. Never bought an extended warranty. Keep your money.
We are in the San Francisco bay area. I suspect it's part of the price of living here as I got an immediate quote significantly more favorable from a Los Angeles dealer. I'm almost tempted to fly down to LA to pick up the car there.
Regarding the extended warranty: No way would I purchase one ever again. I have once had one, and my wife has too, and they're not very useful, particularly for a car as reliable as the Toyota.
Don't think of it as an extended warranty, think of it as an insurance policy. Do you really need to insure yourself against mechanical trouble in your new Toyota? Save the money, buy Toyota stock instead, and use it to pay for the repairs yourself should the vehicle ever break down.
Look at it this way: you would be paying $600 for the warranty, right? Save another $50 a month for future repairs, and at the end of three years you will have $2400 saved up. Plus interest, which probably would contribute another $200 or so. So you have $2600 at the end of three years. That will pay for some pretty hefty repairs, which are exceedingly unlikely in a car as reliable as the Toyota.
By far the most likely outcome is that you won't touch the car for ten years. Toyota knows this, and that's why they're willing to sell you the warranty for $600. They're still profiting handsomely.
I can recommend carsdirect.com as they did come in with $24,478, beating the other dealers by all of $22.
I imagine we might be able to get a better price by walking out of dealerships. But I really don't know, and don't want to spend a whole lot more time with this.
We did the whole thing via phone and email, and definitely found it worked better talking with the fleet managers / internet sales managers. They were able to deal, whereas a couple of times we got stuck with a salesman, who had to go to the sales manager to get everything approved. For what it's worth, the salesmen had by far the worse attitudes.
I calculate the dealer is making $1,000 on our deal. That is assuming they do in fact pay $400 to Toyota for advertising, as they have claimed.
Either way, it's not a bad day's work for them.
Best of luck to all shoppers out there!
I am in the look out for an LE in CT. I have contacted most of the Toyota Dealers in Connecticut. They all are quoting much above invoice. Is there any dealer in CT from where I can get around 2-3% over invoice? If you know some body please let me know.
Thanks
ASH
One of the risks is that you are quoted a certain percentage above an inflated invoice figure. Additionally, the invoice they show you is the gross invoice, which is actually reduced by 2% for the holdback. Read the previous discussions about what should and shouldn't be included in the "invoice".
I recommend laying out a fairly standard configuration that you're comfortable with. The extras such as cargo net can be either added later or purchased aftermarket for probably less than the Toyota invoice. Then ask for quotes on that configuration. After you have collected a few quotes, challenge the highest quote to beat the lowest. Then challenge the next highest to beat the new low. And so on until you reach bottom.
I felt it was important during this process to radiate niceness and gratitude. Getting confrontational with the people I was talking to didn't seem to help in the slightest.
Also, check out carsdirect.com. They actually got slightly below my $24,500 price, but by that time I was already in final commitment with a dealer.
For the extra step, go into the dealership with the final low, and go over the numbers with them. Then thank them politely and tell them it's more than you wanted to pay and walk out. If they bump the price down again, you have a new low with which to work. Of course, this step is a tiny bit risky and will be time consuming and difficult.
My experience was almost eerie. We negotiated fine and then suddenly hit a wall at 24,500 for the LE with UN UP TO EF. No dealer would go below this price, though about half would match it.
We will pay about $900 more than we would have had we lived in Wisconsin, about $400 more than if we lived in southern California, and about the same as in the eastern U.S.
Good luck!
We just recently looked the Sienna and were impressed by the safety, reliability and quality of the van. We were originally looking at the MPV and liked what we saw, especially the magic seat, we think it might be better for us to pay a little bit more (hopefully, "little!") for the Toyota reputation.
Thanks for any help.
We discovered that you can indeed buy a Sienna @ invoice.
We visited Dry Ridge Toyota in N. Ky. and let them know going in that we were looking for an "Invoice deal". (No trade-in).
The price we paid for our XLE was $23,930 plus we paid invoice price for all options:
LL...$2298
TO...$128
SK...$80 + $68 install fee*
RB...$365 + $140 install fee*
SD...$33 + $14 install fee*
EF...$36 + $27 install fee*
* The van came from the factory without these items, and we paid the dealer to install 'em...
seemed reasonable to us.
So, do your homework and stick to your guns!
mgrips