As state earlier, we are trying to get a 2wd limited with just leather ( we can wait). It has occured to me that we could purchase in Chattanooga and possiblly avoid the extra southeast charges that apply here in GA. For those who have bought in Tennessee: are there other charges besides the destination charge. Please be specific. Is there a specific dealer that you enjoyed working with in the Chattanooga area? Are there negatives for buying in Tennessee when we live in GA that I have not thought of?
Thanks for your e-mail. According to the PL website, 2Q requires CF. I'll get them aftermarket if necessary.
Today visited Glen Toyota. The salesman who sold me Corolla 8 years ago was no longer there, so I talked to someone else. The guy was nice. He even let me take the HL for a test drive by myself. Honestly, I didn't expect him to in NYC vicinity. But he made several statements that raised red flags:
1. "We only sell what we receive from Toyota. And they all come in the same configuration. No ordering of any kind." Silly me, I didn't ask him about dealer trade or preferencing. Factory order is out of the question for me anyway.
2. "All HLs have preferred package installed." I don't want PP, but if this is correct, than I'll have to take it.
3. "VSC is installed only on Limited HL." Please, tell me this is not true.
4. "All Limited HLs come with leather." Not sure if I want leather.
To his credit, he let me test drive the car after I told him that I had to decide whether VSC is important enough to step up to Limited and pay 3K more. Probably I'll give this guy first shot at my business before going elsewhere.
Ray, how much is the usual doc fee in Northern NJ?
A lot of what the salesman says is true. I have a customer waiting for a special order Highlander. He submitted his request in October and Toyota has not built the car yet.
Visit www.toyota.com and see how the car is built for your region. You'll have to settle on some options you may not want in order to get those you do, or sacrifice some to avoid others. Toyota is miserable to work with on special orders, taking at least 4 months on a Highlander.
The doc fee in New Jersey is around $200. In New York and Pennsylvania it's less, $20-$30 in New York and around $50 in Pennsylvania.
Sounds like you've found a decent salesman. You should give him the opportunity to sell you a Highlander before anyone else.
I am planning on ordering a Limited version Highlander with *cloth seats*, vehicle skid control, and side air bags. I've heard a wide range of estimated delivery times. Does anyone on the board have a good idea how long this order might take?
Howdy, Just ordered a 4WD Highlander with almost everything on it. Leather, tow package, heated seats, etc. Paid Dealer Invoice plus $300. The price came out at $3,463 less than MSRP. Bought it in Omaha, Nebraska. The dealer says they are running this special until the end of April.
Thank you. I hope the car will serve me for many years. My daughter is already thrilled. I will be soon too
If I am not mistaken, you didn't subtract TDA (1% of MSRP) and Destination ($510). That actually leaves about $750 above invoice. Am I right? How does the deal look now?
I special ordered my HL 7/9/01 and I picked it up 2 days after it arrived, on 11/24/01. I live in Minn. I actually ended up paying less than $500 over invoice but then I had to pay the infamous TDA ($250).Hope this helps!
Don't take me too seriously since I have not bought the HL yet. What Westchester Toyota, NY offered me is the invoice price. That is SR, BE, TO, VD, LA , 6 Disk JBL, Heated Seat, Floor mats, dest. charge coming to 27405+3089+510 => 31004. 4-6 weeks wait. I have not ordered it yet. Checking out a couple more SUVs. I am not sure what the options EJ,HD,CF you mentioned are.
I DID IT!!!!! I just drove home my Silver Highlander Limited with 2wd. Here is my unbelievable deal:
Price of silver limited 2wd with GRAY CHARCOAL leather, 6 disc changer, tow package, and toyo guard (yes I Know . . . ) 28,600 (no trade-in). This includes destination charges of 510.00 and southeast administration charge of 590.00, so 28,600 plus taxes of 2002.00 plus 21.00 title and 399 clerical fee for 31022 out the door!
I think buying inventory at the end of the month helped. I even had an autobytel dealer 2 hours away offer to get the same car for 28,400 but to me if wasn't worth saving 200 when my local dealer was willing to be so competive. I bought at Eddie Wiggins in Warner Robins, GA. I will post on the other board about the great service we received at this dealer and others that got into the bidding game.
I just tried to fanagle a deal in Carson City NV for a 2002 Highlander with 2 wheel drive, 6 cylinder, convenience package, aluminum wheels, and a few other things like a roof rack. They wanted $33,000 ! By my figuring that SUV should be able to be bought for less than $29,000. These guys are demanding a premium so I just walked out. Are there any buying services out there where I could get a cheaper one? Also, they said they ALL come with loaded packages, They would not be able to get a bare bones one or one with just the 6 cylinder 2 wheel drive. I assume he was blowing smoke up my $%^$ or is he right?
I have a v6 4by2 Highlander that I have had for only a month. We only do work to home so far in the driving and it is all city. We got about 18.7 mpg the next test will be all highway driving when we go on short trip.(3hours) The MSRP was 28988 the invoice was at about 26200. Internet price quote was 750 over invoice. So we walk out with 26950 minus a trade of 95 Toyota Corolla $(5500) and we got out of the dealer with TTL at 22450. It came with some basic pkgs the ones we wanted plus it just got into the dealer that day and it was our 1st. choice of colors.A BluestoneMetallic. I did test a 4 cyl. and it seem to be an adequete power train. I did put it thru the works with city and hiway type of road test. I just preferred the V6 much better (of course it has more horses) 220 to 155. I have a v6 Camry and that might have swayed me alittle bit too. If you are only doing city type driving and an occasional hiway drive I would assume that a 4 would be fine and you might get a better deal at the dealer since there might not be much of a demand for the 4 cyl. Good luck
Just arrived in TX from o'seas. Did the research, read the reviews. Highlander wins.
I've beaten dealer to $25,700 for a 2WD, V6 standard model with convenience package, roof rack, power seat, privacy glass, tow prep and alarm prewire. Seems you HAVE TO have all these options, otherwise wait for months while your specific order comes from Japan. True story? What do people think about the deal? I don't want a roof rack, privacy glass and tow prep! How quickly would a stripped-down BASE model take to be delivered? Any similiar experiences? Cheers.
like the one you describe and I love it. The tow prep is a good thing as it includes an upgraded radiator, transmission oil cooler, 130 amp alternator and power steering oil cooler among other things that I felt were good for the long-life of the engine (cooler is better). The privacy glass does wonders for keeping the inside temps reasonable on hot days.
I'd recommend reconsidering the tow prep package but if your hard-wired about not wanting the other things you'll probably need to special order. I'd recommend checking out the pricing as there usually is a price break for options bundled in the various packages. You might find that deleting a couple of relatively inexpensive options and losing the 'bundle' pricing you actually increase the cost.
We live in the SF Bay Area. We special ordered a V6 2WD on 1/28. The truck was built and shipped to So. Cal, then trucked up to the SF Bay Area. After dealer prep, the truck was ready for pickup on 4/22. If my calculations are correct, that's 84 days. I would probably add another few days for it to be trucked to TX.
I don't think you will be able to find a stripped down HL on the lot. Toyota makes its money by loading on the options. Which is why we special ordered our truck. We could pick and choose the options we wanted.
BTW, when our order was initially accepted by Toyota, we were told that our truck would have a March "build date." The date it was actually built was sometime in early April. I don't know what caused the delay, but if they had held to schedule, I'm guessing we probably would have received our truck in 70-75 days. The wait was not that bad.
As others have stated, there will probably be a wait if you spec out a HL to your liking, especially (IMHO) if it doesn't have a roof rack. I've seen plenty of HLs, and each one had a rack.
Regarding the tow prep option, I highly recommend it also. When we bought our HL over a year ago, the option was only about $150...a real bargain for what you receive.
On a final note, bear in mind that by living in TX you are within the Gulf States Toyota distribution area. Do your best to avoid any distributor/dealer add-ons such as Toyoguard, Paint Sealant, Undercoating, and the like. Most, if not all, are not necessary and are items for the dealer to use increase their profit. Any distributor or dealer add-ons will be listed somewhere on the window sticker. Also, if by chance you were interested in leather, I would recommend that you purchase the FACTORY leather (which is a tan color) or go to a third-party shop such as Classic Soft Trim. We purchased the distributor installed GRAY leather (as we didn't want a tan interior again) and, while the color and quality of the product is nice, the install was a disappointment. Several months and screams later everything was resolved.
Best of luck to you and email me should you need more help in TX.
Hello all! I live in Minden, NV (near Carson City/Reno) and here is what I paid:
Highlander V6 4X4 Limited $32540 Doc prep $ 45 License fee $ 59 CA Tire fee $ 5 NV Registration fee $ 33 NV Prison Industry fee $ 1 Basic Gov Services Tax - Douglas $ 431 Local Gov Full Sales Tax - Douglas $ 1548 General Fund Full Sales Tax - Douglas $ 652 Grand Total $35314
I had the following options: FE 50 State Emissions SR Power Tilt/Slide Moonroof BE Driver/Passenger Side Airbags TO Tow Prep pkg VD Vehicle Skid Control LL Limited package EJ Prem 3-In-1 W/ 6 CD changer & 8 speakers LA Leather package HD Heated Driver & Pass. seats CF Carpet/Cargo Mat Set
MSRP $35154 Invoice $31540
I tried to hit up our local dealers in Carson City and Reno, NV. But they were WAY overpriced and had this attitude like you won't be able to find any better price and said that the Highlanders are so much in demand in our area that they can ask whatever they want (including over MSRP). I pretty much laughed at the Fleet Manager in Carson City and left. Beware others!
I did an email/fax blast to about 50 dealers within a 300 mile radius. I pretty clearly put out a message that I was looking for the lowest cost over factory invoice and listed my options and color choice. I got replys back (both in email and mail)...including some real nasty ones that I will love to post (in another message) so others will know who to avoid and why (salesmen scum of the earth). I got a serious reply from an Internet sales manager from Davis, CA who offered $750 over factory invoice. I called and we agreed upon that price. Now, he was to find a Highlander that met my description. A few days went by...no call. Hmmmm. I called him and got a message that he no longer worked there. Great. I proceeded to call the general manager (Al Garner?) and explain the situation. He said, no problem and that he will find the vehicle and call me back. It didn't take much time before he called back and said the vehicle should be at his lot in a few days. Cool! This is where it got tricky. Al called and said for an out-of-state sale, he would have to charge $250 delivery...otherwise, he has to charge me CA sales tax. I thought about it and agreed. So, instead of me driving to Davis, CA (about 2-3 hours away), it was delivered to the Nevada border (BoomTown Casino) where we signed all the necessary papers. It didn't take long and it all worked out quite well. So, I paid $750 over factory invoice + $250 delivery which is still well worth paying the crazy amounts that they want here in No. Nevada. Al agreed to offer 5.58% 5-year Toyota financing (matched to Eloan). I waited 30 days before paying the NV sales tax and registration. It is too bad I couldn't wrap the sales tax & registration into the loan, but our taxes are cheaper than California's, so it is worth the trade-off. All in all, I quite happy with the vehicle and the deal that Hanlees Davis Toyota gave me. I called and got the 'OK' from Al to post here and to give reference. He was happy about it. Here is their info if anyone is interested: Hanlees Chev-Geo-Toyota 4202 Chiles Road Davis, CA 95616 (530) 753-3352
We live in the SF Bay Area. When we were shopping for our HL we briefly dealt with Hanlees. They were very helpful and eager to try and meet our needs. Unfortunately, they didn't have the vehicle we wanted and it was a time when inventories here in No. Cal were low. So we ended up buying our HL from another dealer.
I can purchase a 2WD HL Limited in Atlanta, Georgia with the following options: LA, TO, VD, SR, CF, BE, EJ. By my calculations, the invoice price for this car (including destination charge and the SE administration fee) is $30,021. After negotiations (and after I left the dealership once), the sales guy has agreed to sell me this vehicle for the invoice price, plus $300, plus a $389 doc fee, plus tax, tag, and title. This seems like a good deal to me, as many of the previous posters are paying closer to $1000 of profit for the dealer and this is only $689. Any thoughts?
Invoice price is not as clear as it may seem. I've had a dealer who attempted to give me an invoice price which includes holdback and wholesale reserve. If I were to pay that, they would also get credit for that money (approximately $1000) from the manufacturer. TRUE INVOICE PRICE is the invoice minus holdback and reserve. Is this how you have negotiated your deals and if so, how much over TRUE invoice have you been paying?
I did not see their "invoice", I had learned not to trust them anyway. Based on my research, the invoice should have been about $29,444 and the MSRP $33,626. The actual sticker was about $33,400, so the figures were close.
I paid $29,771, or $327 over invoice Total price was $31,850 out the door with 6.55% (72 months) financing. I actually had beat this rate on my own (6.35%), and of course Toyota agreed to match it until we sat down to close the deal. No problem, I insisted that they reduce the selling price until it matched the "Total Payments" for the 6.35% rate.
Tips learned playing this game for several weeks?
- It is actually fun! The more research that I did, the more dealer's that I visited, the more power and control that I was able to bring to the negotiations. - Visit lots of dealers face to face (I hit seven!), if they are available. I know, email/phone is easier. I had one dealer tell me that a second and third visit eliminates the "looky loos" from their way of thinking. The more I visited, the better the deals got. - Build an Excel spreadsheet (I will send you mine if you like!) with all of the options that can be put on a HL, then create a new worksheet for each dealer. In this way, you can truly evaluate each dealer based on your numbers, not their's. I shut down many a rambling, "But our cost is blah,blah,blah". I evaluated everyone as a percentage over my calculated invoice, this eliminates all of the confusion concerning the complexity of added options. For those of you sufficiently wired, you can put this sheet on a Pocket PC and then update cars at will (I loved the reaction that I would get from the PDC). - Only negotiate "out the door prices", this really eliminates other surprises. - Try to leave your options open as to colors and add ons. You need to find that one HL that has been there a little too long for the price to really come down. If you play your cards right, you can find out from a sales manager which car needs to move, if you can live with it, it will save you some money. After all, these our beautifull cars at any color.
Regarding dealer's if you are local. I bought from Toyota of Plano. I almost skipped the place because they are under construction and working out of a trailer. In retrospec, I think it helped. The worst dealer, SportCity, was the big, new, shiny one . Also, Freeman Toyota came in with a pretty good internet deal early on. I was going to order from them if I hadn't found one that I could drive off.
If you can get your deal to come together near the end of a month the dealer will also be more willing to negotiate if they need more deals to make their monthly numbers. I did something right last August and was there at the beginning of the last weekend of the month (Friday evening). I got a price at TMV and the dealer met my credit union's financing (they had a computer online so I could show them the numbers). It really reduced the b.s. since I could show them what I'd found.
I-10 Toyota-$300 over invoice- Dan dixon Longo $295 over invoice Poway Toyota $700 Temecula- $1100 Waiting for Carson Note: All V6 2WD come with same 3 pkgs.( appear, perfered-conv) only extras, such as moon, spoiler,boards,dim, etc... all have tow, and rack. Longo has 135 Highlanders in stock!!! Have 92 Previa LE-245000 mi. no problems
Well today this dune cune bought one in the sand dunes of CA. at I-10 Toyota from Dan Dixon, Fleet Mgr./Internet Sales. The whole expierence was easier than riding on top of a camel...no bumps-smooth sailing. Best of all was the price in US $ no need to convert, $50 less than invoice! for a V6, w/ all three pkgs.-moon roof, rack, spoiler, tow=MSRP=29928- paid 26513+ CA tax,lic,doc fee($45) and Tire Fee? $5. =28869 and all the sand for free
Anyone know who has a large inventory up here? Every dealer I call only has a few. Without a large selection I'm sure I won't get a good price or the color/options I want. I don't want to travel to SoCal but based on what I'm experiencing the savings could be as much as $1,500.
4 Cyl. 2WD HL with roof racks, carpet & cargo mat set, running boards, moon roof, privacy glass, 50 State Emissions, aluminum wheels, cargo net, tonneau cover. I have 3 payments left on my other lease ($1084) which they'll pay. We need to put down $2500 and to lease for $396/mo. for 48 months. Is this a good/bad deal?
We got our V6/4WD Highlander 2 weeks ago yesterday. Power sunroof, aluminum wheels, tow prep pkg, cargo net, front & side airbags, cruise, roof rack, 8-way power seat, alarm pre-wiring, mudguards, heated mirrors, and privacy glass. Everything in the Washington DC area is a little more expensive, so we got out of there for just under $30K minus $2500 trade-in.
Toyota Highlander 2002. Edmunds lists the TMV price for the 2WD version as 21761 but when I go to the dealer they say that they don't sell them without options and the lowest price is ~25K? Is it that they don't ORDER them without options? I don't want the option packages but I think I am facing a three month wait. Has anyone ever seen a stripped down/no option package Highlander on a lot before? Or is no dealer in their profitable mind going to order such a car? Thanks in advance.
Toyota doesn't ship them without options. I suppose you could get a dealer to order one, but it's difficult.
If you go to www.toyota.com and the "Build Your Own" feature you'll see it's the greedy manufacturer, not the greedy dealers, who is making the car impossible to find.
even if you pass on the hitch as it is a deal for what you get. Lots of extra cooling capability (larger radiator, transmission cooler, power steering cooler), 130 amp alternator and other stuff yet cost is approx $250.
I've been looking on the lots for the past 3-4 weeks. I've never seen a base model without a minimum of $2k (or more) of options. There is a posting way up the chain by someone who did indeed order one. It took about three months and, from what I remember, and may not come exactly as ordered. Toyota does not guarantee exact build-to-spec orders. Also, as Raybear said, dealers don't special order for their lots; they buy whatever is available and from what I see Toyota doesn't build 'em for the thrifty-minded. I wish they did!!!!
Lease for 4 yrs. at $395 mo/with $2500 down. Paying off my old lease ($1084) 4 cyl. 2WD, moonroof, aluminum wheels, roof racks, running boards, mats, privacy glass, Convenience pkg., etc. Good lease?
I offered $29000 out the door for white Highlander 2WD V6 with DR,SR,TO,UQ,AG,CQ,HE,CF,RF. None of the dealers by me would accept my offer. Then I called Dan Dixon at I10toyota and he accepted my offer and is delivering the car to my door step. It was so easy, it was a little scary. I get my car tomorrow. Thanks for all the input. Happy trails.
Just do the math..you are going to pay roughly $23,000 (more if there are any taxes) and then you have to give the car back after 4 years.
If I knew you I would be happy to buy it for you and charge you that lease because the car will be worth at least $15,000 after 4 years..plus you are charged miles etc. Get a good interest rate and purchase the car..leases only work for those that want to dodge taxes by claiming their personal car as a business expense.
We got a Sundown Red Pearl V6 base, plus options CQ, PG, RR, TO, AW, CF, PE, and SR. It cost us $26364 OTD (tax and all, out the door). Our trade-in composed $11,000 of that, which saved us on taxes. (We got a wholesale price for a good clean trade-in.) The Highlander had about 15 miles on it. I had called ahead; it took right at 80 minutes from the time we arrived on the lot to close the deal drive-out in the new one, and that included the test drive and all the paper work. (End of month motivation.)
I later added the R3 (Stainless Tube Steps) which I installed myself, it was $330 from the parts department, including tax. These options mentioned plus the stainless tube steps make a beautiful "loaded" package a bit short of the Limited's luxury, but with a sportier look and way below a Limited's price. The MSRLP of the car was a little over $29K.
I'm looking to buy an AWD V6 Highlander in the Chicago area. A dealer has agreed to 29,000 for a silver AWD, V6 with power seat, side airbags, appearance pkg, convience pkg, roof rack, tow prep, aluminum wheels, privacy glass, vehicle skid control, alarm pre wire, mats, color key mudguards, daytime lights and sunroof. Is this a good deal?
We purchased at Clearwater Toyota, Clearwater FL. Our invoice actually read $26,558 but then we got back $194 tag refund from the state a week later. This was due to the way the title and tag transfer works, so the net OTD price was $26364. I had a pre-approved car loan voucher from my work credit union before I even talked to anybody, and having your finances already worked out can't hurt. And like I say, dealer "end of month motivation" may have been a factor. I got the invoice prices from Black Book and Edmunds. It was basicly invoice + $538 delivery + invoice price for all the options. Then I subtracted WHOLESALE VALUE for my good clean trade and ADDED STATE TAX and LICENSE FEE of the DIFFERENCE. I told my wife that we would buy if they hit within $800 of my figure. They did, and I didn't want the stress of trying to get it any lower. We were happy to get it for that. So we paid $26364 OTD after the registration refund from the state. Purchasing without the trade for the same deal would have cost us another $660 dollars sales tax.
I wanted to pay $29000 out the door for a white Highlander 2WD V6 with DR,SR,TO,UQ,AG,CQ,HE,CF,RF No one in my immediate area wanted to sell it to me for that so I called Dan Dixon from I10Toyota in Indio, CA. I told him what I wanted but I didn't want to drive 2 1/2 hours to get it. Yesterday he delivered it at my door for $29000 exactly, out the door. It was a pleasure doing business with Dan. No pressure, no hassel. He made buying a car enjoyable. I think I might do this again someday. Good luck to all.
I just received notice that my V6 FWD HL non-ltd is arriving next week at local dealer. I ordered it on March 23rd and was told it would be 3-4 months. So, it was true. It must have been one of the last 2002's ordered, because I heard shortly after that all 2002 orders were curtailed for the year. I heard that no major changes were coming on the HL until 2004 - minor face and tail changes as usual with Toys.
Paid approx.29K for V6, FWD, Roof Rack, TO, VD, UZ, Hitch installed, side bags, mudguards, mats, cargo mat, day lights, nose guard, privacy glass - STEEL WHEELS (don't like alloys in MN. winters). $500 over 'invoice' were the terms with $500 down at ordering.
Anyone have suggestions in the NW? Local dealers have 2 or 3 HL in stock and I'd like a better selection. Could even pick one up in CA if there is still an abundance down there! Thanks
Comments
good luck!
rap
Today visited Glen Toyota. The salesman who sold me Corolla 8 years ago was no longer there, so I talked to someone else. The guy was nice. He even let me take the HL for a test drive by myself. Honestly, I didn't expect him to in NYC vicinity. But he made several statements that raised red flags:
1. "We only sell what we receive from Toyota. And they all come in the same configuration. No ordering of any kind." Silly me, I didn't ask him about dealer trade or preferencing. Factory order is out of the question for me anyway.
2. "All HLs have preferred package installed." I don't want PP, but if this is correct, than I'll have to take it.
3. "VSC is installed only on Limited HL." Please, tell me this is not true.
4. "All Limited HLs come with leather." Not sure if I want leather.
To his credit, he let me test drive the car after I told him that I had to decide whether VSC is important enough to step up to Limited and pay 3K more. Probably I'll give this guy first shot at my business before going elsewhere.
Ray, how much is the usual doc fee in Northern NJ?
Dmitry
dmitry9999 at yahoo dot com
Visit www.toyota.com and see how the car is built for your region. You'll have to settle on some options you may not want in order to get those you do, or sacrifice some to avoid others. Toyota is miserable to work with on special orders, taking at least 4 months on a Highlander.
The doc fee in New Jersey is around $200. In New York and Pennsylvania it's less, $20-$30 in New York and around $50 in Pennsylvania.
Sounds like you've found a decent salesman. You should give him the opportunity to sell you a Highlander before anyone else.
Good luck!
I am planning on ordering a Limited version Highlander with *cloth seats*, vehicle skid control, and side air bags. I've heard a wide range of estimated delivery times. Does anyone on the board have a good idea how long this order might take?
Thanks.
-Dave
Just ordered a 4WD Highlander with almost everything on it. Leather, tow package, heated seats, etc. Paid Dealer Invoice plus $300. The price came out at $3,463 less than MSRP. Bought it in Omaha, Nebraska. The dealer says they are running this special until the end of April.
SR, BE, TO, VD, EJ, LA, HD, CF
MSRP 35154.00
Price breakdown:
Car - 31933.96
Tax (6%) - 1916.04
Lic and title - 150.00
Doc fee - 20.00
TOTAL: 34020.00
Did I rob or was I robbed? What do you think?
Thank you
Dmitry from Northern NJ
dmitry9999 at yahoo dot com
If I am not mistaken, you didn't subtract TDA (1% of MSRP) and Destination ($510). That actually leaves about $750 above invoice. Am I right? How does the deal look now?
Dmitry
dmitry9999 at yahoo dot com
What Westchester Toyota, NY offered me is the invoice price. That is
SR, BE, TO, VD, LA , 6 Disk JBL, Heated Seat, Floor mats, dest. charge
coming to 27405+3089+510 => 31004. 4-6 weeks wait.
I have not ordered it yet. Checking out a couple more SUVs.
I am not sure what the options EJ,HD,CF you mentioned are.
Price of silver limited 2wd with GRAY CHARCOAL leather, 6 disc changer, tow package, and toyo guard (yes I Know . . . ) 28,600 (no trade-in). This includes destination charges of 510.00 and southeast administration charge of 590.00, so 28,600 plus taxes of 2002.00 plus 21.00 title and 399 clerical fee for 31022 out the door!
I think buying inventory at the end of the month helped. I even had an autobytel dealer 2 hours away offer to get the same car for 28,400 but to me if wasn't worth saving 200 when my local dealer was willing to be so competive. I bought at Eddie Wiggins in Warner Robins, GA. I will post on the other board about the great service we received at this dealer and others that got into the bidding game.
I did test a 4 cyl. and it seem to be an adequete
power train. I did put it thru the works with city and hiway type of road test. I just preferred the V6 much better (of course it has more horses) 220 to 155. I have a v6 Camry and that might have swayed me alittle bit too. If you are only doing city type driving and an occasional hiway drive I would assume that a 4 would be fine and you might get a better deal at the dealer since there might not be much of a demand for the 4 cyl. Good luck
I've beaten dealer to $25,700 for a 2WD, V6 standard model with convenience package, roof rack, power seat, privacy glass, tow prep and alarm prewire. Seems you HAVE TO have all these options, otherwise wait for months while your specific order comes from Japan. True story? What do people think about the deal? I don't want a roof rack, privacy glass and tow prep! How quickly would a stripped-down BASE model take to be delivered? Any similiar experiences? Cheers.
I'd recommend reconsidering the tow prep package but if your hard-wired about not wanting the other things you'll probably need to special order. I'd recommend checking out the pricing as there usually is a price break for options bundled in the various packages. You might find that deleting a couple of relatively inexpensive options and losing the 'bundle' pricing you actually increase the cost.
We live in the SF Bay Area. We special ordered a V6 2WD on 1/28. The truck was built and shipped to So. Cal, then trucked up to the SF Bay Area. After dealer prep, the truck was ready for pickup on 4/22. If my calculations are correct, that's 84 days. I would probably add another few days for it to be trucked to TX.
I don't think you will be able to find a stripped down HL on the lot. Toyota makes its money by loading on the options. Which is why we special ordered our truck. We could pick and choose the options we wanted.
BTW, when our order was initially accepted by Toyota, we were told that our truck would have a March "build date." The date it was actually built was sometime in early April. I don't know what caused the delay, but if they had held to schedule, I'm guessing we probably would have received our truck in 70-75 days. The wait was not that bad.
Regarding the tow prep option, I highly recommend it also. When we bought our HL over a year ago, the option was only about $150...a real bargain for what you receive.
On a final note, bear in mind that by living in TX you are within the Gulf States Toyota distribution area. Do your best to avoid any distributor/dealer add-ons such as Toyoguard, Paint Sealant, Undercoating, and the like. Most, if not all, are not necessary and are items for the dealer to use increase their profit. Any distributor or dealer add-ons will be listed somewhere on the window sticker. Also, if by chance you were interested in leather, I would recommend that you purchase the FACTORY leather (which is a tan color) or go to a third-party shop such as Classic Soft Trim. We purchased the distributor installed GRAY leather (as we didn't want a tan interior again) and, while the color and quality of the product is nice, the install was a disappointment. Several months and screams later everything was resolved.
Best of luck to you and email me should you need more help in TX.
Gerald
(not a dealer or salesman, etc.)
Highlander V6 4X4 Limited $32540
Doc prep $ 45
License fee $ 59
CA Tire fee $ 5
NV Registration fee $ 33
NV Prison Industry fee $ 1
Basic Gov Services Tax - Douglas $ 431
Local Gov Full Sales Tax - Douglas $ 1548
General Fund Full Sales Tax - Douglas $ 652
Grand Total $35314
I had the following options:
FE 50 State Emissions
SR Power Tilt/Slide Moonroof
BE Driver/Passenger Side Airbags
TO Tow Prep pkg
VD Vehicle Skid Control
LL Limited package
EJ Prem 3-In-1 W/ 6 CD changer & 8 speakers
LA Leather package
HD Heated Driver & Pass. seats
CF Carpet/Cargo Mat Set
MSRP $35154
Invoice $31540
I tried to hit up our local dealers in Carson City and Reno, NV. But they were WAY overpriced and had this attitude like you won't be able to find any better price and said that the Highlanders are so much in demand in our area that they can ask whatever they want (including over MSRP). I pretty much laughed at the Fleet Manager in Carson City and left. Beware others!
I did an email/fax blast to about 50 dealers within a 300 mile radius. I pretty clearly put out a message that I was looking for the lowest cost over factory invoice and listed my options and color choice. I got replys back (both in email and mail)...including some real nasty ones that I will love to post (in another message) so others will know who to avoid and why (salesmen scum of the earth). I got a serious reply from an Internet sales manager from Davis, CA who offered $750 over factory invoice. I called and we agreed upon that price. Now, he was to find a Highlander that met my description. A few days went by...no call. Hmmmm. I called him and got a message that he no longer worked there. Great. I proceeded to call the general manager (Al Garner?) and explain the situation. He said, no problem and that he will find the vehicle and call me back. It didn't take much time before he called back and said the vehicle should be at his lot in a few days. Cool!
This is where it got tricky. Al called and said for an out-of-state sale, he would have to charge $250 delivery...otherwise, he has to charge me CA sales tax. I thought about it and agreed. So, instead of me driving to Davis, CA (about 2-3 hours away), it was delivered to the Nevada border (BoomTown Casino) where we signed all the necessary papers. It didn't take long and it all worked out quite well.
So, I paid $750 over factory invoice + $250 delivery which is still well worth paying the crazy amounts that they want here in No. Nevada. Al agreed to offer 5.58% 5-year Toyota financing (matched to Eloan). I waited 30 days before paying the NV sales tax and registration. It is too bad I couldn't wrap the sales tax & registration into the loan, but our taxes are cheaper than California's, so it is worth the trade-off. All in all, I quite happy with the vehicle and the deal that Hanlees Davis Toyota gave me. I called and got the 'OK' from Al to post here and to give reference. He was happy about it. Here is their info if anyone is interested:
Hanlees Chev-Geo-Toyota
4202 Chiles Road
Davis, CA 95616
(530) 753-3352
Congrats on your new HL.
We live in the SF Bay Area. When we were shopping for our HL we briefly dealt with Hanlees. They were very helpful and eager to try and meet our needs. Unfortunately, they didn't have the vehicle we wanted and it was a time when inventories here in No. Cal were low. So we ended up buying our HL from another dealer.
With: CO,TO,DG,DH,HP,EJ,RZ,L1
I did not see their "invoice", I had learned not to trust them anyway. Based on my research, the invoice should have been about $29,444 and the MSRP $33,626. The actual sticker was about $33,400, so the figures were close.
I paid $29,771, or $327 over invoice
Tips learned playing this game for several weeks?
- It is actually fun! The more research that I did, the more dealer's that I visited, the more power and control that I was able to bring to the negotiations.
- Visit lots of dealers face to face (I hit seven!), if they are available. I know, email/phone is easier. I had one dealer tell me that a second and third visit eliminates the "looky loos" from their way of thinking. The more I visited, the better the deals got.
- Build an Excel spreadsheet (I will send you mine if you like!) with all of the options that can be put on a HL, then create a new worksheet for each dealer. In this way, you can truly evaluate each dealer based on your numbers, not their's. I shut down many a rambling, "But our cost is blah,blah,blah". I evaluated everyone as a percentage over my calculated invoice, this eliminates all of the confusion concerning the complexity of added options. For those of you sufficiently wired, you can put this sheet on a Pocket PC and then update cars at will (I loved the reaction that I would get from the PDC).
- Only negotiate "out the door prices", this really eliminates other surprises.
- Try to leave your options open as to colors and add ons. You need to find that one HL that has been there a little too long for the price to really come down. If you play your cards right, you can find out from a sales manager which car needs to move, if you can live with it, it will save you some money. After all, these our beautifull cars at any color.
Regarding dealer's if you are local. I bought from Toyota of Plano. I almost skipped the place because they are under construction and working out of a trailer. In retrospec, I think it helped. The worst dealer, SportCity, was the big, new, shiny one
Good Luck!
Longo $295 over invoice
Poway Toyota $700
Temecula- $1100
Waiting for Carson
Note: All V6 2WD come with same 3 pkgs.( appear, perfered-conv) only extras, such as moon, spoiler,boards,dim, etc... all have tow, and rack.
Longo has 135 Highlanders in stock!!!
Have 92 Previa LE-245000 mi. no problems
Web site i-10toyota.com
http://www.i10toyota.com
1-800-523-2802
Good luck to all
Kamel Ja~key
If you go to www.toyota.com and the "Build Your Own" feature you'll see it's the greedy manufacturer, not the greedy dealers, who is making the car impossible to find.
Just do the math..you are going to pay roughly $23,000 (more if there are any taxes) and then you have to give the car back after 4 years.
If I knew you I would be happy to buy it for you and charge you that lease because the car will be worth at least $15,000 after 4 years..plus you are charged miles etc. Get a good interest rate and purchase the car..leases only work for those that want to dodge taxes by claiming their personal car as a business expense.
I later added the R3 (Stainless Tube Steps) which I installed myself, it was $330 from the parts department, including tax. These options mentioned plus the stainless tube steps make a beautiful "loaded" package a bit short of the Limited's luxury, but with a sportier look and way below a Limited's price. The MSRLP of the car was a little over $29K.
thanks
Paid approx.29K for V6, FWD, Roof Rack, TO, VD, UZ, Hitch installed, side bags, mudguards, mats, cargo mat, day lights, nose guard, privacy glass - STEEL WHEELS (don't like alloys in MN. winters). $500 over 'invoice' were the terms with $500 down at ordering.
Thanks