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I wanted to buy a SE V6 with stability control. The problem in Boston area is that SE V6 doesn't come with stability control. After a lot of email, calling, and visiting dealers in the region I gave up on two possibilities they offered. One, special order it, which takes 2-3 months at premium-MSRP. Two, a few of dealers offer to locate one outside of New England -It is only New England that doesn't offer stability control on SE, which is beyond my comprehension. But one failed, the other asked for premium.
So I decided to go beyond New England and started talking to dealers in NYC area. Quickly I realized that the supply of SE's are tighter than Boston. Around Boston, if you can live without stability control, you can get one at $400 to $500 above invoice plus $300 doc fee. By the way, the invoice from the dealers were $500 more than what you get from edmunds.com including all the options. But in NYC, nobody wants to go below MSRP. There was one ridiculous sales woman from Millennium Toyota, which advertise themselves as the biggest in NYC area, asked for $2000 above MSRP. She says "any dealer offers below that is a liar". I just laughed and hung up.
Then came the rescue from this board when somebody pointed me to fitzmall.com. I haven't finished with dealing with them yet but so far so good. Just the fact that they have no haggle, very reasonable, OTD price posted on their webpage is a bless! They had one with stability control and other options that I wanted in stock. Now I'm waiting for the Fedex today to sign the S&P and send back with my check in the return envelop. The price, which everyone can see from fitzmall.com was $500 above invoice plus $100 doc fee. Again this invoice was $500 more than edumds.com and the OTD price is $400 cheaper than TMV. They even take care of MA tags there. For pick up, I am thinking of flying down there or hiring a car shipping service- around $500 between DC and Boston.
Lessons learned from this and previous car purchases
1. Different regions have different supply/demand therefore different prices. So don't base your target price from different region. Ask as many different dealers as you can and you'll be surprised how different they are in both attitude and price.
2. Don't visit the dealership until you agree on the price. You are more vernarable when in their home ground. It's a psycological warfare. You take time to go there and see the car you've dreamed of. They make you wait and you become anxious. They say if you don't take it now somebody else will, pointing at your beautiful dream car.They show their tight inventory and tell you how fast it is selling now. It all works against you. Negotiate it over email or phone at the convenience and comfort of your home. Get the firm OTD price before you go. Once got there, don't be afraid of walking out if they say differently. It is a very good idea to get the OTD price with all the options and fees in email or fax before you go.
3. buyatoyota.com is useless website at least for New England region. One thing, their option packages available in the region changes almost daily- before July it had option packages A and B. From this month it shows A B C D or E and options listed for each package change dependinng on the day. And if you talk to dealers they only have A and B packages and not aware of rest of them. It was especially confusing to me because C D and E said to have stability control.
4.Fitzmall.com should be the model dealership for any car company. When will be the day when we can buy a car with a couple mouse clicks? We can buy everythingelse that way so why should car purchase be an exception? I'm sorry to say that car dealers and realters represent two most inefficient sector in the state of US economy.
5. For those of you living in Boston area, here is the summary of my experience with dealers:
- Boch, IRA, Copeland, Lexington, and Acton offered good prices around $400-500 above invoice right out of the first quote on email or call.
- Watertown, Barnardi, Herbchambers wanted more profit- around MSRP to $1000 below at first. I didn't even bother to haggle since there are many other dealerships listed above offered better deal.
- Expressway. Avoid this dealership unless you want to experience how bad a Toyota dealership can be. They offered the best price and seemed to be very flexible interms of my needs over the email. They said that they can special order the car at invoice price within a couple of weeks. When I was there, the internet sales manager I talked over the phone and email looked like a high school kid. Except for that shrewed manager, every was 20+ year old kids in uniform-I thought I was in Best Buy. Their full time job is just to sweet-talk or email people into the dealership. Once there, the manager takes care of 'the business'. He admitted that what I was promised over the phone was an 'error' and even said that it doesn't make any sense for them to special order the car at that price.
Hope this helps.
First, let's define the hybrid system:
- Low emissions 4 cyl engine
- Battery / electric motor
- Regenerative braking
- ECVT (continuous transmission)
The best baseline is the LE 4 cylinder Automatic:
Hybrid MSRP: $25,900
LE, 4cyl, Auto: $20,500
- so, $5,400 bucks for the hybrid system right? No way!
The Hybrid has many standard features which are costly options on the other models, namely:
- Vehicle Stability Control: $650
- 16 inch alloy wheels: $410
- JBL Stereo/CD/MP3/Bluetooth/Etc.: $1000
- Autodim rearview mirror w/compass: $150
- Smart key system: $450
- Homelink receiver: $125
The last two are actually not options on the LE, but for comparison purposes let's pretend they are. That brings the cost of the LE up to $23,285. Based on those numbers the hybrid is $2,615 more than the LE. But wait, there's more!
The hybrid has some other features that I haven't been able to put a price on because they are not options on any Camry trim lines. Namely:
- Multi-info display (i.e. trip computer)
- Dual zone climate control w/ionizing filter
- Leather steering wheel and shift knob
- Chrome tipped exhaust
Let's say that stuff is worth atleast $815 (and to make the numbers round nicely).
So, $1,800 more for the hybrid. But wait, there's more!
Tax write-off of $2,600 (28% bracket): $728
Gas savings first year: $900
(12,000 miles, $3/gal, 40MPG vs 20MPG)
Brings it down to $172! Wait a second, don't the hybrids have a fancy aerodynamic windshield? That's got to be worth 172 bucks right?
So, next time someone asks you "how much more for the hybrid?" just say "come back to me in a year". :-)
In real world experience, you are likely to a get a much greater discount on the standard LE..
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Just wanted to share this with you all.
Thinking of looking at Camry hybrid now. Do they go lower than MSRP by any chance? Also, what will be the warranty on battery? Thanks.
Of course, everyone has to do the calculation for themselves. And if you have placed a deposit on the hybrid you have plenty of time to determine the cost/savings.
P.S. It was easy (phone call) to get my check back for the deposit I put down on a hybrid. Changed my priorities.
Per my sales rep, the order is still out there for the car, but he has no confidence in when this car may come in. He said that until there are a large number of SE's on order with NAV, the order will probably wait in que. He added that there is no way for him to know when it may go to production.
I guess my question is...has anybody ordered a SE with NAV and gotten delivery or a delivery date even?
What do I do???
For me then starting with the "corrected" number of $800 less than an LE, let's add a discount of $3300 from the purchase price for a discount and I'm now at $2500 more for the hybrid. Let's see, deduct an additional WV Tax Credit of $3750 and WOW, my hybrid cost me $1250 less than an LE.
My deal though was for a fully loaded TCH. $30,589, w/ discount of $589. Take the tax credits into consideration and that's less than $24,000 for a TCH with leather, NAV, SR, etc.
Additionally I don't drive 12,000/yr. I drive more like 30,000 miles. I calculated the difference in my 38.9 average vrs the 16.3mpg I was getting (with premium gas) and I have already saved $1100 since May 5th. Also my car payment went down $200/mo.
I almost feel like someone is paying me to drive this thing!
They did not try to sell me any add ons after the fact or any warrenty. It was the best car buying experience I have ever had.
I could not find any dealer to come close to their price and the lowest local price I was able to get before going to www.fitzmall.com was $ 400 below window sticker price.
You will not be sorry they ar really good.
Good luck with the 6 cyl - I went this time for better gas mileage.
BTW, I bought a loaded demo model with 4500k miles for about $1800 below MSRP with fair value for my trade (Audi A6 that needed a little work). Is that a good deal? It had the color combination and options I wanted (silver w/ ash leather and nav) and fit in my budget (29k) so I jumped on it. Only thing I don't like is the funky cobra-looking shift handle. Otherwise, I am thouroughly impressed. I am getting just over 40mpg on the country roads here in mass. I believe the "B" drive setting will help in the snow here and I shouldn't miss my all wheel drive much.
Apparently they are only making those for Canada?.. Why is that? Heh?
You got an excellent price if XM was included was that Canadian $?
:confuse:
As for the tax credit in Mass, you may want to check your state legislature website on any recently passed or pending bills. Here in CA there is a pending bill allowing for $1500 write off on your state tax return. I did the calculation and it basically makes up for the additional sales tax on the "higher" sales price of the car depending of your tax rate. - My calculation is based on the average effective tax rate here in CA.
How much equity does she have in the 4-Runner?
What are her payments now?
How many months will she go on payments for the new Camry (sure, you can always get the same monthly payment, but they may force payment terms of 72 months or more)?
What model and options does she want on the Camry (this number can have you looking at anywhere from $19K-$30K)?
MA has a similar pending bill, but I'm worried that by the time it becomes law, the fed credit will be cut in half or worse....and there's no guaranteeing that the final version of the bill will be retro-active.
i too ordered an SE camry around 2 weeks ago, and still the dealer can tell me nothing as to the build date etc. When you were just a couple weeks into the process, what type of information did they tell you. Just that they were trying to get it built? They are telling me that inventory manager is trying to get it built in Kentucky, and I was told if it's build in japan, then it takes 6 months to get here to Maryland. Does anyone have any additional information?
Does anyone have any syggestions with "defected" cars? Any suggestions? Should I just stay away?
How much of a discount is a paint defect worth?
You just need to check edmunds for the "trade-in" value of a 4Runner equiped like hers for a going discount price in you area of a Camry like she wants. I'm guessing the $Runner may be worth more then the Camry if she's looking for a base model. If she goes back to the original term on a new loan then her payment would actually go down.
Regardless, I love the car inside and out!!! All my co-workers who saw it said it almost looks like Lexus! The ride is great, too, of course!! So, this is my buying experience, which may or may not be helpful to the other people who are considering a purchase of 07 Camry now......
I called up both Midwest Superstores Toyota (Kansas) and Mechanicsville Toyota (Virginia) and both quoted me $682 for 7yr/75,000 Toyota Platinum warranty with 0 deductible. Curious on how you received this warranty contract below $600? Please let me know...I appreciate it.