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If dealer A gives you 90% MSRP with no handling fee, and dealer B gives you 88% MSRP with a handling fee, you are better off with the 88% (dealer
Most Edmund's poster have paid between 89-91% MSRP, in which case olddave received an OK deal.
Invoice 31656
Paid 30500
Doc Fee 45
Tire Fee 8.75
License 262
Tax 2367.24
OTD 33182.99
Southern California
It has the navigation system package, with the premium sound system. It listed the for $37,909, and I paid $34,527 + 129 document and title fee.
I live in Cleveland, Ohio and shopped both dealers in Cleveland. They both gave me the run around on prices (best price was $35,700 for a demo). So I called Lexus of Easton in Columbus, OH. They had the color I wanted (White), beat the price by $1,200, and delivered the car.
I currently own a 2001 Toyota Avalon, and thought I was going to buy a new one. But, after test driving the Avalon, I do not like the changes. So I drove the Lexus, Mercedes E320, and BMW 525. I choose the Lexus because of the ride, and smooth handling. The lexus has the best interior, and reliability rating.
I found this forum to be very helpful when researching this car. I know I did not get as good of deal as many that have posted. But, with the knowledge from this forum, I saved more than I would have.
Thanks!
I'm looking to get an 05' ES330 in the next month. So I'd love to know the deals anyone got at these places...refer a particular sales person who was more willing to deal. My parents also live in the Madison Wisconsin area...and I have no issue with taking a road trip for a good deal if someone has had a good experience in that area. Chicago may be a little too far.
MSRP: $37,119
CURRENT INTERNET PRICE: $32,699 (this quote good for 72 hours -call for updated quote after that (this price does not include tax, license or doc. fee)
Not sure if there's a better deal than this one. It's about 87.7% of the MSRP
I felt the tranny was "lazy" at shifting points. stretchkj advised of above and while getting an oil change yesterday, I had them do the re-programming.
Only went from the dealer to the barbershop and then home but I noted a vast improvement especially when coming to a stop sign for quick stop and then back on the go pedal. Before the fix the tranny was still hunting down to first gear and I would always get the hesitation. The re-programming seemed to remedy this totally.
Next time my wife lets me drive the ES, I'll give it a better test but my first impression is very positive.
First and foremost, Lexus dealer's are NOT owned by Toyota/Lexus corporate.
Second, EVERYTHING you buy is based on the laws of supply and demand, well almost everything.
In the next post, I provide summaries of deals spanning from 8/2004 -8/2005. From 4/2005 through 8/2005, I tried to provide data on EVERY deal quoted on this thread.
I was unable to include the data from about half of the posts because the basic info was not provided. Specifically, the VERY minimum to report is:
1) The price paid or quoted, NOT including license and tax.
AND
2) The MSRP.
An ideal quote post provides the information below. Please, please, PLEASE try and include it in order that we can maximize the usefulness of the price quotes:
poster Id: nikman
Vehicle: 2005 ES330
Approx Date of Quote: 4/30/05
Geographical Region (Dealer): SF Bay Area, CA (Putnam Lexus)
MSRP: $37119
Price PD/Quote (not incl TTL): $32400
%MSRP $87.3%
Note that %MSRP is calculated by dividing quote by MSRP and multiplyin by 100. Example:
($32,400/$37119) x $100 = 87.3%
If you don't want to do the math, just provide the quote and MSRP and I can calculate % MSRP in my summaries.
Thanks to everyone for providing their info.
What follows is a deal summary of the deals quoted by Edmund's posters. The deal summaries are presented in the order below:
Poster: nikmin
Message#: 879
Vehicle: 2005 ES330
Approx Quote Date: 4/30/05
Geograpical Region(Dealer); SF Bay Area, CA (Putnum Lexus).
MSRP: $37119
Price/quote: $32400
%MSRP: = 87.2%
The summaries follow:
The following summaries are snapshots over the period from 3/2002-3/2005
=======================================
atoews, 2002 ES300, 3/15/02, So Cal (Lexus of Cerritos), $39,963, $37775, 94.5% MSRP.
professordjf, 2004 ES330, 08/04, Dallas, $37,424, $34,000, 90.8% MSRP.
pageguy2, 2005 ES330, 8-9 2004, Havorford, PA (Wilkie Lexus), $38,444, $35000, 91% MSRP
mjp58, 2005 ES330, 3/05, Region Unknown, $35619, $31800, 89.3% MSRP
The following represents ALL usable quotes from 4/2005-8/2005
==================================================
2005es330owner, 2005 ES330, 871, 4/05, So. Cal, Los Angeles, $37119, $33,354, 89.9% MSRP
stretchkj,2005 ES330, 884, 4/05, So. Cal – San Fernando Valley, $37119, $32,500, 87.5% MSRP
olddave, 2005 ES330, 953, 4/6/05, Denver, $39,429, $34999, 88.7%MSRP
spyderred, 2005 ES330, 895, 6/4/05, So. Cal (Longo Lexus), $37119, $32,309, 87% MSRP
ctdriver76, 2005 ES330, 923, 6/20/05, Connecticut, $38,669, $34,454, 89.09% MSRP
jsceaj, 2005 ES330, 917, 6/14/05, Maryland/Wash DC,$38603,$34530, 89.4% MSRP
andystar1, 2005 ES330, 962, 8/1/05, So Cal, MSRP $35469, $30500, 86% MSRP
jhwk, 2005 ES330, 964, 8/1/05, Plano Texas(Park Place Lexus), $34,800, $31,445. 90.3% MSRP
max22, 05 ES330, 965, 8/1/05, Columbus, Ohio – Lexus of Easton, $37909, $34527, 91% MSRP
justin4326, 05 ES330, 8/11/05, So Cal, internet quote, $32699, $37119, 88.1% MSRP
2) I reversed MSRP with Price/Quote on justin4326's deal. MSRP should be $37119 and price should be $32699.
Once we were able to delete our messages. Wonder what happened to that option!
What should I expect them to pitch me at the end? I've heard of folks mentioning the 'clear bra'.
Also, I am semi-interested in the extended warranty since I'm planning on having the car for awhile. I know the price of the warranty is also negotiable. How much should I pay? What have others paid?
I appreciate all the info I can get so I'm not going in blind.
Thanks!
I got 90%MSRP at Maplewood across town. But not without the "we've never sold one this low before" line. We're picking up tonight so I'll post official numbers here soon for those looking near the Twin Cities. I can also refer you to my salesperson at Maplewood. Very nice guy to deal with.
Extended warrenty....I never get it as I swap cars before any warrenty expires.
That, plus the fact that Lexus/Toyota are about as reliable as one can get. Guess it depends on price and the fact that you intend to keep the car a long time.
Sorry, can't give you any facts/figures but an extended warrenty on a Lexus/Toyota product would never be a consideration for me, unless it was really CHEAP!
I can't pan extendeds on certain cars. My son bought a used Audi A4...we knew the dealer...he dropped his commission and he paid like 7-800 for the warrenty. I thought that was stupid. Little did I know..it was the car from hell. More electrical problems than one could count and it spent a lot of time at the dealer...he burned the cost of that warrenty many times over and it was still problems. Needless to say, the car is long gone.
I have had a ton of Toyotas----mostly Supras---twin turbos at that. They have been so reliable.
Guess I'm not helping you much but my personal opinion is that an extended on a Toyota/Lexus product is paying for "piece of mind" only.
Enjoy your new ES.
Secondly, my calculations show that you saved $1638.47 by negotiating a little and going across town. Congratulations!
Does anyone know if there is a real deal and what it is?
For other regions, you may have to pay in the 90% range but should not pay much more. You should get 89-90% regardless of region. If you are in a high-priced region, MAYBE go up to 91%, but I'd look around if that were the lowest I could get from the first dealer I spoke with.
Yes, exactly! My region is Houston, TX. I suspect that this may mean that there are hidden incentives to the dealer for the next 2 weeks. So, my problem is, do I assume that, and lower my first bid accordingly? Or is this just an "internet thing" and is 87% to 90%MSRP stiill reasonable? I am just so cheap that I really, really want to get this at better than 87% on a cash deal! (call me competitive...)
The reprogram did absolute wonders. No more lazy shifts.
I thought that this may create some harshness in shift points (i.e., 1 to 2 to 3 etc).
Not so---shifting of gears is smooth and seamless.
If anybody not happy with the laziness of their tranny the verdict is "GET ER DONE!"
After some emails and phone calls, I was offered a 2005 ES 330 with NAV (Package 2) for $38,000 including tint, pin striping, clear bra and chrome wheels. That fell to $36,100 (88.9%MSRP) and negotiation stalled.
So I went in person to see if the next dealer had a car for me. I drove 30 minutes to find the car he had for $34,200 with no adds was now gone (apparently in the first 2 hours of the day -- was it going to dealer #1??) and the lowest he would get to ($33,600) reflected his cost to bring another in from somewhere.
Another 30 minutes even further south to another dealer to find he had one in stock and we settled on $33,300 with 24 months maintenance included or $33,000 with only the 5K mile maintainence free from Lexus and the oil changes for free from the dealer for 2 years.
That car had MSRP of $37,119, cost $33,000 or 88.9% MSRP before TT&L and a $50 documents fee.
I would highly appreciate telling me the technical name for reprogramming the transmission. What should I tell the dealer to do? Reprogram it for what? Is there a name for that “program”.?
Thanks
The wording on my receipt is:
"Trans ECM needing update per TSB TC004-03"
You will love the improvement.
Car_man
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Smart Shopper / Prices Paid Forums
I was sort of playing the role that the price was not so great to the salesman. At the end of the deal, he showed me some internal document that showed the gain on the car $-928. I'm sure he didn't loose money, but made me feel good about my deal. Almost 1k under invoice!
Thanks!
There was a poster who claimed to get 86% MSRP, but he had info missing from his post, too.
I believe that the lowest reasonable deal you can expect to get is 87% and you will need to negotiate for that, and you won't find it everywhere and you may not find it at all.
89-91% MSRP is what most posters are getting with little negotiation. I believe it when someone says they received 87-88. But if someone says they get below 87% I want to know the dealer. I am still of the belief that someone who gets a quote of 85% MSRP made some mistake in his calculation or in his quote.
In what geographical region is your dealer and what is your dealer's name? Note it is legal on Edmund's to provide your dealer's name, just not your salesperson's name.
Their facilities are always impeccable and they seem to bend over backwards to satisfy the customer.
A bit of history here but Lexus (Toyota) and Infinity (Nissan) hit about the same time....'89/'90? A couple of Japanese car companies cutting into the "upscale market" of U.S. buyers. Lexus introduced their only vehicle, the LS. Infinity did the same with their Q45(?). Both were great sleds and the Infinity outperformed the Lexus hands down...more BMW'ish I guess as it was a "drivers car". I think the "fit/finish/quality" were judged pretty equally by the car magazines.
So, what happens??? Lexus sells like crazy and Infinity lags.
Two reasons in my mind. Luxo cars in the U.S. were meant to be quiet w/ a cushy ride...performance numbers be damned. Then they followed up with tremendous service, giving when they should not have on warrenty issues and guess what...they hit the top on virtually every survey I have ever seen for service/customer satisfaction.
Lexus people were a marketing genius. Sell an A1 vehicle that was superior to virtually anything on the market; price it VERY competitively; service the hell out of your customers and guess what...a marketing success big time!
It perpetuates itself...mention Lexus to anybody and your response will be "the ultimate" or some such. Then mention Infinity and I suspect 50% will respond, "What's an Infinity?"
All this may not be a fair comparison but I think Lexus not only hit a home run, but I think it was a GRAND SLAM!