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Comments
Thanks in advance.
I am a newbie to this town hall and looking for some advices on a good deal for 04 sienna XLE 7 pass. front wheel drive in Northern California. I live in Fremont and I have to admit that It's really hard to find a good deal around this area. If any of you have any recent purchase or experince with this vehicle, please feel free to reply, I'll be very appreciated.
I am looking for 04 sienna XLE front wheel drive with CX package or package #3, phatom gray exterior and stone leather interior. Currently, I have an offer out-the-door price for this vehicle for $31K. Is this a good price?
Maybe others in the Atlanta area have had better luck with this particular combo.
Thanks for your feedback. Do you or anyone else in this forum have any dealerships in mind that can beat Autofair, specifically an AWD LTD with package #4 (HE) or package #6 (HO)? Balise Toyota in W. Springfield, Mass. seems to have pricing identical to Autofair. As always, any suggestion is sincerely appreciated!
It's been a fun little trip, my Edmunds friends. I must say I learned more here than ever thought possible.
Advice for all who are on the fence - just do your homework, understand what your options are, set a budget, and take your time.
This was a very interesting process, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome.
This car is simply beautiful. Everything about it.
I encourage all you shoppers to push for an overnight test drive, so you can experience the entire van on your own terms. taking your time.
I'd like to thank my management staff - Host Steve and that other lady who always deletes my posts
Also a special thank you to the Academy, for making this all possible.
I won't be frequenting as much (since I now will be studying the owners manual for the next 2 months).
From putting $500 down on a Quest SE, waiting 6 weeks, then test driving a Sienna on a whim, it's been a real hoot.
See ya on the road!
J.B
It was ordered from dealer's allocation and were able to delete all the garbage add-ons (Extra Mile Package, Vehicle Shield etc.) that would have been added at port/dealer. We dealt with the internet sales manager and LOVE the van.
Maybe there are others more experienced with third party ext warranties out there that can provide some input on this ??
Have fun
Close in on getting 8-passenger LE with Option package 7, plus mats/sill protectors, VIP RS3200 security, the cargo net and the tote. Right at $26K. And even in the beloved (by our family) Stratosphere Mica.
I'm dealing with Internet sales at Piercey Toyota, in San Jose. They actually respond to email. Customer service seems something of a novel concept at a Toyota dealer, so them actually providing some explains why they will get me business over the other 6 or 7 places I called or contacted.
Invoice for this vehicle is a little over $25,800. But, of course, invoice is kind of a fake number, since it includes 'Wholesale Reserve' and 'Dealer Holdback', which are 3% of the vehicle's base price and are nothing more than money delivered back to the dealer. Said differently, if you paid exactly 'invoice', then the dealer would make about a 3% profit (a percentage that is lowered incrementally based on how many options one adds on, which follows from from the fact that the numbers are derived from the base price and not from the fully configured price...) As well, one can only wonder how much, if anything, the region returns to the dealership from the mysterious TDA fee. And then there's the document fee, which would be a cost of doing business just about anywhere else but a car dealer (ok, real estate slimers do it, too).
Imagine going to Home Depot and seeing a hammer that is marked at $20. After bargaining with the sales associate and the 'manager', you get the price down to $19 and proceed to checkout. At the register, in addition to sales tax, the checker adds on a regionally-based cost for advertising and a documentation fee just for your privilege of being served at the checkout.
Also discovered that CarsDirect is kind of a joke. Originally started looking for LE/8-passenger with the CM package (#11). CarsDirect said the package was 'impossible' to get and that there was only available/coming available in all of California. Calls to a few individual dealers revealed that there were plenty. So much for the volume buying/Internet business model schtick.
Anyhow, I digress. Focusing on invoice as a benchmark seems just a tad unhealthy. Consumer Reports seems to have it right to say that negotiating up from the dealer's cost (Invoice minus the giveback stuff) is the way to go. Unfortunately, though, CR does not account for the TDA fee in their Toyota calculations.
Should get the vehicle shortly. Will post again as followup.
It's costing me $200 for the plane, another $175 or so for gas, so in the end I'm still nearly $3,500 lower!
If NorCal is too far away, you can also get good deals in the Portland area. I remember getting a good quote for the XLE #19 from Broadway Toyota in Portland. Here too, ask for the Internet Department. Very friendly and responsive. He even congratulated me on finding the great deal NorCal.
For those faithful readers in Western Washington, I have to relay a very bad experience I had with Michael's Toyota in Bellevue. A month ago I put down $500 for a FWD XLE with #19 (nav/DVD). This was for a car in "A" status. It was supposed to be assembled on 4/12 and on 4/19 I called to see how things were going. At that point I found out that for some reason they had not been able to get the option change in after all and were now waiting on a car to be assembled 5/17! All that without even once calling me! I told them I was very dissatisfied and would look elsewhere and that I wanted my money back. They weren't very apologetic but at least they did not give me a hard time about getting my deposit back. Except that I had to call back every day for a week for them to actually refund the money on my credit card. I actually started a case with the credit card company (who said they could not do a charge back until 30 days later) and the following day I had the money back. Go figure. I don't think I'll ever go back to THAT place!
On the other hand, we had a very good experience with Toyota of Kirkland, even though they would not budge on the price. They treated us with respect, allowed us a very long test drive and we'll be going back there for warranty service.
I'll post a follow-up after I return home with the car. I gotta go to bed early today, up at 3:45am tomorrow to catch the 6am flight! :-\
they can recommend or past experiences with the bad ones for me to look at?Also need info on pricing deals & how you were treated.
I posted this message in the Sienna 2004+ forum, but got no response so far. Hopefully more people will see it here. So, here is my question. Can anyone comment on effectiveness of the hood protector and/or any side effects of one (i.e. increased noise level at higher speeds, etc.)
Thanks.
Thanks again.
Well, we did it... Finalized the deal and drove our new car 800 miles home!
As I posted Friday evening, after many trials and tribulations we finally settled on a Desert Sand Sand Mica AWD XLE Ltd with option package HO (NAV/DVD) and CF (mats) at a dealership in San Rafael, CA (just north of San Francisco).
I have to say thanks to porcaccio for posting HIS experience last weekend when he got a similar deal at this dealership. Without him and Edmunds I would have NEVER found this place!
My wife was very leery about making such a large purchase and flying down without even having seen the car and knowing nothing about the dealership.
But I convinced her it was a great deal and we could always fly back if it turned out to be too good to be true...
Wife and daughter went to visit family and I went to visit the dealership.
Dealer is "Toyota Marin". Formerly R and G Toyota, they haven't even changed the sign on the building yet; it's covered by a banner! They also do not have website yet either; they still use the old one from rgtoyota. I dealt with the "Internet department" which they keep completely separate from the "regular sales". Now I can understand why. Edmund's TMV pricing for that area on this car is $40,169 and change. When I called last week Monday, the lady was straightforward and gave me an immediate, no-haggle quote over the phone of $38,084 + tax/title. No other charges. That's it. Their price saved me some $3,700 over what I was quoted here IF they could even get it (which for some odd reason was really difficult). Even after paying for planetickets, gas and one hotel night, still save over $3000!
The lady was easy to deal with, knowledgeable about her product and very reachable. (had experience with other salesreps who would not return calls etc.) She even picked me up from the airport Saturday morning at 8:30am!
When we got to the dealership, the van had been driven from the overflow lot and was being prepped. Odometer showed a mere 4 miles! Sweeeeet...
I got on the road and all I can say is that the van DOES drive like a car. Once you get used to the laser cruise control, you'll love it. And if you don't, you can easily turn it off. To pick up wife and kid I had to go through downtown San Francisco and the DVD NAV saved the day, guiding me up and down winding little streets to my destination 30 miles south. I even took a wrong turn and it got me right back on track. Worked like a charm...
Picked up wife and kid, had lunch and off we went back up North. Ride was uneventful, everything worked as advertised and daughter is in seventh heaven with the DVD. Though the flip-down screen is on the smallish side, it's adequate. Sound through the wireless headphones is good, but sound over the car speakers is FABULOUS, and even includes real surround sound.... Amazing.
The DVD navigation worked flawless (it's pretty easy to get to Seattle from SF. Go straight for about 700 miles on I-5 and you'll hit Seattle). One major drawback of the unit is that it does not seem to contain the Rest Areas along the Interstate. Maybe it's something I'm doing wrong; I have yet to read the 137 manual...
All-in-all a very satisfying experience and no regrets whatsoever...
Now I'll have to peruse the Sienna Acc. & Mods board!
Good Luck
Steve, Host
2. When I go to the dealer, they mention a dealer invoice which is even higher than the KBB invoice. For example XLE (with no package or options)
(a) Edmunds invoice 25,345 + 540 (freight) = 25,885
(b) KBB invoice is 25,150 + 575 (freight) + 575 (SE charge) = 26,300
(c) Dealer shows his invoice: 26,552 (the dealer invoice is consistent across all the dealers that I checked.)
(d) Best price that I found after lot of research and negotiation: 26,700 + tax + title + doc fees (199)
FAQ
Steve, Host
I skipped security system. I do not know what it is either.
If you want to know the agent name, send me an email. My email is public.
Etching is worthless, imo.
Paint sealant is wax.
Undercoating usually isn't recommended anymore since it can do more harm than good.
Interior protection is 2 cans of Scotch Guard.
Oil changes are $20.
Rental cars are $60 a day?
From CNN Money:
The rip-off room
Rip-off room revisited
Steve, Host
Any suggestions on making the contact and getting quotes? I'm not getting very much timely response. Or is this just the way they play the game.