Hey wireless, I did exactly what you described. I sent a detailed note Monday morning and now here it is Tuesday late afternoon, and not even one response from Darcars. I guess they don't need my business. I'll stick with Fitzmall.
I bought a Artic Frost color Sienna XLE with package #6, floormats and wheel lock 2 days ago from Piercey Toyota in San Jose. I paid $30,444 (including $750 rebate) before tax, etc. Your price looks o.k. to me. Good Luck.
I am looking for a 2005 LE Package #8 in the Kansas area. I have been told that the LE with Package #8 is not typical in this region and I have to have one built. Does anyone know how I might find one close? I would rather not have to wait for 6-8 weeks.
I've been posting about leasing a Sienna LE or XLE using the two popular dealers in the Maryland area (Darcars or Fitzmall) although I live in NY. I've just discovered that the acquisition fee in Maryland is $400, but in NYS it is over $1000. And I have to pay the higher of the two. This seems outrageously high to me, and may prevent me from considering Toyota. I also have to say that I have not been impressed at all with either Maryland dealer. Darcars especially. They won't even give me a quote until I am at the dealership. I don't care for that at all. And Fitzmall's price keeps going up. So I have decided to talk with another local dealer, who told me to use Edmunds (I like him already!) for prices and all. He also mentioned a smartbuy option, different from either a lease or traditional financing, basically a balloon payment like what GM uses, although Toyota should have better rates since their resale values are higher. So in this case, is there that acquisition fee on a smartbuy? I visit the dealer tomorrw, but would like to know more before hand. I've leased before (GM) but their acquisition fees are more reasonable than this. Any comments, or advice to offer? Thanks again.
I dunno about advice, but here's a couple of comments from someone in the Darcars/Fitzmall area without direct buying (but with shopping) experience. $400 is actually on the low side IMO for an acquisition fee, but $1,000 is outrageous. I'd switch horses (Odyssey?) before I paid it. Fitzgerald (mall) has a good rep here and I can't help but wonder if your issues with them stem from either the fact that you are trying to lease as opposed to buy, or from a basic lack of communication. For example, I'm not sure that the $750 cash back from Toyota applies to a lease, but their website prices include this, which could account for a differential for starters. Did you actually select a particular vehicle from their site with a particular price and inquire about that? If not, I can see how other variables, including whether its a lease or buy, could affect price. As for Darcars, their site also quotes particular prices for particular vehicles in a sale transaction. It seems very likely that they may want to see you face to face for a lease, particularly if you're out of state, in order to assure that you are not just "shopping around." IMO Darcars is more of a mixed bag than Fitzmall, although their prices are slightly lower, and treatment may depend on the individual and the dealership. Did you try the one in Frederick, Md? There often are fewer "city slickers" out there :)
I think you also need to remember that those who have posted experiences with these dealers here seem to have been buying as opposed to leasing--and those from long distance have been willing to buy a particualr vehicle at a particular price sight unseen in a paperwork transaction. While maybe this shouldn't make a difference, it might--since the firm price offers on the websites are for purchases and leasing can have more variables to negotiate.
First, I agree that the $1050 acquisition fee that is required in NYS is high, but blame our state lawmakers for keeping a 50year old law on the books that keep banks and manufacturers liable for accidents caused by people leasing cars. The acquisition fee is used primarily for the bank to purchase an insurance policy to cover them in the event of any liability. Toyota is actually one of the few companies that DO still lease in NYS because of this. Also, from over 10yrs of experience working with Toyota, if you do lease, you need to use the rates, residuals, and acquisition fees as well as taxes based on your state of residence. You CAN opt for a "balloon", option, smart-buy, etc. in lieu of leasing and the banks do not assess the acquisition fee because the title of the vehicle is in your name as opposed to the bank's. You do, however have to pay any applicable sales taxes on the total vehicle price vs. the usage of the vehicle on the lease. Often, the "money factor" is much lower in terms of a true interest rate as well. So the best suggestion I can give is shop the best option for you with the vehicle between a lease or balloon payment.
Hi Ken, Yes, this does help. I've been aware that Toyota is basically the only manufacturer in NY state that still does traditional leases, no thanks to our legal system here. It makes no sense to me if you or I get in an accident, the other victim can sue not only us, but also Toyota who had nothing to do with the accident. Anyway, what I had been hoping for, is that since Toyota does lease, I wouldn't have to pay as much in sales taxes. However, that now seems offset with the fact that this acquisition fee is so high - basically to offset this penalty of insurance issues. The Maryland dealers have a lower acquisition fee, but they have to pay the full tax amount there. So it seems close to a wash overall.
I will check out this balloon option today and work the numbers both ways - lease vs. financing. I would almost prefer now to finance it via a balloon payment. I can see now why an out of state dealer has had problems figuring out a lease for me.
Hi lumbar, Thanks for the feedback. I think you are right on a couple of points. Leasing for Fitzmall has been more complicated for them. Apparently they have never leased for anyone in NYS before. I did have a particular vehicle in mind, and we were working numbers based on that. What I found annoying, was that the guy (who I mostly trust) at Fitzmall told me a base XLE was actually cheaper to lease than an LE model (with package #5) even though price wise the LE was a little cheaper. A better residual rate. Darcars told me the opposite, in that whichever vehicle is cheaper will have a cheaper lease payment. So who is right? Overall, I was not happy with Darcars at all, and I understand if I lived closer, coming in and getting a good deal probably would have worked fine, but I just didn't like how they were so vague with me on the phone and via email.
FItzmall has been better, and I still might get a van from them. But if my local dealer can sell one at invoice, I will stay here and not venture to MD. That alone is becoming difficult to schedule for me. If I was just purchasing normally, either of these dealers would be hard to beat. I guess if my local dealer can compete (two of them can't) than I would prefer to stay close to home, as most people would. I'll know more tonite I guess.
From my experience, going from one trim level to another in a vehicle does not normally make a significant difference in the residual percentage, so in your example, the XLE's difference in pricing would normally still translate into a higher payment as well. There have been exceptions to this however. If, however the pricing between the two vehicles is less than $1,000 or so, it may very well be less expensive to lease the XLE vs. the LE.
As an added factor, in response to your earlier post to me, the Acquisition fee is often more than the tax savings on less expensive vehicles to lease vs. option, but the money factors on the leases coming from Toyota lately have been EXTRAORDINARILY low, so often the savings in the finance charges in the lease more than ofset the acquisition fees comparing them to option or balloon purchases. I've been seeing payments as much as $30 - $50 less for the special leases vs. balloons using the same purchase prices for vehicles in the past few months.
I hope your search is fruitful and feel free to ask any other questions you may have.
Thanks again Ken. In this case, the XLE I am looking at (just a base model) was not much more than an LE, but it does appear that the residual is better, hence the lower price. I just got a nice follow up from Fitzmall on a base XLE lease, where my payments would be $359/month, with just the 1st month payment due. There is a license fee of $1061 which I am assuming is the taxes I would be paying for NY state. Overall, that seems pretty good to me, and I am doubtful the local guy can beat it. One thing concerns me is the acquisition fee they used for me was the Maryland amount of $400, instead of the NY fee of $1050. Since I am taking possession of it in Maryland (but will lease it NY) is this legit?
Toyota is offering a $750 incentive now, but not on lease deals, so I believe too, their money factor is very low (1.6 according to the contract that was faxed to me). I would be surprised if I could come out ahead on a balloon payment vs lease. They really don't seem to different to me, the basic difference is who is legally titled as the owner. In a lease, it is Toyota, in a balloon, I would be the owner. But same options are available at end of set contract.
The easiest way to figure out the taxes due on a lease in NYS is to take the monthly payment total (payment x term) and multiply it by your sales tax rate. I would make sure that they contact their dealer funding department with Toyota Financial Services with the handwritten contract copy faxed to them for confirmation that everything is correct though just so that you won't need to make another trip to Maryland if they made any mistakes. BTW, the money factor should be listed as a number that looks like .00xxx. To translate it into a rough interest rate, multiply that number by 2400. And no, you cannot combine the $750 rebate with the special lease. Glad I was able to answer some questions for you.
Hi Ken, Another basic lease question for you. I am also considering straight financing now as well. Anyway, Toyota is offering a LE Am package lease for $249/month plus $2269 down. Plus tax. Am I oversimplifying this? I would like to divide the $2269 into may payments, making that an additional $63/month which when added to the $249 = $312. Tax of .0825% would equal another $26/month, for a grand total of $338/month. I just talked briefly with a finance guy at my local dealer, who said I still have to figure in the interest. He did say the $2269 includes this acquisition fee, but I would think the $249 payment already has the interest (money factor) calculated into it. Otherwise the deal seems pretty simple to me. If I had $2269 down, plus my taxes, I would have a payment of $249 as advertised, not $249 plus additional interest. If you could advise, I would be grateful.
I may look into financing as well. If I can get a basic LE (AM, or #1) package for near invoice, I may finance for 60 months at 3.9% through Toyota or 72 months for 5.79% at a local bank. I drive about 10k miles a year, probably not more than 12k, and we will be needing a van for some time, so maybe this would be a good time to get out of the lease game. But my budget dictates lower payments, hence leasing. But if the two numbers are close, financing may be a better option this time.
Well what I thought was a simple lease on the LE am package was of course not. My nice neat numbers with the above example where the lease to my way of thinking should have been $338 (or close) turns out the local dealer figured it out as $384/month. And although the finance guy told me originally the acquisition fee was included, when the salesman called me back, the acquisition fee was not included. So in this case, the lease of $249 had due at signing, the $2269 (fine print but at least it is there) another $1050 in an acquisition fee (not mentioned), and taxes of $1036, making it a total of $4355 due at signing. Plus they tacked on some other stuff I think. So I said no way. I am going to Fitzmall tomorrow to pick up an XLE for what we agreed upon $359/mo. I am flying early morning to get there. Hopefully everything will work out as agreed upon. I'l post maybe on Sunday as to how this experience works out. Apparently this is the first lease Fitzmall has done for NY state. Keping my fingers crossed!
Hello everyone, My wife and I bought a sienna xle fwd pack#6 with floor mats,wheel locks,wireless headphones,sill protector for 30366 plus 3% va sales tax, title and registration(aprox.$85),plus 100 processing fee at darcars in frederick through the internet dept.It was a great experience. we had called them on a wed and said we would be in sat at about 2pm to buy. arrived sat and they had the car already prepped and waiting in the bay area. took the car for a drive,sat down in finance to do paperwork,no surprises there,we were already pre approved with capital one. they said they couldnt beat the 4.9% financing, no big deal. signed all the paperwork and drove home. car drives great so far. no problems whatsoever. the only thing they mentioned to offer extra in finance was the extended warranty which we declined for right now. all the figures on the contract were exactly what was quoted to me on e-mail. we also got a quote from fitzmall which was onlyabout $150 more but darcar frederick was closer. also the guy from fitzmall had said to me that at darcars you have to buy the protection plan and they would add that in at finance which is untrue. we had no negative experiences. If anyone has any specific questions they want to ask me I would be happy to reply. reading this site with all of your input was a tremendous help. thanks to all
Hi, I recently got a quote of $31,042 for a Sienna XLE with package #7 from Darcars Toyota in Rockville (355 Toyota?). Since they told me about a different color than what I asked (beige instead of red), I emailed them back to ask about any price change. That was 1 wk ago. From all the recent messages it sounds like Darcars in Frederick treats customers a bit better (at least in some cases). So did you try the one in Rockville before the one in Frederick? Also did you get a firm price before coming in? So far they gave a price and all told me to come in and maybe they'll give a better price (One guy already reduced his price twice in email, but still higher than Darcars though). Should I tell them to give their best definitive quote and based on this, go the dealer giving the best price? thanks
vinhph, I did not deal with the other darcar dealerships,just the one in frederick because it was the closest, . the lowest the dealership here could get to darcar was approx. 1400 more. I looked on the frederick darcar internet site for the prices and then called their internet dept manager and asked him to e-mail me an out the door price with the breakdown of all fees. he gave me the exact price from the website plus tax,title/registration,and 100 processing. I came in with my e-mails for back up which I didnt need because in the finance office they broke it down exactly the way the e-mail was broken down. no tricks at all. I dont think Im allowed to give names on this site but if you want to e-mail me directly I will give you the names of the 2 guys I talked to. They really seemed like straight shooters. If you know the exact van your looking for,look up the internet price on the website,figure in the sales tax,title,and processing fee and that should be the out the door price, you might even be able to get them to knock off a little more, I didnt even try, I thought the otd price they gave me was a good one and I was happy with that, no one in my area couldnt come close
Hey, I'm back from Maryland with my new Sienna XLE. Like rmak at Darcars, I ended up having a really good experience with Fitzmall, and would now highly recommend them as well.
Here is what I wanted, and what I ended up with. I needed a new van (3rd child on the way in about 6 weeks) and liked the Sienna and Odyssey the most. The Odyssey was just not doable for me in my budget - I knew I wanted to lease for lower payments. And I didn't want a base van, I wanted one with at least a few frills.
Anyway, my goal was for a payment around $350 - but I also knew that I needed a van that was reasonably priced, and had a good residual. Sienna fit the bill. I checked out both Darcars and Fitzmall in advance. And then I tried my local dealers to come up with a similar deal. None could. I even brought in the offer with me to varify my deal at Fitzmall. They all said that there was no way I was getting this deal, yada yada. They were definitely old school salesman "we're going to make you a special offer because we haven't made a sale today" gag me. They kept asking me, "what is you want?" After I told them 3 times in a row - I want a Sienna for about $350 a month. None of them got it. They wanted to lease me a base LE package #1 for about $380 a month. I ended up with a XLE for $359 a month. You do the math!
Anyway, since I am from NY, I had to take 2 flights to get to Wasington Reagan airport, then 2 shuttles on the metro, and then a cab to get to Fitzmall. That cost me $7.35 total (frequent flyer miles used) But the van was ready to go, my salesman was awesome - very thorough, the finance lady was also very good (and quick) and my payment that I was quoted over the internet was to the penny. Even better, the acquisition fee was waived. This is a $1050 fee in NY state. Since I bought the car in Maryland, the NY fee didn't apply, and since I am titleing it in NY, the Maryland fee somehow didn't count either. Brilliant! Seems like a loophole, but no one objected. There was no fees otherwise. I was the first person from NY to do a lease with Fitzmall.
Then I drove it home to NY (318 miles) and it drove perfectly! Awesome van, couldn't be more pleased. My kids and wife love it too, and that was the important thing to me.
As far as Darcars, I just never clicked with them. For whatever reason, I could never get them to give me a quote. I even called about 3 people on the phone too. I was skeptical about this whole buying process, especially from being over 300 miles away. Fitzmall was just better at communicating with me. And with the little acquisition fee loophole I discovered, the local dealers just couldn't compete in reality.
All in all, I am both very satisfied with the buying experience, and with Toyota. I am already thinking about replacing my very aging '95 Explorer with a new Toyota. Maybe a Hybrid Camry in the fall. Any questions about my salesman, feel free to email me.
What was your down-payment? I'm surprised your local dealer didn't give you the $350 a month then just try to raise your down-payment. Congrats on yo new baby and van.
Hey, I had zero down payment. All I had to pay was my first month payment of $359. Not bad for an XLE. An Odyssey EX (cloth) lease was $440, and just too much for my payment. The local dealers wanted $422 for a Sienna XLE lease. To be fair, they are not really playing on a level playing field. A $1050 acquisition fee is enforced in NY state, but I avoided that by going to Maryland. Saving that much alone on the acquisition fee was worth the day's drive for me. Let alone that Fitzmall sells the van at or below invoice. No local dealers would come close to that.
What bothered me about one local dealer, is that the lease Toyota is offering is clearly stated at xyz, and you can go to their site and run the numbers. This is how it worked with Fitzmall - type in the price, your credit, and boom, here's your payment. When I tried to explain that to the local dealer, they had all kinds of excuses why my payment would be $40-50 higher a month. Bull. I can guarantee you Fitzmall still made a profit for the few hours of work it took, the local dealers just want more, since they have less sales. I would think if I were in sales, and a guy came in to buy a van, had a buyer's sheet from another dealer, they might sacrifice some profit to make the sale right there and then. Didn't work that way, and in the end, I got a better van at a better price. The power of the internet!
Either the LE or XLE models, and depending on the packages, you are probably looking for the side curtain airbags along with traction control, 4 disc brakes and stability control. For example, look at the LE model, with package #5. It includes a few other things like alloy wheels, but also the safety features. Or check out the XLE model with package #3 -that has only the safety features I believe.
Honda made all of their vans come with the same safety features, so an LX model has side curtain air bags, just like their top of the line Touring model. Whether you really need all of this is debatable, but at least with Toyota there is a choice of whether to purchase it or not. Honda makes you buy it regardless, and GM doesn't offer side air bags yet (may in 2006).
I believe the Sienna CE does not offer the extra safety features. So if you want the cheapest Sienna with the most safety features, it will be a LE probably with package #5. Different areas of the country seem to get different packages - don't ask me why. The least expensive XLE model would be #3 package. Hope this helps.
Just purchased my Sienna LE#5 last week from Portland, OR. In West coast you'd be hard pressed to get a better price. My homework finally paid off .... Very happy with the price :-) I wonder if anyone else actually got a better deal.
I bought a Subaru from Fitzmall. I was really pleased because the advertised price on the internet was exactly the price I paid. No gimmicks, I was in and out in about an hour.
I found Darcars to be more like a 'regular' dealership, where they play games, go to see the manager while talking to you, etc. Our salesman disappeared for about 20 minutes to 'talk to the manager' (we weren't buying the Subaru at that time, this was an earlier car). We think it was 20 minutes, as we left at about that time. I don't know if they are still playing games, but I can tell you that my experience at Fitzmall (this past autumn, 2004) was a lot easier.
A couple of weeks ago I purchased a new 2005 XLE Sienna with package #5. I paid with taxes, etc a total of $32,500. I need feedback to find out how bad I got "took". I enjoy the vehicle and have nothing but positives to say at this time. I originally wanted the sand micca color, but settled for the silver shadow and I believe I prefer it now. The rear dvd player is a big hit with the kids, and the rear shades are handy. I don't have a 6 disc cd changer, but that is not a priority. I would give my vehicle a 10 right now, but I need to know what I can give myself on my negotiating. Thanks in advance.
I am a buyer from CT looking to buy a LE 8/7 Pass. Not looking for any specific pkges. So far, i have the following quotes:
DarCars : LE 8 Pass, AM, $22464 FitzMall : LE 7 Pass, AM, $22684 : LE 8 Pass, AM, $22921 Boch : LE 7 Pass, Base,$23614 : LE 8 Pass, BZ, $25822 Mt. Kisco: Waiting on quote CT Dealers: Way far from these quotes
Any recent buying experiences in the new england area for Siennas? Any comments on the quotes?
I think you did fine. Depends where you live too. If you had gone to a discount dealer like Fitzmall (Maryland), you might have paid about the invoice price for it, which would have been $31k and change. So you're not far off from that. I got the XLE (no package #5 though) also in the silver color for about $26k, but you have a bunch more stuff on yours. I love it so far, the only problem is my wife gets to drive it and not me
I'm in upstate NY and made the trek last weekend to Fitzmall because I couldn't find a dealer locally that could match it, and they all played games too. I was vry apprehensive about traveling to Fitzmall, but the experience was great. Also I leased mine, and because I did it in Maryland, I didn't have to pay the very high acquisition fee for NYS. I am not familiar with Boch, but the BZ package you have listed here looks about right. If you can find one, a base XLE is a pretty good buy, about $26k. You don't have the air bags in the back (I realized I didn't want them since my kids often asleep close to the sides of the van) it is similar in that sense to the LE AM package, but you get a lot of extra stuff too, like dual power doors, power liftgate, dual power seats (love them), better audio system, alloys, nicer intererior look, fog lights, etc. The 8 passenger van is hard to find with any option packages I believe. My quote from Fitzmall was to the penny when I signed the papers. Happy so far.
There's no way to tell how good (or bad) a deal you made given that you've only supplied a price that includes taxes (the rate of which varies tremendously across the country).
Break it down into its components (vehicle price, doc fees, etc.) and folks might be able to better answer your question.
i bought a silver sienna le 8 passenger pkg #5 from darcars in frederick, md today for 24,215. they went down 200 dollars off the internet price b/c another dealer said they would match it. we are happy with them so far. no tricks or gimmicks like the other dealer i talked to.
I live in Upstate NY, trying to find a decent deal on an LE AWD with package #10.
My local dealer seems to think that $1800 over invoice (I'm getting the invoice # from edmunds) is a FIRM price. I don't mind a dealer making a fair profit, but that sounds outrageous to me. I've never paid more than $500 over invoice for a car before....but I never bought a Toyota before either.
Any advice for finding a better deal? I'd even drive to Maryland, but fitzmall doesn't seem to have any LE AWD's......
Geebjan, where are you in upstate? I'm in Ithaca, NY. Bill Cooke Toyota actually seemed to have a fair amount of AWD models when I looked a little over a week ago. There are more AWD models sold there than FWD models. It's an Ithaca thing. They told me they sell for about $500-600 over invoice. $1800 over is a poor deal, I wouldn't go that route at all. I ended up going to Fitzmall, and had a great experience there. Especially since I wanted to lease, and I ended up not paying the large acquisition fee that NY state charges. If you're not leasing it is moot. I have not seen though, an LE AWD with package #10. You may have to order that to get it. It is doubtful that many southern dealers would have this model. Do you think you really need it though? The FWD models, especially if you get snow tires, might be all you need. I supposed it depends where you go though. Good snow tires can make a big difference, and the run flat tires that come with the AWD Sienna's have had a fair amount of criticsm - they are expensive to replace, and not sure how good they really are in snow.
I'm only about an hour drive from Ithaca, so I may check out Bill Cooke. Thanks for the tip!
My local dealer actually found me the exact one I want, a Red LE AWD with #10 and they found others in other colors too so I know they're out there.
If I lived in town I'd stick with FWD, but I live quite a way off the beaten path in the hills, so AWD is a must of us.
Late last night I sent a request to the cross-town dealer and they called me back and seem to be working well with me.......I'll post back with how things work out.
Steve, i brought my LE AWD + pkg4 @NJ AutoMall for 26999. refer to my previous post. it was pleasant exp. their website is 1800autoland don't know why u like pkg10. RES is waste of $$, nowdays a 10" portable DVD player cost no more than $150. i think XLE AWD make more sense than RES on LE. cause XLE gives you dual slidding door and power rear door. and leather seats, too.
Actually there are a lot of features of the XLE we didn't like, including the woodgrain stuff, the auto rear door which can't shut if ANYTHING interferes with it, underseat storage in the passenger seat, etc.
Also, we have 4 kids 13 and under so a portable DVD would turn into two, which would stand a good chance of getting broken in a car sitting on laps, and we like the wireless headphones so we don't have to hear their movie. It's a choice like anything else, we decided to go that route.
It sounds like you got an awesome deal at NJ Automall, if I have my numbers right thats a little bit under invoice price! How do dealers do that?!?
I ended up working well with the second local dealer and got the price down to a reasonble $750 over invoice.
We are considering buying a Sienna XLE because of the back seat safety features. We have two young children that fall asleep whenever the car is put into drive and I actually heard that in this instance the air bags could be very dangerous. Can we get an XLE without the back air bags?
"2 shuttles on the metro, and then a cab to get to Fitzmall"
They offered to pick me up at the airport. Makes me feel like a high-roller (TIC). Bought an XLE #6 with Z1 WH WL for $29,807 which included temp. tag and all fees. Will drive back to Atlanta (650 miles) for tax, tag and title. A long day but I've probably wasted half that amount of time playing games with local dealers on vague deals for thousands more. Why go anywhere else?
I forgot to mention before that the base XLE or package #2 doesn't have the side airbags. Otherwise most of the other package do have airbags I believe. The reason I mention it is that sometimes our kids do the same, they fall asleep and flop towards the side of the vehicle. The Toyota manual mentioned that with the side curtain airbags this could be dangerous. It is tough to say whether the right circumstances would allow this to happen, but you never know. These are safe vans without side airbags, and should be safer with the air bags. It is just this one case where if the kids fall asleep right by the side of the van it could be dangerous although I believe the airbags fall from the top of the van, and not the bottom to the top.
A local dealer here in central New Hampshire told us that they sell very few 8 passengers, less than 1% (not sure of total vans or of all vehicles sold). Is this right, and if so, why?
The middle seat in the middle row that slides forward seems like a pretty neat feature for parents with children still in car seats.
In theory fewer 8's should mean that we'll have a harder time finding the right vehicle ...
I want the 8 passenger because I do have two children in car seats and one is a 12 month old. He sometimes needs tending to while on the road but if I put him right next to his sister in the middle of the seat he will be picked to death and then the fight is on, so to avoid this I thought the sliding seat would be great. What is the price difference between the 7 and 8 passenger vans? Is it a certain package?
well i just want to point out the price diff. between pkg4 and pkg10 is about $1800 for a RWS, you can buy 10 7" portable DVD players for that kind of money. i 've been working with Fitzmall since last winter. but they never have the extra trim/color/option i wanted, so when i saw this van from nj automall inv. web page, i decided to give it a shot; it's almost on my way to work, so nothing to lose. gasline is so exp. those days. i think the deal i got is around 1K less than fitzmall. don't know what happend. one thing to note, this nj dealer has > 8 AWD all time, while fitzmall just has had less than 10 since last winter. (yes, i kept tract of fitzmall inv. i have program querying their website, finding the keyworkd "AWD", and saved in database
i have 6month old and 2.5 years old. i got a 7 psg LE. here's what i do: mount the right-second-row seat towards center, put the rear-facing baby seat on it. mount the toddler seat on left-third-rom seat, and mom sit on right-third-row seat. left-second-row seat is put down as table to hold toy and book and laptop. i never see a 8seat so can't comment on that. it's not easy to mount either infant seat or toddler seat, i am disapointed on this a lot.
I plan on getting an 8 passenger and nobody has told me they are "hard to get" or that you should pay any extra premium for them. I'm in PA. Whenver I've done searches on dealer websites, or visited, I've always seen 8 passenger vans. I think the base price is slightly more(less then 200 bucks), but other then that there sholdn't be a price premium. It is dealer BS. Shop around.
I will probably end up at Fitzmall or darcars, they do have the best prices. I'd rather stay local in PA, but for ~1500 - 2K savings, it's worth the road trip.
To sv651 above, the difference between the 7 and 8 is that the 8 has an extra seat in the 2nd row. This allows you to get a third kid in the second row seat. The compromise is that the captains chairs are a little skinnier then in the 7 passenger(they need to be skinnier to fit the 3rd seat). This is the reason i'm getting a Sienna. Our 3rd kid is on the way and we currently drive an MPV. Love the MPV, but with kid #3, we will have to put one in the 3rd row and we'll lose all that storage space. The 8 passenger Sienna solves the problem by allowing you to put 3 kids accross the second row. They aren't that rare though so don't let a dealer BS you into paying an extra premium.
Follow up - I'm not saying that there are tons of 8 passengers out there or as many 8's and 7's. There are less 8's and finding exactly want you want may take a little more patience & time, but there shouldn't be a huge price premium.
If you don't have 3 or more kids, I'm not sure that I'd even consider an 8.
Comments
I did exactly what you described. I sent a detailed note Monday morning and now here it is Tuesday late afternoon, and not even one response from Darcars. I guess they don't need my business. I'll stick with Fitzmall.
Thank you
I think you also need to remember that those who have posted experiences with these dealers here seem to have been buying as opposed to leasing--and those from long distance have been willing to buy a particualr vehicle at a particular price sight unseen in a paperwork transaction. While maybe this shouldn't make a difference, it might--since the firm price offers on the websites are for purchases and leasing can have more variables to negotiate.
Hope this helps.
Ken
Yes, this does help. I've been aware that Toyota is basically the only manufacturer in NY state that still does traditional leases, no thanks to our legal system here. It makes no sense to me if you or I get in an accident, the other victim can sue not only us, but also Toyota who had nothing to do with the accident. Anyway, what I had been hoping for, is that since Toyota does lease, I wouldn't have to pay as much in sales taxes. However, that now seems offset with the fact that this acquisition fee is so high - basically to offset this penalty of insurance issues. The Maryland dealers have a lower acquisition fee, but they have to pay the full tax amount there. So it seems close to a wash overall.
I will check out this balloon option today and work the numbers both ways - lease vs. financing. I would almost prefer now to finance it via a balloon payment. I can see now why an out of state dealer has had problems figuring out a lease for me.
Thanks for the feedback. I think you are right on a couple of points. Leasing for Fitzmall has been more complicated for them. Apparently they have never leased for anyone in NYS before. I did have a particular vehicle in mind, and we were working numbers based on that. What I found annoying, was that the guy (who I mostly trust) at Fitzmall told me a base XLE was actually cheaper to lease than an LE model (with package #5) even though price wise the LE was a little cheaper. A better residual rate. Darcars told me the opposite, in that whichever vehicle is cheaper will have a cheaper lease payment. So who is right? Overall, I was not happy with Darcars at all, and I understand if I lived closer, coming in and getting a good deal probably would have worked fine, but I just didn't like how they were so vague with me on the phone and via email.
FItzmall has been better, and I still might get a van from them. But if my local dealer can sell one at invoice, I will stay here and not venture to MD. That alone is becoming difficult to schedule for me. If I was just purchasing normally, either of these dealers would be hard to beat. I guess if my local dealer can compete (two of them can't) than I would prefer to stay close to home, as most people would. I'll know more tonite I guess.
As an added factor, in response to your earlier post to me, the Acquisition fee is often more than the tax savings on less expensive vehicles to lease vs. option, but the money factors on the leases coming from Toyota lately have been EXTRAORDINARILY low, so often the savings in the finance charges in the lease more than ofset the acquisition fees comparing them to option or balloon purchases. I've been seeing payments as much as $30 - $50 less for the special leases vs. balloons using the same purchase prices for vehicles in the past few months.
I hope your search is fruitful and feel free to ask any other questions you may have.
Ken
Toyota is offering a $750 incentive now, but not on lease deals, so I believe too, their money factor is very low (1.6 according to the contract that was faxed to me). I would be surprised if I could come out ahead on a balloon payment vs lease. They really don't seem to different to me, the basic difference is who is legally titled as the owner. In a lease, it is Toyota, in a balloon, I would be the owner. But same options are available at end of set contract.
Ken
Another basic lease question for you. I am also considering straight financing now as well. Anyway, Toyota is offering a LE Am package lease for $249/month plus $2269 down. Plus tax. Am I oversimplifying this? I would like to divide the $2269 into may payments, making that an additional $63/month which when added to the $249 = $312. Tax of .0825% would equal another $26/month, for a grand total of $338/month. I just talked briefly with a finance guy at my local dealer, who said I still have to figure in the interest. He did say the $2269 includes this acquisition fee, but I would think the $249 payment already has the interest (money factor) calculated into it. Otherwise the deal seems pretty simple to me. If I had $2269 down, plus my taxes, I would have a payment of $249 as advertised, not $249 plus additional interest. If you could advise, I would be grateful.
I may look into financing as well. If I can get a basic LE (AM, or #1) package for near invoice, I may finance for 60 months at 3.9% through Toyota or 72 months for 5.79% at a local bank. I drive about 10k miles a year, probably not more than 12k, and we will be needing a van for some time, so maybe this would be a good time to get out of the lease game. But my budget dictates lower payments, hence leasing. But if the two numbers are close, financing may be a better option this time.
My wife and I bought a sienna xle fwd pack#6 with floor mats,wheel locks,wireless headphones,sill protector for 30366 plus 3% va sales tax, title and registration(aprox.$85),plus 100 processing fee at darcars in frederick through the internet dept.It was a great experience. we had called them on a wed and said we would be in sat at about 2pm to buy. arrived sat and they had the car already prepped and waiting in the bay area. took the car for a drive,sat down in finance to do paperwork,no surprises there,we were already pre approved with capital one. they said they couldnt beat the 4.9% financing, no big deal. signed all the paperwork and drove home. car drives great so far. no problems whatsoever. the only thing they mentioned to offer extra in finance was the extended warranty which we declined for right now. all the figures on the contract were exactly what was quoted to me on e-mail. we also got a quote from fitzmall which was onlyabout $150 more but darcar frederick was closer. also the guy from fitzmall had said to me that at darcars you have to buy the protection plan and they would add that in at finance which is untrue. we had no negative experiences. If anyone has any specific questions they want to ask me I would be happy to reply. reading this site with all of your input was a tremendous help. thanks to all
I recently got a quote of $31,042 for a Sienna XLE with package #7 from Darcars Toyota in Rockville (355 Toyota?). Since they told me about a different color than what I asked (beige instead of red), I emailed them back to ask about any price change. That was 1 wk ago. From all the recent messages it sounds like Darcars in Frederick treats customers a bit better (at least in some cases). So did you try the one in Rockville before the one in Frederick? Also did you get a firm price before coming in? So far they gave a price and all told me to come in and maybe they'll give a better price (One guy already reduced his price twice in email, but still higher than Darcars though). Should I tell them to give their best definitive quote and based on this, go the dealer giving the best price? thanks
I did not deal with the other darcar dealerships,just the one in frederick because it was the closest, . the lowest the dealership here could get to darcar was approx. 1400 more. I looked on the frederick darcar internet site for the prices and then called their internet dept manager and asked him to e-mail me an out the door price with the breakdown of all fees. he gave me the exact price from the website plus tax,title/registration,and 100 processing. I came in with my e-mails for back up which I didnt need because in the finance office they broke it down exactly the way the e-mail was broken down. no tricks at all. I dont think Im allowed to give names on this site but if you want to e-mail me directly I will give you the names of the 2 guys I talked to. They really seemed like straight shooters. If you know the exact van your looking for,look up the internet price on the website,figure in the sales tax,title,and processing fee and that should be the out the door price, you might even be able to get them to knock off a little more, I didnt even try, I thought the otd price they gave me was a good one and I was happy with that, no one in my area couldnt come close
Here is what I wanted, and what I ended up with. I needed a new van (3rd child on the way in about 6 weeks) and liked the Sienna and Odyssey the most. The Odyssey was just not doable for me in my budget - I knew I wanted to lease for lower payments. And I didn't want a base van, I wanted one with at least a few frills.
Anyway, my goal was for a payment around $350 - but I also knew that I needed a van that was reasonably priced, and had a good residual. Sienna fit the bill. I checked out both Darcars and Fitzmall in advance. And then I tried my local dealers to come up with a similar deal. None could. I even brought in the offer with me to varify my deal at Fitzmall. They all said that there was no way I was getting this deal, yada yada. They were definitely old school salesman "we're going to make you a special offer because we haven't made a sale today" gag me. They kept asking me, "what is you want?" After I told them 3 times in a row - I want a Sienna for about $350 a month. None of them got it. They wanted to lease me a base LE package #1 for about $380 a month. I ended up with a XLE for $359 a month. You do the math!
Anyway, since I am from NY, I had to take 2 flights to get to Wasington Reagan airport, then 2 shuttles on the metro, and then a cab to get to Fitzmall. That cost me $7.35 total (frequent flyer miles used) But the van was ready to go, my salesman was awesome - very thorough, the finance lady was also very good (and quick) and my payment that I was quoted over the internet was to the penny. Even better, the acquisition fee was waived. This is a $1050 fee in NY state. Since I bought the car in Maryland, the NY fee didn't apply, and since I am titleing it in NY, the Maryland fee somehow didn't count either. Brilliant! Seems like a loophole, but no one objected. There was no fees otherwise. I was the first person from NY to do a lease with Fitzmall.
Then I drove it home to NY (318 miles) and it drove perfectly! Awesome van, couldn't be more pleased. My kids and wife love it too, and that was the important thing to me.
As far as Darcars, I just never clicked with them. For whatever reason, I could never get them to give me a quote. I even called about 3 people on the phone too. I was skeptical about this whole buying process, especially from being over 300 miles away. Fitzmall was just better at communicating with me. And with the little acquisition fee loophole I discovered, the local dealers just couldn't compete in reality.
All in all, I am both very satisfied with the buying experience, and with Toyota. I am already thinking about replacing my very aging '95 Explorer with a new Toyota. Maybe a Hybrid Camry in the fall. Any questions about my salesman, feel free to email me.
I had zero down payment. All I had to pay was my first month payment of $359. Not bad for an XLE. An Odyssey EX (cloth) lease was $440, and just too much for my payment. The local dealers wanted $422 for a Sienna XLE lease. To be fair, they are not really playing on a level playing field. A $1050 acquisition fee is enforced in NY state, but I avoided that by going to Maryland. Saving that much alone on the acquisition fee was worth the day's drive for me. Let alone that Fitzmall sells the van at or below invoice. No local dealers would come close to that.
What bothered me about one local dealer, is that the lease Toyota is offering is clearly stated at xyz, and you can go to their site and run the numbers. This is how it worked with Fitzmall - type in the price, your credit, and boom, here's your payment. When I tried to explain that to the local dealer, they had all kinds of excuses why my payment would be $40-50 higher a month. Bull. I can guarantee you Fitzmall still made a profit for the few hours of work it took, the local dealers just want more, since they have less sales. I would think if I were in sales, and a guy came in to buy a van, had a buyer's sheet from another dealer, they might sacrifice some profit to make the sale right there and then. Didn't work that way, and in the end, I got a better van at a better price. The power of the internet!
Which package provides the most safety features?
Honda made all of their vans come with the same safety features, so an LX model has side curtain air bags, just like their top of the line Touring model. Whether you really need all of this is debatable, but at least with Toyota there is a choice of whether to purchase it or not. Honda makes you buy it regardless, and GM doesn't offer side air bags yet (may in 2006).
I believe the Sienna CE does not offer the extra safety features. So if you want the cheapest Sienna with the most safety features, it will be a LE probably with package #5. Different areas of the country seem to get different packages - don't ask me why. The least expensive XLE model would be #3 package. Hope this helps.
Just purchased my Sienna LE#5 last week from Portland, OR.
In West coast you'd be hard pressed to get a better price. My homework finally paid off .... Very happy with the price :-)
I wonder if anyone else actually got a better deal.
Stratosphere Mica.
Package#5.
Out-the-door: 24696.
The transaction was as smooth as the van drives :-)
ToyoFan
I found Darcars to be more like a 'regular' dealership, where they play games, go to see the manager while talking to you, etc. Our salesman disappeared for about 20 minutes to 'talk to the manager' (we weren't buying the Subaru at that time, this was an earlier car). We think it was 20 minutes, as we left at about that time. I don't know if they are still playing games, but I can tell you that my experience at Fitzmall (this past autumn, 2004) was a lot easier.
DarCars : LE 8 Pass, AM, $22464
FitzMall : LE 7 Pass, AM, $22684
: LE 8 Pass, AM, $22921
Boch : LE 7 Pass, Base,$23614
: LE 8 Pass, BZ, $25822
Mt. Kisco: Waiting on quote
CT Dealers: Way far from these quotes
Any recent buying experiences in the new england area for Siennas? Any comments on the quotes?
Break it down into its components (vehicle price, doc fees, etc.) and folks might be able to better answer your question.
My local dealer seems to think that $1800 over invoice (I'm getting the invoice # from edmunds) is a FIRM price. I don't mind a dealer making a fair profit, but that sounds outrageous to me. I've never paid more than $500 over invoice for a car before....but I never bought a Toyota before either.
Any advice for finding a better deal? I'd even drive to Maryland, but fitzmall doesn't seem to have any LE AWD's......
My local dealer actually found me the exact one I want, a Red LE AWD with #10 and they found others in other colors too so I know they're out there.
If I lived in town I'd stick with FWD, but I live quite a way off the beaten path in the hills, so AWD is a must of us.
Late last night I sent a request to the cross-town dealer and they called me back and seem to be working well with me.......I'll post back with how things work out.
Thanks for the help.
Steve
i brought my LE AWD + pkg4 @NJ AutoMall for 26999.
refer to my previous post. it was pleasant exp. their website is 1800autoland
don't know why u like pkg10. RES is waste of $$, nowdays a 10" portable DVD player cost no more than $150.
i think XLE AWD make more sense than RES on LE. cause XLE gives you dual slidding door and power rear door. and leather seats, too.
Also, we have 4 kids 13 and under so a portable DVD would turn into two, which would stand a good chance of getting broken in a car sitting on laps, and we like the wireless headphones so we don't have to hear their movie. It's a choice like anything else, we decided to go that route.
It sounds like you got an awesome deal at NJ Automall, if I have my numbers right thats a little bit under invoice price! How do dealers do that?!?
I ended up working well with the second local dealer and got the price down to a reasonble $750 over invoice.
Thanks again to all for the replies.
They offered to pick me up at the airport. Makes me feel like a high-roller (TIC). Bought an XLE #6 with Z1 WH WL for $29,807 which included temp. tag and all fees. Will drive back to Atlanta (650 miles) for tax, tag and title. A long day but I've probably wasted half that amount of time playing games with local dealers on vague deals for thousands more. Why go anywhere else?
The middle seat in the middle row that slides forward seems like a pretty neat feature for parents with children still in car seats.
In theory fewer 8's should mean that we'll have a harder time finding the right vehicle ...
Thanks!
i 've been working with Fitzmall since last winter. but they never have the extra trim/color/option i wanted, so when i saw this van from nj automall inv. web page, i decided to give it a shot; it's almost on my way to work, so nothing to lose. gasline is so exp. those days.
i think the deal i got is around 1K less than fitzmall. don't know what happend.
one thing to note, this nj dealer has > 8 AWD all time, while fitzmall just has had less than 10 since last winter. (yes, i kept tract of fitzmall inv. i have program querying their website, finding the keyworkd "AWD", and saved in database
here's what i do:
mount the right-second-row seat towards center, put the rear-facing baby seat on it. mount the toddler seat on left-third-rom seat, and mom sit on right-third-row seat. left-second-row seat is put down as table to hold toy and book and laptop.
i never see a 8seat so can't comment on that.
it's not easy to mount either infant seat or toddler seat, i am disapointed on this a lot.
I will probably end up at Fitzmall or darcars, they do have the best prices. I'd rather stay local in PA, but for ~1500 - 2K savings, it's worth the road trip.
To sv651 above, the difference between the 7 and 8 is that the 8 has an extra seat in the 2nd row. This allows you to get a third kid in the second row seat. The compromise is that the captains chairs are a little skinnier then in the 7 passenger(they need to be skinnier to fit the 3rd seat). This is the reason i'm getting a Sienna. Our 3rd kid is on the way and we currently drive an MPV. Love the MPV, but with kid #3, we will have to put one in the 3rd row and we'll lose all that storage space. The 8 passenger Sienna solves the problem by allowing you to put 3 kids accross the second row. They aren't that rare though so don't let a dealer BS you into paying an extra premium.
If you don't have 3 or more kids, I'm not sure that I'd even consider an 8.
The price was great.
Desert Sand Mica
Package #5
Mats
Cargo net
Pair of Wireless headphones
Out the door: 24545.
This was the quoted price. No problems with the transaction either. Would highly recommend the dealership.
Vtech4me