Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
I will caution you all now to stay the heck away from the Sewell Lexus Dealerships. This includes both the Dallas and Fort Worth locations. It's not so much that they did (or didn't honor) their price quoted for the vehicle (side note: they did this well actually) but the games they played in pricing my trade in vehicle. They were a good $4k to $5k below the KBB for a good to fair condition trade due to some slight damage on the side power sliding door as well as a paint scratch on the front bumper right hand side. Folks, proceed to call this dealership with caution, they will take you for a joyride.
Luckily, my salesperson point of contact in Park Place (whom I highly recommend by the way (Thank you Tony)) will match the Sewell Lexus deal 1 to 1. He's also meeting my trade-in expectations. This is what you call earning the customer's business! Sewell Dallas, when I've contacted their Pre-Owned as well as New Sales Departments, is also a dire waste to deal with.
Once again, the details:
MSRP: 42535
Price (Pre TT&L): 37800
Package: Premium Plus (Heated/Vented seats with Memory, Power Rear Sunshade, etc)
Options: AFS HID Front side Lighting, Intuitive Park Assist Sensors, Nav with Lexus (not Mark Levinson) Audio, Rear Side Airbags, iPod Aux input (I believe this is standard)
Color: Either Obsidian Black or Smoky Granite Mica
Fellow Dallas Citizens in the market for an ES 350, Park Place is the way to go undoubtedly!
I totally do appreciate your position on the matter here. But on the numerous occasions I've dealt with them either on phone or in person, New Car Sales or Pre-owned, they never fail to give me issues. :sick: Therefore, with all due respect, both you and I are on the opposite sides of the spectrum here I am sorry to say.
At any rate and on a better note, the deal I mentioned has finally flown through to fruition. I am taking delivery on a Smoky Granite Mica (Exterior)/Grey (Interior) 2008 Lexus ES 350 with Premium Plus Package, Intuitive Park Assist, iPod Aux input, AFS HID Lighting, Tinted Windows and Nav with Lexus Premium Audio). The numbers for everything stayed the same from the trade in value on the van we are trading to the price he sold us the ES350 for. Overall, it was a great experience at Park Place Lexus Plano and I'd readily recommend them in my full conscious state or in my sleep. Tony Acosta is the guy to deal with there. :shades:
Bottom line: It just seemed that for every negative instance Sewell bought forward, Park Place in those similar instances was THAT MUCH BETTER! I mean what kind of a moron would sit there and take a $4k to $5k below KBB trade in (Condition dependent) hit on their trade? :mad: I wasn't born yesterday you know! :P
I'm glad Park Place worked with you and got you what you wanted for your trade, they definitely went out of their way to earn your business.
We picked up our 2008 es350 with the ultra luxury pkg, ML audio Nav, and park assist yesterday from Northside Lexus in Houston. I will say it is the most quiet car I've driven in awhile, and we are extremely pleased with our purchase.
Thanks so much for your help in advance!!
I am looking at getting the following options. please let me know if you had these or any other options. Could you also share the MSRP?
Premium Plus Package
Voice activated DVD Navigation
High-Intensity Discharge Headlamps (HID)
Intuitive Parking Assist
Full-size spare tire with 17-in alloy wheel
Rear seat side airbags
Wood- and leather-trimmed steering wheel and shift knob
Power rear sunshade
I dealt with Tony last year when I bought my car and felt I got a good deal. He was very straightforward, emailed and called when he said he would. I was pleased with the deal.
jano2
Where did you purchase your car?
I am trying to buy Lexus ES350. Could you tell me who did you talk to during your purchase. So, I can show your price out the door (OTD) and get mine at about the same price.
thank you
Hersh
I hope you enjoy your new car. I had to drive my Explorer not too long ago and it was like driving an 18 wheeler compared to my Lexus. If you don't mind saying what kind of deal did you get on your Lexus?
Citing examples for what was said above, from all the dealerships that I've showed my vehicles to (1 Honda (Bankston), 2 Nissan (Avery Johnson North Texas Nissan and Bankston Nissan Dallas), 3 Lexus (Sewell Dallas and Fort Worth as well as Park Place Plano), a Used Car (European Motors) and CarMax (Plano and Irving), only Sewell (both locations), AJ North Texas Nissan and the European Motors Used Car dealership were trying to schiest me on the Trade-in Value. The remainder dealerships were in a respectable range (i.e., within a few hundred of what I sought for the Trade in Value) BUT two factors played in to my decision here:
1. My wife wanted a Lexus; AND
2. Coincidentally, Park Place Lexus DID work their tails to get my business.
One and one eventually came together when the right car got here but otherwise, the numbers were in place and the only dealy was inventory related.
Bottom line....and my point to all of the above: While your theory on the current economic environment playing its impact role on my prospects applies, it only has a PARTIAL TRUTH VALUE. All that stuff is a thing of the mind. If you can sell your car and make the presentation well enough while simultaneously knowing who to weed out, you'll get your target with due time and patience. This is the one tremedously stressful thing that is a part of the car purchasing experience.
Congrats on the car purchase! How do you like the drive? Is it powerful enough for ya? :P
One thing you said totally surprises me, especially considering the MSRP on your vehicle purchase. My car had an MSRP of $42535 but I ended up at $37800-Trade in +TT&L, which amounted to about $26,600 (after you figure in the trade in). Getting to the point, how is it that you have the Premium Plus Package and Nav but no Power Rear Sunshade? :shades: I was under the impression that this was part of the Premium Plus Package. If you got the Navigation with the car, then chances are high that you have the Voice Activated Navigation package with Additional Options (Especially if you bought an 08 recently). This has the Power Rear Sunshade and Rain Sensing wipers as part of the package to accompany the Nav, Park Assist Sensors and HID AFS Lights on the Front.
Perhaps if you bought an 08 very recently and did not get this as part of the package, then their must be a regional code thing going on somewhere (e.g. - No heated Seats on cars sold in Florida).
In response to your question on the accessories, this is what I remember (don't have the paperwork in front of me). We got the premium Plus Package and what comes standard with it. Also the rain sensing wipers, Park assist sensors, the HIDs, heated and cooled seats, full size spare, The Voice activated Nav (without the Mark L stereo upgrade) and everything that comes with it, leather and wood trimmed steering wheel, Rear side airbags, preferred accessory package, all weather floor mats, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something else. I was not in the car when the salesman and my wife went through the whole set-up/how everything works. I don't remember seeing the rear shade and we did talk about getting it installed a day or two later but decided against having someone tear the car apart to add one item. I am curious though and will check when I get home. It would not suprise me that there is a feature on the car that she does not know about. We bought it on 7/31.
I have to admit that for the last 17 years, I have bought nothing but Honda/Acura. The "package" deals that Lexus uses can be somewhat confusing the first time. Just because it has something on the website does not mean that it comes in/on your car. Just as you said, there are regional items that are added/removed which made it confusing for us. I guess you could order exactly what you want, but with 2009's almost here, you might not have that option. We ended up at $36600 +TTL so we were OTD right around $38K.
Welcome to the club! Both our wives have the better wheels while we both drive something in the pack.
What color did you all get by the way? Here, we go Smoky Granite Mica with the Grey Interior (and the very same package that you all did as well, WORD FOR WORD). Here is a way to identify whether you have the sunshade or not. On the driver's side of the vehicle between the sterring wheel and the driver's side door, located just below the side air vent are 4 buttons.
1 is for the fuel filler door;
1 for the trunk to open;
1 for the Park Assist system;
1 is for Power Rear Sunshade.
If you see these four buttons in the exact location I've identified, it is confirmed that you have it and the dealer will not need to aftermarket install one. Please take a look and be sure and let me know what you find out.
I have a 2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited V6. This is a great car in itself. Make no mistake, it's no Lexus by any stretch but in its own, it's been an all around great car. Great Fuel economy for a V6 if I may say so.
My car is an 08 EXL 4Dr V6. I have posted my experience on the Honda board so no need to re-hash it here but it has not been good. My wife loves the ES 350 but it's not for me. The roof is to low. I do like the GS models though. If the sales person would "deal" a little more, I would consider pulling the trigger on one of those and trade mine off.
I paid 41450 (45225 MSRP) for the ultra luxury with ML and navigation. In addition they let me use a sales tax credit on my lease, saving me an additional $2600. I think with some more negotiations, I could have gotten the money factor down more, but I felt the sales tax credit more than offset the higher money factor. I worked the prices through 5 different dealers across the state over several weeks, and Northside gave me the best final deal.
I believe it is against form policy to post the salesperson name... I purchased the vehicle from Lexus of Stevens Creek. I shopped around all dealerships: Oakland, Fremont, Pleasanton, Putnam, etc.
All dealerships immediately quote under $1000 under their invoice price (note that the dealer accessories like the cargo mat, etc. are not listed at edmunds ... I believe the dealers leave a couple hundred dollar room this way). From there, you gotta negotiate.
My final price was $1500 under dealer's quoted invoice.
good luck,
BJ
I just want to know, did i get a good deal??
About the buying experience, it was pretty standard and quick as far as car buying goes, mostly because I negotiated 39K OTD on the phone. My suggestion is to find exactly the car you want, phone around to see what dealers have it, and start negotiating about $2000 under invoice, and see what they can do from there.
Thanks!
"The ES 350 is $42,595 with Navigation. XM Satellite Radio is an additional $795. My price to you on this car is $38,350 + $795 = $39,145, plus applicable taxes/fees.
I do have a car that is $42,721 that includes XM satellite radio already. Reason for this price on an identical car is that the cars were priced at $42,235 (without XM) but all cars were price increased to $42,595. This one was pre the increase and had a lower labor rate in the XM job. This car is Silver/Black and I can sell it to you for $38,408, plus applicable taxes/fees."
This is from Hennessy Lexus in Atlanta, GA.
Also, does anyone have any idea of any changes for 2009? I realize it's only a month or so away, so perhaps I should wait.
Here are the numbers which was agreed to sell at invoice:
Description: MSRP / Dealer
Base: 33820 / 28973
Options: 7650 / 6260
Rear Seat Airbags: 250 / 200
Full Size Spare: 205 / 164
HID Headlights: 815 / 168
Nav System: 2650 / 2230
Premium Plus: 2480 / 2058
Parking Assist: 500 / 400
Wood & Leather Steering Wheel: 330 / 264
Preferred Accessorie Pkg: 210 / 124
Other Charges: 2286
Destination Charge: 765
TDA: 507
Dealer Holdback: 676
Whsl Financial Reserve: 338
Sale Price: $37,519 (at invoice)
Extra Fees for Out the Door: 2286
Doc Fee: 50
License Fee: 195.75
Taxes: 3489.27
Out the door price: $41,245
Now I haven't gone back yet, but I know I can do a lot better, as people are getting similarly equipped cars for $38k-$39k out the door (those quotes didn't have the parking assist which is $400+tax more). So I'll say 38.5-39k should be my goal.
So my thoughts on these fees:
Don't pay holdback
Don't pay Whsl Financial Reserve
According to Edmunds, Doc fee is a max of $35 in Washington. That's a $15 difference, but perhaps it's old list and the fees have gone up? Can anyone confirm?
Also average license fee is $57 but they are quoting $195... I do realize it's a lot more expensive than the average car, so I wonder if this fee is based on a percentage of the sale price? Anyone know how to calculate this?
The sales tax is higher than the 8.9% for that state, even when I add in all OTD fees before calculating it. My assumption was that I should pay $37519 * 8.9% = $3339. There seems to be an ominous $150 overcharge here which works out to another 0.4%... is there a regional tax added to that for Bellevue?
The holdback and reserve adds up to $1010. If that reduces the price to $36509, the taxes would go down to $3395 (assuming 9.4%). And tack in the unmodified prices ($245)... new total would be $40149... $1100 cheaper than the current bid.
So I know I have a lot of questions, but I'm struggling with what is considered invoice price. My guess is that it is in fact, $36509 (base invoice + option invoice + destination charges + TDA). Last thing I want is to negotiate invoice minus $1500 and then they try to charge me destination and TDA on top of that. If I can get the car for $35009, that would make the OTD price $38500...
Do you guys have any thoughts on tactics on how realistic this deal (invoice - $1500 without charging holdback or wholesale financial reserve) is and how I would make the approach? I'm also talking to Tustin -- which seems to be quite a good dealer to buy cars from (with lower taxes but higher license fees). I am assuming due to slow sales and other people being able to make similar deals that these guys must be facing some kickbacks clearly exceeding $1500 per car otherwise they would be losing money on those deals. This leads me to believe they are receiving hidden kickbacks exceeding $2500-$3000 on these cars right now to make those deals worth doing.
Any replies would be greatly appreciated. I have so many questions! I'll definitely share my results.
There is a tax incentive right now so the tax rate is 1.25% which for us Texans is good since we have to pay tax on the entire purchase.
BTW - remarchcs, while I'm not familiar with the west coast, the license fee in my area of TX was quoted at $68.80 - far less than your quote...but then again I, too, don't know how this is calculated.
I told him to run the numbers, and we'll see where we get. I already knew we were around $39.5... and it came out to $39,346. However they botched the county tax seeing we were in LA county instead of Orange county, so they attempted to add the 0.5% tax difference. I said no... that's the price, so they agreed to eat the taxes. When I saw the final breakdown, it appears they took the difference out of the "estimated" license fees.
We did qualify for their tier 1 credit and financed at 3.9% over 5 years. One last annoyance, was that the car we purchased had $1995 chrome upgraded wheels which we didn't want. They didn't have anyone there to change them as it was 6pm, so we had to drive back the next morning to pick up the car.
So basically we paid $846 more than what we considered to be a great deal and it came down to us having limited time and energy to deal for that price. Hopefully we don't get haunted by DMV for underpayment of license fees. But the car is going to Washington state so I'm not too worried, but not sure how that's going to work.
But I did feel like we were bait & switched and not too happy about that. If I could do things differently, I would simply give the dealer an ultimatum and say, quote me this price out the door or I won't show up. That was my mistake. I hope someone else can take my experience and do better!
I'm in the process now of getting all the numbers via email and having some success. This is of course after they try to get me to come in and discuss the car but I usually write back saying something like "to help maximize your time and mine, obtaining all the numbers up front ensures the process is quick and efficient when/if I buy the car. I'm sure you'll agree time is an important commodity in this day and age and I'm certain if we can get the basics out of the way, we can do business together"...or something to that effect. Since I lease I always ask for the buy rate too. It's down to Lexus and BMW at this moment.
Let me know
Thanks
Did you buy it in Virginia? Which dealership? I am in the market to get one, please help. Thanks,
Thanks
FYI - I don't have my papers in front of me but I believe invoice was around $36500 once you subtracted holdback, etc.. and then add TTL.