Ok... I am going to ask for some advice on salesman character judgement since i am no expert at car buying. I need to fill out a survey soon, and I want yall to judge if my salesman yesterday was full of shiet.

First off, he looked just like my uncle, so I somehow subconsciously trusted him. Here is what he told me during our deal:

1) "Because you werent satisfied last time, I will try my best to make you a happy customer this time. There is no doubt you will suffer a depreciation loss, but we will keep it at a minimal: 9.6% depreciation trade-in on 11-day old car with 400 miles."

Does anyone know what is the average depreciation on a Lexus right after you drive it off the lot? I have heard someone mention as high as 15%, but I cant seem to find any evidence.

2) "I have to disclose to you that while unloading from the ship, your car's bumper was nicked. Instead of repairing it, we replace the whole bumper with a factory bumper installed here. It is in perfect showroom condition as you can see. Because the repair was handled in-house before car was put on sale, it does not affect title or resaleability of the car."

I think this is legit....cus he really didnt have to tell me and i wouldnt have known. Also, the replacement was done in-house by Lexus servicement with genuine lexus part. I guess it's cool with me, and he credited me $300 this mishap.

3) "The SGM UL is the last one here....UL sells VERY fast, and we put one on the showroom whenever possible. The car you are taking has been on showroom floor for a couple of days and of course it is brand new with 29 miles on odometer. There was a few test drives, and several families have sat in here feeling the car, but dont worry its in brand new condition."

Everything is in tip-top shape as he explained. I was wondering if any of you have bought a showroom model that is in new condition. Does it bother any of you that some people were recently feeling your car inside out? As long as the odometer doesn't say anything crazy, i took his word for it. We inspected the car together very carefully before taking possession. I noticed a small 1/4" mark on the wood part of the steering wheel, but it was no biggee so i let it slide.

So what do yall think of this salesman? I am quoting him verbatim so we get accurate assessment. This is exactly what he told me...word for word (as i recall from memory). I'm sure if you are experienced in car salesmen games you would see right thru the BS if any.

 

1) Its all a symantics as far as 9.6% or 12%, until you combine it with what they take off the new purchase. Thus if you payed a 9.6% penalty, compared to 12 or 15% and they gave you $2000 more off than if you were purchasing the car straight up, then consider yourself a very lucky man ( at least as far as this deal goes). So by my calculations you only spent an extra $2000+. The only real penalty there is having to pay the sales tax twice.

2) Regardless you got $300, be happy.

3) Obviously the UL is getting & has been scarce, as most of the "I just purchased " posts tell of taking delivery in weeks if not months. And as far as "Does it bother any of you that some people were recently feeling your car inside out? " ...LOL ...So you wanted a virgin?

 

Am I to understand that he paid the full tax on the second car???

If so, that's pure BS and I'd have a chat with the dealership's sales manager. He paid the full tax on the first MSM car as he should have. When he gave that one back to them that became like a trade-in and you only pay tax on the remaining balance between the amount credited to you on the car you're trading in and the new car. Thus he should only have had to pay tax on the 9.6% (unless he went from a PP or PP+ car to a UL in which case he should only have paid on the balance that the new car cost above and beyond the car he was giving back).

If they charged him tax on the full price of the new car he got ripped off and if the dealership's sales manager doesn't refund him that money, I'd make an appointment with the state Attorney General's office.

 

Theoretically, I should only pay tax on the difference between PP+ and UL plus 9.6% depreciation hit, but here in California (as in HI), the trade in amount is TAXABLE. I know it's a bummer, but I made sure of this before I went in. Yes, I paid tax twice, so that figures into my loss: $3300 depreciation + $3200 tax. So if I were in another state, my losses would have been cut in half.

 

I don't understand this either but he claimed that is CA state law. Someone from CA could verify. I'm from NY and now CT and I know I've only paid sales tax on the difference between the new car and the trade-in. I never realized it could be a regional thing.

 

Haha

California does do a lot of starnge things. I should have thought of that!

 

I live in Southern California. Lexus taxed the total sales price of my new IS even though I traded in my old ES. The trade in was counted as part of the down payment.

 

Wait a minute, all this about just a survey? Who cares... What has been done is already done, paid off, and you have a GREAT NEW car that YOU WANTED!!! Otherwise, this going to sound like deja vu when we were talking about MSM color of your *previous* car. This double taxation sucks, but what can you do about it? Its out of your control because of where you live, just like I can't tint front windows in NJ or that we only have one Lexus dealership around here that doesn't want to discount pricing much....

 

hey my bizzaro-bro, its nothing like that. Nothing at all i promise. I just want to get a feedback to see if theres a possibility that the salesman was trying to take advantage of my situation. I mean, I can really screw him up by filling in a negative survey. According to my bro-in-law who works for Honda, these surveys determine car allocation and status for dealership, and also determines pay rate for the salesman. If he was trying to dupe me, I want to make sure I get him back good. Just wondering if anyone here could read between the lines or could confirm if his actions were up to Lexus standards.

 

"Just wondering if anyone here could read between the lines or could confirm if his actions were up to Lexus standards."

Sounds like he gave you a great deal, $4,000 off a car thats hard to find & didn't rape you on trade in. You said you've heard up to 15% to drive out the garage door, he took 9.6%, whats your gripe?

 

I like no.2. It was nice of him to inform you of the incident even though he could hide it from you.

3) yeah, we had a showroom car before but the car was only in the showroom for a few days and we got a discount because of that.

 

ok I guess Uncle Ben gets the high marks. Sounds like he did what he was supposed to do to keep me happy. The previous salesperson Denise who sold me the MSM was not so great.

Update: salesman uncle Ben called me today telling me that I had left my Sinatra Duet CD in the old MSM. Thank goodness he found it. I was looking all over for it.