ES350drivr

I am in the market for a 2010 ES. I would prefer black on black without nav and less than 50k miles. Anything else would not affect my purchase decision. I am finding advertisements around $25k on the low end all the way up to $30k. I would guess a sale price of $25k will equate to $27k out the door. Would it be wise to offer the advertised price OTT? Judging from the higher end prices dealers would be less willing to budge on an ES. Is $23k even fair for a 2010, or would the dealer laugh?

garsarno

Depends. Do you have a trade? Sometimes, the high end is a certified vehicle.

ES350drivr

I will not have a trade and don't really care too much about CPO (although I understand added cost)

garsarno

That puts you into the drivers seat (so to speak) for the deal. After finding the ES350 you like, you deal from strength. No trade, cash. You can make an offer that is about $4,000 less then the asking price for a CPO ES350 (knowing they have about $5,000 to play with) and deal to maybe $3,500 - $3,000 less than the asking price. Be prepared to get up and walk out if they won't deal and have a secondary car / Lexus dealership that you can tell them you are going to. As you walk out the door, you can give them a slightly better offer (+$200) or negotiate that they throw in the Extended Platinum Warranty for the price.

lgb0250

I would also add, make sure you're talking with at least a sales manager. Some dealerships with very experienced sales staff will let the salesperson negotiate the deal on their own and depending on that salespersons needs, he/she may just blow out a customer that makes a low ball offer! Managers on the other hand have overall quotas they are trying to achieve, plus they get a % of a dealerships profits as their pay and thus want to make every deal they possibly can.

Last, but certainly not least is to make sure they have your phone number! Sometimes you will get a call back saying ok, but we need to make this deal now. Believe it or not, not even managers can make every deal but on occasion they can get the owner/GM to and that's the main reason to leave your number.

pseconds

Two weeks ago, I test drove a 2009 (non-lexus dealer), but the price was too high compared to the market and according to the all the guides. I made what I thought was a reasonable cash offer, and showed him printouts of 3 major price guides based on his specific car. (They hate it when you come armed with data.) They said there's no way they could possible to do that. I said "ok, thanks for your time and moved on."

Fast forward to Memorial Day weekend (Saturday), the dealer called me again and wanted to go over my offer. I said I had moved on and was now looking at other cars, but his was still a nice car.

Same day, I made an offer on another car that was a year newer, less miles, more features and CPO. It was about $2k more than the 2009 I had looked at. We ended up making a deal which I thought was fair.

On Monday, the used car manager from the first dealer called me again and said it was "really tough for them and they'd lose money" but they'd accept my offer. I told him I had just made a deal to buy another car and he got mad at me! He said "people expect to haggle a little bit, and I was like "I gave you plenty of opportunity and showed you the data that your car was priced too high." I also explained that I don't have time, nor do I like all this back and forth; give people the best price up front.

Anyway, the dealer I did buy from handled the transaction really well. Pleased with my purchase.

My point? Go armed with data, know your stuff, and if they don't deal, expand your search and move on.

garsarno

Glad you did not buy from that first dealer. I would have told him off too.

ThumperPup

I have never got the phone call back like this before when i have been purchasing ususaly what has happened if im ready to walk they catch me before i leave the building
if not then a few times i have had a sales manager acutaly come out and wave me down before i leave the parking lot lol

they know once you leave there is less of a chance they can get you back so they really don't want you leaving if they care much about the sale

lgb0250

It happens quite often just like it did to pseconds. If you're shopping close to the end of the month and end up walking without making a deal, there is a reasonable chance you'll get a call back the last week of the month trying to put a deal together.

ES350drivr

Thanks for the info, all good stuff. I have walked out of dealerships before leaving my offer on the table. It's a good tool to understand if you are too low in your offer or wasting your own time with a sticker price that is out of line. I have also had dealers call me back, but never on a car I really wanted.

One of the most important things I have learned when negotiating is to not take it personal. It's only a car and it's only money so its best to save your feelings for more important things in life.

CQRT

$23k for a 2010 with less than 50k miles? Not in the Scottsdale market - -try $27 . . .and there are darned few sitting on dealer lots . . .everything else is high miles . . .

I understand the whole "gotta negotiate" thing . . but sometimes there's value in paying for quality. Find what you want and pay the man . . . walking out impresses no one and you don't get the car. In this market for higher end cars, there's always another buyer.

Good luck-

ES350drivr

Not exactly what I was getting at. If a desirable car with low miles is advertised at $25k and sells quickly, what did the purchaser offer? Did they walk in and say "write up the paperwork I want it"? Or did they work with the dealer and get some wiggle room?

Bower

Just as soon as they give a good price, and don't try to take me for $1,000s more than I should be paying, give a good soilid price and people will pay.