gthaker

There have been some posts stating that a 20% discount from MSRP was negotiated for an ES350 ultra luxury package. However, I have not see the out the door price containing all the breakdown to judge what truly was the discount as outsized "doc fee" etc can always skew the real discount numbers. So if anyone has indeed taken delivery at what they would claim a 20% discount (or anything > 15% off MSRP), I would love to see the detailed out the door numbers.

I am hoping to find a 20% off MSRP for a UL package, but not getting anything close to that, 12% is most I been offered. If 20% is indeed possible I would like to offer that to the dealer and be ready to walk or take the car. So I am confused a bit as to what is the market right now. Also, for less than UL, the Luxury Package, what is the best discount off MSRP can one expect at present?

Thanks.

irishbrahm

Yes, on a '17 UL purchased on 7/3.

See here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...ner-17-ul.html
Post #9.

lesz

None of the dealers is likely to make their best offer to you until/unless they see that they have competition for your business.

A good way to get that competition is to send an identical email to the internet sales departments of all dealers within, say, 200 miles of your location. In the email, let them know that you are sending the same email to all of those dealers, and be as specific as you can about what package, options, etc. you are looking for. Also, make it clear that you intend to buy immediately and that you will buy from the dealer with the best offer.

Then, take the lowest offer that you get, and send it to the other dealers that responded to your initial email to see if those other dealers want to try to beat that lowest offer. After you repeat that process a few times, you should, within a short period of time, be able to see where the bottom of the market is. When you get down to 2 or 3 dealers, that is when you should be checking the offer sheets to make sure that doc fees are reasonable, that license and title fees are reasonable, and that there are no unnecessary dealer add-on charges or options.

I don't know if you can hit 20% off of MSRP, but you should be able to do considerably better than the 12% offer that you have now. I bought my 2017 ES last fall only a few weeks after the 2017s became available. Now, the factory rebate is $2500. At that time, it was only $1000, and, even at that time at the beginning of the model year, I did somewhat better than the 12% offer that you have now late in the model year and when dealers are trying to clean out their 2017 inventories.

PhillyPhan

I just picked my Luxury package up for 18% off MSRP. Plan on posting soon. They did have a UL in stock, but the lowest I could get them was $41,368. MSRP was $49,564 (16.5% off).

gthaker

Yes, as a relatively inexperienced car buyer I will appreciate if you can post an out the door break out. 18% on luxury package seems nice. Once you have completed the process if you don't mind telling the dealer or at least city/state. Thanks.

PhillyPhan

As many people have mentioned in different threads on this forum, the out the door price doesn't really mean much due to state taxes being different everywhere. MSRP was $45,954 ($46,383 if you add the free spoiler), sales price was $37,990, with Texas fees it was a total of $38,261. I haven't registered the car here in Arizona yet so I don't know what my TTL is yet. Dealership was Sewell Dallas Texas and they have a ton of inventory. I would buy from them again tomorrow if I needed another car. The experience was great.

gmanusmc

Read lesz's above post - try to employ that method or something similar - it works. PhillyPhan states he only went to the dealers for test drives which helped in the decision making process of choosing which vehicle to zero in on. Do what he and lesz say and establish phone contact with the best two or three internet departments that are offering the best deals and your vehicle shopping will be a lot less stressful.

lesz

You may wish to go to a dealership to do test drives, but a key to the process is not to set foot into a dealership to do any negotiations at all until you have established a price, via the email and phone process, that you are willing to pay locked in. Until you walk into the dealership, you are the one who has the leverage, but, once you do walk into the dealership, you hand that leverage over to the salesperson.

If you have a trade-in, you should be able to lock a trade-in price in before going to the dealership, too. You can use KBB and Edmunds to figure out a fair trade-in value for your car, and, if you email pictures of the car and the VIN to the salesperson, that salesperson should be able to make a fair offer for your trade-in. But, don't bring the trade-in into the negotiations process until after you have established a price for the new car. It is important to keep the purchase of the new car and the value of the trade-in completely separate.

gmanusmc

I agree completely - we stay away from the dealership completely - but in our case, we are usually pretty much decided on what vehicle we are aiming for. For folks who are undecided and/or don't have hands on or personal experience with what they are shopping for, a visit to a dealer for a close up look and test drive may be the only way to help in the decision making process.

PhillyPhan

I disagree about going to the dealership if you're not sure what vehicle you want to purchase. In our case my wife wanted a CTS without ever driving it. If I would've went through all the negotiations for that vehicle it would've been a waste of time. If you go into a dealer with the mindset that you are not there to talk numbers and are just there to test drive and see what the car has to offer you aren't losing the upper hand in anyway. We went to 4 different dealerships and not one of them did we sit down or even enter the building. Now when I bought my Ram 2500 in 2014, I knew I what I wanted and never set foot at a dealership until I found the one I wanted and got the deal I wanted.

I agree you should always work out the sales price before mentioning any trade in or down payment.

lesz

Perhaps, I didn't make it clear what I was saying or you misread what I said.

I thought I said that it was okay to go to a dealer to do a test drive, figure out what options or packages you were interested in, etc., but my intent was to say that, in such an exploratory visit, that is not the time to start talking price at all. I would want to start and do all discussions about price via the internet and, then, over the phone, and I would want to have a firm deal done before I subsequently went into the dealership.

lesz

Yes. When you start and complete negotiations via the internet and, then, over the phone, you are in control of the situation. Once you start negotiations at the dealership, you give up some of that control.

Absolutely. It was not my intent to indicate that it is mistake to visit a dealership to check out the cars there without starting to talk price. Evidently, I didn't make that as clear as I should have.

WNC

Picked up mine today. 2017 ES 350 UL, Atomic Silver, Stratus gray inside.

MSRP : $49,564

Sale price $39,800
Dealer fees: $595
TTL. $98

OTD PRICE $ 40,493

Will have to pay NC sales tax of 3% upon getting tag in NC.

irishbrahm

Very well done! Congrats!

PhillyPhan

Great price!!! Congrats!!!