TangoBravo

Well, I guess the fifth time is the charm (3rd dealer out of 5 I've had serious negotiations with; other 2 weren't going to budge any). Reached out to a dealer 91 miles away, and finally got a decent deal reflecting the current situation that's going on right now. For a 2020 ES 350 F Sport with MSRP of $52,275 they are willing to sell it for $42,500 (includes $2.5k Lexus cash) which is 18.7% off MSRP. Deal not finalized yet as they are trying to get my desired color combo for exterior/interior.

EastTNLex

Well done.

LeeSoFL

Now you talkin'!

I had posted the pricing for our '20 NX above where the dealer took $9000 off the MSRP. They were going to take off one payment of our prior lease for $777 and we thought we had one final payment of $777 too. Turns out the dealer absorbed two payments of $1554 (Lexus took 4 payments off) Final count was we got $10554 off MSRP.

Happy driving!

lesz

While the current market conditions should be yielding very attractive pricing on new cars, buyers should be prepared to be offered lower offers for their trade-ins.

Evidently, used cars are piling up, not only at dealer lots, but also at the used car auction sites while those sites are closed. The resulting increase in the supply of used vehicles is resulting in reduced values for those vehicles.

https://finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/ne...110000556.html

TangoBravo

Yeah, even during normal times they try and screw you on the trade in. KBB shows that my car (2008 Acura TL Type S w/ A-SPEC package) is worth $5-7k on trade in, and $7.5-9.5k private party. Guessing I’ll get offered $5k, and don’t know if I can get any more than that out of them even if I say I won’t buy their new car without a higher trade in offer.

DavidZ

Go to CarMax and get a written offer for your old car. When you go to pick up your new car, tell them you have an offer from CarMax and let them make you an offer. When they offer you less than CarMax (which is practically guaranteed), show them the CarMax offer. They will probably go back and offer you more, but not as much as the CarMax offer. They'll argue that you'll save sales tax on the trade, which is true. I would then ask "they're willing to pay me X for the car, why won't you?

If you can'y get a satisfactory trade offer, drive both cars home. If you're alone, leave the old car on their parking lot (I presume they'll let you do that) and then pick it up at a later date and drive it over to CarMax to accept their offer. CarMax offers are good for a week, but you can call them and get an extension.

TangoBravo

Thanks for the advice. Hoping Carmax opens up again soon. Pretty much all of the Carmax stores in NorCal show as temporarily closed. Also, the state I live in (moved to CA from TX for job promotion 2.5 years ago) does not allow you to deduct the trade in before calculating sales tax on a new car purchase (1 of like 7 states where you get screwed on sales taxes when it comes to buying a car). Here they charge 8.25% or higher (depends on city you live in) and no deduction, whereas in TX it’s like 6.25% and they allow the deduction.

lesz

If you have negotiated a firm offer for the price of the new car, you should be able to get a firm trade-in offer before you even go to the dealer or agree to anything about the new car deal.

What you need to do is to send them pictures of the the car that you want to trade, including a picture of the odometer, and the VIN of that car. With that information, the dealer should have everything that it needs to know to come up with a trade-in offer.

For my last few new car purchases, I've negotiated the price for the new car and the trade-in allowance completely via the internet and phone, and the deals were complete before I ever entered the dealership. The trade-in offers that I have gotten have been better than what Kelly Blue Book or Edmunds showed for their "excellent" condition numbers.

You will get your best prices on the new car and the trade offer if you do as much as possible before you ever set foot within the dealership. Until you enter the dealership, you have virtually complete control over the process. If you have not completed the deal before entering the dealership, once you do set foot within the dealership, you have turned over a good portion of the control that you had over the process to the dealership.

carsareus

So glad I sold my Honda Accord to Carvana right before the Coronavirus stuff started. They gave me a crazy price that far exceeded any private offers I received. Honestly I have no idea how they make money. One thing to keep in mind is if Lexus isn't making cars now and if existing inventory dries up, your choices are going to be limited as time goes on.

GrayLexus

@TangoBravo

Hi Tango,

If you don't mind my asking, which dealer did you negotiate this deal? I am not getting anywhere with my local dealer in the bay area, (Serramonte Lexus). But, I also am not a very good negotiator. The dealer indicated to me that their online advertised prices reflects the current macro environment as a "Sonic Dealer" and has the price adjusted to compensate for the lack of demand. So it seems they are unwilling to move down on the advertised prices of their current inventory. Seems like baloney to me as I requested to come down 15% before incentives. I don't think my request was unreasonable. I also want to unload my current 2010 ES.

Best,

JP

DavidZ

On the CarMax website, there a form to "Schedule your free, custom offer." Can you get an offer remotely?

TangoBravo

Hey GrayLexus. I e-mail haggled with Lexus of Roseville up in the Sacramento area to get that deal.

TangoBravo

With this pandemic going on, I haven’t been driving my car much. Last night I had to jump start my car using a portable jump starter, and my damn passenger side headlight is now out. So now I have to spend more money on getting my car fixed (spent over $600 a few months back replacing two O2 sensors to get check engine light to go away) before I can try and get the dealership or Carmax to buy my car on trade in.

TangoBravo

Just filled out form on Carvana and they are only offering $3,227 (says KBB market value is $4,774 then they subtract $1,574 in what they call adjustments -> local market with no further explanation) to buy my car (2008 Acura TL Type S w/ A-Spec package; has 120.8k miles on it). Depressing, as I still get compliments on the looks of my car and had people telling me they wanted to buy it just prior to the pandemic.

Kevin748

We are about to start looking at purchasing a new ES with premium package. What is a good price (MSRP 44,650) in today’s market? About 6 weeks ago I was offered 38,900 pre TTL.