dr3wski

This dealer I put down $500 with is telling me after 2 months wait time that they do not have any proof that they are having my ES-350 Luxury built for me. (Someone on this forum warned of custom orders being shady/lies; thank you).
I have 3 - 9 months to obtain a Luxury or Ultra Luxury, Black/Palomino.
What should I do? Just tear apart cars.com and be prepared to get on a plane?

Thanks.

glamglam

Get your deposit back and go to a large reputable dealership and tell them that you want an allocation for an Ultra Luxury. That’s what I did and I got what I wanted. I had gone to a smaller dealership and gave a deposit and that particular dealership was jerking me around for over 1 month telling me that they didn’t know when they would be getting an ES350 Ultra Luxury. I got my deposit back and I went to a larger dealership and I was able to get my allocation confirmation 1 month after I gave them my deposit. It took a total of 2 1/2 months to receive delivery of my 2022 ES350 Ultra Luxury. The larger dealership always gets more allocations. You have a better chance of getting an Ultra Luxury from a larger dealership.

E46CT

Sounds like the plot of a movie.

"It's urgent. I have 3-9 months."

"To live?

"No, to get my new ES."

mikemu30

I like the old days where everything was in stock, you picked the one you wanted and boom drove it home that afternoon.

dr3wski

The sales rep, Abbas, at Lexus of Southampton is saying he is keeping my deposit. The manager of Lexus of Southampton, Frank Licari told me this afternoon he was refunding my $500. I recorded the phone conversation (legal in NY).

dr3wski

UPDATE:

I landed a UL Black/Black from Lexus of Manhattan. They gave me the PO/sales form with the vehicle's VIN#, my name and the purchase price on it. I left them $1,000. They are selling $2,000 above MSRP. Vehicle is expected mid-late July.
A dealership in Beverly Hills phoned me back this afternoon and checked the VIN# of said vehicle and stated, "it's black on black and it is headed for Manhattan."

Does this sound promising or is another Lexus dealership going to steal from me?

Thanks.

glamglam

I wouldn't pay $2,000 over MSRP if I were you. I purchased my UL for MSRP. You need to find a good size Lexus dealership that gets lots of allocations and purchase one of their Ultra Luxury vehicles at MSRP.

dr3wski

Honestly, I'm happy to pay a premium to cut through the sleeziness of all of this. Again, based on the above, does it sound like they legitimately are getting the vehicle for me?

dr3wski

Incidentally, now I'm getting weird vibes from Lexus of Manhattan because they didn't charge my card for any deposit monies for the UL they're saying is arriving in about a month. I phoned the rep who I was inititially working with and asked why they didn't charge my CC as they told me they were going to...and she couldn't give me a decent explanation as to why they didn't charge me. I'm pretty much over this and I guess it's wait and see.

glamglam

I don’t know why they didn’t charge your credit card. I think you need to wait and see what happens. Private message me and I can give you an excellent Lexus dealer here in New England where I live that I used to purchase my UL. They got results for me and they are very good. I can give you the general manager’s name who I dealt with directly and he can help you. He will be open and honest with you about everything and he will get you your UL on allocation and they will charge you only the MSRP price. You will not have to pay $2,000 over the MSRP. Let me know what you want to do.

july1988

I feel bad for you, if you can wait 9 months, the 2023 with whole new infotainment software and improved features everywhere is on sale this fall. Why pay over price and same wait time and get frustrated for 2022 model, by the time you got it the 2023 will be released and 2022 will be either available every where or on a big discount.

Or skip the time, money and frustration you will spend with those shady and greedy businesses in NY and work with dealers down there in FL or GA or TX, to get you a car because 2022 ES UL is not the hottest car like the NX, they have large inventory of the ES. Confirm everything and take a vacation to come down to sign paperwork, and enjoy the Southern weather and beaches. If you want to drive home that’s cool, or arrange a shipping company and let them ship it home.

dr3wski

I hear everything you're saying and thank you. Today I am winding up with an unexpected trip to a dealership in NJ because they tell me they have one UL coming in in 1-2 weeks and if I show up there in-person, give them a $1,000 deposit, they will give me something in writing with a signature on it and VIN# saying that the damned car is mine and will be here within a reasonable timeframe.
Agreed about the south. I lived in Florida for a year and I very much enjoyed working down there and plan to return. Perhaps in a UL with 100k on it that's paid off, lol

LexFinally

This is rumor mill stuff. We've heard rumors but not US confirmation that the '23 will have the new infotainmnet software. Obviously, correct me if that's changed since the last news I saw.

The plan of going outside your region is not a bad one if they'll deal. Some dealers of some makes have banned sales to out-of-region customers.

Not charging your credit card is a better problem than charging it fraudulently, but I can see your concern. All I can suggest is to start talking with the most reputable dealer in your area rather than the closest one. I went only to the second-closest dealer because the closest one was less reputable, and their dealings with me were satisfying honest and aboveboard.

However you proceed, best of luck.

Dallas250

i’m not sure what makes you think there is a large inventory of ES models. If that was the case we wouldn’t be buying allocation before it even arrives at the dealership lot. And they just redesigned the ES dash and info tement center to push it forward and add touch screen, so why wouldn’t they have loaded the new software at that time if they were going to do it soon? I don’t think they will load the new infotainment center software until they redesigned the vehicle… that would make for 2 Infotainment Center redesigns year after year..

glamglam

I like that Lexus made the infotainment center a touchscreen and that they also kept the touchpad on the console. Having both is really nice. One can pick to use either one or they can use both. It’s a brilliant idea that Lexus did this on the 2022 ES.