Beats me. I hate to disparage salespeople, but their motives are much different from ours. You and I think "a buck is a buck" - They say "let's hold out for a sucker and squeeze all we can out of them".

I tried the AAA and Costco discount programs. They are SUPPOSED to honor the AAA discount and they all laughed at me. I did complain to AAA, but I doubt they care. I just shrugged and took out my checkbook like an idiot.

Someone at work wanted to buy a G35 last weekend, offered a fair price and was turned down. He walked. I was shocked that the dealer let him walk, but they did. He went down the road and bought a new '05 for an even better price.

 

I think it's because of the allocation issue. Dealers are only allocated a set number of cars. They will want to maximize profit on each vehicle sold. Like someone stated above, if dealers had an unlimited supply of cars, then discounts wouldn't be an issue.

 

Well if you say so, tell us which dealerships will succumb to your demands and let us know your results today.

 

No arguments there. They are just maximizing profits while moving inventory. So how is everyone doing on pricing? I am also curious about sales price. I would suggest the following:

Model
Options
Sales price or OTD with local tax rate
Dealer(?)

 

I will. I am having an impossible time trying to find a MT 250. Until I do I'm not willing to negotiate price or put a down payment on one. I need to drive it. If it is too slow I'l look elsewhere. When I'm ready to buy (hopefully this month) I'll be sure to get 1K off and let everyone know the dealer.

 

Good luck. The vehicle you want at the price you want will be nearly impossible to find at this point in time. More power to you though.

 

you guys remember this is car that should sell in excess of 4k per month. When dealer makes 6k per car, it is easy for them to give discounts. Lexus dealers make the most money out of all dealers in the USA...

So if you look hard enough, eventually you will get the discount, somewhere, sometime...

 

Went to the dealership today, said customers will be paying sticker for more than six months(according to a salesman). With that said, I think it would be in the best interest of some dealerships to offer discounts sometime in the near future. It would be a great source for advertising. Word of mouth advertising is important for any business, and if word got out that a dealership is giving out a discount on the new IS, leave me a breadcrumb trail because I will follow it all the way to the illuminated scuff plates.

 

I was quoted "MSRP" when I put a deposit down on an IS-250 a couple weeks ago. When pricing was confirmed this week my salesman called me and told me the MSRP price, $39,xxx. However, when I arrived at the dealership to begin negotiating he showed me a sheet of paper with the MSRP hand-written and a second line item of $489.00. Surprised, I asked what this was for. We walked out to the car and he showed me the wheelwell plastic "protectve strips", some clear protective tape on the door edges, clear plastic "protectors" behind the door handles and mentioned something about additional "prep". I told him that "prep" is always included in the MSRP price, but he insisted that this is a standard charge that is added to every vehicle (read "pad"). I told him it was not worth $489 for $10 worth of plastic. He replied that they pay "hundreds of dollars" to have this done by an auto detailer (yeah, right!).

The dealership refused to budge as far as removing the additional charge. After some haggling the best they would do, reluctantly, was to knock $100.00 off. During further converstaion he happened to bring up "second stickers" and was bragging how their dealership "does not use them." Oh really? I guess he was right in a way, there was no "second" sticker on the vehicle itself like you see at so many dealerships.

During the end of the basic negotiation procedure, before you get sent to the high-pressure finance office, he showed me a sheet with all the usual dealer pad items, the carpet and seat protector sprays, extended warranty, theft insurance, a full 2-pages worth covering about 10 items. He asked what items I might be interested in, "if any", and said that he would hand this to the finance manager ahead of time - seemingly implying that this would save the hassles and pressures when the final paperwork was being taken care of.

I sternly told him "no", that I did not want ANY of the items. No problem, he said, he "x'd" them all out and then took it over to Mr. Finance.

So the first thing Mr. Finance says after he introduced himself was that he was aware that we did not want any of the extra "features". BUT, he said he would at least like to tell us about the "two least expensive items", the ones that "dealership employees always buy" and the ones that "95% of buyers take".

I told him firmly "no", that I was already over my budget limit and did not want to add another penny. He still proceded to bring out some ad sheets and try to sell me theft insurance, in case my car was stolen this would pay the replacement cost difference between what my insurance company would pay, "thousands of dollars you would save". Again, I told him "no!". He STILL proceded to push this crap and wasted another 15 minutes of my time before he finally realized when I said "no" I meant it.

These two situtaions marred what otherwise would have been a very pleasant experience, my first ever with Lexus. It was tough to negotiate better pricing as they had received only around seven vehicles in their first shipment. Two had been sold by the time I got there (a few hours after the vehicles arrived), one was being sold while I was there, and there were quite a few people looking at what was left.

Upon leaving the salesman gave the usually spiel about the upcoming survey I would be receiving in the mail, told me he wanted me to be honest about it but that if their were any "issues" to please let him know. I certainly plan to let Lexus know all about what I encountered.

 

Lexus does not let dealers add a mark up to their cars. I suppose the extra "prep" is a way around this.

 

I predict that the discounting trend will be similar to the discounting trend for the 2006 GS. Virtually MSRP for the first month, then a slight discount starting in the second month, then gradually more discounts as time passes by. By 6 months, $1000 over invoice in some of the more competitive markets.

This segment is too competitive for the premium to last long.

 

I will see how far dealers are willing to budge come the week of Christmas this year. It's gonna be tough to sell anyone a RWD in Northeast NJ. I will see how much above invoice they are willing to negotiate from.

 

i completely agree. this thread practically mirrors discussions in the GS forum in February 06. and everyone was sooo into MSRP, but the truth is, every now and then, people were getting discounts (myself included). trust me, i am not trying to rub it in, but for the people who were saying "MSRP for 6 months", they were getting bad information. sure there is a lot of hype, but it dies down quicker than most think. and look at the 06 GS now, about 8 months after the 1st cars were delivered, and we are talking near-invoice pricing. within 6 months, i would say anywhere from 3k-5k off sticker was the norm.

so for the hagglers out there, the longer you can hold out, the better. i didn't wait too long, my car was here within 2 weeks of launch, and i got $1200 off and free stuff. it all depends on your dealer, your negotiation, and most importantly, your patience!!

good luck! can't wait to start seeing all the new IS's on the road.

 

Isn't that because the MT availability is like 2 months after all the others?

 

That is complete bull*****! I would have walked right out. I think the problem is that people aren't willing to walk away and the dealer knows it. So they tell you that it is a standard charge and they aren't going to budge. That is fine but we (the buyer) have to be willing to make the first move and walk away from the deal. Get up and actually start walking out. At that point the dealer has to make a decision: either let you walk or backtrack. Most will backtrack.