mbamiss

I went to meet with Pohanka over the weekend and the most the would negotiate was $1000 off from a 2006 IS 250 AWD auto no nav. Their orig. price was $35069, so this brought the price down to $34069 (which bites as this is basically the msrp that Edmunds lists). The salesman has been just awful to deal with (barely knew anything about the car, lied about the 2007s only being available as a "coupe" etc) and the sales manager wasn't willing to budge either. So I walked out of the dealership with no deal. I also tried emailing Lindsay of Alexandria but the sales manager there said their invoice price on the car is $31303, and even though I offered him well over a $1000 over invoice, he basically said that the cars "sell themselves" and he won't do the deal for such a low profit when he makes "many times more profit" on the "average" deal (keep in mind he had no time in on the sale with me and no salesman commission to consider).

Ok....what am I missing? No negotiation? Won't sell a car because it's not "enough" profit? The 2007s will hit the lot soon...so why aren't these dealers willing to even TRY to negotiate? For those of you who've bought recently (last 30 days), what sort of "deals" are you getting (if any)?

Sorry for the vent...I am just frustrated and although I thought this would be my first Lexus, now I'm beginning to wonder if I'll EVER get one.....

jezza

Well, not much you can do... this is a free market (mostly) society we're living in after all. If the dealer wants to pass on your offer because he feels he can do better later on, that's his right. You can't make him sell you a car for what you want to pay, any more than he can make you buy one at the price he wants to sell it for.

thegrunt

I had the same problem at Pohanka. They even tried a bait and switch tactic so pay attention if you do business there. I almost gave up but then I went to Maryland and bought my IS 350 (fully loaded) from the Rockville dealership. Today is 8/1 so wait until the end of the month (29th) and visit all the dealerships. Wait until the evening of the 31st before you sign anything. Some unlucky salesperson will need the added sale to get them over the top. Good luck.

mbamiss

I realize that, Jezza. I guess I am wondering why he would "pass" on anyone who wanted to buy a car at a profit? This would be an ordered car, so why wouldn't he want to make a deal?

Also, I am particularly surprised that there was no attempt at negotiation. Is this unique to Lexus dealerships because I've certainly never come across any other car dealers not wanting to even negotiate?

jezza

Whether the car is ordered or not makes no difference to the dealer... it still comes out of his allocation of cars.

He's also not refusing to sell at a profit... he's refusing to sell at LESS of a profit. Again, why would be bother selling you a car for $1000 over invoice when he knows he can sell all his cars at $2000 over invoice? Right... he isn't.

Unfortunately, northern virginia isn't a buyers market. There's just too much money floating around the area, and dealers of high-end cars know they can still get close to asking price for their cars. So like others have said, not much you can do other than find a dealer in another area more open to negotiating.

caymandive

iTrader: (2)

This is exactly what happened to me when I got my IS350 from Pohanka. It was the end of the month and they gave me a super deal on my trade in. Walked out the door with the IS350 sports package for 43.5k.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

if i was a salesman in a dealer where many people are willing to pay for MSRP why do I have reason to drop the price, there are two sides to a coin. And if youre special ordering they know you want the car. Dealers are far more lenient when a physical car is on the lot because its costing them interest everday its on the lot, however for a car that doesnt exist (special order) they have little reason to drop the price as much.

LeslieRC

Look at the situation this way: if it were your car that you were selling or trading-in and you knew the value of your car (meaning what it was worth and what a reasonable purchaser would be willing to pay for it), would you sell it for less? I recently traded-in my `04 SC430. It was clean, clean, clean, clear bra, always garaged, and had only 11,800 miles on the odo. Before negotiating the trade, I checked with my credit union for the "values" on the car - $51K resale/$45K trade-in (gotta love those credit unions!). The first offer from the dealership was $41K, and I countered at $47K and told the dealer that I knew they would have no problems selling a clean, low mileage, Lexus Coupe in July for at least $51K. They came back with $43K and I held at $47K. Their next offer was $45.8K, which I accepted.

The 2nd gen IS is still in high demand, and I don't know of significant changes to be made on the 2007-08s. So, it's still a seller's market for these cars. If you're a ready, willing, and able buyer, you may want to present yourself (in person) at the other Lexus dealerships in the D.C. Metro Area and make them an offer.

TLe2006

mbamiss, I got 3k off MSRP at Ray Catena in NJ. It's about 4 hrs drive to the dealer. IF you need info then let me know

ekohn

Hey there,

I started with Pohanks too. Being I live not to far away. What a complete waste of time. and yes, I too had to deal with a dumb sales guy.

Next I went to Lexus of Alexandria......what a waste of time. (and did the bait and switch too)

Then It was off to MD, i think it was Rockville, did the "i have the car you want coming in, give me $500". It was sold the next day to someone else. Took me 2 weeks to get the refund.

Finally I saw a posting here to call Renee Riedemann 410-266-3330 at Sheehy Lexus in Annapolis. To my surprise she was able to get me the car i wanted (black awd 250 with tan interior) within the week with NO problems. She even followed up on all details via email.

And buying was a brease, I was in and out of the dealer in just minutes. Kinda scarey on how easy it was to buy a car. (and no this is not my first purchase).

good luck, but call renee is my recommendation.

naptownlex

MBAMISS,


I just bought my IS350 friday from lexus of annapolis. If you stand your ground you will probably get a good deal there as I cannot complain about my deal. I also hear Lexus of Silver Spring is supposed to be easy to deal with as well, that was my next stop after Lexus of Annapolis.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

07 option packages spec sheet has been scanned in a previous thread so that confirms the option package rumors weve seen before. Its a heck of a lot more flexible regarding HIDs

PW007

I too had a crappy experience with Pohanka Lexus. I spoke to a salesman and explained that I was driving 50 miles to get the car. We agreed on a price, $2,000 off MSRP, and when I got there I found out the salesman left for the day. Another saleman met me and said that he was in charge of the previous salesman clients. He said that the first salesman had told him about the deal of $2,000 off. The salesman went to the manager to seal the deal, but when he came back he told me that the manager refused the deal and in fact, stated he would have never agreed to that deal. I asked to talk to the manager, but he would not see me. Pohanka Lexus are crooks and the managers suck. Worst car buying experience I have ever had.

mbamiss

Thanks so much for everyone's reply. I will definitely call Renee at the Annapolis dealership...and I'll drive to NJ if I have to not have to deal with jerks.

To those of you who said "why not sell it at a higher profit margin?". I guess I'm thinking about the customer service aspect. See...what these salesman don't know is that I have 2 family members looking at high end luxury vehicles right now to buy. If the salesman had not been such a$$holes (or actually even "known" a little bit about their product), they'd have potentially made a lot more on commission than what they are trying to #$%^ me out of. It is a little thing called "good business".

I've learned a lot more from you all just reading the posts on this forum than I ever did from the salesman. There is no excuse for that.

Thanks again for the contact information

TLe2006

We should have a meet and drive by Pohanka or Lindsay and show them that they could have made all these money. hahah That would be funny.

I pissed off a salesman at Lindsay when he wouldn't deal with me. So i went to a NJ dealer and bought the car from NJ. Later I drove to Lindsay to meet up with a friend and he saw my car. He was pissed and kicked my friend out of the customer parking lot.