TipsyTonio

How far are you willing to travel? My selling dealer, Lexus of Palm Beach, custom ordered an IS350 for me in September and it arrived 3.5 months later. So they'd be able to give you a clear answer as to whether or not custom orders are being allowed for the IS500 currently. It's worth noting that my parents were considering a GX460 about 3 weeks after I got my car and we went to ask and see a car, and the GM told me that Lexus had suspended all custom orders until further notice. But it's been months since that so who knows what the status currently is.

giS

it almost sounds like they want your deposit so you feel “locked in” to get the car from them v other dealers. Thus, the hype how amazing they are.

DLPTony

Yep!

I gave them a $1000 deposit in Feb 2021, but they could never get my car in. The deposit was returned last month after I picked up mine from OKC.

I’ve gone to them for 15+ years, but whoever is the sales rep, he/she sounds mighty confident. The GW is rarer than the USB.

TipsyTonio

Agreed. Some users in the past have reported that while they do get their money back when they back out of a deposit, they try to make it as hard as possible.

I'm a bit torn as to who is giving you what run around because of my personal situation. Back in September I contacted three dealers, two of which told me that they could not do custom orders, and instead they were trying to sell me a car from the pipeline. But then Lexus of Palm Beach told me from the get-go that a custom order could be, although they did try to sell me a car from their pipeline first. The issue stems that when the dealer places a custom order, they have to be willing to forfeit cars that they would have normally received. And those cars that they forfeit are usually scheduled to arrive wayyyyy before your car will. So they basically have to be willing to lose money now, to make that money in the future. Personally, I actually prefer a "non-refundable" deposit because it is contingent on the dealer being able to provide you EXACTLY what you requested. So it pushes them to get the job done.

martkat

I'm not in any rush to get the car right away so I would prefer to get it from a local dealer.

wthrman2

martkat - I will chime in based on what has happened to me just to give you some context. I had placed a custom order back in the fall of 2021 for a white on white but it was eventually rejected by the plant despite having built such color combo. From what we have seen so far, I don't think any IS 500 owners were able to get a custom order in. Many, if not most, got the combination they wanted but that was either being lucky that the color combo was allocated to their dealer or they went elsewhere to get it. In my case, the dealer was able to get me a white one by coordinating with the regional rep but had to let his allocated LE go in order to get me a white one (with red interior as they couldn't get me a white interior at the time).

If the dealer has a good standing and is really a hard working (for the customer) dealer, they will work with regional rep to try and re-direct or allocate a specific combo to them but you will not be able to order one to spec, at least there has been no indication and to be honest, these are even become harder to get now as most of the initial wave of cars have been built and shipped but the production woes is not helping and I suspect Lexus will want to focus more on their highest sellers (SUVs). I fully agree with DLPTony however, making you a promise that they can get a GW allocated to them is pretty bold as these are rare as hell. I am not saying they won't come through for you but it has been extremely rare for that color.

Best of luck and like others have said, deposits are refundable so I wouldn't be worried about that, it is a way for them to see that you are serious although they also know that if you don't buy one, someone else will.

I just saw that you aren't in a rush, so if you really want the GW/black combo, maybe waiting for the 2023 would ensure you to get the exact car you want but you can put a deposit and see if they can find you a 2022 in that combo, if not, you will be in line for the 2023.

martkat

I just gave Hennessy Lexus my Amex for them to secure a $2000 deposit for a IS 500. There are two customers with deposits in line ahead of me. The sales rep Brandon said that if they happen to get a GW on black car in and the other two in line ahead of me don't want that combo, I would jump ahead of them. So, that tells me the inventory manager, Daniel, might have been adding a bit of fluff with the "request to Lexus" comment.

giS

Always love how this forum comes together to try and help each other out.

TipsyTonio

Well yes and no. That is basically how the ordering process works. Nothing is ever guaranteed. If you're asking for a rare spec which almost never gets built, Lexus can reject it. If it's a normal spec, it'll likely get approved. But given the current situation, and the status of the IS500, custom orders might be rejected altogether. The dealer requests a spec to the regional office, which then requests a spec from the factory. So there are two people that can say no to the order.

macmaster

I made 3 deposits at 3 local dealerships. $500, $500, and $1000 all on my credit card.

I didn't end up buying from any of these dealerships and needed a refund after I bought my car from out-of-state. What made it difficult was that my credit card was actually stolen in between the time of my deposits and my refund request. 2 of the dealerships (with $500 deposits) claimed they couldn't refund me unless they had my physical credit card, even though I insisted my new credit card # is linked to the same account so the refund would go through (the dealership that took my $1000 had no problem refunding me instantly). These 2 other dealerships had to write me a check which took a couple weeks to receive by mail. However, by not refunding my credit card I actually made $10 in cash back from the situation. Haha.

DLPTony

I don’t want to say Daniel flat out lies to these sales reps, but he is heavily steeped in the art of misrepresentation. They all kiss his a$$ because if he doesn’t like you, then he’ll just ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah…” you and the customer gets nothing.

…and be mindful of anyone who uses the term ‘order’. As @wthrman2 and my original sales rep (Mike Keitchen) said, they can only accept spec *requests*. There are no orders.

lojackfty

if anyone gets any updated info, please pass it on.

martkat

ditto - been considering alternatives since apparently no IS 500 cars are being built. Looking at both 4 and 5 blackwings, used atsv and ctsv, and lc500

Moonman89

^^ Would you consider a low mileage CPO GSF's?

martkat

Possibly. I was looking at them a few years ago before there was any word about the IS 500. There's something about the side profile of a GS that feels a bit dated to me and that's what kept me from previously pulling the trigger on one.