A tale of three Lexus dealerships and the LC: Is this common?
12-06-20, 04:44 AM
#16
Driver School Candidate
I found my LC ‘vert using Autotrader
I spent September encountering the same dynamic. I think what is happening is that Lexus is severely limiting production of the convertible to 500 cars for North America for 2021, and allocating 2 to each of their Dealerships. These dealers have usually presold their two cars and know that most other dealerships have done the same. At any rate there doesn’t seem to be much motivation to do a search for you. the problem is compounded if you have a specific color you are looking for because, unlike the Germans, Lexus doesn’t apparently do special orders and dealers are taking whatever they get. I used Autotrader and did a national search every few days. Most of the cars posted were already sold but every once in a while I found an unallocated car. Eventually I found the color configuration I wanted (Nori Green, toasted caramel) and negotiated a small discount with the dealer over the phone. My wife and I flew up to Philly to take delivery in early October and enjoyed a leisurely 800 mile drive home through the mountains during leaf-changing season. Mostly with the top down and grinning like fools ...
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redhot47fl (12-06-20)
12-06-20, 06:32 AM
#17
Intermediate
Thread Starter
I spent September encountering the same dynamic. I think what is happening is that Lexus is severely limiting production of the convertible to 500 cars for North America for 2021, and allocating 2 to each of their Dealerships. These dealers have usually presold their two cars and know that most other dealerships have done the same. At any rate there doesn’t seem to be much motivation to do a search for you. the problem is compounded if you have a specific color you are looking for because, unlike the Germans, Lexus doesn’t apparently do special orders and dealers are taking whatever they get. I used Autotrader and did a national search every few days. Most of the cars posted were already sold but every once in a while I found an unallocated car. Eventually I found the color configuration I wanted (Nori Green, toasted caramel) and negotiated a small discount with the dealer over the phone. My wife and I flew up to Philly to take delivery in early October and enjoyed a leisurely 800 mile drive home through the mountains during leaf-changing season. Mostly with the top down and grinning like fools ...
I survey CarGurus twice daily, tracking newly arriving LC 'verts and newly disappearing LC 'verts - the balance hardly ever changes.
Anything other than Ultra White/Toasted Caramel disappears from inventory within days (usually but not always pre-sold) and the dealers that have them rarely bother to respond to me or update their initial responses. I understand that from an immediate perspective (they're busy pursuing more promising sales of other Lexuses), but it still seems short-sighted from a future sales/customer relations standpoint.
That said, I'm finally going to travel 2.5 hours and actually see and closely assess a 'vert this week (white/caramel, unless it also gets sold from under me) and then I'll decide whether to pursue a deal on it or on two identical cars I've found even farther away that also seem available.
(Achieving even a small discount was quite an accomplishment - congrats. The few times I've actually been able to discuss pricing - and I'm pretty good at this - I haven't sensed the slightest desire to move from MSRP and I've encountered a certain...thrift...when it comes to my trade-in.)
12-06-20, 07:44 AM
#18
I spent September encountering the same dynamic. I think what is happening is that Lexus is severely limiting production of the convertible to 500 cars for North America for 2021, and allocating 2 to each of their Dealerships. These dealers have usually presold their two cars and know that most other dealerships have done the same. At any rate there doesn’t seem to be much motivation to do a search for you. the problem is compounded if you have a specific color you are looking for because, unlike the Germans, Lexus doesn’t apparently do special orders and dealers are taking whatever they get. I used Autotrader and did a national search every few days. Most of the cars posted were already sold but every once in a while I found an unallocated car. Eventually I found the color configuration I wanted (Nori Green, toasted caramel) and negotiated a small discount with the dealer over the phone. My wife and I flew up to Philly to take delivery in early October and enjoyed a leisurely 800 mile drive home through the mountains during leaf-changing season. Mostly with the top down and grinning like fools ...
I had thought that they were building LC Convertibles starting with the 00001, but after some more research it looks like they may have started the 2021 model year with 00001.
Check the incoming in-transit vehicle on cars.com/autotrader.etc, and you'll see there are some VINs reaching almost 1200 now for incoming vehicles.
Last edited by 355F1; 12-06-20 at 10:28 AM. Reason: Not sure if my numbers were correct
12-06-20, 08:05 AM
#19
I spent September encountering the same dynamic. I think what is happening is that Lexus is severely limiting production of the convertible to 500 cars for North America for 2021, and allocating 2 to each of their Dealerships. These dealers have usually presold their two cars and know that most other dealerships have done the same. At any rate there doesn’t seem to be much motivation to do a search for you. the problem is compounded if you have a specific color you are looking for because, unlike the Germans, Lexus doesn’t apparently do special orders and dealers are taking whatever they get. I used Autotrader and did a national search every few days. Most of the cars posted were already sold but every once in a while I found an unallocated car. Eventually I found the color configuration I wanted (Nori Green, toasted caramel) and negotiated a small discount with the dealer over the phone. My wife and I flew up to Philly to take delivery in early October and enjoyed a leisurely 800 mile drive home through the mountains during leaf-changing season. Mostly with the top down and grinning like fools ...
I think there is some conflating of info.
The dealers I spoke with were getting 2 cars each early on (lat's say about a month apart from each other) and then they didn't expect another one for a while. The 2 local dealers I visited encouraged me to put in a custom order that would likely take 6 months from order to receipt.
From the CarGurus info out there, about 1 in 3 dealerships in the US have at least 1 convertible. Some of the bigger dealerships in higher income/better weather markets have been getting more (no surprise there).
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redhot47fl (12-06-20)
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