GS4Will

invoice, sure you can(wait, may be still too early?) take a look anyway:

www.kbb.com
www.carsdirect.com

call mission viejo lexus here in cali, they ship cars across the US:

1-800-669-5398 and ask for FRED Mahjoob; tell him william send you there...

on that tax saving, it was all legit....we have been shopping for car for few weeks...one sat am, LA times classified of a certain dealer adverised:

No Sales Tax on ALL LS this weekend...at first, i thought, great, they probably will not discount the car; or one only deal...so as any wise shopper would, i called. they guy said, no, we give 10% off msrp and we absorb the tax..went down there, saw several LS, but no silver. then they told me one will be available on monday for me, so i put a deposit down..

came home, watching TV, light bulb appeared on the top of my head and told me to "call other dealers"...

i did, Fred answered the call( he was with another dealer back then) and told me he has a silver one with nakamichi sysytem. then i said, i live 55 miles from your dealer, how would i know you would do the same deal for me? he said, come down and drive the LS home..

well, i thought the worst it could happen is i waste some time and gas $$...so, i went there, show Fred's mgr the ad, they showed me the car, 30 minutes later, it was a done deal....( i did told them another dealer will have the car ready on monday if we cannot make it happen today)

basically i did pay the sales tax(whopping 8.25%); but they discounted the car ~17-18%, then added sales tax to it....after that, Fred has sold many cars with my referral...

that is what i called no haggle, no hassle...

E55AMG

Thanks William. I think I'll call them tomorrow as soon as the dealership opens up over there.

E55AMG

Well, here's my on-going LS430-saga. Called Mission Viejo Lexus, talked to Fred down there; including shipping ($800 or so) the total came out to $57,800. Not a bad price, but only $200 less than what I could find out here. Definitely a great guy, though, and if I lived out on his area, I would be buying cars from him. Still seeing what the local dealers can do -- have not heard back from them all, will decide where/who to buy from once all bids are in.

Here's an interesting thing, however: my friend is looking to buy a Toyota Camry. I went to a Toyota dealership with him this afternoon, and I had a few observations. First of all, when you get down to the non-luxury cars, you just don't get very good treatment. All the standard "What do you think we should make on this car? Make me an offer!" or "This offer is only good for today!" salesman-talk was evident. I mentioned to the Toyota salesman how I'm in the market for a Lexus, and he started saying, "*We* make Lexus! They're no better than our cars!" Somehow, I don't think Toyota would appreciate hearing those type of comments. He also didn't have much to say when I said, "Yeah, 'ya got an LS430 equivalent on your lot?"

Either way, I'm just glad I'm shopping for a Lexus; it's just so nice to be treated with courtesy and respect. Even the guys from the "bad" Lexus dealership are far nicer than the Toyota guys I dealt with. Hurray for Lexus dealers!

GS4Will

amg..take your time..and great deal will arrive...

about the 2nd part of your post..i worked at a facility that has toyota on one side and lexus on the other wing, so i knoe exactly what you are talking about... all sound too familair....not saying who is less professional or treat the client better..there is always bad seeds in every breed...

oac3

In this age of information superhighway, buying a car is simplified and one can avoid the usual "hassles" of car purchase by going via the fleet department. My last 2 cars were purchased via this route. I cannot stand the usual sales pitch.... It just makes my skin crawl.

E55AMG, like GS4 said, be patient and you'll get a great deal soon. This economy isn't gettng better soon so deals must be out there to push these high-end cars. Good luck with your search.

E55AMG

Uh, what is the fleet sales approach? I've no clue!

oac3

Fleet=Internet

You get the email address and contact via email or phone. That simple. The Internet Sales Manager often gives you a lower price than on-the-floor sale person. Everything can be done on the phone, and you go in to test drive and make the purchase if it meets your needs.

Hope this helps

E55AMG

Thanks for the info. I guess I've been doing basically the same thing. It's kind of nice being able to play 6 dealers off against each other to get the best deal.

aussie2u

Curious to know what you all would pay if they offered a new '02 LS430 that is still on the lot? How much of a discount would you want on that vs. buying the '03. Thanks for responses.

E55AMG

That's a great question; I'll look into that tomorrow.

GS4Will

Good'ay mate..

02, at the most, $500-700 over invoice...keep in mind in ~1 month, the car is considered one yr old, so you need to take into consideration of depreciation now...

otherwise wait for 03s....i base my buying habit/pricing on one of the most competitive car market on the planet..LA..

plus, i believe you get few more standard features on the 03s with minimal price increase that is totally justifiable...

E55AMG

During my negotiations, I've discovered the reason why the price is $62,600. My salesman said Lexus Link comes as a "standard" option on every car. Throw that into the pricing calculus, and the Nav/Lev LS430 comes out to $62,600. Good catch on the pricing!

HoleinOne

I had the same time constraints when I was shopping for my '02 LS. I did my initial shopping online and via e-mail then I called up a near by dealer - Jim Falk in Beverly Hills- and told the sales lady exactly what I was looking for. She had someone drove the car out to my office for me to test since I could not go to them. The price she quoted my over the phone was very competitive with the online prices. However, once I was ready to buy, I was able to shave off another $1500 and got it for basically invoice price.

I attributed the low price to the fact that I purchase a 2002 just a couple of weeks before the '03 were due.

GS4Will

my point exactly..good buy..

E55AMG

Well, I finally bit the bullet today. Put down $500 after getting the '03 Nav/Lev LS430 down to $57,000. I figured that if Fred over at Mission Viejo was offerign $57k, it must be a pretty darned competitive figure.

Now, I have a final question: when is the LS430 due for a facelift/restyle? If anyone has any DEFINITIVE answers, I'd really like to hear them. I don't want to buy an LS430 now and find out they came out wiht a new chassis, or a facelift for '04.