SW17LS

LOL, I'm not second guessing anything...I'm just curious. Very happy with the deal I swung.

If you don't want to share that's fine.

Nexson

That is totally his business. How rude.

SW17LS

It is his business, which is why I said if he didn't want to share thats fine. I was a little surprised by the way he responded to my request though...

Nexson

I am pullin your leg man.

FLYCT

I was actually very impressed with his reply. It was very well worded, polite and one the best replies I've ever read to a question like that.

After reading the thread and all his posts I thought to myself this is a guy that I would like to meet and i respect for the manner in which he proceeded through the whole negotiation.

He walked away from the deal initially when they couldn't meet his price.
Then later after they ordered the car anyway and called him back he;
He maximized discounts off MSRP mentioning the Costco deal.
He took advantage of recommendation to contact PenFed which gave him pre negotiated pricing AND a 0.49% loan rate
He negotiated out the $500 document fee
He was going to go to CarMax to confirm the trade offer was reasonable.

My kind of guy!

JR

xuserx04

iTrader: (6)

Well if you think about it, op posted on this forum in search of some advise/help. The good people on here did their best in trying to help him. Later, when another member needed HELP in understanding if he got a good deal for his trade in op told him not to worry about it. I was also surprised by his response.

FLYCT

I just think that the request to share trade in price should have been made via a PM.

I bought 4 Lexuses for myself in the last 6 months. I get very uncomfortable when people ask me how much I paid or how much I got on a trade. If the person asking were actively looking to trade then knowing what others received would be helpful in their negotiations, otherwise i would consider it as being impolite. (unless your from certain geographic areas of the country of course, where this is acceptable behavior. ) Each of the 4 times I bought a Lexus this year my brother-in-law from one of these areas would say to me, "I'm thinking about buying one, how much did you pay?" Of course he had no intention of buying one.

JR

xuserx04

iTrader: (6)

I see no problem in sharing what you pay for things. Nobody is asking to know what you have in your bank account. With that said mods are prolly on their way to clean this thread up.

SW17LS

I'm well aware

And the best part was I didn't even ask for help, I traded the ES two months ago, I was just curious what he got since I had just gone through the same thing.

Thats why I told him he could PM me with the response if he was more comfortable with that.

I don't understand why people get uppity about what they paid. We all know what these cars cost, its not like we've gone up to someone on the street and asked them what their car cost. We're all peers here, helping each other. On the GS forum there is a very long thread with what people paid and what lease deals they had negotiated etc, its incredibly helpful. We've saved people thousands and thousands of dollars. If you reap the rewards of that help, yet don't share your data for the rest of the posters IMHO thats unfair.

I'll tell any of you right here what I paid for the GS and what I got in trade for the ES if you want to know.

williakz

Steve,

Let me try to explain this in more detail. My quick response upthread obviously generated more heat than light. For that, I apologize. The overall point I was trying to make is that info that does not DIRECTLY and FAIRLY bear on a current or upcoming transaction is useless both to you, the asker, and to others who may make assumptions regarding such data that are unwarranted. To specifics:

You have NO IDEA what options, mileage, condition, color, tires, add-ons, and/or mods are associated with my 2010 ES350. For example, my MSRP was $44,436, same as yours? Nope. Therefore, you DID NOT go through "the same thing" as me. Futhermore, my trade-in price for a different vehicle in a different market at a different point in the sales year has very little relevance and even less grist for the analytical mill than you seem to believe it does. Now, IF you and I were to compare ES350 specifics, account for market variations, and guess at our respective negotiating talents as well the quality of our "oppostion" at the dealership, then just maybe you'd be only be talking mangoes and papayas, rather than apples and oranges. But same-same? No way.

On my "duty" to report my financial transactions in public, I totally reject this obligation, root and branch, pure and simple. That principle cleared up, I DO try to help others and feel I did so regarding the new vehicle transaction. I indicated it was a highly-optioned special order (weakening my bargaining position); I explicitly gave everyone the amount over invoice the dealer demanded under the Costco program; I explained the TDA add; I questioned the doc fee. When advised to dispute the doc fee, I freely offered that the dealer had "made it go away" by artfully increasing the trade-in valuation. I also indicated that I would keep the dealer honest on the original trade-in by checking his number against my local CarMax, which I did. Finally, I explained in detail how the financing went from Lexus' high rate to a lower rate available at my local credit union, to an even lower one at a national CU (suggested by another poster), to a killer rate of 0.49% available by jumping through some hoops which I delineated (or intended to once final approval comes through).

I feel I have done everything I could reasonably be expected to do with the single exception of neglecting to disclose my ES350 trade-in price which I consider irrelevant to your situation for the reasons listed above. If I have made errors in assumptions, rationality, or expression please let me know so I can correct them. In any event, good driving.

SW17LS

I just don't see what the big deal is, we all know what these vehicles cost...if any of us passed each other on the street, we would never know it. I don't understand why anybody feels uncomfortable sharing what they paid, what discount they were able to negotiate or what they were offered in trade, etc. My comment about reaping the benefit of the data without providing any was not really aimed at you.

LOL, I don't know why everybody is making a federal case out of it. I was curious as to what they had offered you since I recently traded a similar vehicle. Simply curiosity. You don't want to tell me, thats fine. Lets move on.

Do you feel comfortable telling us if you bought the LS? I know you said you were trying to do the deal yesterday.

williakz

The LS is mine. Once the dealer agreed to the Costco program pad of $2k, gave me a reasonable trade-in, and made the doc fee disappear, I was on board. There is not another vehicle with this option mix in the country (though there may be one on a ship heading this way). The problem, and the reason I have not yet written a capstone post in this thread, is that PenFed (the national credit union) was crippled by computer outages in this week's windstorms. The loan approval process was disrupted and is just now getting back on track. Luckily and incredibly, they NORMALLY work 7 days a week until 11pm EST processing customer business. I anticipate final approval either tonight (still have an hour) or tomorrow. Then, it's a matter of getting the dealer to release the car to me a few days ahead of getting his money (haven't figured that one out yet) and I be a cruising!

SW17LS

Congrats! She's a beauty, I sat in one at the car show today.

Several lenders have been affected by the windstorm (I'm in the real estate business so we've been dealing with that too with settlements). PenFed is a very good outfit, they'll come through.

Once they have an approval from PenFed, I bet they will release the car to you, I've been in similar situations before and they've released the car to me, including once when I wrote a personal check for a cash deal, they released it without it clearing and without even verification that the check was good.

ikey78

Congratulations on getting the car and getting a good deal.

I am curious about the option mix. What makes it so unique?

williakz

Must haves were: ML and Dynamic Radar Cruise in a SWB (drive alone) RWD (live in South)

Must NOT haves were: Rear passenger luxe (seating, tunes, HVAC) since it costs 30% of trunk space and I drive alone.

Agnostic on all other options, but included them anyway. The Air Suspension and Variable Rate Steering are, according to some Lexus techs I spoke with, highly integrated and provide advanced handling characteristics (at 3% of total price).

Lexus, in its infinite wisdom, programmed the Pre-Collision System (only way to get Radar Cruise) with the Ultra Luxury package (with trunk-killing rear seat HVAC and for ONLY $7,000 (10%)). Then they ***** and moan that nobody wants Dynamic Cruise when, I believe, the vast majority of owners would spring for the option when its less than 2% of the total price.