stllex88

Anyone have any experience with St. Louis, MO dealers. Unfortunately we only have two, which doens't make for heavy competition among Lexus dealers. One, St. Louis Lexus, has a reputation of not dealing and not providing the Lexus buying experience, but that is hearsay. I haven't heard much about the other, Plaza Lexus, although their website is quite informative and inviting (Lists inventory). Any insight as to what to expect from either one would be helpful. I highly doubt I will find a SoCa deal in MO.

Thanks.

apwoodr

You may want to try going to other dealers within a few hours driving distance. There are dealers in Peoria, IL, the Quad Cities (Both about 2 hrs from St. Louis). I found my best deal in the Chicago area, since there are several dealers there.

RajaReMax

I've had experience with both Lexus dealers in St.Louis. Last October I was negotiating with both on the new 2004 LS 430 Sport. They were both allotted cars that were on the way or on the lot, exactly equipped the way I wanted. I was just looking for the best deal because I knew the guys at both service departments and I knew they were excellent.

When I told the Plaza Lexus Sales Manager the price I was offered at Lexus of STL, he told me to go buy the car from them. So I did. I think he thought I was bluffing and I wasn't. Like most people, I consider buying new cars as fun as getting a root canal. I'm a realtor in town and had to get back to work to pay for this car. No one should make time to be treated with a non-chalance attitude when considering any car, much less a Lexus.

Since the new LS was redesigned, their cars were initially flying out the door, the Plaza Sales manager wasn't thinking "past customer/future customer", he was thinking now $$$$. I don't think he to this day even realizes or cares how foolish his advice was. Unfortunately for the actual salesman, who's name is Gordon, they didn't get the sale. I don't blame Gordon for the way his sales manager at Plaza decided to handle the negotiation.

Hope this reply helped you. Here's who you need to talk to: Tell her RajaReMax sent you...

Contact Claire Heil at Lexus of St.Louis: Her number is 314-822-7681

You'll get additional items included in your purchase, as well as the best price & treatment. I was suprised to know I was receiving $450.00 in service coupons for future service, Carpeted Lexus Mats & Weathertech Winter Mats. As an added bonus, extra gold Lexus keychains & Lexus coffee mugs.

Best of Luck!

stllex88

Raja,

Thanks for the advice. Everyone has an opinion. Yours is more detailed and specific than the general hearsay. When the purchase time comes, I will indeed use the referral and give them a shot.

I agree about not generally enjoying any car buying experience. Maybe this time around, it will be different.

Thanks again.

RajaReMax

Stllex88-

You're very welcome, we must not have too many people from STL on this forum, or I'm sure you would've received more responses.

Best of Luck & feel free to email me direct if you would like any other information. I've been very pleased with all of the service at Lexus of St.Louis, although there are a few salespeople I don't particularly care for.

Claire Heil & Jim Evans(Sales Manager) will work with you the way a dealer should...

rajachellappa@realtor.com

trs23

Peoria or the Quad cities are not 2 hours from st louis.

Try about 3 to peoria if you're lucky and about 4 to the quad cities.

There's not a very good way to get to either one.

shortbear

My wife and I am moving to St. Louis, MO for orthodontic residency in July. We want to get the Lexus RX330.

Do you think it is better to buy the Lexus in Southern California and ship it to Missouri ($800 shipping) or just buy it in Missouri? I heard Los Angeles has better deals on cars.

Any suggestions?

stllex88

I haven't negotiated with either of the dealers here. But I would say if you find exactly what you want in SoCa and can get it for few hundred over invoice, you certainly would not be losing much. My guess is the selection there will be much larger than here.

Depending on where you live there and here, expect housing costs to be 1/3 to 1/2 of SoCa. Although you can't get that ocean view here.............

laterldf

Not too long ago they were offering new RX 330's for $4k off sticker. You might try calling them first--816-942-9000. Both of their stores are conveniently located off of I-435. later, ldf

apwoodr

"Peoria or the Quad cities are not 2 hours from st louis.Try about 3 to peoria if you're lucky and about 4 to the quad cities."

Depends on how fast you drive

I used Fighting Chance.com to purchase mine. It actually makes the process of buying a car kinda fun. Either way, the more dealers you talk to the better price you'll probably get. Good luck!

Hohlraum

reviving old thread. i tried to do the IL, and western missouri thing. i basically ended up just buying it locally at Dave M. Lexus.

So how many lexus people do we have here now days anyway? Nice hand raise would be cool. If we have enough people maybe we could start our own local club.

stllex88

So can you share what kind of deal you got. I still haven't pulled the trigger. I did visit the dealership and they were very cordial (unlike their Acura dealer next door). But we didn't talk price either.

Thanks!

Hohlraum

Not the greatest. The cheapest quote I got was from springfield, MO (i think it was them). I ended up paying about $1000 more just to keep the purchase local. Then they tried to screw me on my trade in, so I just sold it directly back to the original dealership for alittle over wholesale. The markup on luxury vehichles is pretty insane. Might be worth it to try to find a car buying service or something and just get it delivered from out of state. I think I ended up getting 3 or 4k under MSRP. Which, is really nothing when compared to the actual invoice price.

i'll tell you one kinda scary thing is that my sale was one of the last ones my sales guy did with the company. He was kinda slick and did the whole, "Let me go talk to the salesmanager" BS. My car was delivered to me by another sales guy. When I called them to check on the car after a month or so (I had to wait cuz I wanted specific options) I was told the guy no longer worked there. Wasn't the best feeling

Dave M. has a _great_ service department though. I always ask for David in service. He's a real nice guy.

CdeFabio

I bought my GX 470 this past February from Dave Mungenast Lexus of St. Louis and had a great experience. Although the deal I got was not very good because there was a waiting list for the GX's so you paid close to list price. My sales person was very nice and really followed through, he told me it would take 4 weeks for mine to arrive and exactly 4 weeks later it came in just as promised. It had everything I asked for on it and they even swapped out the tires for the Michelin Cross Terrain’s like I requested. The service department has been excellent, they are very nice and have fixed the few problems I have had. My SUV always came back clean!

Hohlraum

I'd like to keep track of the st. louis members so that maybe we could have a get together at some point.

send an email to:

club-lexus-stl AT nocturnal DOT org