stllex88

What a bargain. Plazamotors in St. Louis is generously selling slightly hail damaged new RX330's for a mere $773 over invoice. It's amazing anyone in St. Louis drives a Lexus considering the two crappy dealers we have............

FlintRX

If they are damaged, how can they sell them as new?

rxdriver

A car is "new" if it has never had a title issued.

Depending on your state's laws, a dealer can put x number of miles on the car without needing a title. That's how we get "demonstrator" cars. They're still considered new cars for legal purposes.

As soon as a dealer sells the car, it must be titled. So, when you drive it off the lot, it becomes "used".

stllex88

I am guessing the damage follows you on the title as you must "accept" the damage to get the "deal". What a joke. I wonder what they would give you for the vehicle if you brought it in for trade. Probably $10K less. At least with lesser brands, you know they are sleazy. It's written all over their face. With the premium brand cars, they must teach them to smile and treat you cordially as they give you the shaft.

rxdriver

stllex88 - I think you're right about premium brands.
Of course, it's possible to find a good dealer and a good salesman that you can actually work with. If it wasn't possible, I'd never buy a new car.
There have been times, though, where I've gone into a Lexus dealer with the big fancy showrooms, the bright lights, the puffy furniture, the expensive coffee, and felt like it was all a smokescreen for a stereotypical car dealer giving you the shaft. Plus, with all of that overhead, it's just that much harder to deal down to a fair price.

laterldf

Up till now, I've been very pleased with the service that our local Lexus dealer (the only game in town) has provided BUT they now are giving the new "Lexus Express" service whereby they believe that they can provide ANY of the scheduled services in ONE hour (even the major ones, e.g. 15k, 30k, etc) and forego giving the customer a loaner car (which is in itself, a change of their policy). IF you squack loudly enough, they will provide a loaner. Just for the record, the 30k "Lexus Express" service took over three hours on my wife's car.

To add insult to injury, this dealer also eliminated replacing the wiper blades as part of their prepaid service package and who knows what else. Guess they're selling so many new vehicles that they believe this is consistent with the pursuit of excellence. I'll be looking elsewhere for that excellence. later, ldf

stllex88

If the KS dealer is doing something inconsistent with Lexus policy, hit them where it hurts - the survey. I would think after any service at the Lexus dealer you would get a survey from Lexus. Politely express your displeasure and don't give them high marks where appropriate. All poor marks and poorly written (ie with foul language, poor grammar) surveys carry less weight. I have a very close friend at a Dodge dealership and those surveys are the dealers lifeblood both at the sales experience and the service experience. I was told a limited number of less than excellent surveys can affect their dealer rating. I don't know what that number is. I can't imagine Lexus caring any less about their customer's opinion of their dealers than does Dodge. That really does sound like they are shorting you on the Lexus experience.

HarrierAWD

FWIW, I got my new RX300 for just $851 over invoice. No hail damage. Just one mile on the odo.

A Ferrari with bullet holes at U.S. DEA auction seems like a better deal to me.

Rx900

well, damage doesn't have to be disclosed when selling or trading in the car. when i traded in my rx, i did tell the dealer it had been in an accident, but they still gave me the good trade in value they first quoted me.

stllex88

There is no longer any point in lying about damage. Anything with a police report will show up as an indication on Carfax as will I believe repairs over a certain value claim. I still believe the hail damage will follow the vehicle. Even if you PDR it, depending on the extent of the damage, that still creates a lot of internally filled holes on your vehicle. If you repaint it, forget it, it won't begin to have the wearability of new car paint. I maintain, you substantially overpay for "hail sale" vehicles. Even if they give you off what it would cost to repair, the intangible loss far exceeds the tangible. If you are willing to keep it for a long time, I suppose it might be worth while.

I wonder if those vehicles are eligible for special new car lease programs. I am guessing they are not because they won't have near the residual value that a non-damaged car would have, even if repaired. Ponder on that.

dzar

When I complained about being treated poorly to my dealer when picking up my car, I did not receive a survey. You think that's a coincidence? My entire experience in almost three years with Lexus is that they don't care at all about their customer's opinions. Their general attitude is that if you can afford their vehicles, you can afford to pay for "service" and you also can be told to pay twice for many things. Oh yeah, I'm in St. Louis so I have my choice of two really lousy dealers who love to mark up their cars and service and then smile and tell you that it's a wonderful experience.

I had to laugh when I saw the ads about the hail damage sale. You know, they got insurance payments and fixed (?) them to resell. I bet they are making out like bandits. Many of the other dealers are truly selling below invoice to get the hail damaged cars off the lots.