girlnyc

hi - I am looking to purchase an 09 RX 350 with navigation, back up camera, blue tooth and have been emailing with several dealers in the NY & NJ area. Many are not negotiating over email. I was expecting to be able to do this. Prices quoted are around $33k - $36k depending on mileage. Is this reasonable? I hoped to get them lower. Any tips from the experts?

Thanks in advance for your help - I'm a first time buyer.

ilovemaui

Dealers typically don't get serious until they see a warm body.

Carver

Those are strong prices. Here's some 08s at Sewell in Dallas, might behoove you to fly down, eat some BBQ and drive one home.

http://www.sewell.com/web/inventory/.../All_vehicles/

rx400h1976

A little more information would help:
How many miles does the car have? Is it CPO? Are you talking to Lexus dealers?
Typically, the price of a 2009 car would be around 28k-31k depending on mileage and CPO (mileage between 35k-60k)

stunt66

DO NOT GO IN!!!!! We negotiated ours via email and it was the best car buying experience ever. We didnt even meet the sales guy until day of pick up(he was away when we went for test ride after we agreed on price). At first they told me they cant negotiate through email but i told them i was too busy to come in and if he couldnt do it through email than i was going to find someone that could. The problem with going in is they have a bunch of sales tactics that they pull and if youre a nice guy theyll smell it and take total advantage of you, by email they have no idea who you are and you can be a little bit more assertive, you still have to be professional and polite though! here's some of the emails i exchanged with the dealer, i have more if yall want. it starts from bottom up. We agreed on $32k plus tax and when he sent me the invoice to sign it had $32k plux tax and admin fees which if you google are a fee you dont have to pay.

V,

Please e-mail me back your home address so I can have a demo paper ready for you for tomorrow.
Thanks,

Tudor




From: j [
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2010 9:51 AM
To: Tudor
Subject: Re: REVISED-Quote for 2008 Lexus RX350

We most likely would have a deal if that can be done. Were going to edmonton on saturday to visit some friends and look at a couple other rx's but they're all 07 with higher kms but in her preferred color. We've talked about this and she too agrees your car is the better value so I think she just wants to see them since were down there. We will come in on friday and see Peter and look at the car and test drive it. What time is the dealer open until? My name is V and it's been a pleasure dealing with you Tudor.

On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 5:34 PM, Tudor > wrote:
Thanks for your reply to my e-mail!
Do we have a deal at $32,000+GST, subject to test drive on Saturday? Please let me know, then I can see, what can I do.
Regards,

Tudor


P.S. Quote were done for Melissa, but never had a chance to get your name?? Please let me know.




From: j [
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 5:29 PM

To: Tudor
Subject: Re: REVISED-Quote for 2008 Lexus RX350

I just looked over the new contract and my offer was $32,000+ tax, there's some admin fee for $295.00 that was not part of the deal. I've never paid an admin fee because it was either credtied back to me as a discount or waived. My offer is $32,000+GST, please let me know if this works and if not I thank you very much for your time on this. This is the first time i've negotiated a vehicle through email and you've made it extrremely pleasant. Thank you very mch Tudor.
On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 2:41 PM, Tudor > wrote:
Friday, I will be away from the office, in my absence you can see Peter Cochrane-used vehicles manager.
Saturday I work 8.30am-5.30pm.
Please let me know your decision on this matter.

Thanks,

Tudor

c.c. Peter

thomas1

YOu know carver idea is fantastic...buy the car via internet in Florida (no rust, no snow) Fly down pick it up and enjoy a few days vacation while driving home....They are a lot cheaper down there and dont forget Carmax, etc....

girlnyc

thanks for the advice. the cars i am looking at range from about 30k mileage (around $33k-$35k) to 20k mileage ($36k). They are all CPO's with clean carfax reports. i like the idea of negotiating over email but just seems hard to get them to start negotiating. i am going to be more aggressive and pit them against each other!

LS430LX470

I work for a dealership in nj and the fact is that people like shoping around and the sale people are all commission based.... People sometimes think we are the scum of the world and make plenty of money where infact thats not true... I am loyal as heck to my lexus's but i work for acura. If you still in the market for the rx. Let me know the year and miles/ equipment and i can look it up for you.... Here in the tri-state most dealers use a tool called galves which is a tmv/ pulls prices from auctions and such to get a trade in or market value on the cars.... What you can also use is nada.com which is actually pritty close on what the car is truely worth....

cjs18

Don't know what the dealership situation is in your area but where I live both Lexus dealerships are owned by the same automotive group. It might change the game a bit if you think you will be able to significantly manipulate one of them based on a quote from the other. Incidentally, the prices you reference are not that different than what we see in my area.

stunt66

Good on you for not being shady, but the truth of the matter is a lot of car sales guys are, There's only one time in my life where i could totally recommend a car sales guy and that was when we bought the RX(it wasn't a typical buying experience tho).

apc3libras

I had the same experience buying our RX a few months ago. I have had some crappy experiences with buying cars and it was the first time that I really felt like I was dealing with a friend. Maybe I was buying the wrong kind of cars before?

The last two cars we bought have been good, before that not so much.

redrocks

Stay away from Lexus of Edison! They tried to add CPO warranty to listed price of the CPO vehicles. Told me I didn't have to "buy" the CPO warranty (even though the vehicles were listed as "CPO") Go figure?

Carver

Dealers aren't interested in discussing philosophy about pricing. Each car has it's own set of immutable facts. If there are two exact cars sitting there and the dealer has 2K more in one of them it isn't likely he will sell them for the same money discount.

To make them take you seriously, pick a specific car, determine the price you will pay for that car (or less) and make an offer, thus begins the dance.

cjs18

I think that's essential advice. Wouldn't you think that an incredible amount of sales people's time is wasted by Internet tire kickers? That said, I've started my last several car purchase on the Web to narrow the search and concluded them in the dealership. I would never buy a car that I didn't see and drive anyway so it works out for me.

If you're a novice buyer who's intimidated to some degree by the dealer process you might consider inviting a very experienced buyer with you to help. No point coming to a gunfight with a knife. The dealers sure as heck use teamwork so why shouldn't you?