2018 Lexus RX350L - $50k MSRP, $414+tax/month, $0 drive-off / SOCAL

Hey guys - RX350 / RX350Ls are leasing well in Socal this month. Base MF is very low (.00025, equivalent of 0.6% APR) and there’s a $1750 lease cash incentive. I put the deal specs below assuming $0 MSDs first, so someone casually looking at this can understand the base deal.

2018 new Lexus RX 350L - base Premium trim (NO navigation, NO luxury)

**MSRP: $49,998
**Selling Price: $43,207 (13.6% off MSRP) excluding incentives
**Monthly Payment: $414 + tax
**Cash Due at Signing: $0
**MSD: 0
**Incentives: $1750 lease cash (additional to MSRP discount above). Combined, it would be $41,457 (17.9% off)

**Months: 45 (45 is the cheapest right now. We’re only doing 7500 mi, so thought it would be ok)
**Annual Mileage: 7500 miles
**MF: .00025
**Residual: 51%

**Region: SOCAL
**Acq fee: $795, doc fee: $80.

I put the deal specs above excluding MSDs, so people can see the base deal. I actually put down 3 MSDs (they each reduce MF by .00008), so my actual deal specs were:
MF .00001
MSDs $1350
Drive-offs: $0 (other than MSDs)
Monthly payment: $398 + tax
I am happy with $398+tax. For anyone trying to replicate this payment, please note this is for the non-navigation model. I think the MSRP for the navigation models appears to start around $55k.

The two most competitive dealers pricing-wise were Keyes Van Nuys and Glendale Lexus. Both were willing to go substantially lower than any other dealer. I ended up buying from Keyes, but if you’re going to contact them, PLEASE READ THIS SECTION because they tried to switch the deal terms on me at contract-signing. At Keyes - I worked with Karina Maciel and Sam Santoso (assistance@keyeslexus.com). At Glendale - I really liked working with Shaw (shaw@lexusofglendale.net). I think buying from Glendale would have been a smoother process, but have never bought from them so don’t know for sure. If it will be helpful to give them my name so you can refer to my deal, I’m happy to share it over PM.

For Keyes: they e-mailed me a printout that gave all the terms we were agreeing to, including the vehicle selling price of $43,072 (13.85% off MSRP). They initially only insisted that 2 MSDs were possible, and only after repeated questioning did they agree to 3 (that should have been my first yellow flag). They had also told me that the payment total would be $436 incl tax and that the vehicle had 4 miles on the odometer. They also pressured me to come in within 24 hours of agreeing to terms or else the deal would be gone (second yellow flag). I asked them to send me a photo of the contract in advance but they were “too busy to get to it” (third yellow flag).

When my wife showed up near closing time, they tried to rush her to sign it because the finance guy “had to leave” and apparently got super-annoyed that she wanted to send a photo of it to me to review. They had raised the vehicle selling price to $43,608 (~$536 higher than agreed). They insisted that we’d agreed on a payment of $436 incl tax, and $0 down, but that there was no such thing as “$0 drive-off” and that “$0 drive-off” means that you have to make the first monthly payment before driving off.

I argued with them about this over the phone until finally they agreed to remove the first monthly payment. That brought the vehicle selling price down to $43,207. Note that the original quote to me was $43,072. I think my correct payment should probably have been $435+change, but they padded the cap cost to get my payment up to $436.99 and expected I wouldn’t notice. I didn’t have the exact figures for the payment because the printout they e-mailed me was before I requested the MSDs be applied. I let this go because it was still a good deal and I felt bad arguing with them about this at 8pm on a Sunday, but it annoyed me, particularly in combination with their argument that there was no such thing as a true $0 drive-off.

Furthermore, they had told me the vehicle had 4 miles on it. They wrote in the contract that it had 50. When my wife turned it on, it had 120 miles on it, because it had been driven in from Oxnard. So they took another 70 miles from us. This may have just been an oversight because it was near-closing time, but also annoying.

*** Anyway - at the end of the day - I am happy with the deal I got. My wife liked Karina (Keyes) in person and did not want to make things more difficult for her, so she did not want me to argue about how they padded the vehicle selling price by $135. Once you subtract the residual and spread it out over 45 months, I think it only made a difference of $1.47 in our monthly payment. But if you go with Keyes, please make sure to be prepared for these tactics.

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Sounds like a good deal, congrats on the new whip. I also dealt with them over the weekend on an RX350 with prem and nav packages. Only met Karina in person, and she is very nice. I got them to agree on 15% off MSRP before the lease cash incentive (18% off MSRP with incentive) but +1 on what the OP said about padding as they added about $50 to the agreed price. My car had nitrogen air in the tires which Sam said he couldn’t take out (this was informed to me over the phone prior to going into the dealer to sign papers). Overall wife is really happy with the ride, and Keyes were the most willing to negotiate in my search for RX350 in the LA area.

Wow! 16% off MSRP before the incentive … maybe I had more room to get them lower haha – good job.

Congrats though a 45 month term is really only stretching your total payment to a point that gets you lower, you are ultimately paying for more of the car overall.

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Hm … would appreciate understanding your comment better for next time. A 36-month term would have increased my payment by about $24/month. So over the first 36 months of the lease term, I’m paying $864 less than I would have on a 36 month lease. Stretching the upfront costs over an extra 9 months would seem to be a much smaller effect than that? Is there something else I’m missing?

Happy you got a deal for yourself. But never feel bad about making things more difficult on them. They all lie, and as you saw they lied about your price, miles, and cap cost! I always love f$%cking with them back.

You may face some maintenance costs that you could avoid with a 36 month lease. The 30K miles service is expensive. I have a GS 350 and it is about 800 bucks for me. Add tires and brakes. Regardless, I think you got a killer deal on a beautiful vehicle. Congrats!

P.S I may reach out for some more info because I may also be on the market for an RX in the next month or two.

Leasing is paying depreciation. Doing 45 months drops your residual by 6% which you are paying for.

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Ah I see what you’re saying.

I pay for 6% more depreciation, which is about $3k, but I get to use the vehicle for 9 more months. So on a rate basis, those extra 9 months are only costing me like $330/month. I get that it’s not worth it to some people - but it seems worthwhile to me (esp since I’ll be driving <7500 mi/yr so probably shouldn’t have to replace tires, brakes, etc).

I find Keyes lexus and keyes European (Mercedes) to be very sneaky. They agree to things over email and they change thr terms. People should really double check everything when working with them.

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Damn! why can’t we get deals like this in South Florida? I can’t even get 12% off an RXF and there’s like 6 dealers in the area.

if i were to buy would i. e able to combine the $1500 purchase cash with the loyalty cash $1500?

how much could i get off sticker? 18% plus $3000 off?

you magnificent son of a gun. I just spent a week looking at these - time to do some more digging

Nice deal for an RX!
Keyes dealership chain - not surprising at all - used to live in the SFV and they were and still are sneaky old school that way…

Surprised Longo Lexus in El Monte didn’t come in under other dealers?
I helped my friend get a GS at Longo and they beat out everyone in So Cal…
Longo does not do any trickery or back end number manipulations - but then I deal with only the Internet Manager…

Longo Lexus had no intention of dealing at all. Last week I inquired about the same vehicle. They responded that more likely I’d buy at LA area dealers so it was pointless to give me a deal over email. Unless I personally come in, they’d not give me any discount. Worst dealer I’ve been in contact with, ever.

Did you say where you are located or they asked? Strange because Longo can deliever their vehicles. It really is salespeople dependent.

I got exactly the same experience dealing with Longo. Their internet department isn’t interested in dealing at all.

Yep, I told them I was 100 miles away and surveying the whole area. I’d come to any dealer that gave me the best deal. I first contacted the internet manager and got an email from a so-called saleman, who had no interest in selling at all, lol.

I volunteer as little info as necessary. No need to tell them you will shop them.

+1 on that also. I’ve been dealing with Sadie for several months looking for some deal. A few months ago parents were interested in the RX and recently i was. Sadie was not helpful at all, On top of it all, this past weekend she informed me she is going for a long weekend and ask if i can wait to chat until she got back. When I spoke to her on the phone last friday she sounded like she didn’t know who I was even when she was the one that asked me to call her. Didn’t get any sense of professionalism nor customer service with her.