Hi, I need some feedback of what do next in my deal to get a Lexus.
My partner and I went in today to Hendrick Lexus in Kansas City after doing some homework on Lexus’s Dec to Remember event for a 2017 RX 350. They have 9 on the lot with a MSRP of 50,728 - front wheel drive version. I got numbers that are obviously outrageous and even when I called them out on their BS, they wouldn’t budge. Lexus threw a sales manager at us and then the finance manager. I shot back my own outrageous numbers - wanting an MSRP of $46,000, $479 monthly payment, no $ down, no MSD, and MF of .00155.
After about 3 hours total, the dealer wouldn’t come down from what it seems a $2900 discount ($2400 dealer’s reduction, $500 customer cash from Lexus) to $47,828. It was their first deal offered and never came down further. This is before a $499 admin fee (won’t even try to negotiate that one), $795 add-ons like the nitrogen and paint protection films, tax, and delivery. They showed a paper with their invoice price highlighted as $47,9-something. In my head, I’m thinking there’s a 2% holdback from Lexus, about an extra $1,000, right?
They stuck to a MF of .002 and scoffed at me when I claimed the MF I found on Leasehackr and Edmunds was .00155 (we have Tier 1 FICO credit so I’m comfortable with that).
We ended up walking out, which were fine with but now I’m not sure of the next step. I imagine we wait until they call us and that I would respond by asking for all offers via email. That’s hardball and it’s close to the end of the month. I know they’re probably itching to get rid of cars, especially front-wheel-drive ones here in Kansas City. Do you agree with me waiting or have any other advice that might be useful?
Also, is there a way to combat that they think I’m nuts for getting a MF of .00155 off the internet? Maybe a calculation off the Lexus website offers?
I’m in KC as well. I have never leased at Hendrick Lexus, but I leased my current Camry next door at the Hendrick Toyota store. I leased a Camry SE at $125/month there, which was an amazing deal at the time (and now). I’m sure you’ve noticed, but there are only two Lexus stores in town and both are Hendrick. I find that unfortunate for your situation and am sorry to hear about your experience. The only reason I think I had success there with the Camry was because I walked in with a quote from Olathe in hand and Hendrick beat an offer I had already negotiated down once at Olathe.
All of that is a long-winded way of saying I think you should start shopping via the Internet Departments of out of town dealers (either email, or phone if you’d like to move quicker). Off the top of my head, Atlanta and DC have competitive Lexus markets, but I’m sure there are others. Perhaps you could be extremely upfront with these dealers and say, “I’m shopping out of town because my local dealer gave me a bad offer. If my local dealer won’t match your offer I’d like you to ship me the vehicle. If my local dealer will match the offer, I will buy it from them.” You also might want to get some lease brokers involved to turn up the heat a bit. Hopefully Hendrick calls you back during this and you can tell them what you are doing and see if they change their tune. Competition is your most powerful negotiating tool, and they don’t yet appreciate your intelligence. Hang in there and get your price.
Look at the magician’s other hand - the more important number is the monthly payment on a 36-month lease with zero down.
That number should be .5% to .8% of MSRP. Period.
And timing is EVERYTHING. You want to contact dealers just when they need that one extra sale to get their monthly/quarterly… even yearly quota bonuses.
Funny, I’m doing the exact same thing in st Louis. Contacted Hendrick and they offered $4k off the $50k rx350s without hesitation. They are trying to throw in a $795 nitrogen fill, door guards, and a $500 dealer fee.
Best bet is to shop around online like they said. I’ve gotten some great offers (10-12% off, standard residual and money factor).
One dealer in Atlanta is offering to ship the car to my house fully insured for $800 in addition to 12.5% off msrp on a $53k rx.
Once you go back to that dealer with screenshots of conversations you are having with other dealers (like I am with my local Lexus dealer) they seem to be more apt to be straight with you. Though I don’t really like any dealer that’s trying to sneak charges in like nitrogen fill and door guards. I haven’t even responded to hendricks quote because I don’t want to deal with a shady dealer.
Maybe since we are both looking at similar vehicles and roughly in the same area, we can work together on this Atlanta deal to get a group buy. I’m giving my local plaza Lexus dealer a chance to match the Atlanta dealer before pulling the trigger. Will post up my details in other post once numbers are finalised. PM me though.
As I said above, I leased my current Camry from Hendrick with the edge guards, nitrogen, and dealer fee junk. The way I handled that was to just ignore it and shop on payment when you’re ready. The other dealer was offering $180/month with no money down, and then Hendrick offered $125. No one ever talked about dealer fee, edge guards, etc., me included. The payment is an equalizer once you are close to your number - you shouldn’t have to ask to have any fees removed because they would be rolled in.
Thank you for sharing your experience at the Toyota store. There isn’t much competition here and Hendrick knows that and they know I know that so they can shove unrealistic numbers easily. What I was irritated with was the fact that I pointed out their refusal to work on the deal with me and they didn’t make an effort to keep me there by offering even another deal after their 1st one they printed out.
I will definitely take a look at ATL & DC - had no idea they were more competitive markets. I knew an in-store shopping experience would most likely not get me the best deal but I figured it was worth the effort considering Hendrick touts their “amazing customer service.”
Also trying some lease brokers and will shop their offers back at Hendrick. Thank you for the encouragement!
Thank you for the advice. I can easily get to the sub-1% but the dealership just didn’t want to deal with my offer and math. Figured year-end would be great timing and trying to deal on 1 of 9 FWD RX’s while it’s snowing and icing up outside would help them get one off their hands!
Thanks for posting that. I’ll give it a read to see if I did something wrong.
I went in pretty hard and confident - enough so that I skipped dealing with the salesperson, they brought out their sales manager and when I hardballed him and he didn’t bring back any improved offer, the next one out was straight up finance guy. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so hard - that might be helpful in negotiating but I did want to cut through all the in-between crap and go straight to the bottomline. No leaving for lunch, to take dogs out, whatever. I called them out on every dealer cash, incentive available to let them know I know what I’m talking about.
Will give it another go once I get some competitive offers from other dealerships. Just wanted to get thoughts on how to shut their finance guy down on questioning me about the MF I got and telling me that they don’t inflate MFs.
No, honestly haven’t looked very seriously at them because I thought the monthly would be out of reach. Trying to stay under $600 inc taxes. Have you found either in the sub-600 ballpark?
Finding an X5 or GLE in a sub 600 ball park is like finding snow in December in New England Easy. Needs hustle, MSD, negotiation of 15% off MSRP but all doable.
Shame that thing is so ugly, haha. The wife and I stepped into the Infiniti dealer to check out the QX30 and 60, she wanted to walk right out once she saw both.
Looking like our best bet is indeed a well equipped RX350. Super nice car for the price.
When you are mentioning all of things that happened.
And most of all 3 hours …for sure something was wrong.
They knew they had you.
Just negotiate the cost of the vehicle in total, not nitrogen / et al.
Read the things I linked.
Now if you were treated poorly whilst there:
Make an appointment with dealers owner or manager.
Should that person care, things will be fixed for you.
Easy. Needs hustle, MSD, negotiation of 15% off MSRP but all doable.
That’s what I’m looking around for.