What are the best sites to get invoice, holdback, and factory rebate information

I can imagine that with this pandemic still raging, there are probably no volume bonuses as dealers are not selling as much as per pandemic sales.

I’m trying to buy a used Lexus now and pickings are slim.

Between supply chain disruptions and many of their own factories shutting down, AFAIK there was no need for the OEMs to push the dealers to sell volume

@carbuy

All good questions. But you are falling down the rabbit hole of trying to reverse engineer a dealer’s cost. You will spend a lot of time in this pursuit and end up shaking your head in frustration. There is just enough “cost” information out there to make buyers think they can get to a solid cost number: invoice, holdback, Edmunds incentive info. But in the end you are only getting a few morsels - you won’t get the complete picture.

But there is good news: you don’t need to know the dealer’s cost to negotiate effectively. He/she will let you know when they can’t make a financially sound decision - they will tell you to take the other guy’s deal. That’s what you want. You want to hear “no” - a few times. When you make a viable aggressive offer, if you don’t hear “no” from a few dealers you are not at “rock bottom”. So if you goal is rock bottom (more on this later): A. spend a lot of time going from dealer to dealer to get an extra $400 discount from someone or B. catch a dealer at the exact moment when all the stars align and they will give you a true negative loser deal (see @BMW_Dave comments).

I would suggest you invest the time you would spend on your quixotic “cost” quest, and spend it looking at actual deals that have been posted here. This is the GOLD you seek - not dealer cost. The single most important thing you need to do is spend time looking at actual deals that have been negotiated on this site. The deals you find will reflect the supply/demand dynamics at play (at a moment in time). Put together a simple offer model for the car you want that guides your PRE-INCENTIVE SELLING PRICE OFFER.

Here is an example of a price model where the OEM uses direct-to-dealer cash in it’s go-to-market strategy:

Model XYZ Selling Price Model:
$45,000 MSRP
$ 3,125 Dealer Cash: Current (get from edmunds.com)
$ 4,950 Dealer Discount
$36,925 Target Selling Price Pre-Conditional Incentives

17.94% Total Discount from MSRP
11.00% Dealer Discount before Dealer Cash

$ 1,000 Conditional Incentives: Loyalty, Conquest, College
$35,925 Net Cap before Capitalized Fees

0.00215 Buy Rate MF. Common dealer markup +0.00010 or 0.25%

Everything here is pre-determined except the Dealer Discount (the negotiation target is 11% in this example). Make sure you lock in the buy rate MF. Always identify if the dealer is marking up the MF, which they are permitted to do. Offset MF mark up in your offer. Look at past deals and find out what kind of dealer discounts have been posted. Note: Dealer cash can be obtained from edmunds and fluctuates periodically. Your goal with dealer cash is to make sure the dealer puts it ALL in your deal - which they are not bound to do (unlike direct to consumer incentives).

Here is an example of a price model where the OEM uses direct-to-consumer incentives as it’s go-to-market strategy:

Model XYZ Selling Price Model:
$45,000 MSRP
$ 4,050 Dealer Discount
$40,950 Target Selling Price Pre-Incentive

   9.0%     Dealer Discount

$ 950 Lease Credit: Current (get from edmunds.com)
$ 1,000 Conditional Incentives: Loyalty, Conquest, College
$39,000 Net Cap before Capitalized Fees

0.00215 Buy Rate MF. Common dealer markup +0.00010 or 0.25%

Dig around this site and put together a price model for you target vehicle based on actual deals. A few clever folks post their deal model BEFORE they begin their negotiation and ask for feedback. Leasehackrs will help you fine tune your negotiation plan if they see you put in some work to figure out how to get a great deal (there is an anti-spoon feeder philosophy here). Invest your time this way, and avoid the dealer cost rabbit hole.

Now back to rock bottom price. Don’t kill yourself to get it. Negotiate with a handful of dealers and come across as market informed, lease literate and respectful. Leverage competition among a few dealers to get to a pre-incentive price that is within the deal range you have determined is a great-good deal. Stop when you run out of energy and let the dealer make a satisfactory profit. Don’t be that guy/girl that will go to the next dealer to get another $300 off ($9/month). For many people, the extra time just isn’t worth it. Enjoy your new car knowing you played the lease game well and 90% of the cars on the street have owners that are paying more than you.

Happy hunting.

P.S. If you want to feel firsthand how ineffective your “cost” search will be try to figure out the trunk money on your target car (what is trunk money?). What is the stair-step volume bonus on your car and how do you know if your dealer is chasing it? What the heck is a 1% customer experience and loyalty bonus? What is flagship money? Acura uses Flex Cash - what is that and how do you get some? You have been warned - there are much better uses of your time.

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You haven’t been here long enough. I’ve had people argue with me on this forum over going to dealer B for another 100 bucks. Over a 3 year term, they want to grind dealer B for another 3 bucks a month. Sad, but true.

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@mp11477

They will out grow it - most of the good people do :wink:

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To the OP:

Invoice and MSRP are both public facing but means absolutely nothing to your search as the market is what determines the pricing. SO for a hot selling hybrid, MSRP maybe a good price, while a a slow moving base unit, maybe go invoice or less.
Holdback isnt publicly available
Factory rebate to customer-> mfg website
Factory rebate to dealer->isnt publicly available

Act quick once you get the price you want; dont be me lol!

I was in the market for an RX, and to be fair it had been interesting ride thus far. I had done the usual runs of all the dealerships in my search area and hammered down to a unicorn deal (pre-incentives). Problem wass now the interior color I want wasnt available. So while i looked for options, say a dealer trade the dealer sold the unicorn deal at close to sticker and then said the dealer trade would end be costing me more.

Are there sites where you can get this?

I still am confused for a base mid price Japanese car or SUV what is the general goal in terms of pre incentive? Also if I look at a Texas deal and I am in New York, how is that relevant? I would imagine only the pre incentive and even there it may be more or less popular in that area

Varies by brand/model

Understood but how do I sent my goal? Especially if there are no recent leases posted, is it random, I generally want about 10% off pre incentive or is there a forumula or another web site that lists the best deals or do I have to keep talking to dealers until they all say no?

Unfortunately I need a car in the near future and right now dealers in my area are not working on volume so they are not too interested in doing rock bottom deals

Either you have to be willing to expand your search radius, even going as far as possibly having the car shipped to you, or you are stuck paying local prices. The key is that you have to be flexible in lieu of having the convenience of being local. Unless, of course, you can grind something locally. Doesn’t sound like that’s an option to you, however.

Shipping no, I could see that on a 60k luxury maybe but not on a 30K family car. I am willing to drive 4 hours or possibly more. I also think my area is where the deals are usually good because it is so high volume. Anyone used the dealerships in PA near Allentown etc? Apparently there is a whole strip of them that do high volume