Quote:
Originally Posted by DAN48
Are there ANY car dealers in Florida that offer fair deals??
My most recent experience in was a deal in which:
--The price of the new car was over MSRP
--The trade-in for my car was 15-20% below KBB or NADA
--The Documentation and License fees were six times the actual cost
--The quote for the new car included $3500 of "fluff" add-ons that were probably worth $500.
My opinion is local dealers would sell far more cars if they didn't treat seniors like idiots! Needless to say, this dealer lost a potential customer!
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I think that you can get a fair deal from
Lexus of Orlando and I’ll tell you why.
I’ve had the itch to buy a new vehicle, but I don’t really need one. So, I’ve had some time to do some research and shop around. In a vehicle, I want safety, reliability and comfort. I limited my search to either a Toyota or a Lexus. Rather than run all over, I started by contacting the nearest dealers via email. I went to each website and picked out a specific vehicle, making note of the VIN (vehicle identification number). Then I emailed the dealers with something like this:
“I am interested a 2021 Model-XYZ (VIN-xxxxxxxxxxxxx) that is listed on your website. Please email me with your best
out-the-door price including a detailed breakdown of all the options, fees and taxes. A copy of the Monroney sticker and the invoice would be great too. I live in zip-code 32162 (Sumter County) and would probably transfer tags.”
Mostly, I got all kinds of gibberish. Taxable fees, non-taxable fees, Tires/Battery/MVWEA fees, document fees and so on. From my research, I knew what everything should have been.
The best response came from Lexus of Orlando. They wouldn’t email a quote, but, if I gave them my phone number, they would text me one. I didn’t want to give out my phone number, but I did. This was at the beginning of April and Lexus was offering a $2,500 cash rebate on the RX350 that gets applied to your vehicle as a down payment, without using Lexus financing.
They texted me dollar figures for MSRP, discount (about 8.84%), taxable amount, transfer tag, subtotal, rebate and out-the-door.
The out-the-door price was about 93% of the MSRP. I plugged the figures into my spreadsheet and it all made sense. I was impressed enough to make an appointment to drive that specific vehicle. We went to Orlando and drove the RX350. I have never been treated better at a dealership. They were great. The RX350 was quiet and comfortable. Rear visibility and road feel were a bit lacking. Quality was apparent. Safety and reliability has been proven.
Then came the closer. He said that they would honor my texted quote, but we couldn’t agree on the trade-in allowance for my 2010 Scion xB. They were $1,500 under what I wanted. I didn’t buy the RX350. Not just because of the trade-in (they upped the trade-in offer another $1,000 after I walked), but mainly because I was uncomfortable with getting in and out of it. I’m tall and having to carefully and consciously duck because of the sloping roof was going to grow old fast.
Bottom line…
--The price of the new car was 8.84% less than the MSRP
--The trade-in for my car was 7% ($500) below KBB
--The dealer fees were $65
--The licensing fees were actual
--The quote for the new car included $0 of "fluff" add-ons
Now it is May and Lexus is now offering $2,000 cash rebate on the RX350 that gets applied to your vehicle as a down payment. They are also offering 0.9% APR financing for up to 60 months, without a cash rebate.