MSRP or discounts?

Others have posted on this forum that they received (or heard about others) who received $1K off MSRP after filling out a card at the Lexus booth at a car show. The only other discount I'm aware of is the so-called $1K "loyalty discount" offered to previous Lexus buyers. That's what I received two weeks ago when I bought my CT after having purchased an ES350 from the same dealer last year. Sticker on my Tungsten Silver CT200h Premium with $661 worth of accessories came to $32,436; I paid $31,436 plus T&L.

I suspect that folks will be able to wheel and deal after the CT inventory increases throughout the country. No one at my dealer knows what impact the tragedy in Japan will have on the production of the cars. Or if they do, they're not saying. It's possible (likely?) that some dealers will make the claim that inventory is and will be restricted for the near future because of the quake as a lever to sell the CT200s at full factory list, even if it's not entirely factual. All dealers are in the game to make money, and for them it's a balancing act on what's available and how much the public will pay.

I don't begrudge dealers for making what they can on the sale of a car. Their operation is very complex when you consider their huge overhead (salaries, advertising, building costs, taxes, utilities, etc.) coupled with their flooring costs (interest they have to pay on their existing inventory). Remember, they have to 'purchase' their inventory from the manufacturer, usually through a line of credit they have to pay interest on.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not sticking up for the dealers. There is no question that they have a distinct advantage over most buyers because they know exactly how the sale of new cars operates whereas the general public doesn't. There are lots of factors like dealer holdback and dealer add-ons like paint protection, service plans and extended warranties that are high-profit items that put money in the dealers' pockets beyond the sale of the car itself. Ditto with financing.

After all is said in done, it comes down to one question: Are you happy with the car and what you paid for it? You can lose a lot of sleep worrying that someone may have received a better deal than you. No matter what car you buy, you won't be completely happy with it if you fret that you paid too much. Just enjoy it for what it is.

crc333 said:

KenDude,

If you can prove that you own a Lexus then you will get the Loyalty $1000 off your MSRP. The proof is that you have a title to a lexus. There's a one page form that your sales person MUST fill and they take a photocopy of your title, this info goes to Lexus.

I had heard about the show program but wasn't working for Lexus at the time so if you didn't fill that out then no way to get the cash off not only that you can not combine the two to get 2k off....its one or the other.

And all the CTs that we have sold and that number is pretty high not a single one has been less than MSRP. The best part of this is you will pay the same price as the one before, and the one after you, assuming that level of car is the same.

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I have a problem with this though. I was at the car show (have my ticket stub as proof) and I talked to at least 2 people in the Lexus area, one of them specifically about the ct200h (the other about the RX450h). Neither or them mentioned to me about filling out a card to provide my name and address and email to Lexus (for marketing purposes obviously) and then getting $1000 off any Lexus. The sales person at the dealership brought it up after I mentioned seeing the car at the car show and wanted to know if I was on the list. I told them I didn't know anything about it but that I was at the car show and had my ticket stub as proof as well as a witness in someone that I went with. The salesperson said that without being "on the list" I couldn't get the discount that Lexus wouldn't accept my ticket stub.

That smacks of elitist garbage to me. I filled out the very same card for the salesperson while at the Lexus dealership. They could send that card to Lexus HQ, in fact I'm sure they already did because I'm getting marketing emails from Lexus now. So Lexus got the info they wanted but I'm not getting the discount? Even though I can prove I was there with a ticket stub? That's not right.

I don't NEED a ct200h, in fact no one does, we could ride bicycles or drive our existing cars or buy something else. So no, I refuse to be taken advantage of my Lexus. They know and I know that at a minimum they could give me $1000 off on the car and I simply refuse to buy one at MSRP, they can find another sucker. So Lexus has a choice, make MSRP - $1000 from me, or $0 from me, it's really Lexus's choice. If they knew my car ownership habits and influence in the automotive market they'd sell me the car at $1000 off in a heartbeat but evidently they aren't real good at figuring that out just yet. (I host two automotive radio shows and run a very large automotive website, all of which influence purchases and service and aftermarket/dealer parts purchases.)

So no, I'm not paying MSRP.