Re: Ordered package 8 at Frontier Toyota at MSRP 2 weeksdeli
mchinta said:
Hi all,
This is my first posting here and I got a call from Frontier Toyota, Los Angeles, CA that Sea side Pearl with package 8 is on its way to them and I went ahead and paid half amount to reserve it. All the paper work is done and they are selling this package at MSRP no premium.
They ain't done with you yet ! ! !
Excuse the length.....
I was one of their victims, opps, I meant customers, last August. They pulled their "Special pricing" (that $3000 "Because we can" fee) out of no where. It appeared on the four-square game they play with you. I may have glossed it over had I not wandered back out to the lot and checked the sticker price against the four-square sheet that they were writing all over. When I questioned as to "Why the car was $3000 over the sticker," I got the "Surcharge" (i.e. Special price or Because we can) story. The interest rate also had to be a point of contention as well. Had I not known the AAA or Credit Union's current rates I might have been taken there as well (they were about 0.5% higher in the end, but maybe 4-5% higher to begin with!).
Fwiw, I took my laptop with a financial program into one dealer (Hunter Dodge in Lancaster) when I was looking at a Dodge pickup and was more than shocked when their quoted 5% on paper turned out to be 13%. Seems we didn't match numbers on anything and I basically got run off by the "man behind the desk" when questioning their interest rate figures. Salesman was all apologetic in the end and said he really cannot control what the "man behind the desk" does (this was one of those interenet special online quotes that went bad). Anyway, a good math rule to remember is $20 on every $1000 (e.g. loan for $20,000 should be around $400 or less). If their amounts are higher, then you're getting stung. There is no turning back in California once your signature hits that line. You agree to pay x-amount per month, even if they can go back and make your 3% loan number into a 13% (a little nail mark on the NCR paper - a trick I learned from one "honest" (??) dealership!!).
No doubt their finance manager will still work you over for some other options (insurance, service, etc.). They don't have the word "No" in their lexicon. This entire purchase game took around 3 1/2 hours. Least I didn't have any rubber hose marks on me when I left.
However, I did get stung for $500 over MSRP in the end and the financial manager finally gave up on his "other sales" as other victims, er, buyers were waiting and it was late. The trade-in was valued about $3000 less than what I could have sold it for, but it died on their lot and no way was it going to make it home. So I guess they made their $3000 back plus the $500 surcharge. Honestly, the trade-in price given ($500 for a '94 Saturn) was the same as I had gotten elsewhere and even one year prior. Seems trade-ins older than 4 years really take a hit. Dealers do not want them on their lots as they have too many problems with older trade-ins. They are sold out to auction houses as salvage vehicles. So the $500 I wasn't too shocked by, plus its timing chain was slapping badly, among other issues, once I got there and I feared the thing wouldn't make it back home. I may have gotten it for MSRP had I stuck to the plan, but it was late and I had to drive 100 miles home at 11 p.m. and I was worn down from the "game." Least they offer free refreshments.
That said, I least I got the car in the same day with the features I wanted and, for the most part, it has been trouble free (small niggles, but no big deal). My nearby dealer only had one wrong color in stock, black, and in 110 heat, "No way!" Frontier had a lot of Pri's in stock, maybe 25 or so on their parking deck, and it was around the time in August when gas was shooting upwards towards $3.75. Maybe now that it's down into the less than $2.50 range you might be able to avoid the "Because we can" fee. They do move a lot of them. My salesman said they were selling about 75 a month (high demand in August) so they get a large allotment from Toyota.
No experience with their service department...yet. I have had good experience with Steve via e-mail in their parts department though so I guess that is good. Oh, the salesman did contact me via phone about the Hybrid sticker HOV program as well so I guess that's another plus for them. Got the sticker. Just cannot bear plastering them on the car though.
Good luck. It's all one big shell game. I was in at 7:30 p.m. and out near 11 p.m. Test drive the one you want - maybe two if they have a matching pair. Look the exterior paint over closely for orange peel or defects - and take the better one (salesman actually pointed this out ot me on the other match - maybe another plus for them?). Anyhoo, they'll gas it up and wash it before you see it again after you finally emerge from their
"Bowels of Hell" cubicle$. :twisted:
Have fun and post back as to how the
"experience" went, 'kay? :?:
