Dealer incentive

[Anonymous]

I contacted an internet sales rep I worked with last year about their best price on a 2016 Lexus. He called me with an offer of 6K off MSRP which stunned me and I was ready to say yes on the phone, but I thanked him and told him I'd call back this afternoon. Currently there is a 3K cash incentive on this vehicle, but it appears most dealerships aren't advertising it. I'm ready to say yes to his offer plus  the 3K, but after I got off the phone and talked to my husband about it I suspect the reason why his offer was so great is because he's including the incentive in it. (Making it actually not that great at all. Just ok.) Do you think he will honor his best price plus the incentive or do you think he'll swallow the loss and keep his agreement? He's been pretty straightforward to deal with, but things just seem too good to be true. Any advice on how to navigate this conversation? I was so close to getting a great deal without haggling.

[Anonymous]

Ask him to e-mail his offer to you, internet sales guys do that all the time even when you don't ask (I bought a car in March and I'm still getting sales offers from several of the guys I was working with back then...sheesh).

Usually it's a big photo of the car you want, with their "unbeatable" price in bold type - but somewhere it'll say something like "price assumes buyer will be using dealer financing; offer includes avaialble manufacturer incentives" or some such thing.  In that case, his price already accounts for the incentive.  if his e-mail doesn't say so, then you can reply with "so, you're saying [his price] minus $3000 for the [name of incentive program]?  So [price less incentive]?  I'll be there on Saturday!"

Then print the emails out and make an appointment...

[RonM21]

That is a good suggestion. That way, if there is anything in "fine print" that you may not know, you can then catch it.

[Anonymous]

I actually just spoke to him on the phone and he said the incentive was already included. Of course he said I wouldn't be able to do much better elsewhere. That they would try to beat his price by a few hundred. Then he came down another $250. He actually said he wouldn't send me the number via email unless I committed to buying from him e.g. deposit. He's going to call me back to verify the fees.

[Anonymous]

Not sure where you live (as in, how many Lexus dealerships you have in the area), but you could always try to get them to bid against each other.

Personally, I'd flat walk away from someone who wouldn't give me an offer in writing without me paying for the privilege, but that's just me.

He knows it's the end of the month lol

[StartingOver10]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Not sure where you live (as in, how many Lexus dealerships you have in the area), but you could always try to get them to bid against each other.

Personally, I'd flat walk away from someone who wouldn't give me an offer in writing without me paying for the privilege, but that's just me.

He knows it's the end of the month lol

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And me too.  Sounds like a set up if they won't put it in writing...

[Anonymous]

He only held the quote hostage when he realized I was calling his bluff when I said I could possibly do better elsewhere. We were getting along so well up until that point. And then he turned into a typical car salesman...

Unfortunately I live in a more rural area so only one small Lexus dealership near me. In good news, because of the salesman's shenanigans I contacted two other dealerships in the Chicago area (which thankfully has about a dozen Lexus dealerships) and immediately received two quotes via email that came in lower than his. This is without me even mentioning his offer. I've since asked them to do better and got another $1000 off! In writing on an invoice. Then I decided what the heck and contacted my local dealer and asked if he could beat the big city prices. First he told me I should buy the car from those other dealerships because he didn't know how they were offering those prices. I told him I knew how and mentioned the Lexus Performance Cash. He argued with me about the incentive and said it didn't exist. I was wrong. I told him it did and he needs to ask his finance manager about it. That is the second time I have told him something has existed that he has insisted did not and I have been right. I kind of don't want to buy a car from him with that arrogance. However, if he gets me the car I want at the same price as the city guys I will probably save myself the 7-8 hour drive (both ways) and just buy the car from him. I need to think it over though. I hate to reward bad behavior, but I don't really feel like driving to Chicago on a Saturday.