Purchase question for all the Cali folk

Are these prices OTD with tax and license fees?

 

Go up North. Got mine in santa Clara and drove down to LA

 

I had to haggle to get MSRP because nearly all dealers were tagging on market adjustments anywhere from $500-$10,000. and the ball was unfortunately in their court since there was only one of my truck in in the tri-state area at that moment and I couldn't be without a vehicle much longer since i sold my jeep for the down payment.

 

$35,315 for an OR MT with Premium/Tech. $100 over invoice. Bought it from Santa Cruz Toyota.

 

It's been a couple years since I got my truck. But the "These vehicles sell themselves" line may not be complete bullshit.

A little back story..... Back in 2013 I totalled my Jeep JK. I was shopping around for either another JK or a Tacoma, I wasn't in a rush to buy one so I took my time. I tried going through Ontario Jeep(and a couple other close by dealerships) to get a JK but they wouldn't come down on price. Toyota was starting to get the next year's models in and I ended up getting exactly what I wanted around invoice.

A month or so later after I had already purchased the Tacoma I had to go in person to cancel the Jeep's extended warranty and did it at Ontario Jeep. I had a conversation with the guy that was cancelling the contract and it went like this:


Jeep guy : "So are you going to get another jeep or are you looking at another vehicle?"
Me : "I already got a Tacoma, your dealership wouldn't come down on the price of a new Wrangler"
Jeep guy : "Yeah, we don't have to, people walk in here and pay whatever we want."
Me : "They don't try to negotiate or anything?"
Jeep guy : "Nope, they walk in, sign a contract and walk out with the keys, they don't even try. If you wanted to get a great deal you should have tried Huntington Beach Jeep. They deal in volume and it's easier to get a good deal through them."

Dude was completely blunt and honest about the whole thing. He knew I wasn't in the market for a new vehicle and wasn't going to be buying one for a while so he wasn't trying to sell me one and even told me to go to another dealership if I did (LOL!). What he said was basically the same experience I had when I was checking prices at dealerships a couple months prior.

Couple things I learned from the whole experience, it's not impossible to get a great deal on a vehicle, but some things that will make it easier:
Buy at the end of the model year when dealerships are trying to get rid of last year's models
Try to find the closest "volume dealer" and see what kind of a deal they offer.
Don't negotiate in person, use true car or email bombing or whatever, just don't waste your time trying to walk into a dealership and negotiating.

 

Don't pay more than 38k OTD for a manual and over 40k OTD for an auto DCSB OR 4x4 with premium tech. I ended up flying from LA to Oakland for $72 and had a friend drive me to Santa Rosa to pick up my truck.

 

This whole thread is insane.

 

What percentage are you looking to put down?

Honestly, it sounds like you're trying to put nothing down that's why they won't negotiate with you. But that's none of my business...

 

thanks for the advise! Now...how do you find a volume dealership? lol

Actually 20k. Ive had a conversation with a few salesman and they've told me it doesn't matter, that they receive their money from the finance company regardless if you pay it off in full, half, or whatever. It honestly seems like my biggest problem is dealing with the salesmen in person. Could just be that I suck at negotiating lol but dealing over the phone or online seems pretty straightforward with less BS and less time wasted. I also have to expand out of LA county.

 

No idea on how to find a high volume dealer for toyotas. I had heard about Huntington Beach Jeep before I talked to the jeep guy about the warranty, but I was still completely shocked that he flat out recommended to go somewhere else for a good deal.

I haven't had conventional TV for years (I don't see commercials anymore), but IIRC high volume dealers used to brag about it in their commercials. If you Google around enough it's gotta pop up somewhere on which dealerships sell the most. Or maybe just look around other toyota forums for who gives the best deals on them in Socal.

 

Long, Toyota Irvine and Cerritos are owned by AutoNation so they are volume. I can't tell you how easy it is when you email the whole deal

 

I bought in November 2015 there were no access cab, quicksand, Offroad anywhere. I had to have them order it. 500 under MSRP but negotiated $900 8 year 125,000 mile Warranty as part of the deal. It was the 10.5% local sales tax and California registration fee's that choked me. There were no Tacoma trucks at the local dealers on the lot at the time of purchase and my truck finally showed up February 2016.
Was it a great deal? No, but I only wanted one model and only one color and that was not negotiable. There are still very few copies of my truck running around. Maybe people perceive them as fugly or not worth the money and just buy double cabs because they are on the shelf. But I like my truck and would only buy the exact model again. Big city Cali in not the place to make deals. try Victorville or Palmdale / Lancaster

 

Ok so question for those that went through a credit union. Did you guys negotiate the price, then went to apply for a loan? Or did you take a pre-set amount and hoped to get the truck within that price?

 

Get a purchase order with vin# from the dealer and then shop with the vin# and set price.

 

Go apply for the loan first. They will give you a number. Then you go looking for the truck. Do not tell them about the credit union until you finish negotiation. Then you just contact your credit union and they will send the check to the dealer.

 

Got approved for the approximate amount, then the dealer makes you do a temporary alternate loan that gets torn up when they get the check for the CU.

RZ Rob

 

It helps you in so many ways because you know what interest rate you're getting. Some dealers make a lot of money on the back end on the interest rate. For example you may wish for 2.99 but the dealer comes back and says they got approval for you for 3.5, they get that extra on the back end.

 

I went through the internet sales department first. Then when I finally decided to come in a regular sales men caught me first. He told me I was crazy asking for anything below msrp.
When I mentioned I want interested otherwise and that someone has already told me to come in and we could work something out, they sent me to the internet sales manager who was also the fleet sales guy. I ended up with something no higher than 300 over invoice. Which was about 35k for a OR DCLB 4x4
ZERO DOWN, down payment is separate from sale price

 

Im hoping to give about 20k down. Should I do it during the deal or just send a massive check as my first payment?
Im a little scared of giving downpayments, last time I gave 4K down the salesman screwed me somehow and took about half! Could've sworn I did the math right

 

I'm no expert but I would say you negotiate the price first. With zero down. They always try to sell you the monthly payment. Stay away from that. Look for the purchase price. The interest rate is second to that because you can always re-finance with a credit union and get pretty good rates, specially on tacomas. Monthly payment just falls in line when those two are good. Also, if you do refinance you can make the 20k payment at that point which will give you a super low payment.
Also if you think you'll upgrade soon, think about leasing. Tacomas are some of the best cars to lease.