Toyota Stalking, er...um, SPOTTING with Charlie™ (T4R Edition)!

Pretty self-explanatory what this thread is about; Also, I had another older thread merged into this one...


ORIGINAL POST THAT WAS MERGED:

Back in 1996, my dad had a 1993 S-10 Blazer that was ultimately reliable but something of a basketcase at the same time (The air-conditioner blew a seal and purged itself of R-12 just ONE WEEK and about 260 miles after he bought it brand new, spewing white mist out of the defogger vent; Thank GOD for the warranty). It was also a 2-door, and he had a growing 7-year old (me) to consider. He decided to get a 4-door, and initially decided to buy a then-all-new 1996 4Runner Limited. We had a 1990 Camry LE V6 at the time too. He quickly realized he'd underestimated how popular these SUVs were, and absolutely no dealer from Philly to Allentown was willing to take anything less than sticker. A 4Runner Limited 4x4 with the options my dad wanted was about $32,000 if I remember correctly.

My dad bought a 1996 Pathfinder SE instead, buying the exact one he wanted for thousands below sticker (plus $12K for the 1993 Blazer on trade), and we had that for 13 years. The Pathfinder is what we traded for the Tacoma in 2009.

 

why would it matter...20 years later?

 

Who would ever pay window sticker?

 

I'm just curious, that's the one and only time my dad ever actually gave up on getting a new vehicle he wanted because the dealer wouldn't budge on the price. He had the same problem with his first new car, a 1983 Celica GT, but he didn't know anything about negotiating back then (Celica was close to ten grand). Examples of the deals my dad has gotten:

1993 S-10 Blazer 4x4 (MSRP of about $22K; before trade got them down to like $18K)

2000 GMC Safari conversion van ($30K+ MSRP, got it for about $24K)

2004 Honda Odyssey EX ($28K MSRP, got it for $24K, before trade-in of 2000 GMC)

2008 Acura TL ($36K MSRP, got it for $31K plus trade-in of 2002 BMW 3-series convertible)

My 2010 Tacoma (Over $17K MSRP, got them down to like $15K; Got $2,300 for 1996 Pathy on trade-in but I forget if the $14,900 paid for the Taco was before or after trade)

2013 Honda Pilot Touring 4WD ($42K MSRP, got it for $36K at 0.9% APR, no trade)

 

is this all classified info?

 

Not my dad... Aside from that Celica, but that was the first new car he bought and also the first car he ever financed. He's never paid anywhere near sticker since. He was hesitant to buy a new 2010 Tacoma in September 2009 because he didn't think he could get any dealership to negotiate. In his experience he hasn't had good luck negotiating on new Toyotas. The only reason he got a LOADED 1990 Camry LE so cheap is because HIS DAD knew the guy who owned the dealer (in North-Central New Jersey).

 

Yes, and I thought it was a legit post... I'm guessing based on what I've heard so far that only Toyota dealers in Southeast PA were assholes about sticker price on new 1996 4Runners. The only good deal in the area on a new 1996 4Runner my dad found was a blue 2WD model. I don't even think it was an SR5 because it had those argent-painted wheels. The reason the dealer was willing to deal on THAT 4Runner was because very few people wanted a 2WD 4Runner in Pennsylvania.

My dad has a friend in the Navy who lived in the Northeast and wanted a new 1999 Odyssey minivan, and went to a Honda dealer in Florida to get one because every dealer near him had a waiting list, and the dealers with a couple in stock ready to sell wanted sticker or ABOVE sticker. The dealer in Florida was willing to deal, and he flew down from Virginia and drove it back with temp tags...

Back in 2003, my grandpa's friend couldn't find a good deal on a new base model Tacoma, so he flew out to Tennessee where he bought one BELOW INVOICE at a dealership, paid cash, and drove it home to Pennsylvania...

My dad didn't have to time fly out to the Midwest or down to Florida...

 

It was declassified after the Cold War

 

Also, back in 2005 my dad wanted a convertible and his first choice was a BMW 3-series, but my dad is a perfect example that there is a difference between being able to afford a car and having more dollars than sense. He just couldn't fathom paying more than forty grand for a vehicle back then... We looked at everything, including the new 2005 Mustangs. The local Ford Dealer, Fred Beans (which is infamous for not budging on sticker prices even during the 2008-2009 recession, and today), had a few V6 convertibles in stock but they wanted $1,000 OVER STICKER. V8 GT models had a waiting list well into 2006. My dad didn't even bother to test drive one... He ended up buying this.

 

It was never classified, my dad is a master negotiator... I was just curious if anybody got a decent deal on a 1996 4Runner Limited 4x4 when it was new.

 

Is this real life?

 

thank you for bringing back the avatar

 

I never changed it but you're welcome

 

for awhile i saw it as a "?"

 

Strange. Maybe a glitch or another member with a REALLY similar username?

 

I think Dustsquall4x4 has a ? For their avitar.

 

Hey Charlie,

The question you ask about the MSRP is a good one. I know in the late '70's/early '80's Honda had a lock on their MSRP prices. When every auto maker was at roughly a $5K-$6K price point, Honda was at $8K. They sold out as soon as they would get deliveries and there was a waiting list for them. I don't know about Toyotas from back then but I'm sure they were getting full MSRP as well back then. That was when everybody was fed up with the low quality coming from the Big Domestic brands. This ran through the 1990's and I'm sure there are people out there that firmly believe that the American car companies have never really caught up with the quality of the Japanese companies.

I remember that my dad refused to pay $8K for a Honda and instead went for a $5K Chevy Citation, arguably the biggest piece of crap car ever made...at least since the 1980's.

The point I'm trying to make is that Toyota has probably followed a similar trajectory as Honda has, they know what they make and they know it's a quality product. That means that your doing good to get 10% off the MSRP nowadays. I have no reason to believe things were any different in the 1990's.

My dad didn't have the Citation for very long and it had problems all along the way.

When I bought my SR5 in late November I negotiated like hell to get 10% off but I made up for it by throwing my trade in into the deal after I got the price down. Then I made sure that they covered tag, title and tax.

I found out the next day when I took my trade in to the dealership that, according to the manager, there has been an effort to do a fixed pricing way of selling cars. Supposedly the Scion was the test bed for this concept. However the Scion is not being made anymore and, according to the manager, the reason for the demise was the fixed price strategy of selling them. According to him "everybody wants to feel like they are getting a deal." I think that he has a point somewhat.

However, there are people that don't haggle on MSRP and just pay the asking price. No problem with that if you get what you want. Another tactic is to agree on the MSRP but have them put upgrades and whatnot at no extra cost. In fact this might be better than haggling over the MSRP for alot of people.

That's my download for the night here. Hope this all makes sense.

 

Pretty self-explanatory...

 

I'm here for the pics.

 

October 4th, 2017:

Monterey, California