Im looking into purchasing a new Toyota Highlander and there doesn’t seem to be much negotiating room like there is in the truck market. I know most car pricing highly subjective and dealer dependent but I thought someone may be able provide some additional insight into what constitutes a good price. Below is the invoice information I was able to obtain. With 2250 in rebates included their offer was 44k. What do you think? Thanks!

Are you a Costco member? If so, check the prices through their service. Probably won't be the absolute lowest that you could find, but it's easy enough and will give you a reference point.

Deal with the internet sales person. Email several Toyota dealers and get them working against each other. A friend of mine bought a Highlander last year that stickered for 36k and his drive out was 31k.

Being a common vehicle there are probably 100 with the same options within a few hours drive. Shop the deal you have been offered to some other dealers.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Are you a Costco member? If so, check the prices through their service. Probably won't be the absolute lowest that you could find, but it's easy enough and will give you a reference point.

Yep..ask for the Costco pricing. The local Toyota dealer in this area honors that and the pricing is invoice, no hassle.

KBB.com has a new car price calculator that supposed to provide a fair price to pay for a new vehicle. I don't know how accurate their price calculator is but it should at least serve as a good starting point. If you can find a leftover 2018 that would probably bring you the greatest savings.

My credit union offers a car buying service so you may want to check with your financial institution to see if they offer a similar program.

Invoice used to be a good target, but with the advent of the internet, much of money being made is now behind the scenes.

When I bought my 4 Runner, I called up 8 dealers in the area and pitted them against each other. I never once set foot in a dealership until I was ready to buy. I got $1500 below invoice and I didn't even push them that hard. My wife used Costco and got a heck of a deal as well.

That's a whole lotta junk fees, southeast Toyota is a racket. JM&A, the Moran family that own it are loaded

Shop through the internet depts from the comfort of your home

I’d probably consider invoice, less incentives, plus $500 to be a mutually good deal. That includes junk fees. Taxes are extra of course.
Mike

I recently looked at a new 2019 RAV4 XLE Plus edition on a local dealer lot. That's a high demand vehicle right now. Vehicle stickered at $33.5. Without any effort whatsoever, I had the dealer offer me the vehicle for $29.4. You need to shop some more dealerships for pricing. I think there's a way better deal waiting for you out there if you're willing to look for it.

You can do a lot better than invoice if you’re not in a hurry haggling with the internet sales people. Just sayin.....

You may be be able to better, but I'd probably deal at $40k-42k depending on availability of the make/model/options you want. Common combo, every dealer has 1 - $40k. Relatively rare, may need to wait - $42k.

Generally, I'd easily take 10-15% of MSRP; and depending on incentives, etc, you may be able to stretch a bit lower.

Some models easier than others. T4R is hard to deal. Camry/Corolla generally cake.

I’ll take a look at costco pricing, that was a great suggestion. Im not in a rush but I am looking for a particular trim, interior and exterior color. Within a couple hundred miles I have only found two that match. The first one was in my orginal post that was in the local dealers network.

If the second dealer still has the other one on the lot next Saturday I'm going to take the two hour drive to get their price. I'm not having any luck getting an internet price but that may be from not looking out of the state.

My wife and I bought her a Highlander in May, 2015, second year of the refresh IIRC. One year old used models were going for almost the same as new, so we decided a new purchase was what we would go with. Got Costco pricing, but couldn't find exactly what she wanted in stock - internet sales of the dealer was able to search through stock of vehicles that hadn't been built yet, source the EXACT model/color/options we wanted, and got us a price a couple hundred cheaper even. We had to wait a couple weeks to get it, but it was very much worth it. I'd start with a Costco price, pit a few dealers internet salesmen against each other, and you should be able to work out a fair price without the angst of typical negotiations - and get exactly what you want. The old negotiating is what you do when the dealer actually has what you want in stock right now - like my used Expedition.
That was a fun negotiation. It took me a couple weeks to find the closest match in a one year old model, which was being changed. I had a price I was willing to pay, with a trade. They were trying to play with numbers, get me to name a payment, typical dealer stuff. I said I need a final price with the trade first before we talk financing. Went back an forth for about an hour (I was surfing SigForum on my iPad while they "discussed with the manager"). They finally agreed to my price. The disappointment on their faces when I pulled out my checkbook instead of talking about financing was priceless!

Truecar and costco both came up with no dealers available in the area. I’ll expand my search out some and see if I can get some prices from some of the larger dealers out of state. Thanks for all the advice!

I just got a very good deal on my Tacoma in NC. Not sure where you are located in SC, but if you are near Charlotte, I can hook you up with the people I dealt with. E-mail me at the address in my profile.

That is not a good price, I can tell you that for sure.

We bought a Highlander FWD XLE last summer for 15% off MSRP, $1,000 military rebate and I split the dealer cost of $800 with the dealer down to $400.

You have way too many add ons. Tell them, don't ask, to take them off or you'll walk. If they balk, then you walk. Being in Orlando, we also deal with SET and there was no administrative fee. Sounds like the dealer is adding on fees and saying it's from someone else.

Shop around, it's a Highlander, not a Ferrari. Someone will deal with you.

Almost $2200 in fees? WTF

I'm probably not the guy to listen to on buying autos. I will contact every dealer within 4 states (i.e., however far you're willing to drive or pay for delivery) and tell them what you want, when you plan to buy, and that you will not entertain haggling. They have one shot to earn my business. Then I wait and buy from the best seller. Once had me flying to Las Vegas to drive my new truck home to Memphis.....

Redesign is coming in 2020. The chassis is supposedly much improved.
2019 Old body/chassis style from 2014. Resale will be affected. Nearly a year old- depreciation. Reports that assembly quality is hit or miss. Has many options on it you may not want.
I have been thinking about getting one, but decided its value to me would be about 27000. I'll just wait out 2020 and get few options on it.
The more I look at prices, the less appealing any vehicle is to me. $40,000 ? Close to $400 a month for 9 or 10 years. I don't need or want most of the "safety" features. Low profile tires will have to be replaced with new rims - pothole country. Don't want sun roof, key less start, lane keeping, auto braking, pedestrian awareness ( cause walkers can't look up from their phones when crossing the street). For me, the value is no longer there