cold feet. do I buy it?

G

Glenn_Law

New member
After several months of searching, the dealer has my 4Runner ready to ship to me. I just need to overnight the signed papers to them.

The price is $41,500. I think this is $1300 over invoice (I'm estimating invoice at 10% below MSRP for this vehicle). I'm also paying $500 to ship it from Kansas City to Houston. Is this too much money for this vehicle? It's a white/beige Limited/Nav/3rd row with keyless entry, mats, and cargo cross bars.

I know it may take a while to find another one. There is some time pressure because the transmission is going out on my old Ford Exploder.

I've always been a good negotiator for new car purchases. It's rare that I pay anything over invoice. I've never paid $1300-ish over invoice.

Am I being an idiot to buy this vehicle at this price?
 
Register to hide this ad
Well Glenn, I paid under invoice and many other guys on this forum also paid under invoice. If the dealership won't tell you what invoice is on the vehicle, you can always build the vehicle on edmunds.com or some other similar website. Find out what actual invoice is on the vehicle, then ask yourself if you're willing to pay that price to have that vehicle now, or if you can wait another month as you bomb internet sales departments with quote requests for what you want. Good luck. Paying too much for a vehicle makes me want to :barf: You could always tell the stealership you're working with the price is too high and you are backing out. They may become more flexible, or not.

On Edmunds.com, the approx invoice price I came up with is $39,921.
 
Last edited:
Glenn try consumerguideauto . Dealer invoice for 2011 LIMITED 4WD is $36,111. Then use Edmunds or any website that gives you invoice pricing on options. I came up about $39,521 GOOD LUCK
 
Keep in mind the dealer has no risk, and is not floating a loan while the car has to be sold.

This deal is ripe to knock some rain down. Remind the dealer with 5 buck a gallon gas around the corner he is going to need to move inventory soon.
 
If you were purchasing from the lot inventory, you could have gotten a better price but the mark up is nicely acceptable given the circumstances. You should go for it :thumb3:

You should also make sure it includes dest fee and also ask them to add some accessories to seal the deal.
 
Last edited:
I vote to wait. gas will go to $4.00, the country will go crazy. SUV's will go for well below invoice. And also, don't pay that much. You could buy it from an outside dealer and have it shipped for $500 to $1000. That much over invoice is a lot. Even Costco or AAA is $500 over invoice without a hassle. Use those avenues if you are a member.
 
Glenn I would get on computer and visit these websites . It took me about a month going to different sites .Then I would print copies take them todealership and find out why they can't match these prices. You wouldn't believe some of the excuses they come up with. And if you don't like prices go to a different dealer. REMEMBER they need to sell cars and you can choose who you buy from.
 
That exactly what my limited's setup was, plus a few things.. I paid about $41k before tax/tag etc for mine.. I absolutely love mine... But, I was sold before I even drove one by being part of the 4runner faithful.
 
WFO_Racer said:
This deal is ripe to knock some rain down. Remind the dealer with 5 buck a gallon gas around the corner he is going to need to move inventory soon.
Click to expand...
Is there something that you know, that I don't. I have heard the price right now is not going down and may go up. But, if we see $5 just around the corner, I will be selling my 4Runners and this forum will basically be dead.

So, if you feel it is going to $5 in January, don't buy a 4Runner, buy a Rav4 or a Corolla.
 
peter78 said:
Is there something that you know, that I don't. I have heard the price right now is not going down and may go up. But, if we see $5 just around the corner, I will be selling my 4Runners and this forum will basically be dead.

So, if you feel it is going to $5 in January, don't buy a 4Runner, buy a Rav4 or a Corolla.
Click to expand...
There's a lot of money out there that is being put into commodities rather than stocks, bonds, or money market accounts. With China's population entering into the market for personal vehicles comes the increased demand for fuel, which will invariably drive the price higher. OPEC has no problem with $100/barrel oil and our own government makes it cost prohibitive to tap domestic supplies or build new refineries here because fossil fuels are "bad". The combination of speculative money chasing a higher rate of return, increased foreign demand, and a myopic domestic energy policy can only result in increasing pump prices and that only gets worse when the Dollar is allowed to weaken against the Euro, Yen, and Ruble.

Even so, the 4Runner gets remarkably good mileage for as big a vehicle as it is. The last time the country had any sort of "Come-to-Jesus" moment over fuel costs (the 70's) your average family car had a V8 that got 12 miles to the gallon on the highway and the new car fleet mileage was in the mid teens. Compared to that, the 4Runner is an economy car. If we see a rapid escalation to $5/gallon next spring, you might see some pullback on SUV purchases but if the rise occurs over the course of the year people will just budget for it and go on with their lives.

To the OP: When contemplating dropping 40 large in one go, I'd rather be certain that I was right rather than wondering if I was getting shafted.
 
SeattleMike said:
There's a lot of money out there that is being put into commodities rather than stocks, bonds, or money market accounts. With China's population entering into the market for personal vehicles comes the increased demand for fuel, which will invariably drive the price higher. OPEC has no problem with $100/barrel oil and our own government makes it cost prohibitive to tap domestic supplies or build new refineries here because fossil fuels are "bad". The combination of speculative money chasing a higher rate of return, increased foreign demand, and a myopic domestic energy policy can only result in increasing pump prices and that only gets worse when the Dollar is allowed to weaken against the Euro, Yen, and Ruble.

Even so, the 4Runner gets remarkably good mileage for as big a vehicle as it is. The last time the country had any sort of "Come-to-Jesus" moment over fuel costs (the 70's) your average family car had a V8 that got 12 miles to the gallon on the highway and the new car fleet mileage was in the mid teens. Compared to that, the 4Runner is an economy car. If we see a rapid escalation to $5/gallon next spring, you might see some pullback on SUV purchases but if the rise occurs over the course of the year people will just budget for it and go on with their lives.

To the OP: When contemplating dropping 40 large in one go, I'd rather be certain that I was right rather than wondering if I was getting shafted.
Click to expand...
e

You seem to know more about it then I do, but I consider myself reasonably well educated. I don't believe a sustained $5 a gallon will happen in the next year or two, barring a war with Iran. Demand will be cut by at least 50% if it approached that price too quickly, and the price would sink back.

Back on topic, I get sometimes near 22 mpg on the highway, and my vehicle is not broken in yet, and were using horrible winter fuel blends. For the utility that the 4r offers I will pay the penalty over maybe 28mpg in a AWD crossover.
 
For comparison, I purchased a 2011 SR5 on Christmas Eve. MSRP was $35249. I paid $31758 ($500 under invoice) and the dealer delivered it on Christmas Eve, 216 miles to my door step.
 
Glen, I am in the process of buying a 2011 Limited 4x4, w/Nav, 3rd row, and floor mats. I have been quoted $40K by the dealership. I simply emailed them and said I would be interested in buying if they could give me invoice pricing and they told me that was not a problem. So I would say a better deal is out there if you are willing to wait and look around.
 
Glenn_Law said:
After several months of searching, the dealer has my 4Runner ready to ship to me. I just need to overnight the signed papers to them.

The price is $41,500. I think this is $1300 over invoice (I'm estimating invoice at 10% below MSRP for this vehicle). I'm also paying $500 to ship it from Kansas City to Houston. Is this too much money for this vehicle? It's a white/beige Limited/Nav/3rd row with keyless entry, mats, and cargo cross bars.

I know it may take a while to find another one. There is some time pressure because the transmission is going out on my old Ford Exploder.

I've always been a good negotiator for new car purchases. It's rare that I pay anything over invoice. I've never paid $1300-ish over invoice.

Am I being an idiot to buy this vehicle at this price?
Click to expand...

No, your not being an idiot at that price with those options.As you know, the 3rd row is not an option in our Gulf States region unless you special order it. If your not dead set on a 3rd row then yes,plenty out there and you can get them for cheaper.

The question to ask is what people in our region,which is still in a pretty good economic state BTW, paid for a BP Limited with 3rd row. Pretty sure you'll find it's a very unique Limited 4Runner with 3rd row in any region and that comes into play. Just hope someone doesn't jump on it before you from you posting the info here on the forum! Some people on here were searching everywhere for one like that a while back.

I personally would take a cheap one way flight up there and have them pick you up at the airport to take you to the dealership and drive it back.Not that far and a easy drive from KC to Houston.Also if they are stuck on the price try to work other angles with them like ,throw in free 6yr/100k warranty,Gap ins,Lo Jack,ect, and you'll sign.
 
Last edited:
Quentin said:
New Cars Pricing and Comparisons Local, Regional and National Car Price Reports at TrueCar

Beware, most people's "amazing deals" are greatly exaggerated.
Click to expand...

This is so true, many people think they got a deal at below invoice but are calculating it incorrectly and dont provide enough info for you to check their deal to compare. You need to figure out the true dealer cost like you said and start your specific deal from there. $1300 over seems high initially but you need to decide how much time and effort you want to put into getting the vehicle you want at the price you think is right.
 
Thank you all for the input. It was all helpful. In the end, I decided that it wasn't worth waiting any longer, so I went for it. My reasoning was this -
- it took 3 mos. to find what I wanted. There are very few 4Rs with this combination. I found several and made offers, only to have them sold out from under me. The dealers that had them seemed to realize they had something that was worth a premium. If I walked away from this deal, I would have lost my $500 deposit. Any other 4R I found would have to be well over $500 cheaper to make it worth the effort. I decided to go for it now, enjoy the 4R, and not look back.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 688 (members: 0, guests: 688)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,312
Messages
3,554,083
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top