seeing a lot of chatter around Denver-area dealers lately, wanted to chime in and share my experiences.
firstly, let's get right to it. after aggressively shopping for a 2019 4x4 SR5 in mag grey for weeks, Pedersen Toyota in Ft. Collins gave me the best deal out of any dealer w/in 500 miles. I paid ~$32,600 before taxes (~14% off $38,200 MSRP). for comparison's sake, this price includes temp tags, dealer handling, etc. but obviously not taxes or DMV registration (these are absurdly high in Denver, so my OTD price wouldn't help anyone outside the region).
I can't recommend Pedersen enough -- Chris Compton (internet sales manager) was super easy to work with, gave me an extremely good deal, brought my car in from Wyoming, and even picked me up from the bus station. 10/10 experience.
Denver-area Dealers
Groove Toyota: not a pleasant experience, and ultimately were not willing to price aggressively. i'd avoid.
Stevenson East: avoid at all costs. don't even know where to begin. these guys are crooks, made us feel uneasy the entire time, kept trying to re-trade our agreed upon deal, would not honor my loan pre-approval w/ BofA (lol what?) and when things weren't going their way, kept showing us the door. i've never seen anybody treat a customer (especially one ready to purchase) like that before. horrible salesmen. you can't even test drive a car here unless you already have full coverage insurance because they're too stingy to pay for the proper insurance themselves, lol. i've also heard horror stories where people come in pre-approved for a loan but Stevenson sneakily switches up the papers to get them to borrow through Toyota Financial services. just beware.
Boulder Toyota: not willing to budge on price, waste of time
Mountainstates Toyota: were willing to do ~13% off MSRP, but didn't have the car i wanted, and weren't the easiest to negotiate with
Liberty Colorado Springs: James here is the man -- gave me a great deal, ultimately Pedersen was able to beat it though. but seemed straightforward and negotiation was super easy.
Autonation: don't waste your time, these guys will never give you the best deal on a car. this is a $4bn publicly traded company not interested in earning your business on a good deal.
gotta thank the community here -- before finding this thread, I was about to pull trigger on a 2017 SR5 with 18k miles for $33k before taxes from Groove Toyota. after equipping myself with all the knowledge on here, i ended up in a brand new car for $400 less. i'd say the search was worth it.
on financing, BofA offered 3.89% on a $15k loan for 4 years, but Bellco beat them at 3.59% for 3 years.. not bad imo. my credit score is 750+
if anyone needs any help, or would like me to share my various offer letters with them, feel free to PM me.