Market has to be softening!

The dealer in Charlotte NC (Town and Country Toyota) I am buying my ORP from has 8, 4- Runners NOT pre-sold. 10 weeks ago they had ZERO. Additionally, I got a deal at real MSRP where 10 weeks ago there were thousands up up-charges. The up-charges were in the form of $1999 per vehicle for limited lifetime warranty and floor mats, to the non-negotiable $699 for Toyoguard Platinum. Plus my Sales Mgr was willing to remove Port installed options like step bars and door edge guards, etc. Supply must be increasing but not to the point where discount below MSRP is available. All I’m saying is I can’t get 10% below MSRP like I did in Feb 2016 on my Tacoma but I’m getting a 4 Runner $3000 cheaper (the way I want it) than 10 weeks ago.

 

I’m starting to see incentives again too. Zero percent is back on ford and chevy trucks.

 

At least 3 weeks back nothing changed for Toyota here in CO.
My buddy wanted to place an order for a Rav4 Prime. The sales person was serving 2 customers at the same time. I mean talking for sometime with my friend and he go talk with the other customer. As for pricing there were no negotiation. Pay a non refundable deposit, Take it or leave it.
At the time of placing the deposit there was a Rav4 Prime SE just came in where the customer who placed the order didn't want it. So my friend grabbed it at 7.44% interest at Toyota financial. He didn't even had time to talk to his financial institute for a loan. Bought it instantly before its gone.

 

After my formerly trusted Toyota dealer tried to screw me on a deal on a Tacoma TRD Off-Road last November, I have decided to stay away from car buying for a while.

When I bought my 4Runner new in 2019, I was having a hard time deciding between it and a Cavalry Blue Tundra double-cab 4x4 that was $3k less than the 4Runner. That's $33k for a brand new SR5 4x4 Tundra double-cab. I will never see a deal like that again. Too bad Toyota ruined the Tundra, as they will surely ruin the new Tacoma and 4Runner as well.

 

I sure hope your experience is contagious. I'm in the market....looking to trade in a 2017 F150. At this point I would love to find a dealer in my area (Dallas) that actually has new models on premise.....much less MSRP.

The add on crap is such a buzz kill.

 

I noticed tonight there were LOTS of automobile commercials during the evening news.
That wasn't the norm at the height of the chip shortage.

I'm guessing 6 months or less and every manufacturer will be back to running sales events and special financing.

We use Isuzu NPR trucks for work and had to wait over a year to get the 2022 model.
The 2023 model came in this week after about 6 months of waiting and the dealer said we could have 2 if we wanted them.

We turned them down because Isuzu had almost 6k worth of delivery and misc fees tacked on... NOPE!!!
I have to think that's what happened with the other truck they had available too.
For the first time in over 2 years my dealer has Isuzu inventory on his lot with no buyer.

 

Same here! End of 2019 I was looking at the new Tundras and saw that model for the same price, just a different color. It didn’t sell for months because I think people just didn’t like the size of it at the time.

 

Here is one person's opinon after buying from Southeast Toyota (SET) a few times:

I think ToyoGuard depends on when the negotiation is done and how interested the dealer is in competing with other dealers. Maybe SET gets really mad at dealers who don't tack on what I consider to be a $699 junk fee, so they all comply? The dealers all seem to move in lockstep on ToyoGuard, almost like a form of monopolistic price fixing IMHO, as though they are afraid of SET.

1. IFF the 4Runner has not been delivered to SET yet (still on the boat at sea) it IS possible to have ToyoGuard removed if your dealer is willing to risk possible push-back from SET and if you have another dealership or two to use as leverage against them. Contact the closest 5 or 6 dealers and get leverage to negotiate with whoever is going to give the best price. If one knocks off ToyoGuard, hey they already have a $699 advatage against all the others. Be sure to point this out to them.
2. Also, I have personally witnessed dealers setting up vehicle orders, and it is on the options list and they do NOT have to check that option just like any other option. However, they all do for some reason unless you put a stop to it right then and there. If you do, they probably just make sure you pay $699 more some other way like sticking it to you on the trade-in or not negotiating down in price as much as otherwise. They are going to screw you out of every dime possible, that's for sure. They are professionals at extracting every dime from you. Some dealers are better than others in their treatment of customers. It's sad that it has always been this way my whole life, and I always hope it will change but it never does. Saturn was the best before GM ruined it. They didn't haggle. If a dealer added a dealer fee, we just drove to the next dealer.
3. I think if the 4Runner is already at the dealer or already is off the ship and is at the SET facility being cleaned up and made ready, then SET has already added it to the cost the dealer must pay, and you and the dealer are stuck with it.

$699 for 2 oil changes that I might get 2 years after purchase, after ToyotaCare expires, and a few tire rotations that I don't do that often anyway, and some car polish that they have to apply anyway after they wash it when it comes off the boat, is far too much for me. Pay $699 in advance for something you may never need or never use 2 years down the road? In my opinion that's a ripoff. If they want an extra $699 of profit then just be honest about it and add it to the price, not pretend it's something that you might (or might not) use in the future.

There are examples online of people who got ToyoGuard removed, but I think 99.9% of people just pay it. Life is short and most people don't like fighting about $699 on a $40-50k truck. I'm a good negotiator, but they even wear me down.

My $.02. Your mileage may vary.

I have noticed a few things observing the 4Runner market over the past 2 years.

1. Many dealers have removed upward market adjustments.
2. Prices seem to be lower the farther south you go.
3. More and more 4Runners are showing up every month in inventory.
4. Some seem to be sitting on the lot longer than usual.
5. There seems to be a decrease in dealers demanding that everyone buy a "Premium" even if they don't want the "Premium" trim. That's a well-known strategy to boost profit per vehicle when sales are down.
6. I think interest rates have pushed a lot of people out of the market as there don't seem to be many people at the dealerships.

Supply goes up, demand goes down, prices go down. I read a few articles online advising people to wait as long as they can, expecting prices to decline in coming months.

 

Purchased a new 4R Limited during the last Toyotathon. There were no incentives but the dealer did discount close $3k off msrp. This dealer has no dealer fees either. This was through SET and yes ToyoGuard was on there as well as the ridiculous phone cable option.

 

$3k off MSRP is what i got for an ORP with moonroof and MTM last month. I was good with that.

 

Who minds an average of 12.77 percent on a new car loan if you have good credit. Everything is great doing just great.

Imagine paying that same rate on more expensive EVs too. More to come

 

Dealer here in western CO has 19 new and 4 used Runners on the lot. Usually they are either pre-sold or gone soon after being unloaded from the truck.

 

This is why I spent 10 years pretending that I had a truck payment when I actually didn't after I paid off my FJ Cruiser. Now I have something called a new truck fund ready for a cash purchase.

 

I for one am glad rates are staying slightly elevated. Lower interest rates were making people only shop by monthly payment and way too eager to sign on for longer and longer term loans without looking at the total number.

 

Well I certainly will when I have to write the check with the actual dollar figure on it. It's quite shocking, but once every 10-15 years must be done.

 

Saving money is a hobby all on its own. After I swore off buying vehicles with loans, for 5 years now I have been maxing out my 401k and Roth IRA contributions. Once you remove one monthly payment you start thinking about what else can be eliminated as an ongoing expense.

 

if you are buying a new vehicle every 10-15 years that's a different story. You can imagine I was referring to people who constantly rotate through cars.