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Lexus dealership monopoly in Texas.

D

Dextor143

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 28, 2008
425
35
USA
Lexus dealership monopoly in Texas


Im looking to purchase a new Lexus and called the local dealer . He gave me a number, I told him that I will look around for better rates. Later, I found another out of town dealer with $2000 less than the first offer. I called the local dealer and asked him if he can meet or beat this deal... He told me he can't and asked me where I'm getting this price.

Few minutes later, the out of town dealership called me and told me that they can't sell me the car caz they received a call from a regional manager not to sell car to me and I should just buy from the local dealer.


I'm pissed like ****... Screw this **** .. I'm thinking about writing a letter to US Lexus director for this monopoly.
 
I say **** 'em. If they don't want to sell you a car then they can stuff it and it can sit on the lot while you go elsewhere. Travel if you must.
 
In a perfect World, I would buy from the out-of-town dealer, find an good independent Lexus mechanic, and have all the maintenance done there (excluding warranty work).

Then I would go into my local dealer and tell him that he cost his dealership not only a sale, plus all the future owner-paid maintenance on the car. And send an E-mail to the Regional Manager too.

Now if only I had the money to actually put this plan into work. :(
 
TSE said:
There are plenty of options and better cars out there. Lexus nothing more than a slightly souped up Toyota.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Unless you get the top line of whatever model, Lexus is very ho-hum.

I would definitely avoid both of those dealers, that's ridiculous and I've never heard of something like that happening. Unless they are partnered up or have the same owner that's just super shady. Talk to corporate and let them know what happened, you won't lose anything by letting them know. And who knows they might take it seriously and do something about it.

But yeah that's extremely shady of them.
 
TSE said:
There are plenty of options and better cars out there. Lexus nothing more than a slightly souped up Toyota.
Click to expand...

It depends on what Lexus s/he is buying. If it is the ES, RX, GX, or LX than yeah they are based on the Camry, Highlander, 4Runner( I believe), and Land Cruiser. The IS, GS, and LS are on their own unique platforms.

Either way I personally wouldn't buy a Lexus. Bland design, bland driving characteristics, etc. The only thing Lexus has on their side is Toyota's quality reputation.
 
quagmire said:
It depends on what Lexus s/he is buying. If it is the ES, RX, GX, or LX than yeah they are based on the Camry, Highlander, 4Runner( I believe), and Land Cruiser. The IS, GS, and LS are on their own unique platforms.

Either way I personally wouldn't buy a Lexus. Bland design, bland driving characteristics, etc. The only thing Lexus has on their side is Toyota's quality reputation.
Click to expand...

This is true, I personally also find them to be very 'blah' cars.
 
I'm not sure how the whole car/dealer thing works, but this particular situation sounds a lot like how processing equipment is sold. In my line of work, manufacturers work with regional reps that have certain geographical locations that they're responsible for. If I represent a client in a different location, I typically call the vendor's rep in that location. Sometimes, I might talk to my local rep first and explain to him that I have a client in a different region.

It smooths things out and keeps everyone happy.

In the case of cars, it probably is different since dealers aren't assigned certain geographic locations. But there aren't many Lexus dealers and the individual dealers probably paid a lot of money for privilege of selling these cars.

I guess your mistake was telling the first dealer where you got the second quote. At this point, I'd say F them and go on your way. Make sure you never patronage either dealer ... although the first dealer was probably dickier than the second.

ft
 
If $2,000 is that big a deal, then you probably shouldn't be buying a Lexus in the first place.
 
NathanMuir said:
If $2,000 is that big a deal, then you probably shouldn't be buying a Lexus in the first place.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: What a load of crap. Being able to afford something doesn't mean one shouldn't be looking for the best deal. I imagine that's how the people that buy Lexuses (Lexi?) are able to afford them: by not being stupid with their money in the first place.
 
quagmire said:
It depends on what Lexus s/he is buying. If it is the ES, RX, GX, or LX than yeah they are based on the Camry, Highlander, 4Runner( I believe), and Land Cruiser. The IS, GS, and LS are on their own unique platforms.

Either way I personally wouldn't buy a Lexus. Bland design, bland driving characteristics, etc. The only thing Lexus has on their side is Toyota's quality reputation.
Click to expand...

IS is based on a Corolla platform, GS is based on Camry, and LS is based on the Avalon. They're not independent platforms, the only Japanese car manufacturer to do that is Nissan/Infiniti. The G (Nissan Skyline in Japan) is its own platform but shares some of its drivetrain with the Z, the M (Nissan Fuga in Japan) is its own platform. The Smaller SUV is based on the G, the Mid sized SUV is based on the M, and the large SUV is based on the Nissan Armada.

I never liked the fit and finish of Lexus, the outsides looked nice but the interiors looked as cheap as a Toyota interior. Maybe its changed in the 5 years + I've looked at one.

Good luck with your issue, call Lexus I highly doubt they would condone the treatment of a potential customer like this. http://www.lexus.com/contact/ A lot of times these dealers do asshat things thinking you will never tell corporate.
 
Demosthenes X said:
:rolleyes: What a load of crap. Being able to afford something doesn't mean one shouldn't be looking for the best deal. I imagine that's how the people that buy Lexuses (Lexi?) are able to afford them: by not being stupid with their money in the first place.
Click to expand...

Why would they buy a Lexus in the first place then? ;)

Assuming a 60 month term, $2,000 works out to a little more than a $1 a day. Again, if you can't afford not to Biggie size your fast food combo, you shouldn't buy a Lexus.
 
syedrizvi21 said:
Houston
Click to expand...

Oh, alright. I was going to say if you are in Dallas avoid Sewell. But you aren't so I can't give you advice there.:eek:
I agree with the others, try looking at other cars. If you decide you still want a Lexus I would recommend going out of town if none of the dealerships will give you a good deal. Have you been to all the dealerships? I know there are quite a few in Houston.
 
e²Studios said:
IS is based on a Corolla platform, GS is based on Camry, and LS is based on the Avalon. They're not independent platforms, the only Japanese car manufacturer to do that is Nissan/Infiniti. The G (Nissan Skyline in Japan) is its own platform but shares some of its drivetrain with the Z, the M (Nissan Fuga in Japan) is its own platform. The Smaller SUV is based on the G, the Mid sized SUV is based on the M, and the large SUV is based on the Nissan Armada.
Click to expand...

So you're telling me Toyota took a FWD compact economy car platform and spent the money to reengineer the whole platform into a RWD platform( with AWD optional) with close to 50/50 weight distribution that can fit a V6 and V8 in its engine bay, etc? And then did the same for the Camry and Avalon platforms for those respective vehicles? I would imagine the cost to do that would be bigger than developing a whole new platform.
 
NathanMuir said:
Why would they buy a Lexus in the first place then? ;)

Assuming a 60 month term, $2,000 works out to a little more than a $1 a day. Again, if you can't afford not to Biggie size your fast food combo, you shouldn't buy a Lexus.
Click to expand...

Just because he can afford a Lexus he shouldn't look for a deal? :rolleyes:
It's called being smart with your money. And I would say buying a Lexus is one of the smartest car-buying decisions considering they hold their value really well. :)
 
e²Studios said:
IS is based on a Corolla platform, GS is based on Camry, and LS is based on the Avalon.
Click to expand...

Where did you get this information? The IS is based on its own platform, the GSE platform, and the LS is also based on its own platform, the USF platform. The GS is based on the Toyota GRS platform which includes the Toyota Crown Athlete and Crown Royal Saloon. Not the Camry.

There are 4 Lexus models based on Toyota platforms: the ES, GS, GX, and LX.
(The RX is now on its own platform.)
 
For me

$2000 is equal to

20 oil changes @ every 5k miles till 100k miles @ $100/ oil change
Or

2 years of Inurance

Or

8yr 100k miles warranty.


I work hard for my money like normal US citizens and It's my decision to buy the car from whomever I want to. But there is no way these people can treat the consumers like that.
 
NathanMuir said:
If $2,000 is that big a deal, then you probably shouldn't be buying a Lexus in the first place.
Click to expand...

I've read some pretty dumb things on this forum. I will add this near the top of the list.

Why should someone just accept a $2,000 price change on a car they have already been quoted, simply because they have money? Interesting...if that's the case, then why are so...no, wait...don't want to send this into PRSI.
 
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