How is buying a car from Scion different from other dealerships?
 

Hello,

I'm a little curious at how the process works, since I really haven't purchased any vehicle before in my life. From what I understand, the Scion dealerships just have a base price model (x amount) for the car, and from there you can add additional items that you want at y amount. There's no negotiation possible? So the car total would be x + y + tax? However, in other dealerships, you can negotiate the price on certain trim lines (that being, different features of the same base car)?

Hypothetically, the only way to lower the costs of purchasing at a Scion dealership is just hope that your credit rating is good, and the interest on the loan is low? Thanks in advance for explaining the process, its a new one to me.

Correct me if im wrong but i dont think your credit plays a big role in the interest you get, my local scion give you a str8 up finance 5.5% rate. You can also lease them now too i think. What my father told me is that if i wanted a TC it would be better to go through a bank and possibly get a lower interest loan. Thats my experience anyways, I would kinda of like to know how it works also and how the options work because when i go to my local scion lot what they have is what you get, is what i was basically told, the rest has to be ordered if you want it.

The only real difference is the "pure price". There are sometimes additional discounts offered (military, college grad, etc) but for the most part what you see is what you get.

The sales people and dealership are working on a fixed profit. Then you get to the accessories and this is where they have room to make more money off of you. Really, none of these options are that great and most are overpriced. Some of the items will get you labor charges tacked on too unless you negotiate.

I'm not saying don't accessorize, but do your homework and keep in mind that anything you don't pay cash for will cost you a lot more in the long run. For example, the TRD Intake on the tC is what, $475? You can get the Injen which arguably performs better for $300 retail, probably cheaper in a group buy. But if you got the TRD and financed it with your car for say 5 years @ 5% it ends up costing you $535. To some people its worth it.

The rest of the deal is just like any other car purchase. If you have a trade you have to know what its worth and what you are willing to accept. Once you get into the finance office they will still try to suck every last penny out of you with GAP, various wear and tear protection, extended warranty. In general you never need any of these and they are a waste.

The sales people are usually pretty cool and low key. The purchase experience I had was very smooth, was in and out in a couple of hours.

They do have a pure price lease now. But for that as well as any regular finance program, you still have to qualify based on credit and income.

I would always recommend getting a pre-approval from your bank or credit union or even the Capital One blank check program. When you go in let them know you are already approved for the full purchase amount and you can have them try to beat the offer (don't tell them what you were already approved for, or that 1.9% they approved you on might creep up to 2.4%).

Tell the dealers nothing until you're done with the actual dealer and on with the financial guy.

Financial guy doesn't give a rat's ass on how much you have. He just wants to know how much the down payment is. :P

Like Bofa said--scion is for the fixed profit and it is definitely better if you go through your bank. A great credit doesn't hurt either. ;>

Your credit has 100% to do with how much your interest rate will be. They look at many different areas; debt-income ratio, both front and back end, credit worthyness etc. 5.5% is about average depending on your fico score. When I bought my truck, my interest rate through Navy Fed was 3.9% for 60 months, which I later refinanced for 0.9% for 36 months.

Every car and option has an invoice price. The thing with Scion is that they have a MSRP on the vehicle and then you accessorize from there with those pieces overpriced to begin with. They'll come back with a price but the problem is that you can't negotiate!

^NavyFed/NFCU is the shizznit

I guess I still fit the post-graduate aspect, but that might be limited/may not apply to the FR-S. Though mmm is there anything that's truly worth accessorizing from the dealership that might have a better warranty or anything? Maybe I'm a very boring person, but I probably don't see much else that would be needed besides maybe power windows/locks and something that I can connect my iPhone.

And is the "pure pricing" also found on the accessories, or can the sales representative make certain bundles that'll be cheaper?

The post-grad and military discounts typically aren't limited to certain vehicles but anything is possible.

Supposedly the accessories are pure priced too, but when I bought a tC back when they were released, I got the TRD springs and exhaust and got the labor waived. There's always something to negotiate. I'm not sure what their position is on warranting options now. Its been a while. Maybe someone else knows.

I'm pretty sure power windows/locks are standard in all Scion models and expect that to continue in the FT-86. I wouldn't be surprised if there's an iPhone connection standard too, but not sure.

Yeah, they've been really good to me throughout the years. I've had other accounts with Wamu, BofA, Wells Fargo and Union Bank and none of them were able to get me the interest rates like NFCU.

After my experience with those major banks, I've always found the local credit unions to be a lot better.

When I was doing the build up for a tC, there wasn't any option besides floor mats that I wanted to add and even @ $170 for those, I would push as much as I can.

I love buying cars at the dealership... it's the only time you can be a complete asshole and not feel guilty about it after you sign on the dotted line! :bellyroll:

I've only bought 2 cars but bought 5 motorcycles and every time I felt like we're about to throw down in the parking lot only to shake hands when we finally reached a deal!

Great post! It's very nice. Thank you so much for your post.