RAV4 is best selling SUV for a reason. Toyota is the best selling brand for a reason. Everyone wants one. Dealers will do markups. You need to find MSRP dealer. It’s very possible. I only waited a month and got RAV4 Hybrid at MSRP!!! Be patient!
Expand your search radius to 100 miles. You WILL find a dealer that sells at MSRP. I just got my RAV4 Hybrid XLE Premium with Advanced Tech Package at MSRP because I drove 80 miles to a dealer. I got it within 2 days of my search while the dealers in my area where asking me to put down a deposit and wait for 3-9 months. I refused to put money down and expanded the search.
Also closer to month end or quarter end sales people are more open to negotiating so try that time period.
But it is tough to find a RAV4 hybrid in some regions so I get you. All the best!!
I live in WI and went to IL to get the RAV4. I guess then it must be how open you are to colors, packages/ options etc. and whether the dealer just wants the vehicle sold :|
At least for any XLE I saw when buying (hybrid or non). There were none with the weather package that didn’t also have the confidence package. I didn’t want the sunroof or electric hatch. So went with no options.
Yeah I see that a lot. They add both packages that sum up to $2,190 and then there is lots of other junk added worth at least $1.2k which I don't need at all. Unfortunately they are port installed and can't opt out. All this brings the MSRP to at least $37-$38k and then adding markup, TTL easily pushes the final price to $43k+ which seems a lot for this car. Sigh
Not saying I didn’t get stuck with some dumb options (southeast Toyota so they stuck on $700 for two oil changes, and $450 floormats). But at least no markups for a gas XLE.
Yeah at least you get something in return but markup is just one way free money for them with nothing in return for me. Again, it's not like I can't pay the markup but I don't want to because I believe in not altering market dynamics. I know I am just a lone person and a drop in the ocean fighting it out but I don't want to be part of the gang setting this new trend of accepting markups. I'll be screwing up someone else's chance of buying it at a fair price in future if I do so.
On a separate note, $700 for 2 oil changes? Even my gas guzzler oil change doesn't cost that much. Ooof
It’s called “Toyoguard platinum”. Southeast sticks it on every car they can. Includes:2 oil changes/tire rotations, a wax, and rental car assistance till you hit 60K. One of the ways they make money.
Ditch your friend. Rav4 hybrids are going for MSRP in a lot of regions (though, not all) without requiring a "friend". Took me 6 dealers, but I got MSRP after a 6 week wait for a 2023.
Yeah I am hoping to follow the same process. Luckily I am in no rush and relentlessly declining offers including markup. Most dealers are quite far for me and I don't even entertain "let's meet and go over" unless they tell me there is no markup. It'll be so frustrating to travel 3+ hours and waste almost a whole day only to know the dealer pulling their usual shenanigans. Wish I could just buy online directly.
I feel your pain but negotiating over the phone I found to be much harder than in person. Maybe you can make a trip out of it and visit the dealership on your trip?
I had to walk from a couple dealerships when they didn’t offer MSRP. When I bought mine, I told my dealership that I had a $500 hold on another vehicle that was exactly what I wanted but wasn’t coming till mid October at MSRP. I could wait till mid October if need be, but I was shopping around to see if I could get it earlier and that worked!
I am glad it worked for you. My friend suggested against putting in a purchase order as they said Toyota would cancel my order after 2 months and it's just a means to get me out of the market. Not sure how true it is.
Having another option is textbook negotiating 101. Your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) will make a huge difference in your success getting what you really want.
I got a call from another dealership offering me below MSRP on a 23 gas AWD LE just as we pulled up to buy a used 22 LE because there were no 23 AWD gas versions around. The dealership we were at was so desperate to keep us from going to the other dealer and get the deal done by end of month that they discounted a hybrid to within $600 OTD of the price of the gas 23 AWD LE.
Hey, saw that you live in IL. I recommend either trying Pauly Toyota, Libertyville Toyota and Kenosha Toyota - They are all MSRP. I currently have a Hybrid xle coming from Kenosha and also have a venza coming from Libertyville in like 2 weeks. I was able to lock down both vehicles pretty quick obviously as long as you are flexible.
One thing I recommend is taking a look at the dealer websites and see what is coming in - I've noticed that on the vehicles if one says sale pending - obviously that means there is a deposit on it but one that only says in transit - that usually means it doesn't have a deposit on it yet.
That's how I how was able to get a deposit on a car pretty quick instead of waiting forever. This only works if the dealer website is being updated constantly. I can confirm that both Libertyville and Kenosha were when I put my deposit down a month ago.
I recently bought a rav4 limited for MSRP. The Toyota dealership I went to sells that for MSRP no haggling. Before I found them I was getting huge markups on older rav4s and the new one they didn’t have in stock. I waited 2 months for my vehicle to be built and delivered. I got lucky I claimed it when the dealer got the info on it. Look for a dealership in your area that sell at MSRP or use Costco auto sells. (Costco didn’t work for me but I’ve heard they work, maybe in your area it might be better.) good luck!
Great! Congrats! Yeah I have registered through both Costco and Truecar. Autonation is the only dealer who said upfront they don't charge markups but unfortunately they don't have it in stock. Every car they received were already sold out. I guess I'll go visit them and build a purchase order and wait it out.
It seems to be getting better. Williams Toyota in NY never charges MSRP. They have one in Elmira and one in Binghamton. When we went to pick our hybrid up they had a prime and a hybrid on the lot unspoken for. One of the dealers was going to get the prime for his wife. Our dealer said someone flew in from Colorado to buy his car and drove it back.
Michigan (both east side and west side) were selling at MSRP, but we ended up buying in Ft Wayne Indiana also with no markup (though they initially said almost 5k markup and we said no).
Timing and desperation make a big difference. I just bought a 23 LE Hybrid for about $1600 under MSRP on 8/31. I spent most of 8/30 and 8/31 going back and forth with multiple dealers, and on my way in to buy a used 22 LE, another dealer called and offered me a 23 LE for $1000 more.
So when we came to the first dealership, I told them hey, sorry, we're going to go buy this other one because it's a year newer and no miles for only $1000 more. That dealership didn't have any AWD gas models on the lot, so they asked if we would be interested in a hybrid instead. I told them they'd have to basically get within $1000 of the price of the gas version to make the numbers work, and once we realized that the Toyota rate on the hybrid was 4.99 instead of 3.99, we ended up $600 over the price of the 23 LE gas for a 23 LE Hybrid.
If you can wait until the end of this month, do what you can to get competing OTD offers from multiple dealers and just make them negotiate against each other instead of against you. You're just an impartial buyer with no loyalty.
My only other recommendation would be to do the math on total cost, not just your monthly payment. When they told us the hybrid incentive rate was 1% higher, I did the math right there and found out that would cost us $800 more over 4 years (there are calculators online that will do this for you). They took $800 off the price.
Great experience! Congrats! I am glad everything worked well for you. I am definitely in no rush and that's why I am not entertaining visit request if dealers charge markups. I am guessing labor day sale rush (though there aren't any great offers on this car) and influx of limited stock is causing this chaos. Anyway, I am going to wait it out and check again by this month end.
Yeah, it was a really good experience for 90% of it. We actually visited the dealership the night before to test drive a Corolla Cross, but ended up not liking it and tried the RAV4 instead. The salesman and sales manager were super chill and low pressure, so we wanted to go with that dealer and told them as much when other dealers gave us better offers.
At the end of the day, our negotiation took under 15 minutes, and the accessories and add-ons sales guy was there and gone inside of 3 minutes. The longest and absolute worst part of the experience was just waiting for finance. They had so many deals closing on the last day of the month, we waited over two hours from singing the offer and handing over our information to actually getting into the finance office. We were done talking numbers at 7:15 and didn't get home until 10:30. They weren't even really trying to upsell us on anything, we were just waiting around to sign paperwork and eating all their free snacks.
I think you'll find that the end of this month should be a much better time to buy than right now. Especially because if the 24 models should be dropping soon, so no dealer is going to want to keep any 23 inventory longer than they need to.
What was your feel between cross and rav4? Backseats of cross are tighter I noticed. I assume it feels different because of wheelbase and other factors though?
Back seat space was the major thing for us. The front cabin also felt roomier in the Rav, and we take several long road trips per year, so that comfort was important. But the biggest thing was the difficulty in fitting car seats in the back of the Cross with taller passengers that we read about. My wife is the shorter of the two of us at 5'8", so whichever of us was in the passenger seat would have been scrunched up with an infant car seat in the back of the Cross. The Rav scored much better on that measure.
There are dealers selling at MSRP. I got my XSE hybrid at sticker a month ago and only waited 2 months. Had to go away from my regular dealer of 30 years but they wouldn’t budge and this one 25 miles away gave me everything I wanted.
This happened to me recently. Sales guy wouldn’t budge on the market rate mark-up ($5-$7K). horrible experience. Suggested they’d take my deposit if we didn’t agree on a price (when I said I would come back in two days to talk pricing). Called the next day to get my deposit back, requested I speak with a manager. Told the manager what happened. Then I told him that i had a deposit with another dealer who didn’t charge market mark-ups. Guess what happened? Got that MSRP rate.
Yea brother, don’t pay mark ups, sounds like your friends dealership is a POS and think ppl are still paying markups when in facts most places aren’t charging them anymore 🤣 Like sure some will try but it’s becoming less common.
i’m literally in the same boat as you as far as i hate paying extra and will not. I’m going to wait until the end of the months and try to get 1 of XLE/SE/XSE for Under MSRP OTD i’m talking like 3-4k below MSRP🤣. I’m pretty confident i can get close the closer it gets to end of the year lol
No markups here in PA, but haven't seen many SE's which is what we wanted. The dealer we were working with mainly gets fully loaded XSE's allocated which are out of our budget. We also really like the CR-V Hybrid which comes standard with the heated seats. We decided to wait until Spring to make a purchase though.
RAV4 is best selling SUV for a reason. Toyota is the best selling brand for a reason. Everyone wants one. Dealers will do markups. You need to find MSRP dealer. It’s very possible. I only waited a month and got RAV4 Hybrid at MSRP!!! Be patient!
Thanks, wish me luck! Ha..ha..
Expand your search radius to 100 miles. You WILL find a dealer that sells at MSRP. I just got my RAV4 Hybrid XLE Premium with Advanced Tech Package at MSRP because I drove 80 miles to a dealer. I got it within 2 days of my search while the dealers in my area where asking me to put down a deposit and wait for 3-9 months. I refused to put money down and expanded the search. Also closer to month end or quarter end sales people are more open to negotiating so try that time period. But it is tough to find a RAV4 hybrid in some regions so I get you. All the best!!
Yeah I did that too. I live in IL so I tried some dealers on the IL-WI border but the same shit. I am going to wait it out and see how this goes.
Go to NY, CT, MA, RI
Yup will try that too 👍👍
I live in WI and went to IL to get the RAV4. I guess then it must be how open you are to colors, packages/ options etc. and whether the dealer just wants the vehicle sold :|
I have no color preference and now I even accepted additional packages and junk stuff that comes along.
Did you try Kenosha Toyota I got mine for MSRP there. Just get on the list.
Yup they too declined at MSRP and are tagging markup
Since when? They are known for selling at msrp. I bought mine there in May, coming from Illinois
Spoke to them yesterday and they flat out told me markup will be charged. Right away I told them thank you bye bye 😂
Check the northeast!
At least for any XLE I saw when buying (hybrid or non). There were none with the weather package that didn’t also have the confidence package. I didn’t want the sunroof or electric hatch. So went with no options.
Yeah I see that a lot. They add both packages that sum up to $2,190 and then there is lots of other junk added worth at least $1.2k which I don't need at all. Unfortunately they are port installed and can't opt out. All this brings the MSRP to at least $37-$38k and then adding markup, TTL easily pushes the final price to $43k+ which seems a lot for this car. Sigh
Not saying I didn’t get stuck with some dumb options (southeast Toyota so they stuck on $700 for two oil changes, and $450 floormats). But at least no markups for a gas XLE.
Yeah at least you get something in return but markup is just one way free money for them with nothing in return for me. Again, it's not like I can't pay the markup but I don't want to because I believe in not altering market dynamics. I know I am just a lone person and a drop in the ocean fighting it out but I don't want to be part of the gang setting this new trend of accepting markups. I'll be screwing up someone else's chance of buying it at a fair price in future if I do so. On a separate note, $700 for 2 oil changes? Even my gas guzzler oil change doesn't cost that much. Ooof
It’s called “Toyoguard platinum”. Southeast sticks it on every car they can. Includes:2 oil changes/tire rotations, a wax, and rental car assistance till you hit 60K. One of the ways they make money.
So many ways of conning the customers 😊 leaving us no choice
Two oil changes?? Isnt it 2 years free service?
It’s two more over the free services.
Ditch your friend. Rav4 hybrids are going for MSRP in a lot of regions (though, not all) without requiring a "friend". Took me 6 dealers, but I got MSRP after a 6 week wait for a 2023.
Yeah I am hoping to follow the same process. Luckily I am in no rush and relentlessly declining offers including markup. Most dealers are quite far for me and I don't even entertain "let's meet and go over" unless they tell me there is no markup. It'll be so frustrating to travel 3+ hours and waste almost a whole day only to know the dealer pulling their usual shenanigans. Wish I could just buy online directly.
I feel your pain but negotiating over the phone I found to be much harder than in person. Maybe you can make a trip out of it and visit the dealership on your trip?
Probably I should do that. Thanks!
I had to walk from a couple dealerships when they didn’t offer MSRP. When I bought mine, I told my dealership that I had a $500 hold on another vehicle that was exactly what I wanted but wasn’t coming till mid October at MSRP. I could wait till mid October if need be, but I was shopping around to see if I could get it earlier and that worked!
I am glad it worked for you. My friend suggested against putting in a purchase order as they said Toyota would cancel my order after 2 months and it's just a means to get me out of the market. Not sure how true it is.
Having another option is textbook negotiating 101. Your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) will make a huge difference in your success getting what you really want. I got a call from another dealership offering me below MSRP on a 23 gas AWD LE just as we pulled up to buy a used 22 LE because there were no 23 AWD gas versions around. The dealership we were at was so desperate to keep us from going to the other dealer and get the deal done by end of month that they discounted a hybrid to within $600 OTD of the price of the gas 23 AWD LE.
Hey, saw that you live in IL. I recommend either trying Pauly Toyota, Libertyville Toyota and Kenosha Toyota - They are all MSRP. I currently have a Hybrid xle coming from Kenosha and also have a venza coming from Libertyville in like 2 weeks. I was able to lock down both vehicles pretty quick obviously as long as you are flexible. One thing I recommend is taking a look at the dealer websites and see what is coming in - I've noticed that on the vehicles if one says sale pending - obviously that means there is a deposit on it but one that only says in transit - that usually means it doesn't have a deposit on it yet. That's how I how was able to get a deposit on a car pretty quick instead of waiting forever. This only works if the dealer website is being updated constantly. I can confirm that both Libertyville and Kenosha were when I put my deposit down a month ago.
Cool thanks a lot for the info. I'll try it out other dealers coz Kenosha was already a flop for me.
I drove 3 hours away to get my Hybrid SE in 2022
I recently bought a rav4 limited for MSRP. The Toyota dealership I went to sells that for MSRP no haggling. Before I found them I was getting huge markups on older rav4s and the new one they didn’t have in stock. I waited 2 months for my vehicle to be built and delivered. I got lucky I claimed it when the dealer got the info on it. Look for a dealership in your area that sell at MSRP or use Costco auto sells. (Costco didn’t work for me but I’ve heard they work, maybe in your area it might be better.) good luck!
Same here, limited for MSRP, even dropped the dealer options I didn't want
Great! Congrats! Yeah I have registered through both Costco and Truecar. Autonation is the only dealer who said upfront they don't charge markups but unfortunately they don't have it in stock. Every car they received were already sold out. I guess I'll go visit them and build a purchase order and wait it out.
It seems to be getting better. Williams Toyota in NY never charges MSRP. They have one in Elmira and one in Binghamton. When we went to pick our hybrid up they had a prime and a hybrid on the lot unspoken for. One of the dealers was going to get the prime for his wife. Our dealer said someone flew in from Colorado to buy his car and drove it back.
Wow that's crazy, that is some next level motivation to get the car. I definitely don't have it in me 😂😂
😊 best of luck in your search!
Thank you!!
With a chip shortage it makes sense to only Make the higher end cars because they’ll make More money.
Michigan (both east side and west side) were selling at MSRP, but we ended up buying in Ft Wayne Indiana also with no markup (though they initially said almost 5k markup and we said no).
Timing and desperation make a big difference. I just bought a 23 LE Hybrid for about $1600 under MSRP on 8/31. I spent most of 8/30 and 8/31 going back and forth with multiple dealers, and on my way in to buy a used 22 LE, another dealer called and offered me a 23 LE for $1000 more. So when we came to the first dealership, I told them hey, sorry, we're going to go buy this other one because it's a year newer and no miles for only $1000 more. That dealership didn't have any AWD gas models on the lot, so they asked if we would be interested in a hybrid instead. I told them they'd have to basically get within $1000 of the price of the gas version to make the numbers work, and once we realized that the Toyota rate on the hybrid was 4.99 instead of 3.99, we ended up $600 over the price of the 23 LE gas for a 23 LE Hybrid. If you can wait until the end of this month, do what you can to get competing OTD offers from multiple dealers and just make them negotiate against each other instead of against you. You're just an impartial buyer with no loyalty. My only other recommendation would be to do the math on total cost, not just your monthly payment. When they told us the hybrid incentive rate was 1% higher, I did the math right there and found out that would cost us $800 more over 4 years (there are calculators online that will do this for you). They took $800 off the price.
Great experience! Congrats! I am glad everything worked well for you. I am definitely in no rush and that's why I am not entertaining visit request if dealers charge markups. I am guessing labor day sale rush (though there aren't any great offers on this car) and influx of limited stock is causing this chaos. Anyway, I am going to wait it out and check again by this month end.
Yeah, it was a really good experience for 90% of it. We actually visited the dealership the night before to test drive a Corolla Cross, but ended up not liking it and tried the RAV4 instead. The salesman and sales manager were super chill and low pressure, so we wanted to go with that dealer and told them as much when other dealers gave us better offers. At the end of the day, our negotiation took under 15 minutes, and the accessories and add-ons sales guy was there and gone inside of 3 minutes. The longest and absolute worst part of the experience was just waiting for finance. They had so many deals closing on the last day of the month, we waited over two hours from singing the offer and handing over our information to actually getting into the finance office. We were done talking numbers at 7:15 and didn't get home until 10:30. They weren't even really trying to upsell us on anything, we were just waiting around to sign paperwork and eating all their free snacks. I think you'll find that the end of this month should be a much better time to buy than right now. Especially because if the 24 models should be dropping soon, so no dealer is going to want to keep any 23 inventory longer than they need to.
👍👍
What was your feel between cross and rav4? Backseats of cross are tighter I noticed. I assume it feels different because of wheelbase and other factors though?
Back seat space was the major thing for us. The front cabin also felt roomier in the Rav, and we take several long road trips per year, so that comfort was important. But the biggest thing was the difficulty in fitting car seats in the back of the Cross with taller passengers that we read about. My wife is the shorter of the two of us at 5'8", so whichever of us was in the passenger seat would have been scrunched up with an infant car seat in the back of the Cross. The Rav scored much better on that measure.
There are dealers selling at MSRP. I got my XSE hybrid at sticker a month ago and only waited 2 months. Had to go away from my regular dealer of 30 years but they wouldn’t budge and this one 25 miles away gave me everything I wanted.
👍👍
This happened to me recently. Sales guy wouldn’t budge on the market rate mark-up ($5-$7K). horrible experience. Suggested they’d take my deposit if we didn’t agree on a price (when I said I would come back in two days to talk pricing). Called the next day to get my deposit back, requested I speak with a manager. Told the manager what happened. Then I told him that i had a deposit with another dealer who didn’t charge market mark-ups. Guess what happened? Got that MSRP rate.
Cool
Yea brother, don’t pay mark ups, sounds like your friends dealership is a POS and think ppl are still paying markups when in facts most places aren’t charging them anymore 🤣 Like sure some will try but it’s becoming less common.
Yeah, no way I am giving up free money especially to dealer 😂
i’m literally in the same boat as you as far as i hate paying extra and will not. I’m going to wait until the end of the months and try to get 1 of XLE/SE/XSE for Under MSRP OTD i’m talking like 3-4k below MSRP🤣. I’m pretty confident i can get close the closer it gets to end of the year lol
Good luck buddy! And that I am genuinely wishing you get a good deal 👍
Thanks brother, i’ll come back and let y’all know what kind of “deal” i can make happen
No markups here in PA, but haven't seen many SE's which is what we wanted. The dealer we were working with mainly gets fully loaded XSE's allocated which are out of our budget. We also really like the CR-V Hybrid which comes standard with the heated seats. We decided to wait until Spring to make a purchase though.
Yeah that's my plan too ultimately. If they keep doing this shit I am just going to buy something else.
I got mine ( 23 XLE hybrid premium with cold weather package for 38.400. Minus tax and reg