Hi everyone,

I'm looking to buy a second-generation TC sometime this week or the next. I'm curious to know others' experiences with Scion's "pure price" system. I understand that the price on the window sticker is what you pay, and at least at the one dealership I went to, that price appeared to be the MSRP.

Has anyone paid less than MSRP for a 2011 TC? Has anyone received any incentives on a TC excluding the college financing incentive for which I am not eligible?

Has anyone had any success getting the dealership to throw in free extras? What about compromises on the financing rate? What rate have people been getting (please also include your credit standing, i.e., poor, average, good, great to put it in context).

I'd ideally like to get a coupe with either the stock or upgraded stereo, body side moldings, carpet mats, and possibly fog lights and the upgraded security system, so I'm also curious to hear people's opinions on the latter two items and the Pioneer vs. the Alpine stereo since my local dealer only had one car on the lot the last time I was there.

 

This should help you: https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=196788

 

I saw that thread and it unfortunately went way off-topic. I was hoping to get a fresh set of replies.

 

Hi VV,

I'm in Canada, and I believe their pricing strategy is different. I.e. Scion's "oneprice" policy, where the "price you see, is the price you pay" isn't always applied.

I emailed the dealership in Scarborough, after I was ready to buy, and had decided on colour and options, and offered them invoice +3.5% and they took it.

I also had the grad rebate. And they tacked on a few normal fees, i.e. ac tax, tire enviro tax, and a $199 admin fee.

All in all, I got about another $550 below msrp. Nothing substantial. but it helped. They included wheel locks, and floor mats as well.

 

Normally I wouldn't paste an entire quote/post of this length, but think it'll help in this case so others don't have to scroll up and down to see what I'm responding to.
1. regarding the "Scion pure pricing". If someone knows for certain on this for the 2gen tC's, please correct me if I'm wrong. I believe that the same "pure pricing" approach used prior to the 2 gen tC release would be close to if not exactly the same. When you see the MSRP on the window sticker for new Scions, that's basically the selling price that Toyota/Scion corporate sets. Meaning dealers don't entirely have full control over the initial listed price. Where they have room to price above the MSRP is if they pre-install popular Scion accessories. I have pretty good working relationship with my local Toyota/Scion dealer which includes acting as a consultant for some of their technicians when they get customers that have aftermarket performance modifications installed on their Scions. That being said, I was told by them that selling additional accessories is really the biggest way for them to make any money on the deal. Stating that the MSRP price is only between 1100 to 1500 dollars above the invoice price the dealer has to pay just to get the car on their lot to sell.
As for the finance question... it really wouldn't be very helpful to you because there are a good number of variables that make up each person's credit score.
The audio question - I'd say it's generally a personal choice. I have the upgraded Pioneer system with the sub under the floor in the back. I'm a fan of this option because it's a decent system w/o having to give up your trunk space IMHO.

 

Thanks for the helpful posts so far. Please keep them coming.

I saw that Bank of America is offering 2.99% APR loans on new vehicles. I'm going to try to get the dealership down below that figure but I don't know how negotiable finance rates typically are. I've financed two vehicles before with my local credit union but I was at their mercy as far as the rates. I'm trying to get the best deal possible with financing since I know I won't be able to do much able the total vehicle price. It seems like it doesn't really matter from whom I buy the car since the prices seem to be about the same from my local dealers. They'll have to compete in other ways if they want my business.

 

yeah my dads in the car buisness and if your planning on buying brand new the price is almost set by Toyota. like stated above the list price is usually not very much over invoice and at times it could only be a couple hundred dollars over invoice so with that said your not really going to ripped off on the sale of the car but where they are going to get you is for your accessories and add-ons such as your radio and floor mats and that deal. also the biggest thing that is pure profit for a dealership is extended warranties so just keep that in mind
and just do your research on dealerships and shop them and see whos willing to sell a car

as for financing there isnt a hole lot of negotiating going into this here because the dealership usually has accounts set up with a particular bank and will usually only use that bank and they just send in your info and the bank fills in the blanks on how much your interest rate will be over how many terms and you pick your term and they will show you your payments. only way to really get a better rate is to shop the banks before buying the car and getting the loan privately if that makes sense

 

I got the carpet mats (5) for free. Also got free satellite radio and lifetime limited powertrain warranty. Paid cash, so don't know about financing.

 

I think it's on a dealer-by-dealer basis. When I was going around for my tC. 1 dealership gave me~1500 off MSRP while the other gave me 1000 off MSRP + free window tinting. these deals might have been because it was during holiday season, not too sure. Other than that, most dealers are pretty strict about pure pricing. If you find one that's willing to give you a deal for under MSRP, take that one and try to haggle with other dealers and maybe you'll end up with a better deal. even though pure pricing exists, doesn't hurt to try

 

paid 1k under, picking it up this afternoon

 

Just an FYI, but the wheel locks and floor mats are standard in Canada.

 

^^^ interesting, as they are not standard in the US

 

i wish the floor mats were standard here because i still dont have any because they are so expensive for what you get

 

So far negotiations have gone well. I'm not going to give away where I'm at just yet until the deal is done. I also drove the Mazda 3 and prefer the Scion hands-down. The seats were just too uncomfortable in the Mazda for me to even consider it.

 

^^^LOL, welcome to the Scion community

 

So I bought my Scion tC today, or at least put the wheels in motion (no pun intended).

I bought a 2011 Classic Silver tC (manual) with carpet mats, a trunk mat, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, and fog lights. I still have to speak with the finance department to get everything squared-away there and also need to wait for information on allocation to see when I'll actually be able to take delivery.

Edit: Does anyone have any experience with the Blu Logic system? It's not too late for me to get it but it's a bit pricey for what it is.

 

^^^
Blu Logic isn't bad. At low speeds (around 60mph and under), you can speak in just about a normal tone/volume of voice and be heard by the other party fine.

It's when you are cruising at highway speeds above 60 that road noise appears come into play. While not needing to shout by any means, you do need to raise your voice slightly for the other party to hear you clearly.

The other party can also hear when you are aggressively accelerating. I haven't heard any complaints about engine noise being obtrusive to the conversation, but my girl always finds a reason to comment when I am punching it.

Call quality on your end is about average. Not super clear, but good enough to carry on any normal conversation.

Volume is plenty loud enough. I don't think I've ever needed to crank the volume to its limits thus far.

 

Thank you for your input. I opted not to get it primarily based on cost and the fact that I only rarely take calls when driving anyway, usually preferring to pull over so I don't have to divide my attention between the road and the caller.

 

I've actually been pretty impressed with the BluLogic system. My wife's last 2 cars (Lexus IS350 & Ford Escape) both had bluetooth built in and I like the BluLogic the best. Besides the fact that you can put the mic whereever you want it, call quality is pretty good.