I am interested in buying a 2007 GS-350. I went into the dealership yesterday armed with copies of invoice price from kbb.com and Edmunds.com: $40,568 plus $175 destination fee. I offered the dealer $1,000 above invoice. After much haggling, they finally agreed. Problem was that their “invoice” did not match the invoice number I showed. They gave me a sheet with the following breakdown:

Vehicle Base Model: $39185
Whsl. Financial Reserve: $461
Dealer Holdback: $922
TDA $576

If you add up the first three figures, you get $40,568 which exactly matches what I found online. But the TDA bumps it up another $576. I researched TDA online and found it to be a legit charge that is passed along to the Lexus dealership by Toyota for national advertising. But why wont the numbers match up? I have purchased two other new cars in the past, one from Toyota and another from Lexus. Every time I come in with an invoice amount from an online source, it matches up exactly with what the dealer shows me. Why is this situation off by $576? The dealer claims the invoice pricing online is off but I don’t believe them. Can anybody help?

TDA is usually part of invoice price. If you price it out on carsdirect.com, it includes TDA in the invoice price. I don't think Edmunds usually includes TDA. Bottom line is it doesn't matter what the exact invoice price is, just what you are willing to pay. Can another dealer give it to you for $576 less?