I was surprised once I made the decision to buy how the situtation turned out.
I went to a dealer in Phoenix to test drive a RX400h.They said they wouldn't sell me the unit. They wanted to use for other folks to demo but that they were getting in five per month and if I put down a deposit, I could have one in three weeks.
I checked dealerships in California, others in Phoenix, New Mexico and Texas.
Everyone was wanting full list price, always the same $50,853. Nobody had once available on the lot. The California dealers had the longest waiting time. The document fees from the dealers ranged from $45 in California (where I hear that is all they can charge by state law) to as much as $895 at one dealer in Arizona.
Bu the New Mexico dealer had the strangest offer. A 25-week waiting time OR I could make a $2,500 donation to a non-profit organization where his boss was on the board and I could move to the top of the waiting list and have first refusal of every RX400h that came in until I found the one I liked. Of course, I wondered how much someone had to donate to move ahead of me. I passed on this.
I was set to go back to Phoenix and order when I emailed the local Tucson dealer that I was headed up there that weekend. They decided they had one in my color coming in within two weeks and I could have it. It is supposed to arrive by Wednesday.
Once I made the purchase, suddenly five other dealers called and said they had units in stock and did I want it?
Nope, I had already paid for mine here in town.
