Actual Dealer Invoice for 2008 Package 2

Prior to purhasing my 2008 Package 2, the dealer and I agreed over the phone on a price of "$100.00 over Dealer Invoice". When I met with him last Friday (10/19/07) to make the purchase, I was surprised we were a couple hundered dollars apart on what the invoice price should be. He printed me a copy of the invoice so we could find the difference, and so I thought I would share some info I found on that document.

The first thing I noticed was that the Base Model Dealer Cost showed as $19,889.00, as opposed to the $20,558.00 listed at Edmunds and MSN, a difference of $669.00. Further down on the invoice I could see that this $669.00 consists of $446.00 Dealer Holdback and $223.00 Wholesale Financial Reserve.

While I am not sure what "Wholesale Financial Reserve" is, I'm going to guess that it is, much like the Dealer Holdback amount, not a true cost to the dealer. The dealer gets the $446.00 back from Toyota when they sell the car, so I am going to assume the same is true of this "reserve" amount. Granted, the dealer may well be 'out of pocket' on these costs until the car sells, bringing into play 'cost of money' scenarios, but to keep things simple, the dealer has $669.00 in profit (3.25%) already included in the $20,558.00 invoice price we see at Edmunds/MSN.

The Package 2 invoice value of $518.00 and the destination charge of $660.00 both match what we see at Edmunds/MSN. One value not shown online is the invoice cost for the floor mats, which is $126.00.

Now knowing this floor mat price, and using online pricing, the invoice total is $21,862.00. The invoice the dealer showed me totalled $22,121.00, and additional $259.00. This cost is broken down on the invoice as $10.00 for Gas, and $249.00 for TDA (Toyota Dealer Advertising).

Considering the car had a full tank of gas when I drove off the lot, the $10 cost is fine. The $249.00 cost per car sold for advertising seems steep, but whatever.

Now that we had the discrepancy identified ($259.00), the dealer made a half-hearted suggesstion that we 'split the difference'. Before I could even give this offer much consideration, he gave in, and asked me what was the total that I showed plus the $100 over, to which I mispoke and said $21,956.00 instead of $21,962.00, saving me an additional $6.

So $21,956.00 is what I paid - $94.00 over invoice, or $165.00 under invoice, depending on whose invoice values you look at.

Hope this helps you get a better deal on your purchase.