Hi, again

After reading some comments in my other thread and then some thinking… I can say that I am heavily leaning towards a defender 110 x-dynamic SE 3.0L loaded (upgraded leather -> vintage tan, full off-road options and trailering pkg, explorer pkg, plus a few other features), to be ordered in 3-4 months. first question is, How long should I expect the delivery to take?

I would say that I pride myself in my negotiation abilities , but I have not purchased a vehicle in more than 9 years … so I am a bit rusty and also I don’t want to be too aggressive this time.

… I would like to hear your input on what, in your recent experience, would be reasonable dealer fees for LR dealers (broken down if possible) for a CUSTOM ORDER , assuming that I don’t want to get murdered but also that dealers are for profit organizations, so transaction gotta be of mutual benefit.

Also, could you recommend any trustworthy internet sales manager that could give me a good deal in case my local dealers are not willing to play ball? I am from Miami FL, and down here many of these luxury brand dealers operate under different rules that have never made any sense to me. To put it in a simple: they tend to be anything but transparent, with some exceptions. I am not sure how LR dealers behave but I was checking some defenders in their lots and their prices seemed very inflated.

thanks again

ps: before ordering I would need to test drive a similar vehicle (110 3.0L), so not sure how to accomplish this if I needed to go the route of an non-local internet sales manager



EDIT: I am ok with paying sticker, my problem is possible markups. Huge bummer if I cannot negotiate with other dealers outside of my area. btw Is that even legal? because this might be a violation of consumer protection regulations afaik

 

Maybe a few grand off at most if you have a dealer willing. But walking away at MSRP is to be expected in my area.

 

I am always crap at negotiation, we got ours mid last year at MSRP. Kind of when the supply chain was starting to get back to normal, but prices where still high. Good luck!

 

I was offered 5k off on in stock defenders. Not sure how ordering would change that, but I would expect less off.

 

The market has changed a lot. When I ordered mine (Oct ‘21), dealers were charging $5-10k above MSRP for anything on the lot, and $3k above MSRP if you placed a custom order. I went with the dealer near me who sold at MSRP for an order.

There are (were?) also rules prohibiting dealers from selling to anyone not in their geographic area which further reduced competition and increased prices.

Glad to hear there are deals to be had these days.

 

My dealer gave me $500 off when I took delivery of my special ordered 110 S back in January of 2021. At that time, it was nearly impossible to get one at sticker, let alone getting any discount. They gave me a discount because I'm a 3x repeat customer. Nowadays your're looking at paying sticker, maybe $1k-$2k off if you're lucky.

 

I bought in August 2023. Ordered from the factory similar. Dealer said MSRP, no add ons, no weird fees, no negotiating. There were no new trucks sitting on the lot, everything was ordered through their allocation process.
Today isn't 9 years ago. I was also a good negotiator and did well enough that I bought cars for people. MSRP is common now, with maybe a little discount if something hasn't moved for 90 days. If you are ordering you should walk in thinking MSRP is your number and see where it goes.

 

gonna be different from market to market, and dealer to dealer. as others have stated, easier to get deals on cars on the lot, and less leverage for custom orders. timing will also be dependent on the dealer and their current allocations. best thing to do is just ask them directly. sometimes you go to the back of the line. sometimes there's an open order (perhaps canceled by a customer) with time to make changes before it locks. when i bought mine (coming up on two years ago) i couldn't get a dealer outside of my region to even talk to me. JLR was forcing dealers to only sell locally/regionally. i doubt that's still the case, but others can chime in.

 

November 21 I paid MSRP for my special order (ordered April 2021). Was the easiest and smoothest car purchase I have ever had

 

Land Rover punishes dealers who sell out of their area. They are permitted to do so, but they pay a penalty for it.

Where I live (kinda rich area), my problem is getting dealers to respond to my request for a custom order! One never bothered to call back, even though I bought my last truck from them, and one still hasn't responded to my email. I'm not sure why, but my guess is that they only want to bother with upper-tier loaded models.

If and when I actually get to order one, I'd probably expect to pay MSRP without hassles, but not over.