Where Do You Get An Indicative Price?

Lately I have received many queries from my reader on what is the right price of the model they are looking for? I actually don’t have the price information but I do have a way to find out. I normally will call up my dealer to ask for specific model price but I also refer to the Star Classified on the latest market price.

In this post, I will show you how I find out the indicative price of a particular Toyota Alphard model.

You can either read The Star newspaper classified page or start with The Star homepage (http://www.thestar.com.my). I then click on the Classified link at the top left of the page, enter Toyota Alphard into the search box, select Cars For Sale from the drop down list and then click Search.

Usually I will get two to three pages of listing from the search results. I will then scan through the listings starting with the latest entries to get a feel of the prices. I normally discard those lists that have a price that is too good to be true or those that don’t list down their prices at all.

In the list shown above, the 4th entry has a starting price of RM150K which is rather on the low side and compare to the one listed above it.

Given the fact that the Approved Permit used can only be used for car below 5 years, the oldest model that they advertise will be from year 2005. Since 2005 is also the year when the new facelift model was introduced, therefore you should check the listing to see if it includes the wording “new facelift” or NFL. In the above photo, the first entry shows that it is NFL model with quite a high specification but the dealer choose not to include the price. A NFL model typically carries a higher premium than a PFL model. Check this post to see the difference between PFL and NFL model.

The other reason for the price difference between two 2005 NFL models advertised by two different dealers could due to the effect of exchange rate. Depending when that dealer brought in the car, they may be paying a higher duty due to the higher Japanese Yen exchange rate at that time.

In the above list, you can see that there is a difference of RM16K between the price of a ’05 NFL in the 1st entry and the 4th entry (see red arrows). Even though the later entry has a slightly better spec I don’t think it worth the price difference so I can only think it is due to the exchange rate effect.

I also normally like to refer to the listings of dealers who give prices of the model from different year so that you get an overview of the price range. In the photo above, both the 1st and 4th entry gave indicative price from year 2005 to year 2007 and I typically use these as a reference.

From what I have observed, the price different between each year is about RM10K or more. If you have the budget, consider getting a later model as they normally have slightly more feature than older mode. For example, AS model from 2006 or later have a camera on the underside of the left side mirror while the 2005 AS do not have this feature.

Let say you scan the list and you find the model that you are interested in and the price is within you budget, I would suggest you to call up the dealers to enquire if the unit is still available. Since the ads are not removed from the Star Classified until after the expiry date of that ad, that car may not be available when you see the ad after several days since it listed.

Let say that unit is still available, you should ask the dealer some basic questions like the year of manufacture, model, colour, specific feature etc just to confirm that it is indeed the car you wanted. Check out this post on what options should you choose for your Alphard.

If you are satisfied that the model you want is available from that dealer, take a trip to visit them to check out the car in person. Verify the year of manufacturing by referring or check the model code to confirm the specification.

Make sure that the giant has all the features listed in the ad. Also check out some of the features like LCD, Radio, DVD player, multi-function steering, front/rear camera etc are working. Start the engine to see if it is in good running condition. Open the engine bay to check the condition of the engine, the rubbers, hoses, etc.

Of course take a test drive of the car to test the power delivery as well as the suspension. Listen while you are on the move to hear if there is any knocking sounds from the suspension or rattling sounds the rear seats.

If you are happy with the car, try to bargain with the dealer for lower price. I normally start with RM10K less from the asking price as a starting point for the price negotiation. Do note that the method I listed above only show you the price of Toyota Alphard on sales in the central region. I heard that most dealers in East Malaysia especially Kuching offer cheaper price. However I am not familiar with their offering so I can’t recommend any.

I like to use the Star Classified because it is easy to use and I can copy the details for reference. Also the listing in the Star Classified usually include contact number that you can call immediately as you scan through.

If you like to see photo of the giants, you can also use MotorTrader to find the indicative prices. Similarly you can also refer to mudah.com to find the list of Toyota Alphard for sale. Both sites allow you to refer your search by year as well.

Happy hunting for your giant.

Late Reminder From Your IES Alarm

Yesterday after I reached my brother house with my giant, as usual I pressed the remote to lock the car. However the alarm system beep 8 times instead of the normal 3 beeps. I checked around the car and make sure that all doors are closed and tried again, still it keep beeping 8 times.

Since it is already late in the day so I left it as it is since the doors are locked and the alarm is armed. I just don't know what is going on at that time.

The next morning I decided to call the installer and only to find out that this is a indication that the SIM card is not functioning. That remind me that I have to renew my pre-paid SIM card. I bought one of those 360-days pre-paid validity SIM card last year and I thought it is not due yet.

Well today I went to Maxis to check on the status of the SIM card and apparently it expired two days ago. So SIM card is no longer functioning hence the alarm system is "smart" enough to warn the owner.

However since that pre-paid SIM card is already expired, there is no way to renew it and the only option is to buy a new SIM card. Also the alarm module is concealed inside the dashboard I have no way of replacing the SIM card mysef.

I sent the car to the installer shop to get the SIM card replaced and now everything is back to normal.

I know some of you have been asking me about the IES alarm. I thought I want to share this with you in case you are also using pre-paid SIM card. Remember to top-up your pre-paid SIM card regularly or use a post-paid SIM card.

I spoke to the installer enquiring about the price of the IES GSM alarm and it seems the price that my installer got for me is much cheaper than the suggested reselling price given by the official dealer. Also the IES alarm with the suffix M that I am using now is no longer available. It is replace with a MS model now which carry a higher price than previous model.

Just for comparison sake, the dealer quoted me the RM2,600 for the IES GM60MS model. You can get it cheaper if you go to other accessories shop to install it.

Hope this help.

Update. A reader reminded me that the manual for IES GSM alarm does provide explanation on the 8 beeps reminder. It stated that "1. No GSM coverage this could imply: No network coverage, Sim Card not functioning properly, among others."

I guess I hasn't been reading the manual since the day I install the alarm!

Less AP so the price maintain

I got a call last week from a fellow forum member who enquire on what to look out for as he is looking for his giant (Toyota Alphard). We spoke at length on the various models and features that comes with each model.

Last week I took a drive to the dealer whom I bought my giant from. I was surprised to see that his yard has only a few unit of giant remaining. I remember when I was searching for my giant at his yard 7 months ago, his yard was full of giants. So I enquire with my Sales Advisor (SA) what's going on there. He highlighted that lately there is a lack of Approved Permit (AP) hence the lack of supply of cars.

The rumours goes that there is a new person looking after the AP issuance now and strictly enforce the usage of the AP. It seems owner of AP cannot sell the AP to dealers anymore. Also, dealer who is also AP holder must display their car within their own yard and hence non-AP holder who is getting their cars from those AP holders must now ask their customer to visit the yard of the AP holder. This will make it difficult for the non-AP holder dealer to sell their car now and inconvenient the customer to have to go to different places to see the car and then back to the dealer yard to negotiate the price etc.

I actually asked the SA to show me what he got and he took me to another dealer yard 5 minutes drive from his place. I had a look at that giant which is same year and selling the same price as mine but come with one less power door, no bluetooth and no roof-mounted LCD. Looks like the price of the giants has maintained for the last 6 months.

Due to the lack of supply of AP, the number of giants that are brought in also getting less. I also took a trip to Cheras AutoCity a week later to check out the availability of giants there. I remember back in early January I visited AutoCity almost every weekend just to check out if any new giant have arrived at the dealer yards.

Back then, almost every dealer would have a few unit of giants in their yard waiting for buyers. However, this time I noticed that only a handful of dealers are have stock for the giants. These dealers are also AP holder so they can afford to import the giants.

Also I noticed some of the larger dealers also started to import the 2nd generation Toyota Alphard and Toyota Vellfire. That means the number of 1st generation Toyota Alphard imported will also be smaller as the dealer will make more money selling 2nd generation Alphard/Vellfire as these cars cost almost double the price of the 1st generation.

While I was there, I did check out a few dealers to find out what spec are available now. Most the 1st generation Alphard are either 2005 or 2006 2.4L new facelift model. However, the spec are quite low compared to what was available many months ago. Most of them has one power door, rear camera and HU without the bluetooth function. There were some with twin power door but fitted with after market HU that don't come with bluetooth function.

The 2005 model was asking for RM185K onward while the 2006 model is going for RM195K before negotiation. Given that the spec of these cars are not high, I would imagine the price should be lower. But then since there is lack of AP which means less car to choose from so it also drive the price high up again. I would recommend any potential buyer to wait for another batch to get a better spec giant.