Share my 2010 Prius first new car buying experience

I would not be willing to put up with those tactics, I would have gone elsewhere. I hope you go to a different dealer for parts and service.

Other than the buying experience how is the car?

 

Couple things of note -

Probably one of the most awesome policies I can think of is from Toyota Sunnyvale (no, I don't work there) ...

they have a 10 point guarantee, including 3-day, 250 mile return / refund policy. I don't know the details, but it should be if you are not satisfied with the car in this time/mileage, return for refund. That seems awesome!

One more thing, if you must finance, get best rates and terms approved before you go to buy the car. But really, car payments and debt stink, so try to pay cash for a car, get it over with. I would not have bought this 09 like I did again, even after putting down $17k. I plan to never borrow for a car again, just glad mine's paid off.

 

Agreed.

 

As pointed out, make sure you know the OTD price before agreeing with the deal. In doing so watch for dealer add-on fees including excessive doc. fees ranging from $199-499. This is purely a dealer profit fee; you know it and they know it.

Also, as noted, don't be afraid to walk on a deal if they use a bogus tactic like saying there is another(s) who want the car. In my refusing to go along with the dealer's pricing I actually went elsewhere and got a better price than I used for my negotiation. Finally, be aware of the dealer offered options which are offered while you are completing the deal in the finance manager's office. Al of these are today's "undercoating" and are used to extract more $$ for often unneeded much less useless things. These include excessive pricing for window tinting, extended warranties, anti-theft devices and protective film application that you may want but are asked to pay dearly for. Dealers are getting more and more crafty (sleezey).

 

Check out the dealer fees in the SET region. I could not believe $899. Not sure what all is included. But in Ohio dealer doc fees usually are less then $ 200.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience and ideas. My problem would be I think I'd walk after the first two things happened. Once I'm obviously being jerked around, my instinct is to leave, at some point you can't trust anything.

On the positive side, my total allergic hatred of dealing with salesmen and dealerships helps me remain patient as far as buying a new car. I can get really excited about a new car, but the idea of walking onto a lot feels like jumping into shark infested waters, so at least I'm not going to do an emotional impulse buy.

I really hate dealing with dealerships and salesmen. I have a credit union that offers a buying service. I've been thinking of going that route. From the brochure and online information it seems pretty automatic. As far as I can tell, you might not get as good a deal as if you come fully prepared and willing to battle for 10 hours with a dealer, but you also won't get totally ripped off or way overcharged.

Does anyone have any experience using a Credit Union auto buying service? I'd be curious as to how people felt about the experience. Otherwise, I'm afraid someday I'm going to have to jump into those shark infested waters.

It's interesting to me, people love cars, and when people decide to buy an auto, in most cases people want to be happy about it...but not only in this forum but almost any auto forum you get such negative feedback about dealerships and sales experiences.

I know not every dealership is bad, I know not every salesperson is "sleezy" but it's unfortunate that car buying is perceived either in reality or preconception as being such a toxic experience.

 

It's good that you shared your experience. I was about to put in an order for a demo Prius and I thought I was getting a good deal... only to find that they advertised the same demo vehicle on the internet for almost $2k cheaper! Intended to go back to the dealers tomorrow and ask for "please explain!"

 

Happy Birthday and enjoy the ride! Leave the rest behind.

 

I purchased my Prius 2.5 hours from my house at a place called Byers Toyota. We worked out the price over the phone/emails. When I went to pick up the car they sold it to me for the price we discussed but I still had issues.

They closed at 9:00pm, we arrived at 7:00pm. We sat around for 2 hours waiting for them to do the so called paper work. I paid cash for the car (personal check) At 9:00pm I meet with the finance manager and his goal was to sell extra services and a warranty.

I told him many times I am not going to add anything. Their goal is to make people sit for so long they agree to anything. He got upset and rushed my paper work through. If I had to do it again I would have made him sit around for 2 hours asking stupid questions to waste his time like he wasted mine.

 

I'd say hit or miss depending on the situation with the credit union auto buying services. My buddy got a sweet deal a few years back on the car he wanted. When I used the same credit union for the car I wanted, I got a better deal using the "e-mail" technique.

If you (or anyone else) doesn't like the whole stepping on the dealership lot experience, just go to the car manufacturer's website (i.e. Toyota.com, ford.com, etc.), find the dealer locater link, type in your zip code, and hit all the dealers within a XXX mile radius with the same "form" e-mail. Open each dealer on a different tab on your browser, and copy and paste your form e-mail to their internet sales department or their sales department. The e-mail states the car your willing to accept (colors, options, etc.), that you're a serious buyer and you are buying a car in X days, you're going with the lowest out the door price, and that the dealership has X days to respond via e-mail only. Some won't bite but most will. I've never failed to get a very good to excellent deal using this method, but I'll also send that e-mail to 30 different dealers as well.

 

I actually had a pleasurable experience (I never thought buying a car would be pleasurable - it is normally a long drawn out negotiation process in the past). I shopped around carefully and went through several failed negotiations until I found the dealer I ended up purchasing at. They had the exact model and colour I wanted. It had just arrived, and only had 5 kilometres on it. Still had the wrapping on it.

They offered a better price than what I was able to negotiate at any of the other dealers, and also offered a much better trade-in value for my old car than any of the other dealers. They threw in lots of the little extras that other places wanted to charge you for as well. Plus a service credit which should cover service for at least 2-3 years.

They did post-sale follow-up to make sure everything was ok as well - nice touch.

I'm quite happy with the entire process, and the final deal. This was after shopping around quite a bit, and going through the hassle of negotiation with about 8 different dealers.

 

I tried to use the zag.com/overstock.com service to get "guaranteed" pricing for pkg 3, but the listed "guaranteed pricing" dealer balked by saying that it was only $400 over invoice. Like it is my problem they are "only" making $400 over the publicly disclosed invoice price when we know the real invoice is several hundreds to a thousand less. These dirtbags wouldn't also tell me their processing fee upfront and that I had to come into see their invoice.

Emails were sent back and forth, and finally i just got tired of their games and went to Carmax and bought a new Prius (yes they do sell new Priuses) for close to the zag.com "guranteed price". No haggling or games involved; just went in and paid the price and signed papers, and 1.5 hrs later I was out.

Also tried to use Costco Auto Buying Service but i wasn't going to drive 45mins just to look at their price when the consensus says their pricing isn't so great.

 

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