Any Prius Buyers from Northern Virginia NOVA

I've bought two Prii here in NoVA, each from separate dealers - Bill Page's Toyota in Falls Church and from Jack Taylor's Alexandria Toyota. I can't really complain about either one, except that I do think I trust the service dept a little more at the Alexandria dealer.

As for haggling for price, I think that that will completely depend on all kinds of factors like monthly sales numbers, lot inventory, etc... IMHO, your only influence over them will be your timing and your demeanor.

Dave

 

Got ours at Koons of Arlington and have been quite satisfied.

 

I bought in October '09 when deliveries were slow because of Cash for Clunkers. Some thoughts based on my experience:

1. Other things being equal, consider buying across the river in MD. You'll pay the same VA sales tax, but the document processing fee runs about $99, versus $300-$400 at NoVA dealers. It's less paperwork in VA (MD dealers have to do paperwork for both states when the customers are in VA), and the VA fee is not required by law (AFAIK), so I don't see why they charge so much when it makes them less competitive.

2. I bought from Fitzgerald (Gaithersburg) for $369 below MSRP -- took care of everything but closing online (no-haggle price). Nice people, easy experience. If you want to pay the extra $369, you'll get future oil changes and a discount on maintenance. Didn't seem worthwhile, especially now that the oil change interval is up to 10K miles.

3. Avoid Jim Coleman in Bethesda. I was referred to them through the AAA buying service, but they wouldn't honor the AAA price that they originally quoted me. Then, after quoting a price (MSRP) to me and taking my credit card number for a deposit, they called back 5 minutes later and refused to honor the price, claiming "the MSRP had gone up by $1,000." They made a big deal about not charging a premium, "unlike other dealers." I spoke with a lot of dealers while shopping for the car, and Coleman was the ONLY one I spoke with who was trying to jack the price above MSRP. I don't deal with people who play games like that. As I learned when I took delivery from Fitzgerald on the same delivery date offered by Coleman, the MSRP had not changed.

4. If you insist on buying in VA, Koons Tysons took a $1,000 deposit (twice as much as others asked) but never followed up, proving that bigger dealers don't necessarily get better allocations. Maybe they weren't crazy about the AAA buying service price either -- their AAA quote beat everyone else's. They were quick to refund the deposit, though. Koons Arlington (where I bought once before), took my information, did not ask for a deposit, but didn't follow up until long after I had already bought my car. I was referred to Ourisman Fairfax through a different buying service, called them, and didn't hear back for weeks. I never bothered to call them back.

Sorry for the long post. Hope this helps. BTW, 1600 miles later, I still love the car.

 

You're welcome. Forgot one part of the sales process that wasn't online: I spoke on the phone with the people who offer financing and accessories. It saved me time at closing.

 

Alexandria Toyota.

Ordered a car for me. No money down. I got the exact colors I want. No obligation to buy when the car comes in. $500 off a Prius Package III up front with an exact out the door price up front. I went in and traded my car and paid for the new Prius BEFORE it arrived. I got a free loaner Prius with hybrid plates in exchange for my trade-in until my new Prius arrived.

For the trade in, I got a quote $500 dollars higher at automax (forgot the exact name) so I went back and they matched it.

Transferred my plates, ordered Virginia hybrid plates for me. I actually have to apply for hybrid plates myself but I just signed on a blank form and they filled in the rest. They mailed it.

Informed DMV. I did not have to do a thing. It was VIP service all the way. So it is not all about discounts.

I think other people managed to get more discounts though. Also, with the trade-in, it muddies the picture but I like the service.

 

I have a buddy in this region who has a prius and wants to add fogs...anybody know of a dealer in this area that will install? Not sure if price is a concern, or not?

 

I purchased a Prius-II for $22,410 OTD ( Incl VA Tax+Title etc) on dec 30th 2009, PM Me if ur interested in Details, I Can recommend you to the same sales person, they may have another car with the same OTD Price.

 

We bought ours at Ourisman Fairfax Toyota. We originally were thinking about a Camry hybrid. We went to Koons Tysons and drove a used one which we liked just fine. They had no new ones and their next allocation was probably a month away. We were buying in the cash for clunkers program and didn't want to risk missing out so we didn't place an order.

I called Ourisman the next morning and the saleman I spoke to (Vincent) said he was their hybrid expert. He assured me there wasn't a Camry hybrid on the ground anywhere on the east coast that wasn't spoken for. He said he might have one Prius left if it hadn't been sold the night before. He called me back a few minutes later and said he still had it but I would have to put down a deposit to hold it which I did. As luck would have it, it was a IV with leather and nav in Barcelona Red with Bisque interior, our prefered combo. My wife met me there that afternoon and we drove it. She liked it fine so we told him to write it up. I asked if he could do anything on price, he just smiled and shook his head and said he couldn't knock anything off sticker. C4C had decimated inventories, nobody was discounting at that time. But, we traded a '94 Jeep Grand Cherokee worth about $1700 and got the $4500 C4C deal so it worked out really well for us. The buying experience at Ourisman was painless except that it took a little while for them to complete the C4C paperwork (not their fault).

I just checked their website and they are running good clearance specials right now but they end on 1/11. Ask for Vincent if you call them.

 

Bumping this so the OP might see it.

Check out Ourisman's website for the special clearance prices. They end Monday.

OOPS! Just noticed you thanked me on the previous post which means you saw it.

 

I purchased a Prius II + carpet mats for an OTD price of $23,780 (all taxes, fees, etc. included) in Sep. 09 from Springfield Toyota. The car had exactly 1 mile on it (no previous test drives!) This was an entirely e-mail based negotiation. The Internet Manager was quick and provided me with the exact color combination I wanted (PM me for his name.) I contacted 5 other Toyota dealerships in northern VA and MD but all of them refused to beat that OTD price.