Toyota Class Action Lawsuit

FYI:

New York Times: Interest in Toyotas Starts to Revive

"Toyota’s effort to regain the car buying public’s trust with
incentives appears to be working.

"According to data released Monday from Kelley Blue Book, 45 percent
of active shoppers for new cars are now considering a Toyota, up 13
percentage points from last week. This week’s level is 17 percentage
points higher than the 28 percent in early February in the midst of the
recall crisis. Active new car shoppers are defined as people who say
they plan to buy or lease a car in the next 12 months.

"'Toyota may finally be turning the corner,' said James Bell, executive
market analyst at Kelley Blue Book, in a statement. With 'the
company’s current incentive offerings and the understanding that the
recall issue, while severe is statistically small, it’s not surprising that
Toyota is now on the road to recovery,' he said."

More at the New York Times.

 

So , people actually went on waiting list to buy a car , so that they can actually sell the next day or month to make a hypothetical profit. Sounds like the ticket scalping scam to me.

 

Yes, they did. I could have made $2K in July 2008 after waiting 13 weeks for my Prius. Not that I was the least bit tempted.

 

Its a known fact , when consumers smell blood(Prices slashed on an occurrence) ,there are more potential buyers seeking a bargain then people getting turned off by the news and refrain to shop. This is no different then land grabbers after a hurricane .

I would ask if Toyota didn't aggressively promote their brands, Would Kelley Blue Book and the consumer share the same enthusiasm ?

Characterizing Toyota is on a comeback , when they are throwing deep incentives to consumers is no difference in saying that GM, back when, is on the rise again due to the increased sales because of the Cash for Clunkers program.

The longer Toyota will need to promote their brand on the cheap, the more their previous buyers will take a hit on resale value.

 

Perhaps I should of rephrased the question. Do you know of anyone selling their car for more then they drove out of the dealership for. I haven't heard of that , nor have I heard someone waiting to buy a car , go on a waiting list and hope by some miracle that the demand goes through the roof so that they can turn a profit on it. If it was done, you can count on it to be an inside job.

The validity of the logic has everything to do with it , if your example represents .0001 % of the time. DNA testing would be abolished by your standards.

As a GM from Toyota told me "Your car goes down in value the moment you drive out of here" !

 

I think his point is pretty clear. You buy a car for $25,000, the next week it goes up to $28,000 for the same car. No, not the one in your driveway.

Got it?

 

Joe, I don't think you get it ...If you read my original post...Toyota will NEVER sell the same Prius at a higher price then before the recalls/complaints , unless they reduce distribution substantially , which will kill their bottom line.

Toyota, before the recalls/complaints were known to hold great resale value and that is partly why we all paid more for them and that was always part of their selling point . Previous purchasers are getting it on both ends now...Anyone wishing to purchase their car, will low ball them due the recalls/complaints and because Toyota themselves are running their own sale, you can't attain the same fair return to resell your car as you had hoped 5 months ago.

I are not talking about random sales, due to hard times or holiday season sales.

 

I are not iceman but

"Toyota will NEVER sell the same Prius at a higher price then before the recalls/complaints"

The writing here obscures the point. If Iceman's point is that Toyota will only be able to Prius with incentives from now on, that's a foolish statement on his part.

 

Re: I are not iceman but

I paid 35k for my car , you think someone will pay 35k on 2010 IV fully loaded from a dealership this year ?...Your statement is foolish !

If all is perfectly ok...No need to run incentives !

Call it incentives or perceived value on an opinion on diminished quality, there will be no dealer today or the rest of the year, that will be able to get MORE for a Prius then before the recalls/complaints !

Start looking to 2011 .

 

Re: I are not iceman but

I may have to take out the Hollywood types ...Where money is no object.

 

In 2008, I didn't get any sales pitch since they had nothing to sell. But it wouldn't have mattered. I wanted a Prius. Resale value had absolutely nothing to do with my decision.
But the bottom line is you believe Nader, Kane, Howard, Anderson and the media that Toyota is at fault for all of this. I disagree. I love not having to worry about gas prices going up or down.
And you can believe it or not but there was craigslist the week after I finally got my Prius advertising that they would pay 10% over list. I was amused but not interested. Still not. I plan to keep it for a long time (it's a family thing- my parents still have their 63 Pontiac, their 88 and 94 Cadillacs).

 

As pointed out above, it was fairly common with the Gen II. However, as pointed out above, it doesn't change the logic. The logic is if the price goes down, the car company owes you; if the price goes up, you owe the car company. Your DNA example is specious.

Tom

 

I get it, I think perhaps you are so enamored of making your point that you ignored his point, which is not necessarily contrary to yours.

What he said was that IF you were entitled to cash if your car were devalued then you would have to pay the manufacturer if the value went up! He is not predicting anything. He is showing the speciousness of a suit for diminished value. Whether you agree with him or not, his point is that if you are entitled to be compensated when market conditions (such as publicity about a real or imagined flaw) cause a diminution of value, then turn about is fair play. Now do you get it? If not, I will retype it really slowly so you can follow me.

 

Lawyers always respond to blood in the water. The dishonest cash in and make this possible for the ambulance chasing blood zucking lawyers. At least those who don't go into politics. Does this surprise anyone ?

 

Loss in value? When I heard this news I went out to my garage to look at my '10 Prius. I couldn't see any loss in value.

When I buy a new car I tend to drive it until it won't go anymore. I have come to expect 250-300K mi. Since I don't plan on selling my Prius in this lifetime, this "loss in value" has absolutely no effect on me. Those are the facts.

 

I want to get in on this class action. When I was in high school, I never got any class action. Do I have to have a Toyota?

 

lol.

 

You apparently were not around in summer of 2008. This is the truth, we actually did it.

At that time there were no Prius' anywhere in NA. But demand was redhot. So we as the largest dealer in this region went to the auctions all over the E Coast and bought USED ex-rental units at the various auctions. We bought 70-80 USED 2007 ex-rental vehicles for $24000 - $25000 each.

These vehicles were the base model Prius in 2007 which had an MSRP of $22000 but which were sold to the auto rental companies for about $20000. They then put them in service for 9 to 12 months and sent them to auction in the summer of 2008. Normally they would have expected to get about $16000 for each one.

We had to outbid other dealers at the auctions just to get our fair share. We ended up paying $24000+ for each one....$2000 above MSRP, $4000 above the transaction prices and $8000 above 'normal' value.

Think before you post. Listen to qbee42 when he posts, he knows whereof he speaks.

 

This purported loss in value is only applicable if one were to sell their vehicle right now in the midst of the witchhunt. It's no different that having a portfolio of stocks. If you choose to sell them at their lowest point then you will take a bath. If you are a 'keeper' then today's value means nothing. You neither lost or gained any value.

If fuel returns to elevated levels and the public suddenly awakens to 'OMG it costs $100 to fill this [xxxx] beast.' Then the pricing of Prius will jump as demand jumps.

If you're like me and plan to run your vehicle into the ground then the value today means nothing. I know that in 4-5 yrs when I'm at 300,000 miles or so that my 2005 will be worth about $1000.

The scum-sucking tort group should rot in hell. Strong feelings to follow.

 

Here's some recent real data on trade in values on our favorite vehicle as presented by the 'Black Book' which is used most often in this market.

Trade in values are the most conservative values. They're similar to LCM ( lower of cost or market ). They're what one could normally expect to obtain for an urgent cash-on-the-spot sale to a dealer.

2006 Prius, average condition, average miles, no leather, no Navi
Mar 08 ... $10,500
Mar 15 ... $10,500
Mar 22 ... $10,400

On the retail side one might expect to sell this vehicle for about $13000 +/-.

Then there is this from ALG, the bible for leasing in the auto industry..
https://www.alg.com/DepreciationRatings