Cancelled deal on a Prius V

Have you checked the internet for a 2010 V at other dealers?
It seems that there should be one within a moderate drive for NE.

 

Every dealer I see has 3-4 in stock

 

Dealers are independent. Some are good, some so-so, and some are really bad. Shop around and find a better dealer.

Tom

 

There was a good selection of V's on the lot when we bought three weeks ago.
Is there some special combination of options you're looking for that would need a dealer order instead of buying out of inventory?
Our dealer told us he could probably find us anything we wanted given a week.

Bo

 

We have a dealer in Huntsville but I bought our latest Prius from a dealer in Decatur, 40 miles away. The difference was night and day. Both have good service departments but the sales critters . . . it is good they are in a separate building. Sales is not an easy job but some of them make it harder than it has to be for both the customer and themselves.

Bob Wilson

 

My first post here and not meant to chide you. If the dealer called you back two weeks after your initial order and saved you a further fruitless six week wait, I'd think that was a pretty heads-up move.

I was looking for a V and although there are 3 of them shown in the region, none of colors worked for me. It seems that the dealers can order from a regional pool and will swap cars but there was nothing I wanted. That might mean more V's are showing up in the system but they might be duplicated at several dealers.

Call around and maybe you can find one that specs out to your liking. Make sure they have it on the lot before you head out. YMMV.

 

You can go online and go to each dealer in your area and check their website for their inventory. You can tell whether the car is actually allocated to them versus to the region by fact that the VIN is complete.

I did this last year during C4C and was able to find the exact car that I wanted, color and all, at a dealer about 100 miles from me. Called this dealer and really liked this dealership's sales culture much better than my local dealer.

My local dealer had no motivation to help me find the car that I wanted. They wanted to sell me what they had on their lot or in their allocation pipeline.

 

That one could still be a good dealer, just a victim of the manufacturer's allocation system used to distribute cars to dealers. In the US, partly because of a Byzantine combination of state laws, one cannot order a new car from a manufacturer. You tell a dealer what you want, and they then either have to trade another dealer for it or wait for one to appear in their allocation. They may have honestly expected to get one but simply didn't. Of course dealers do have an incentive to, uhh, exaggerate the speed of expected delivery... If you got a good price and otherwise liked the dealer and salesanimal, you can do a lot worse than simply waiting.

 

YES :welcome:

 

I realize it may not work for you because you're in New England, but I'll relate my recent purchase experience (1) for those within driving distance of Cleveland, and (2) for anyone who can't get the right car and the right deal close to home.

If my post seems to gush with praise for this dealer, it's because it was so different than my other attempts to lease a 2010 while getting the color and options I wanted for a price I could live with. And, if you look, you'll eventually find a similar dealer you can travel to.

My local dealers tried everything you could imagine, including one with which I got the car and pricing I wanted for a 3/36 lease ... only to find out at signing time that their numbers were really for a 60-month lease, and those were the papers ready for me to sign.

I live in S.E. Michigan (between Detroit and Ann Arbor). I made the rounds of dealers here, and none had the car I wanted. In fairness, most were willing to find it for me and trade the other dealer for it. But we couldn't get close enough to suit me on price, which was ultra-important because I had a leased late model Prius Gen II to trade in, and had to roll the negative equity on it into the new 2010 lease.

I started checking out via the internet dealers farther and farther away from home. I finally looked at Motorcars Toyota's website (Cleveland Heights Ohio) and found they not only had a huge Prius inventory, but also had exactly the car I wanted.

Called the internet manager at Motorcars (you should start with him), Chris Shaughnessy, who pretty much established a deal including price and trade-in value over the phone, subject only to a final look at my Gen II trade-in. (They'd had me send down pictures to help price the trade-in --- the pictures were important because I had a customized interior with bone color Katzkin leather.)

Chris was very straightforward in talking price, and we arrived at a deal without a lot of -- heck without any -- theatrics.

I drove down, and everything happened exactly how they said it would. No back-pedaling on the trade in. No mysterious options put on (like a dealer here in Michigan which manages to add costly fabric and carpet protection to some cars after the deal is struck, but before delivery ... yes, you can & should walk, but will have wasted a lot of time and energy in the process.)

I should also put a plug in for Dave Weaver, their Finance Director. I've dealt with many finance guys at dealers in the past. Dave offered but didn't push excessively hard to sell things like extra insurances.

Here's why the plug for him. When we got to GAP insurance, which was a must in my case due to the negative equity rolled into the deal, I said I already had GAP from my insurance carrier. He quietly commented that I should get a copy of my insurer's exact wording for their GAP rider, as some contain limits such as how much negative equity they'll cover. Shazam. Allstate's GAP coverage was too tight, and wouldn't cover what I needed. Dave then got me the Toyota GAP insurance, which does cover it.

Like clockwork the title and registration materials showed up on the 20th, including the power of attorney for me to get a Michigan title for Toyota Finance, and I had registration & plates a day later.

YMMV, but I think this shows not only what one dealer did, but that if you persist in checking farther and farther from home, you can find a dealer who's honest, reasonable on price, and willing / able to get the car you want. (I saved $ by buying in Cleveland vs home area ... and I got the car I wanted.)

Seek at other than your near-by dealers, and you shall find, at least until oil prices spike again.

 

This pretty much sums up my experience with my local dealer verus the dealer in Fayetteville, NC where I purchased my vehicle. The difference in the sales culture between the two dealerships was night and day. The salesman in Fayetteville sounded very much like your Chris.

The funny thing is that both dealerships are owned by the same parent company !!

So, as others have said, if you are not completely satisfied with your local dealership, check around to other dealers close to you. My opinion is that there are some very good dealerships around but unfortunately it is up to us to find them.

 

I had one horrid dealer experience with a Prius when I tried buying my first one in mid 2007. It was similar in that he kept jerking me around on timing. I left and found one at another dealer a few days later and moved on with my life.

Some dealers are bad, some salespeople are bad, either intentionally or casually.

If you're in CT, Wallingford Toyota and A1 in New Haven both have very good reputations. I bought the '07 from Hartford Toyota and they were fine on the purchase but bad on the trade-in. Bought the 2010 from Wallingford and they couldn't have done a better job, every step of the way.

 

Jean-Luc, not sure where you are in New England, but if you check "Toyota Of Braintree"'s website, they might have some V's that would work for you.

Question for you: what color are you looking for? I was considering selling my Blue 2010, V, ATP as I am going to get the Nissan Leaf, I only have 2300 miles on it. I know you only want navigation, but I probably won't be able to sell it for more than what the Navigation only model costs anyway.

the Leaf may not be available until the 2nd half of 2011, but I still might sell my 2010 now, so as to not have too many miles on the car and devalue it too much.

anyway PM me if you are interested, and you should still check the Toyota Of Braintree website as well

They seem to have (4) 2010's V's in stock, 2 look like they have the ATP package, and 2 look like they don't...

Toyota dealer Toyota of Braintree located in Braintree MA