Dealers asking full sticker on 2011? (So cal)

With internet and email you should be able to research inventory and bids from as far a range as you're willing to travel for a new Prius. Also, try Toyota Certified Preowned and see what vehicles are available. This is how I bought mine. The longer you wait, the more likely dealers will play the "Japan Disaster" as rationale for justifying full sticker and more. We've got a few Toyota sales folks on this forum; maybe someone will show Prius mercy.

Happy Hunting!

 

They've been asking that here in So La since before the earthquake. According to cars.com, there are 12 on the lots at the dealers within 30 miles of me. Not many more if I go out to 50.

I'm working with a dealer who is sold out for one he expects to come in next week. We'll see. If I can't get a reasonable price, I'm going to have to start consider other options.

 

Just this morning I heard a TV ad for Orlando Toyota advertising Prius for $20,900. I don't know if you could use a quote from them as leverage. Also, I would check out AAA, USAA, or Costco buying services, if you have access to any of them.

 

MSRP is going to be the norm for a while. In about 45 days is when they will become very scarce. Here in the Denver region, if you want anything other than a package II they don't exist. Almost all future allocations are for package II.

 

Hi reloader,

What a coincidence...I was just at Longo Toyota yesterday and was told the same thing. Our sales guy (whom we had a great experience with 5 years ago when we purchased our Highlander), told us that they were low on stock, it would probably take at least a couple of months for any new shipments, and that management had instructed that they couldn't accept anything less than sticker price. In fact, there was only one car with the options/color we wanted and it was on hold (our sales guy said there was a chance we could still get it, though). I told him I believed him, but I just had to call around to compare, no offense. We were looking at a Prius III with Bluetooth and Nav with a sticker price of $27,010...I called North Hollywood, and they quoted me $26,540. Our Longo sales guy caught up to me in the parking lot and said that he could probably talk his manager into matching it. I then called Santa Monica and they quoted me $26,200. Our Longo sales guy said that was better than they could do and reluctantly said I should go to SM. I was partly afraid that once we got to SM they would try to pull a fast one and tack on all these extras, or we'd be told that "oops, the car just sold," but our saleswoman Esther had our car ready for us and we breezed through the paperwork in no time. It was the most painless car transaction I've ever had (other than the fact that we had to wait a while for the financing part because they were so busy, and we stupidly paid way too much for our extended service and bumper-to-bumper warranties, but I'm planning on canceling those and going with warranty shack instead--thank god for this forum!).

I know $26,200 isn't the best price ever, but we needed a new car ASAP and couldn't afford to wait months for supply/demand to level out again. I feel lucky that we got it for the price we did, because we were told by all the dealerships we visited (we were originally looking for certified pre-owned) that stock is low and there wasn't much room for negotiation. I wish you luck on your prius search. I highly suggest checking out Santa Monica--apparently they're the nation's largest seller of prii, which I didn't know.

 

If you don't mind going north, here's a promising link from another thread:

New 2010 & 2011 Toyota Camry, Prius, Corolla, RAV4 or Venza For Sale in Sunnyvale & the Bay Area

Might be worth a try.

 

Warranty Shack never got back to me after I put my info in. If you have trouble.Acton Toyota MA has the same deals with many options. Contact person Theresa Vonless 978-431-5869. Saved alot.

 

Thanks for the tip, Lori! I'll check them out as well.

 

Sounds like it's congrats on your new Prius and welcome to PriusChat.

 

OP is located in Los Angeles area. You're referring him to a dealer in Littleton, Massachusetts. That's over 3,000 miles away. I don't think he's that desperate.
Reloader you should checkout the dealer forum Dealers & Pricing - PriusChat Forums DianneWhitmire is located in Los Angeles area. She has some great deals. When I bought my Prius last year, even though I got my $3000 off MSRP, she listed a car exactly like mine for a few hundred cheaper than what I got mine for. I didn't feel bad because mine was fresh off the boat with 2 miles on ODO.

 

Thanks for the welcome, twittel!

 

Two weeks ago you could get a 2011 Package 4 with solar for $2500 off MSRP in San Diego, this weekend it looks like MSRP and a $500 factory rebate but the selection is mostly gone. I was looking to get my wife a CR-V and Honda got "funny" on their pricing too about a week ago.

 

I've been looking at the Lexus CT 200h and the Toyota Prius III for over 2 weeks now. Places that have the Lexus would not budge from MSRP. I was able to contract at Toyota Carlsbad for $350 below MSRP (Costco price) and convinced him to take an additional $250 off this past Thursday. I ended up canceling that deal as I got a better deal with Mossy Toyota in Pacific Beach yesterday (USAA pre-negotiated deal) for $350 above invoice plus licensing and taxes minus $500 Toyota rebate which ends 4/4/11. Ask for Kazumi, he was awesome. I got a metallic gray Prius III sunroof package which includes the Nav system.

 

Just got mine on FRIDAY!

Was told the same thing by a few dealers.

But, had talked to Crown Toyota/Fleet on thurs. There were looking around for a P4 for me since they had a P3 with the options I wanted. They quoted me a price on the P3.

Talked to them on Friday, nothing on the P4.

The said they would honor the price on the P3.......so 9:30pm we took the family out the door.

Finished up the paperwork and out the dealer door by 12:30A.

Was home after 2am and at the tint shop by 7a

P3 with Solar in Blue.......

 

Sorry, I was giving magicchelle info for inexpensive warranty. I should have made that clear. My bad

 

Congrats on your new Prius. Sounds like some dealers are still negotiating; kudos to them! Welcome to PriusChat. Read the manual, surf the forum and have fun.

 

That's a real round-the-clock deal. Congrats on your new Prius and welcome to PriusChat. Enjoy the high MPGs and all the fun.