PriusChat "Certified Dealer" Program - looking for suggestions

Hi! Dianne here.

I am also doing a pretty significant discount for priority pre-orders on the PHEV as well as the v WAGON models we have coming shortly (Oct).

Anyone who calls me for ANY car we make, PHEV or hybrid or not, when they buy thru me, will get VERY good pricing, ie. discount from sticker, and gets a $100 gas card direct thru me. And, Prius Chat site is $upported as well.

I look at that as a win-win for all. I'm just so thrilled this car is finally announced formally and the light at the end of the tunnel grows brighter. I'm as anxious to get into the HOV lanes are you guys and gals are ...

 

Dianne, thank you for your support on the Toyota branded vehicles in the West coast. I wish many other East coast dealer will take the same path to promote sales of the newest and incoming Toyota family car line-up.
Certainly, I will be a PIP purchaser
KUDOS for you :cheer2:

 

I would like to recommend: Rockland Toyota in Blauvelt, NY

 

I thought I read in another thread that the allocation of cars was based on the dealership's historical volume of Prius sales. If that is the case then wouldn't it be more effective to target the larger dealerships? Otherwise higher demand in a more populated area that is directed to a perhaps better but smaller dealer would result in longer wait times. I'm all for supporting a dealership regardless of size but don't want to end up waiting a lot longer because they are allocated fewer cars. Anyway, just a thought.

Regards, Peter

 

For everyone who has signed up with the pre-order reservation site, you "pick your dealer", this is going to tell Toyota which dealerships are popular, and who will get the cars. In this case, the buyers pick the dealership, and arrange the final deal details with them, pay the $500 deposit to actually place the order for the car, so in a sense, the buyers are directing Toyota which dealers will get the cars, to the early adopter buyers, anyway. Remember its only 15,000 in the first year.

 

They have not yet acknowledged any "extra" cars for higher volume dealerships... but I am hoping for some! I have folks contacting me that somehow missed the FIVE MONTH WINDOW to sign up to order.... and a few extra cars for them would be wonderful. But, I don't think there will be extra cars.

I have read in several articles - notably Bloomberg's online - that stated the Socal area will get 3,800 cars but I was also reading elsewhere that there were over 15,000 handraisers in the state. That means many people in CA won't get cars the first year. I don't think they will build more than 15,000. After all, when you're not ahead financially in an endeavor, why build more than you have to.

I keep seeing folks post here or email me about Toyota making more "to meet the demand" but we know the demand spills over onto our other Prii family models. I'm already seeing the WAGON as a 2nd fallback from the PHEV now that folks have the awareness of the pricing and tradeoffs. Sit in CA traffic? Or, have a bigger car? Hmmm...

 

Dianne - I'm assuming dealer allocations won't affect those first 15,000 orders. In other words, you can sell and process any number of those so long as you are the designated dealer. Is that true?

 

Hey what's crackin G!
Yes these are not allocated cars. They are ordered. Huge difference! Previous Prius I have sold or will sell won't affect a phev ordered. It's not an earned unit. It's ordered to suit.

 

great! I hope they are laying in extra bandwidth and server capacity to handle those 15,000 orders coming in at the same time!

 

Is there anyone reading this thread who lives in the Seattle area? I am planning on getting a Plug-In Prius, but I don't currently own a Prius (or a Toyota for that matter), so I don't have any experience with the local Toyota dealerships. I was thinking of getting mine from Michael's Toyota of Bellevue just because it is in a convenient location for me. Does anyone have any experience good/bad with this dealership? Should it be included in the "certified dealer" program? Thanks!

 

Any one in San Diego have a nominee for a dealer?
I was thinking of Poway Toyota even though it is out of the way for me. They have a "free" lifetime power train warranty that the other San Diego dealers don't have. I have never bought a car there or had service there but I went to a Prius event there a few years ago for a test drive of the 2010 Prius. Their internet /fleet sales guy seemed pretty up front, like I could do business with him and not want to choke him.

 

I think you should make Carson Toyota your dealer of choice so you get a great deal, and terrific treatment... and we can meet!!!
That way, your favorite site here is supported, you get a gas card that will take you VERY far in a PHEV, and you can service the car wherever you like... even Poway!

 

GG - I predict this car will sell out in 4 hours tops. If they get extra bandwidth, they won't need it for long!!

 

Even though it's not likely, my big fear right now is that the servers will be slammed and people won't be able to submit their orders or get errors from the website.

But with the 42k or so priority signups, with an approximate 75% of those buying, even if everyone tried to order at once, it would be 31.5k people trying to sign up. The server should be able to handle that.

Still, I tried to buy a PS3 at launch online. Boy, that was a mess, even amazon servers were just decimated by the traffic.

 

I predict they will sell out in a few hours so they won't need huge bandwidth for long!! I'm certain they are prepared.

 

I think it is a real possibility that the site/server may crash if lots of orders are uploaded simultaneously.

I was thinking that at least 1/3 of the 42,000 registrants will place an order.

Also, I can see dealers rushing to place their orders.

 

Is this ordering process only for individuals or are dealers, including non-launched state dealers can order as many as they want?

 

I took the 75% from the votes on the thread

http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-phv-plug-in/98012-poll-you-buying-plug-in-prius.html

35 on the list and buying
12 on the list and not buying, 35/47 ~74-75%

But that's optimistic and such a small sample size it's probably not accurate, when it comes down to it, I believe the number will be closer to your guess than mine.

I think the determining factor is, will they tell us before hand when the ordering window will open, or will they just open it and send out an e-mail. If it's the former, then I could see it happening. If it's the latter then I can't.

 

They are planning on making only 50,000 copies for the year. Hybrid market in Japan is 14% and I can see them claiming about 25,000.