I was given the price of 22,000 + 2495. After some back and forth I was told we are allowed to make a profit. The new price was now at 24,800 + 2500 because the special offer along with the 0% apr for 36 months had expired 2/21. I replied it was good until 3/5 but got rebuked with we sell a lot of Prius here, you will not get one for under 25,000, come back and see us if you cannot find a better deal elsewhere. So there, take that!!! How was your experience at Carson toyota? Where do I go and who do I talk to in order to get a good deal? What is a reasonable quote and otd price of a 2011 Prius 2 in orange county, ca? I would appreciate any advice and I'm just looking for a good buying experience.
Clue: if you shop for a Prius during a spike in fuel prices, you are going to pay more. Conversely, Prius sell for $1000 -2000 less than msrp when fuel prices tumble. I can understand that it may be difficult to pay any hybrid premium when fuel is less than $3 a gallon, but you have to plan for the future. The future appears to be fuel prices trending up, albeit with ups and downs along the way.
why don't you just go to a few dealers and get prices to compare? the best deal you're going to get is the best deal they offer you. i don't see anything wrong with the way you were treated at carson. how do you buy gas? do you go to one place and complain? or do you shop around for a good price? at least they told you to shop around and didn't try to con you into something shady.
Was the 22,000 in writing? A Calif dealer can't raise a writen quoted price that you've accepted. Whats the plus 2495/2500 about? Do you mean rebate?
That is the complete opposite of my experience at Carson. I was given a great price and they stuck to it. I worked with Dianne and Nathan. It was the fastest and best dealership experience I've ever had and considering they were slammed with new PIP release training it made the experience even better. I'm sorry your experience wasn't as good.
I wish you'd tell them whole story here. You walked in here without an appointment, and not even a phone call to me to ask me if I could see you. It was Saturday morning mid morning when I had 4 clients here picking up car: F8L was here for his car, a gentleman was also here for his Prius v wagon from Phoenix area, and two PLUG IN clients were also here for their docs to be done so they could be on their way, leaving their cars for leather. F8L was here at the time you arrived, and can attest to the fact that I was busy. You elected to sit down and talk to retail salesmen. When they checked in with me, and asked me if I had given you a price for $21988 and I said that $21988 was Presidents Weekend Pricing and expired 2/21 and it's very clear on the boards that way. I left it in their hands, and that's what you get! You were the author of your own fate.
wow.... that response alone will prevent me from ever wasting my time with Carson toyota. You could try Valley Hi Toyota, I've had some good results with one of their service reps (yes just one), and they delivered well for my brother on his new prius.
k9lulu, Chalk it up to a lesson about timing, planning, and execution and what are the consequences if the first two items (timing and planning) aren't locked down before you execute your plan of action. This will be difficult advice to swallow, because it is hard not to take it personally, but I'd recommend trying again. Contact Dianne and see what you can work out price wise (either over the phone or via an appointment). You will pay more for a Prius when gas prices rise. Supply and demand and the demand for a Prius goes up when gas prices increase. I'm assuming you understood this, but maybe the severity/magnitude of the observation was underestimated on your side. A manager at work and her husband both bought Prii's about 9 days ago. They said each booth was filled with buyers and each buyer was purchasing a Prius. I imagine the dealer inventories are dwindling quickly because people are seeing gasoline prices rise and are trying to minimize their fuel bills. I hope your next attempt at purchasing a car goes a lot smoother.
Which response? The original one posted by the OP or Dianne's response which filled in the rest of the picture?
The truth hurts but she is right. If you were quoted a special price then you should make every effort to continue working with the person who gave it to you. If they are not available then you schedule a time when they are available. If a particular sale is over and you are unhappy with the new price then you can at least try and negotiate a deal with that person and your chances of success are much greater as that salesperson may be a bit more compassionate regarding your circumstance. I have no doubt that Dianne and Nathan would have tried to make the situation more palatable but when people are busy and you don't schedule the time to allow them to work with you then you end up in the situation that started this post. I'm not blaming the OP for being unhappy but having worked in retail for over a decade I totally understand how things like this happen. I'm not trying to make excuses for anyone but Dianne and Nathan were extremely busy that morning. Justin
Nothing but superlatives to describe Dianne, Nathan, and her staff at Carson Toyota! The car was the price she said it was going to be when we went to purchase, no games. On top of the great deal AND service she provided, she threw in a $100 gas card. Sounds like the OP set themselves up for failure...
The OP sounds like a real jerk of a customer. This is what it sounds like to me. He wandered in and expected everyone to drop what they were doing to serve him, other customers (with appointments) be dammed. Perhaps he assumed that Saturday morning would be a slow time, but we all know what happens when you assume. He also expected to get a sale price that had already expired. President's Day weekend is one of the biggest car sale periods of the year and has some of the most aggressive sales to go along with it. To just expect a dealer to honor this is crazy in my experience. I'm glad that there were others there who could verify the story because this is just yet another bad customer with unrealistic expectations who turns to the internet to blast someone. The OP had no issues calling out the dealer by name but then hide behind the anonymity of a screen name. I'm happy that Diane was backed up as she seems like a stand-up person. I say that as someone who will likely never buy a car from her as I live clear across the country. While I'm willing to travel a bit for a good price and great service CA is a bit much for me.
I feel the need to comment here. I don't post on these forums ever but I do read them from time to time. It has been a long time since my purchase (almost 6 years) but I remember my first purchase like it was yesterday. My experience with Carson was just the opposite. I emailed Dianne on a Saturday morning early. I was simply checking pricing; I had never dealt with her; she didn't know me from Adam. She emailed me promptly even before the dealership opened. I purchased two cars from Dianne and she was amazing. The experience that the OP had was not a reflection of my experiences at all. Contact Dianne directly and you will have a great experience. I hope this helps someone and I urge anyone in the So Cal area to do the same.
You should probably calm down, and give Diane another crack at the deal. Make an appointment, follow the Rules. It might work out.
Walking into a dealer is about the only way of guarantying the highest possible price. Read through New car buying guide, avoiding dealer scams, new cars, used car buying & check websites for inventory. I'm sure they all say "to get internet pricing make an appointment through internet sales division". Manufacturers put expiration dates on offers to get lazy undecided butts into the showroom to buy a car. These dates are not negotiable. If sales are bad & inventory high then the expired offer will be replaced with another. Maybe that one is better, maybe the same, maybe worse. For the Prius 2011 inventory is evaporating. Higher gas prices help. Don't expect to find much of an incentive on a 2012 at the start of the MY. If gas prices level off & stay high or continue to rise don't expect any discounts at the end of the MY. I wish you good luck in finding a Prius at the price you want to pay.
K9lulu, try different dealerships. If you didn't like your experience at one, for whatever reason, try one of the many other ones. I live in the LA area, but actually flew to Northern Cali and bought my prius from SF. They offered a rebate when the socal area didn't. The base price was also better and the dealership couldn't have been nicer. They picked me (and my little boy) up from the airport and treated me kindly. Everything was ready for me when we got to the dealership. Good luck and remember you're not limited!
K9lulu crapped on another thread also only telling half of the story, Dianne has set the story straight there also. Member K9lulu has not returned to either thread and has not been active since 03-04-2012 @ 1717 Hrs. K9lulu is all bark and no bite, it is easy to anonymously talk crap on the Internet kinda like I am doing now, but Dianne knows who this person is and handled this [CENSORED] with class and professionalism.
