Time to buy a Prime?

I am buying mine this Saturday. Dealers have so many off them since they thought that Trump will end federal tax credit. He didn't and now "poor" dealers are overstock with Primes.

 

Click on this to go to another thread that discusses this.

 

Click on this to go to another thread discussing this. You have until Dec 31.

 

it has to be registered by 12/31 to get the credit in 2018. no one has a clue what toyota will do next year, or congress for that matter.
just buy one now while the deals are good and don't look back.
all the best!

 

When 200,000 units are sold the tax credit starts to decrease until it goes away completely. I think in the first 6 months of sales about 27,000 Primes were sold. Not sure of exact numbers.

 

That 200K number may also include PiPs sold. Still likely no where near the limit.
@Tideland Prius or @bwilson4web may know how many PiPs were sold in the US.

 

Couple questions there.
(1) The new tax bill did *not* kill the tax credit so you can wait for 2018
(2) If want to purchase in 2017 for the tax credit, then of course you need to purchase in the next couple days.
I am not sure you have to purchase AND register...the IRS wording is that the vehicle has to be "placed in service" in 2017.
You tell the IRS the date you placed vehicle in service on FORM 8936, I don't think anyone will be checking that date as long as purchase date is in 2017.

 

If it is registered in 2017, there is proof of "in service" though. I do not believe you can place an unlicensed vehicle "in service" on public roads.

 

The tax credit's 200,000 vehicle trigger is for all Toyota plug-ins. Insideevs maintains a scorecard and their total is 131510. At Toyota's rate it will be three years before the credit begins to expire.

 

Probably better price now, but better selection and time to get the exact one you want next year but at a higher price.

 

We do not know for California, as the HOV sticker is a key parameter there. If Toyota really did bump up supplies due to hot sales in Nov/Dec due to the tax bill speculation, them there could be some deals somewhere.

 

I don't think that price would go down much next year. Toyotas profit margin on this car is probably very small already. Electric cars are mandated by government and Toyota has to sell them if they want to continue selling large trucks and SUVs in California. Price may go down a little since Honda is finally selling plug-in hybrid, however nobody can tell if it is any good. If Tesla gets the production of model 3 and keeps price at $ 35k then most plug-in will really struggle. Who knows, I am buying this year !

 

I have a friend who test drove a Prime in Kansas City yesterday. I told him to make sure he told them to give it a full charge before his test drive. It was an Advanced. He liked it a lot and put a down payment down for one. Now he has to wait. He was at Olathe Toyota. One of the biggest Toyota dealerships for the Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas area. He told me they told him they have sold 8 Primes.

Only 8 in the whole Kansas City area. No wonder it is so hard to see one in the wild.

 

Toyota has an incentive in the NE now offering 4K off the price. It expires 1-31-2018. I flew up to Newark and drove it home. GOOGLE is your friend. O inventory in FL that I could find.

 

I believe that is because the privately owned Toyota distributor for your region has decided to not sell the Prime. Will your local dealer service it? They are not likely trained in the Prime.
@bwilson4web knows more about the history of the private distributor since he has the same issue.

 

Before you need service, make a point of having a friendly conversation with the service manager and ask:

Does this dealer service dept have a Master Tech who is trained to utilize the Toyota Technical Service?

If techs are unable to diagnose and fix a problem, is the dealer service dept willing to call in assistance from Toyota Regional?

Not all Toyota Service Departments are created or maintained equally, and it just may happen that you need to go to a different dealer.

As it turns out my local selling dealer service dept are clowns, and a different dealer has extremely reliable and knowledgeable Master Techs.

 

It is like finding a proper day care for your child.

 

I would say it's more like finding a good doctor.

Always remember that you care a lot more about your car than the dealer.
Use them for periodic checkups and specialized care when not healthy. AND make sure you find a good one.