Thought I would be driving a new 2023 Prius

I had a dealer once try to charge me $2,000 up charge for the blue paint it came with Lmao

 

Good for you for hanging up the phone! If more people would do that, then the dealers will stop charging these outrageous prices. Less demand, and you get better pricing.

They can only lower production by so much.

 

Y'know, there's tons of stuff dealers do that is really awful and shady.

But charging more when cars are scarce? I actually think that's fair. And it's completely normal for the dealers to be calling through their waiting lists, hunting for the ones who will pay the price to have it NOW.

On the other hand, naming it an "enhancement fee" is scummy as can be- that's typical car dealer.

I think it won't be long before the dealers lose their leverage.

 

And they know it

 

Dealers who embrace the practice of enhancing prices are shortsighted.

What would be the chance of you ever doing business with that Dealership again?

They hurt the manufacturer by not treating one of their potential customers appropriately. The Customer may never consider that automotive brand again in their purchase decisions.

It is a red flag that this Dealership places profits above the Customer and should be avoided at all cost. Money only is their shortsighted primary concern.

A manufacturer worked so hard to make a desirable vehicle that would attract this customer and worked so hard to price it to make it attractive only to have a selfish, greedy Dealership screw the whole thing up.

It is no wonder Automotive Manufacturers despise these type Dealers and, in some cases, actually take action against them by not allowing them to sell their most popular vehicles or drastically limiting their allowed inventory of these vehicles.

It is easy to see why the industry is moving to an internet purchase model and these selfish shortsighted Dealers are the ones who will eventually put their own selves out of the business of selling cars and becoming only show room, driving experience, repair facilities.

 

What’s the difference between a dealership sales department, and a scalper…

 

OP was talking about flying in from out of state to seal the deal, so it strikes me that the chances of repeat business were vanishingly small already.

The dealer risked nothing in making this offer.

I do not know about you but I've never gone back to the same dealer twice in 30 years of car buying.

I've never had any expectation of getting anything out of customer loyalty- the concept has been out of practice that long.

Car buyers ruthlessly use every trick they can think of to buy at the lowest price, and dealers work as hard as they can to sell at the highest price.

There really isn't anything more to it, nor does there need to be.

 

Marking up is one thing, but misleading customers about the price should have consequences for their reputation...make sure to write a truthful review for that dealership...

 

The current car market is just sad. Gosh, wasn't that long ago (3 years or so) when a salesman would ask, "What do I have to do to get you in the seat of that car?" I, once, got a new car for $150 over invoice and got them to show it to me! (That was in 2008 for a new Corolla...got two on-line sellers from two different dealers, one in Colorado Springs and one in Denver, competing with each other and the 2008 is still running strong today...my son-in-law is driving her, going on 200,000 miles.)

 

Extortion fee, more like. I think I'd tell the dealer to "Enhance this....you piece of $%^&".

 

Every time I get a good deal and go back again, there’s never another good deal and I have to shop around again.

I have read stories here about long term customers getting good will warranty from some dealers, but I suppose by that time, they’ve paid for it and more

 

In a smaller town with one or two Automobile Dealerships their very livelihood and existence depends on how they treat their customers and the goodwill they generate to get return customers. Unfortunately, these Dealerships will probably go the way of the passenger pigeon as the unscrupulous Dealerships pull the rest of their fellow Dealerships down the drain with themselves. Every story like the ops reinforces the idea that the internet is the only way to buy a car.

Imagine going to the grocery to buy your goods and having to negotiate every item price with people whose only goal is to make as much as possible on each item. A person would be financially and emotionally exhausted after a trip to the grocery. I believe that in the near future more and more Automobile Manufactures will see the frustration people are experiencing and move to fixed pricing. When the first couple do this the rest will fall like Dominos and the bad Dealerships will have finally killed off the antiquated Dealership Model for everyone both good and bad.

For us the shift has taken place already, both our vehicles we wanted had to be bought from big city Dealers that we absolutely refused to play with - we used an internet buying service -to get the best price and also because the traditional way to buy a car was so distasteful. I could not now imagine ever buying another vehicle the traditional way after experiencing the internet buying service way. Unscrupulous pricing and sales techniques are immediately filtered out.

For the few people who enjoy the back-and-forth adversarial negotiation for cars they could possibly allow a few unscrupulous Dealerships just for these people to buy cars from and just let the rest of us have honest fair upfront no haggle pricing.

 

..... one's a bottom dwelling skum sucker, and the other is a thief

.

 

Yep I've known dealers like this all my life in rural areas. They're all gone now, as far as I can tell...lost their franchise to national dealership chains or gave up sales to concentrate on servicing and repairs.

Who needs old-fashioned relationship-building when you can just run a bait and switch on a neverending line of strangers?

 

Tell that dealer in AZ to choke on a fat one

 

Am I missing something here? Why such a frenzy for them?!?
I like Prius Primes as much as the next guy or gal (bought three of them in as many years), but cannot fathom the current frenzy.

 

always a frenzy when a new model comes out. they're just starting to trickle in, it will calm down when regular shipments begin

 

1st major refresh and it's coming after a prolonged period of low/no inventory for these dealers.

A normal day in 2019 would look like a doorbuster blowout sale today.

 

I buy a new Toyota or Honda when a dealer hands me the keys to take the car home overnight. Then I name my price. I’ve bought 2 civics and 2 Prius’ this way. That’s when I buy a new car.