Official Toyota Position on Charging Over MSRP

If you don't like this complain to your state legislators. In most of the US it is illegal for manufacturers to retail their own cars; they have to sell through "dealers". Dealers pushed hard for these laws in the 1950s in the name of protection against predatory practices by manufacturers.

 

I understand that people feel like the dealers are "stickin it to 'em," which they are, but why wouldn't they? Auto dealerships aren't non-profits. It just makes sense that if you possess an item in high demand, particularly one which can be classed as conspicuous consumption, you would charge what the market bears. I think we all know that consumers have extremely short memories so I doubt the dealers have to worry much about people not coming back when the new models arrive. Hell, they should probably auction them. Such is capitalism.

 

Agree dealerships aren't non-profits but a bad reputation is hard to shake (fool me once...) anyhow the banks "own" the new cars on the dealers lots don't they ?

 

Toyota does have say if a dealer is charging outrageous prices - they simply don't allocate that dealer any Prius. Oops, sorry, we have none for you this month.

Right now its hard, in 2010-2011 it will be easier I think, and hope, with perhaps more hybrids sold than straight ICE vehicles (not adding commercial truck sales).

 

As a customer, you can give them the lowest satisfaction rating after purchase.
Dealers do get some reward from Toyota for making customers happy. Not much money there,
but you can give them 0-star if you really need to vent!

 

The dealer's job is to screw as much money out of the customer as possible. The customer's job is to squeeze as much out of the dealer as possible. Lie to me, waste my time and piss me off will guarantee that the customer satisfaction survey will contain the lowest grades possible along with commentary. If that ends up costing somebody some cash, good. If it happens enough maybe they will clean up their act.

 

I bought mine about a week before the big May rush--when dealers hadn't begun to think about price-gouging. I offered them a deal, and they accepted.

In today's climate, it would have been no deal. I would wait for gas prices to come down (it's just a matter of time) and Prius-mania to subside. Then I might get into the market for an 09. The next generation model in 2010 I might pass on until they get the bugs out.

 

And the dealer can sue them for lost profits under breach of their franchise agreements.

Sorry guys, this is business. Toyota doesn't care enough about you to risk opening itself up to liability with its franchisees. You gotta pay what the things cost.

 

Most dealers have several months before they are required to make any payments on their floorplan. So some cars are theirs while others maybe still be the oems.

The oem does have the ablitiy to force feed cars to dealers. So if OEM felt sales were soft because dealer was padding the price, all the OEM needs to do is send the dealer a couple dozen cars he hadn't planned on. That will usually get the attention dealer to drop prices before getting stuck making payments on dud models.

 

i wasn't going to comment on this until i heard something ridiculous today...................

calling around dealers to find a new prius in stock, i ran across manhattan beach toyota...........called and they had a new BASE model in stock! getting excited, i asked them what they were asking for the car. after a long reluctancy in telling me a price versus trying to get me in there, i finally got transferred to the finance manager. asking a point blank question, i asked, WHAT ARE YOU ASKING FOR THIS BASE MODEL PRIUS????????????

his response..........................$29,999............................which is about $6,000 plus OVER sticker..........i believe the base starts about $23,200. with this type of pricing, i'm under the assumption that the #6 will run about $33,000-$34,000. i found this to be very ridiculous indeed. no wonder this car is IN stock.

i'm wondering....................will people start to pay this kind of money? is this where the prius is heading?

 

People will indeed pay that kind of money as long as they feel the car is worth it. Then they'll (as a whole) slow down or stop, and dealer add-on will stop. Remember, Prius got to be so popular because fuel prices escalated so rapidly, and people decided to buy more efficient cars. When fuel prices decline (assuming they will significantly decline), people will be satisfied with 35-40 mpg, they'll look for more comfort features and dealers will back off the extra charge. This is found money for them, and they are within their rights to take advantage of it. They are making deals with car buying services and credit unions at lower prices and won't relinquish that revenue stream; so they make it up in the market by charging more to off-the-street customers.But the MSRP price of the Prius will escalate because of its innovative technology and popularity until something better comes along.

 

Honda Civic Hybrids $22,700 new!! I'll let everyone fight over the Prius...

I found a few dealers near me that will have some in a week or 2. Also Regular Civic for about $16,000 ($6000 cheaper then Civic Hybrid.) I'll maybee end up getting the regular civic and wait a year and a 1/2 for new body style Prius. i won't save $6000 in gas by then anyway.

And with a regular Civic i'll be saving about $2000 a year just with the price difference in gas and MPG then my 550 bimmer. Whoever picks up a $30,000 Prius :doh:

 

It does not make it right, but MSRP is a "suggested" retail price. They can charge whatever the heck they want to if they can get the asking price. Supply/demand.

Again, it does not make it right and the dealership will most likley get hurt on customers buying a second car or making a referal.

Short term gain and giving up long term customer loyalty....to me not a good choice, but when so many people are flashing all kinds of money at the dealership in a down economy....too much to resist.......

 

FRASER - I totally disagree with you on the issue of GAS possibly going down. it's up, it's up to stay - politics, elections, whatever. Those days of putting 20 bucks in the tank are gone forever.

DESTRO23 - I totally agree with you. I guess the HCH is the way to go. did you get one already? what are you getting in terms of mileage? have you driven a prius before? the only reason why i didnt get a HCH is because it didn't have the acceleration the prius had...........

 

My disclamer is: I understand supply and demand.. and if i was the dealer i would do the same. And if i was a buyer i would complain. A nice little circle for me

That being said. I think i'm going to settle on a regular Honda Civic for about $16,000 it's got about 40 more horses then the hybrid, even though i haven't driven an HCH(Honda Civic Hybrid) yet.. the $6000 extra cost for it doesn't add up for my particular situation. So in a year or 2 i'll get rid of it and see what the field has to offer then and maybee pick up a 2nd run of the next gen Prius. Untill then i'll still have my 550 bimmer and guzzel gas when i feel like taking a nice speedy drive after a hard days work .. so for me.. i'll keep reading here as i have always liked the Prius and what it's about. And do want one. But hopefully competition will become very fierce in the near future, as Prius prices climb and others keep their prices lower.. we'll see what happens

 

I did add a codicil "(assuming they go down)" to my argument. Actually, we agree; I probabaly stated my case unclearly. I don't think gas prices will significantly fall. You may see pumps with 20-50 cents less from a given point on occasion. I remember the last tank of 98 cents gas I filled (Paris, Ky.) and I remember refusing to pay 60 cents a gallon in Arkansas. And I recall worrying because I was putting in $5 worth of gas in the early 70s, when I was used to $3. I also remember when the most expensive house in our former town was $98,000. So everything is relative.

 

Why don't we just raise everybody's taxes and have the government give everybody the car of their choice for free?

 

Unfortunately part of the issue is that customer loyalty is not what it once was. People don't go back and buy a car from a place that they bought it from before and referrals don't mean that much. People buy cars from the dealer with the lowest price. And if someone pays extra for a Prius now, and that dealer has the best price on whatever 10 years from now...they'll buy it from them.

If anything it hurts the dealer its in lost service revenue, but the sales side and the service side of dealerships are seperate and they don't really care about each other. Dealers make the most money on service.