The Search Continues -- Need to Vent

Do you have a link? I don't see the feature on the Toyota website. Thanks!

 

That wont work for you because you are in a different region than we are.

NC_Driver and I are in the Souteast region so we can use buyatoyota.com to do what he is talking about.

 

Bryan;

Your Toyota Dealers are in the Kansas City Region, and the largest Dealer in that Region is Olathe Toyota, in Olathe Kansas. I just purchased a 2010 V w/ At their 8/4/2009, and I purchased it EXACTLY the way you described!

I had been searching for a V with At and had been checking various Dealers Web Sites and found Olathe had one "Available", which it had been allocated to them and was enroute, either on the ship or in transit by rail or truck.

I had spoken to a saleslady there prior to seeing their "Available" allocation, and she had taken time to tell me their allocation lists were released on the 5th and 20th of each month and she would let me know if anything meeting my criteria became available.

My wife spotted a Brm (Blue Ribbon Metalic) V w/ At, and I called placing a deposit on it with the Internet Manager, who verified it's VIN. I expressed my desire for the saleslady (Shannon Merkle) to receive credit since whe was watching out for our car. He gave me the ships Name so we were able to track its progress.

We purchased the car just as you described, I explained to Shannon we wanted NO undercoating, paint sealant etc. that we just wanted to come to Olathe, write them a check and go home...that's EXACTLY how the process worked. I had explained that I was a member of Prius Chat and I had been researching the 2010 Prius since November 2008, so I was cognisent of ALL it's features and benefits, so NO sales work was necessary.

The purchase was VERY straightforward, we drove from Springfield, Mo. (roughly 200 miles) to Olathe, Kansas, looked over the car, signed the papers, rejected the SINGLE offer to purchase an Extended Warranty (it's mandatory from Toyota that the offer be made), wrote a check, spent about an hour with a girl who explained many of the functions and operations of the NEW Prius (she for example, Blue Toothed our phone, downloaded it's Phone Book contents, loaded our home address in the Nav system etc.) we said our Goodbyes and drove back to Springfield, Mo, NONE the worse for wear.

Give Shannon Merkle a call at (800) 510-9868 and tell her you've been in contact with David & LaDonna Parker from Springfield, Mo., I assure you, you'll be delighted. And, yes, we had to pay MSRP, EXCEPT the $500 discount they allowed us!

The reason we were so impressed, is, NONE of Springfield's personel had been there longer than a few months, their turn over in management and sales staff was abbizmal, and virtually all of Olathe's staff had been there 9-15 years, and it showed, they wseemed to be happy and content.

Bryan, try Olathe Toyota, they are the largest Toyota Dealer in the K.C. Region and they have the largest selection of NEW Prius's to choose from, trust me I've E-Mailed over 10 Dealers in the K.C. Region.

Good Luck, I think you'll find them pleasant to work with.

David (aka Blind Guy)

 

+1 As it turned out, I purchased my 2010 Iv Red/Bisque with Solar from a dealer who called me a month after I put a deposit and order with another dealer. He had my e-mail on file when the original buyer of the car backed out and asked if I already had mine. I said I hadn't heard squat from my original dealer and jumped on that puppy. Moral is to give a lot of dealers notice what you want and you never know what will happen.

 

I know of a very classy dealer that kept at least one demo model Prius during extremely high demand (3+ months waits) last year. It was a package 2, but was always available there for test drives.

Also, they kept an orderly, serious waiting list, requiring $500 refundable deposit. It wan't hard to hook up with a good salesman to get on the list. And they refunded my $500 in 1 day after mine came in at another dealer (whom I had signed up with a couple months earlier).

anyrate, I'm speaking of Toyota Sunnyvale. Find a dealer like them.

Sorry some folks are having a hard time getting their Prius.

 

I just gotta blow the bragging horn here.... www.earlstewarttoyota.com and on the list of catagories across the top you will find the link to our dedicated internet team. Mr. Stewart (who recommends internet price shopping in order to get your best deal) firmly believes in trying to give customers what they want. Seems like a very oldfashioned approach, but it works.

I am an employee there and I do not work in sales (I am a service tech) but I appreciate the value of the way he runs this company because I have not seen the loss of business that other dealers in the area have experianced. We are feeling the pinch from the economy like everyone else, but not nearly as painfully as it could be.
BTW I know many of the salespeople in the internet department very well and I trust them so much that I have sent family members to buy cars from them.

Tell 'em Rick sent you.

 

OP:
Some of this has been said before.

• The idiotic conversation you had is simply because it still works more often than not.
• Online inventories may/not be accurate. In my experience, some keep them current others do not. You'll get "oh, that's not here yet (and it's already spoken for)" or "that's not here anymore, but I have this (coming)."
• So you will have to go to the dealer, but to play the internet angle - and I have done this since 1997 or before...
• ...go to edmunds.com or any of the online folks. You will get a firm number from some area dealer's internet department, it's not important which dealer, you are establishing a real bargaining point. You then go to another dealer (if you have a preference I'd go there last), but I have never had to go to more than 2-3. Show them what you've got, they aren't going to waste time asking you to pay more than what you already have in hand and you will get their best offer. You may have to be prepared to go to the original internet dealer department - I have seen dealers as much as $1000 apart despite this approach. If you think there is some magical way that your going to get the same real rock bottom from every dealer by going the internet route, IMO you're mistaken. Rock bottom changes with circumstances at each dealer - it can change from one day to the next.
• Good luck.

 

I had one similar experience when trying to buy my Prius IV. For the most part I did speak to the internet people at various dealerships. What was frustrating was that as you, I knew exactly what I wanted and didn't need a sales pitch.
After months of researching the Prius and other cars I was well acquainted with the vehicles. In most cases I knew a lot more than the sales people. Yet most wanted to go through their sales pitch and many times I had to correct the information they gave out.
In the end we bought it from an internet sales person who had called me back over the phone.

 

I used the main Toyota site to look at each dealer's inventory but soon found it worthless as most were sold or spoken for. It did not help me know what was in the pipeline. As there was a shortage up here from end of June on, due to the pre-mature demise of the WA state hybrid sales tax exemption, I had to call three states (after eliminating CA due to limited option of flat bed or sales tax - not knowing about DianeW back then). I probably called 50 dealers looking first for SBM (thank g-d I did not find it) and then blue. I would speak directly with sales managers to eliminate the middle man. The SM knows what is coming in or he can trade for, so while people have had success with internet, I recommend a double attack using SMs. Good luck!

 

Hooray! Good Luck!

 

TRUST me...You're gonna LOVE IT!

David (aka Blind Guy)

 

Bryan, Don't ya just got ta love it, when a plan comes together? Nice ending to a long story. --TK