I bought my Prius from Faulkner Toyota in Harrisburg PA - I conducted all the negotiations by e-mail. When I arrived to check one out at the dealership, I was not "handed off" to a brick and mortar person who would never check e-mail and insist on old-fashioned phone calls for the rest of the deal. Instead, the person I had been corresponding with came out and walked me around the lot, showing me the cars I was interested in. I returned with my wife for a test drive, and while the original internet sales person was at the doctor, another sales person stepped in and gave us the best, most informative overview of a car I've ever had at a dealer. When we purchased, the original internet salesperson gave us a complete overview of the car (again), explaining in detail the features, operation, etc. The depth of knowledge of both salespeople went above and beyond anything I had expected. And guess what? I purchased the car from them!
I still think I got most of you beat.. my salesman challenged my manhood with my questions about a Prius.. and tried to show me the new Tundra...
Hrmmm... I think my experience has been a bit different... for better I suppose. When I called the Toyota dealership, I mentioned the fact that I had purchased from the dealer and asked for a salesperson I had worked with before. Unfortunately, that salesperson wasn't there anymore. No problem, I took a quick 15 min test drive (I had test drived ct200h before, but knew I was going to get Prius III). I then presented him a print out of price people paid for Prius III, and told him I wanted to pay a fair price, and would like to pay what majority of people have been paying (showed him printout which showed that in Maryland, majority of people have been paying $ 600 above invoice price). Salesperson said fair enough, and in 3 min presented me with $ 23,800 which was $ 650 above invoice price. After taxes, and $200 junk fee(I know... but salesman got to eat) and title fee, final price came out to be $ 25,600. Whole thing took about 15 min. Yeah, I could have haggled another 40 min and get that $200 junk fee taken out. But shoot, Butler was playing for FinalFour and I was very happy with the price (and salesman was honest enough.. he did not add any deal-installed option on the Prius). All in all, it took me about 40 minutes (excluding 15 min test drive) to close the deal on Prius. There are good dealers out there... just have to find them.
I was somewhat surprised.. but not really.. where I'm from I've learned that Prius are NOT acceptable if your are a "real man".. But I really don't want to get into that discussion AGAIN!!!
People on this board are enthusiasts. The average car buyer is an idiot too. "Look Mrs. Hernandez, the color of these tires matches your hair!" 6'6" ex football player to 5'4" accountant: "This truck'll make you a MAN!" That crap works with 90+% of car buyers.
It sounds like your sales"man" is a massive tool quite frankly and possibly incredibly insecure too, lol.
Actually, the salesman is going to try to sell you the vehicles that the sales manager wants you to buy. I was trained quite extensively in how to sell someone out of a feature to get them into models we had on the lot. Sometimes in the sales meetings the managers will offer special deals on certain models or lines to move them. Usually it is cash at the end of the day if you make a sale, or a guaranteed profit split over a certain dollar amount. So your guy might just have been doing whatever he could think of to get you into the incentive model. Anyway, if someone impugns my manhood because of the car that I drive, I will invariably say that it is a "good thing I have a very large p*n|s, or I might think you were serious." The deflated look on some guys faces is priceless. (I drove a New Beetle when they first came out, so you see...)
