We started looking for a Prius last year and couldn't make a decision. We live in San Diego. Finally when we decided to go for it, we were told it would be 6-10 months with a $1000 deposit. I started calling dealers in smaller cities. In January I got a hold of David Malrey of Anderson Toyota in Kingman AZ. He told me that he had a waiting list of 15 people, but if we put $1000 deposit down, we would be 4th on the list. The only thing I am concerned about is registering a new vehicle in CA. They have a law that you can't bring a new car into CA because of the strict emmision laws, but I think the Prius would be exempt. Has anyone else had this experience?
There have been several people posting their experiences on bringing their Prius from out-of-state into California. Do a quick search for California referee and you should find something on it.
They are all 50 state cars now. One of your stops will be to a Referee station where they will give it a "sniff". Pay all the fees at DMV, get the VIN verified and away you go!!. A fair number of folk have bought out of state. It's no big deal.
a few things. i too, am in san diego. local dealers here were giving me 6-12 months. called up to a dealer in fresno, 1-2 months w/ a $500 deposit that doesn't actually get cashed. i would be weary of a dealer making deals like that. this does not seem fair. lastly, i didn't feel comfortable bringing a new vehicle into CA because i seem to remember reading about it and it didn't seem like something i wanted to go through. i could be wrong though, other ppl in CA who have imported their car will be able to tell you what they had to go through. the emissions thing should not be a problem though since the prius is 50 state emissions certified. that being said, it probably isn't a big hassle bringing this particlar car into CA because of it's emissions. -drew
Thank you for the reply. I will let you know what transpires. I was also on a waiting list at Toyota of El Cajon with no deposit. They called me on April 30th with a blue pkg#7. It was mine if I wanted it BUT they wanted 3995.00 over MSRP. I told them forget it!! We are paying 995.00 over invoice for the one we are getting in Kingman.
