Rate your Prius-buying experience!

Dealership: Phillips Toyota, Leesburg, Florida
Salesman: Mark Schriver
Days to wait following order: 5
Price: $24,000
Package: 4
Prius Knowledge: 100%
Extras: Floor mats / free first oil change
BS: None

Mark and the Staff of Phillips Toyota are examples of the perfect car buying experience!

 

I called 4 dealers in the South Jersey area before finding 1 (Cherry Hill Toyota) that had a demo. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I didn't want to buy a car without at least taking it around the block!! <_<

I went over there the first weekend in September - you know - when the price of gas peaked!!! I could hardly get in the door!! I practically had to wait in line for a test drive!! Guess everyone else had the same idea!!! :huh:

I 'ordered' my Prius using a color chart from the brochure ( they only had a silver one demo), gave them a check for $500, and got on the list. They told me it would be up to 6 months, but probably sooner. Also that they did NOT charge more than MSRP.

I had several calls from them offering me different colors but with the package I had ordered. Also had a call from 1 other dealer offering different color and package. When I told him I would wait for the one I wanted, he seemed a bit indignant - like I should just take what was offered and be thankful to get it!! <_<

My ordered Prius arrived at the beginning of November and I picked her up last Saturday.

There were no problems with the paperwork, my personal check was happily accepted, and they took care of faxing all the papers to my insurance company.

My salesman, Phil, spent an hour with me going over all the parts of the car. He even opened the hood and showed me the fuse box and where to put jumper cables if I had to jump another car!!

He spent almost 1/2 hour on the MFD and its functions.

All of the after-market options ( extended warantee, window etching, prepaid service etc) were all explained to me. I was told that it would be to my advantage to get any of these before the end of Dec. due to pricing increases in the new year but there was no pressure to get any of them. I elected to get the window etching and it was done right then while I waited.

So far, I am very happy with my beautiful Seaside Pearl #6 and all of her 'toys'. I am figuring them out as I go, and keep the manual at hand.

I did have the advantage of having been 'introduced' to a Prius beforehand by a very proud owner of one at my gym, who gave me the 'cook's tour' of his Seaside #6.

I also started lurking around the forums and reading posts that had to do with problems that other owners had encounterd, as well as what they loved about their Prii.

I have yet to go in for service ( only have 300 miles on it so far), but I will be cautious about that when the time comes.

_____________________________
2005 Seaside Pearl #6
49.4 mpg so far!! :lol:

 

I went to several dealers (on the internet) and received phone calls from about 4 of them. One was very polite and helpful in answering my questions, and then told me " you do know that we charge a dealer premium on the Prius". I replied that I did not pay dealer premiums, and after that they didn't want to talk to me. I ended up stopping at a dealer close to home that the internet said hade a large allotment (13), and was told that they were all sold, and the wait time was 16 weeks if I ordered one with a refundable $500.00 deposit. I did not leave a deposit, or tell the dealer that I wanted to place an order.

About 2 or 3 days later, I received a phone call from the dealer, who told me that they had just received a new allotment (6) and did I want one. I gave him the color( salsa red) I wanted and the package I wanted (#5), and he said he would call back after he found out if ine of them fit me. He did call back in a few minutes and said that ther4e was one that matched me except it had leather. I really wanted leather anyway, so I gave me my CC# for the deposit. He said it would take about 2 weeks for delivery. He called me when it arrived at the port, and again when it left for the dealership. I was really getting anxious when the big day arrived. No call from the dealer. Called the next day and was told it would arrive the next day. Two days after is should have arrived, it finally got there. My brother took me to the dealer to pick it up. He is a card, and turned out he and the salesman knew some of the same people, and talked the sales manager into giving me a free toyota hat. Not a deal breaker.

I financed through my crrdit union @ 4.25% so did not have to go through the hassle of dealing with the finance guy. He did try to sell me the extended warranty for $1895.00 and when I told him that I could get it for around $895 somewhere else, he gave me the speal that it was not going to be a genuine toyota warranty and I would not be able to get any dealer to honor it. I did not tell him that I was getting it through Tony. Ordered it last week.

Overall, it was a hassle free deal and I got what I wanted at MSRP + delivery and $699 Toyoguard( which I did not want but could not find a dealer that did not include it).

Getting about 54 MPG overall with over 900 miles.

Sorry this is so long.

 

Faulkner Toyota in Trevose, PA is to be avoided at all cost. My list of complaints follows:

1) My salesman was unprofessional and completely lacked knowledge about the Prius.

2) My car was delivered with a scratch on the passenger door. Faulkner refused to discount the price of the vehicle.

3) They low balled my trade in so much that I had to sell it to another dealership. I made an extra thousand dollars this way, but the hassle it caused was extreme. (note: thats right, a difference of a thousand dollars, and I only traded my xterra in for $5500 total - faulkner offered only $4500 and i was buying from them!)

4) They 'messed up' and forgot to have me sign a few papers. They then insisted that I drive to the dealership again to sign them, which is 90 minutes away from where I live. After approximately two weeks of harassing phone calls, they gave up and finally mailed me the papers to sign as I had requested.

5) They didn't tell me about any of the rebate opportunities, like the $500 PA State refund. When I asked they said I was "on my own." I realize I have to fill out these forms and all on my own... but they weren't even going to tell me about it. I had to search on the internet on Prius rebates to find out what was available. Shouldn't a dealer at least be able to guide you into this, which is also a major selling point?

6) I've bought a few new cars and always received perks like oil change coupons etc. I received absolutely nothing like that from Faulkner.

All in all... the really stunk. They knew I wanted the car and that they were gonna sell it regardless. So courtesy and effort went out the window. Their true colors were exposed.... and I will not be going back there anytime soon.

-mcslain

 

My dear wife called Joe Myers Toyota, NW Houston, to see if there were any units on the lot (7/29). By happy chance, she was directed to the General Manager.

She wanted a leather interior. He had one (of 5 on the lot, which had come in the day before). He offered to put the keys in his pocket so that she (we) could drive it at the end of the day.

She did, we did. Decided to buy it on the spot. Sticker, no add-ons. Very nice place to do business with. Drove it off the lot that night. When we did, there was one of the original 5 left.

Perhaps a bit naive, but surprised to see here that some folks are waiting months months.

Of course, the jump in gasoline prices made us look very wise. The blind hog finds the acorn every now and then.

 

I flew to OK from AK to buy a Prius. I could have gotten one here, but elected to go to the lower-48 so I could get it sooner. Toyota of Muskogee was dishonest, and rude in a couple instances.

My Prius buying experience was good until I had to sign the contracts in the Finance Manager's office.

First printout: My name was misspelled.

Second printout: Did not include the $250 discount I had printed from the internet.

Third printout: Got it right.

I was also initially told my interest rate would be "right about 6%." When I got there, the sales manager spent 10 seconds looking in his book, then quoted me 6.3% (which was 1.2% higher than what I was quoted from another company, which the dealer did not want to accept). Good thing my car's almost paid off.....

Overall, bad experience. I hate dishonesty.

 

I have purchased 15 new vehicles and have learned a lot about the system and have grown to enjoy the experience.

I prepared myself for the dance when I bought my current truck, a F150. I obtained a printout of the dealer's invoice and confirmed the going rates on financing. I went to the dealer on the last day of the month and when they were in a tight battle with Chev. over who sold the most pickups. Also, I knew that the state placed a tax on the unsold inventory at the end of each month.

I spotted the truck I wanted. A salesman asked if I was interested. I told him that he would get a 2 1/2% rollback from Ford on all sales at the end of the year. I would give him invoice plus $100. If he told me he had to see about it, I would walk. If he didn't agree to my offer, I would walk. He asked about financing and I said "cash". He asked about trade-in and I said, "cash."

He stroked his chin a bit, looked around the lot for help, then said Okay. After filling out the papers I asked what his finance rates would be. The were lower, so I financed it from them at the price I specified and the interest rate he quoted. I sold my old pickup myself.

So, when I wanted a Prius, I knew that haggling over price would probably not be possible. The first dealer I went to agreed that MSRP was the cost but there was a long waiting list. He asked if I wanted to test drive. I did, then went to a second dealer 40 mi. away. I told him I wanted one and would only pay MSRP, I wanted a #6 pkg, and would accept any color. I would pay cash and only MSRP. I would not agree to any dealer add-ons above pkg #6. I would give them 3 months to get me what I wanted -- no financing, no trade-in. He agreed and hit the phone to dealers in that end of the state. Within 2 hrs. he found me a 2005 driftwood pkg #6 and asked if I wanted it, he would personally drive the 50 mi. to get it. I agreed, looked it over when it arrived and wrote him a check. Love the car.

 

I walked right into El Monte Longo Toyota and they took me to a back parking lot (July '05). There were about 30 Prius'es, 1/2 were pending sales and the rest were available.

I picked a silver #3, paid MSRP, and walked out the same day. The finance guy didn't even bother with the extended warranty. I don't think anyone had a more simple experience than this!

 

Great from the internet sales manager start to finish. And he threw in a goodie.

I can't say the same for the fiinancial guy at the very end of the paperwork. How many times do I have to say "NO, thank you.". He's the one that slowed the entire process. I could have been out of there in less than an hour. As it was.....four hours. Of course I did have to wait about an hour for them to finish detailing it..vacuumin, washing, filling the tank, etc.

But the actual sales part was great.

They should have bought me dinner. By the time I got out of there it was after five and I was starving. I hadn't hadn't even had lunch yet.

 

I purchased my Prius at DCH Toyota in New Brunswick. The sales staff were very nice when I first picked up the car, and were very helpful.

Two and a half days later when the car died on Route 1, I was back at the dealership (after the service dept had closed) and was struggling to get a loaner, and I found my salesguy. He actually said to me, "You bought the car, it's your problem now". And then he turned and walked away.

I might expect something like that after a few months. But not after 2 days. We're still within the return period at that point!

The service Dept there is really good tho. They'll tell you exactly what's wrong and what they're doing, and they're very accommodating. If you live in the area, I highly recommend them for service.

 

I might have to go out of the New England area to get a Package #4 -- can you PM me the name of your sales guy -- sounds like someone I would love to do business with <_<

I would report him to the owner --- geeeeeesh

 

I did call Toyota corporate, and told them what happened, but I don't know how much control they have over their salesmen. And most Toyota dealerships in the area have a reputation for being a bit on the... sleazy side, so I'm not sure what corporate could have done.

 

My first contact with the dealership and Sales Rep #1 was very poor. I won't go into details, but they almost lost my business for good.

I decided to give them another chance a week or two later. Sales Rep #2 was very professional and much easier to work with. I bought my car. I was also honest and up front about having initial contact with Sales Rep #1.

A week later, Sales Rep #1 called me and got into it with me on the phone about not buying from him. I told him I wasn't interested in having that converstation with him, but listened to his tirade for three minutes or so before he mustered up his most sarcastic voice and said, "Thank you for purchasing your car at XYZ Toyota." He hung up before I could defend myself.

The phone call bothered me quite a bit. I was pretty sure Sales Rep #1 was going to track down Sales Rep #2 (or maybe the sales manager) and get into a fight over why he had stolen me and the commission away, etc. I didn't really want that to happen so I called the Sales Manager and told him about the experience I had had with the two sales reps, and about Sales Rep #1's phone call to me. He promised to take "swift and drastic action."

A few minutes later the sales manager called back to say that he had interviewed Sales Rep #1 and that he had lied in the interview and that Sales Rep #1's employment at XYZ Toyota had been terminated.

Such drama! I feel bad for SR#1. That wasn't what I set out to do. But he really did almost cost XYZ Toyota a sale with my initial contact with him, and I'm sure I'm not the first to have a bad experience with him, so it's probably not a bad move on their part.

 

My first contact was with the Toyota Dealer in Almere - The Netherlands. Fortunately I immediately got to the Prius Sales Specialist of the company. He did a great pre-sales job for the car. He was honest about the car and told me of his own experiences. Of course I had read a lot about the Prius so if he wasn't talking the truth I would have noticed it.
The sales representative had driven the Prius for over a year, and had a lot of experiences with the car. He told me about the great things of the car, but also about the things that were not so good. No car is perfect, this one comes close.

My second experience with the Toyota Dealer in Waalwijk (different one) was a really bad one. The sales representative started with: I've driven the car for over 3 months. I asked him about his experiences, and he told me that his experiences were not important. Mine were, because I had a test-drive. I told him that he had more experience about the car, but he wouldn't tell me his experiences. Then I asked him about the bad things of the car. He told me that this is the perfect car and there are no bad things about the car. He was definetly loosing the sales conversation so I asked him what he could do with the price. He told me that he could give 1% discount, that is 300 Euro's (about 350 dollar).
I actually laughed about it, told him he should have a sales training to perform better sales.

Back to the Toyota dealer in Almere. The Prius specialist was ill so I got the sales manager. Nice guy, but not a Prius specialist. As I had some technical question (I'm a Technology Specialist ) he got one of the specialist from the working floor of the garage to explain several things! Awesome! If he could have done anything right, that was the thing! I just love such things!

My compliments to the very well selling process of Toyota Almere and I'm glad I orderd the car there!

Regards,

Hugo Leijtens

 

Went to test drive/buy a Prius back in June 05, but told that they didn't have a demo. No problem, they said, we'll just get an owner to loan one for your test drive. Waited, and waited and waited. (Now I know why!)

Went to another dealership: Don Valley North Toyota Lexus here in Toronto (the biggest in Ontario) and they too didn't have a demo. But I got a super salesman who put my name down in his book - not buying unless I drive it first - and he called back 3 months later (!!!) when they got one in.

Drove it - Loved it - Bought it (there should be a T-Shirt) - that same night. And boy, did I luck out. Waited only a month - they preordered (or did a sales fall thru?) and I got my baby. Got the colour I wanted, got the upgrade I wanted (package B). Coincidence or what, eh? Someone up there's looking after me ....

 

Just got my (our) Prius just a few weeks ago. We had decided to get one several weeks earlier, even got financing all secured, but was placed on a waiting list for anther waiting list.

It was a Friday afternoon when we stopped at Team Toyota in Langhorne, PA to actually try to test drive one. Yes we had decided on the Prius before even driving it.

Anyway, went on the test drive, really liked the way it handled and decided to try to see what the wait would be for a Black one. The salesperson went through several lists to see when he might have the one we really wanted. No luck. He did mention that of the 5 he had there 4 of them were extras that Toyota sent them due to their sales volume.

Anyway, the wife and I decided to get one of the ones that they had in stock, with the navigation system. The sales people were very nice, the deal wnet smoothly and traded in the car I drove there that afternoon.

We ended the purchase with their Prius specialist salesperson giving us a very detailed explanation of the vehicle. He even noted how the car was really designed for a right handed person.

Anyway, we drove home in our new Prius - have had a great time driving it.

 

August 2005. I was having a door handle fixed on my 2000 Toyota Sienna at the local Simi Valley dealer (DCH Toyota of Simi Valley). I found the Internet sales guy who informed me that they were asking $3000 over MSRP. I complained to the service rep that if I bought the car from them I would service with them and he actually seemed interested, but the price didn't change. I will never go there again for anything!

So I went on the Internet and found Hamer Toyota and used their site to "build" a 2005 Prius and then make an offer. I offered MSRP and the Internet sales guy called me the next day and said there are selling for MSRP and would take off $100 because I had a Costco card, but would need $1000 deposit (refundable) to get on the list. I made an appointment to see him and everybody in the dealership was friendly and polite and I noticed the place was busy-very busy. I was told 45 to 60 days wait which was OK with me. I called him on occasion to get a status and he always returned my phone calls. The only minor glitch was one time he told me I was next on the list and then a week later I wasn't and he didn't remember the earlier phone call. He then apologized for this mistake the next two times he saw me. But I had the car about 54 or so days after I ordered it and everything went smooth.

I did want the extended warranty, but I had already searched the Internet and knew that they were heavily discounted and told the finance guy this and he first says it's not a genuine Toyota warranty and tell him it is and he lowered the price down to a competitive level. Overall a very good experience.

Jeff