If it were possible would you order your prius from this forum and pick up your prius from a local dealer over going to a dealer?
Though it's an indispensable source of information, I've heard waaay too many nightmarish stories about items ordered through this website. Folks might get a bad vibe about it.
but its different when you get all your good info from here and go to the dealer only to get misunderstood, mislead, and riped off!!!!
Yes, I would. In the "'06 coming Jan or Feb." thread, I half-seriously said that maybe we should do group buys of cars. If we could set up some kind of universal discount, e.g., $1000-1500 over invoice, scaled to option packages, we'd be the world's #1 Prius broker instantly.
If it meant that I could get slightly below msrp and not have to deal with southeast Toyota, I would definitely order off of Prius chat. I'm sure many others that don't like se Toyota would too.
Interesting concept....online only/no brick & morter car dealer. Discounted shipping due to quantity, discounted sales price due to quantity and lack of any significant overhead. No BS for the customer b/c you'd get exactly what you ordered and nothing more or less...no pressure, etc. Coordinate with an online financial company for financing....hmmmm, I'd do it. I think the only real question is whether the manufacturers would go for it. You'd probably still need a storage lot of some sort unless arrangements could be made for shipping what came off the boats. Obvious disadvantages would be folks couldn't inspect or test drive their car beforehand...for a car as hot as the Prius that might not be a big deal, but for others it would. I guess you could, eventually, put out some satellite land based places with the sole job of offering test drives and dealing with disputes/problems...but that could complicate things a lot.
If the order process were as simple as "fill out a form, electronically file a slew of paperwork, and file for delivery" then yeah I think I would. However, when I think of all the hard work my sales rep endured talking to me, learning about the car from me, calling me with questions from other customers, and finally calling to let me know that it was in I don't think that can be replaced by an online ordering process.
Wish Troy's dealership would give us a deal on buying a prius like he does on the warranties. Maybe somebody should put a bug in his ear. Someday Prii should be easier to get LOL.
I think it's a great idea. It's what auto brokers do all the time, you pick up your car from a local dealer. If you buy a car through Costco, Costco doesn't have a car lot. The only hurdle I see is local legal. I think most states license car brokers, so you'd have to have a fairly large organization with people licensed in every state. Not impossible, but a hurdle. How about trying to partner with an existing broker or brokers? They get focused leads, we get discounts, PriusChat receives a commission. With enough income to PriusChat, maybe Danny could quit his day job and make PriusChat a powerhouse!
Excellent, Bill. Partnering with a licensed broker as a "helper" is worth exploring. As would investigating the state requirements for becoming a stand-alone broker. On the "business card " thread, I'm proposing an idea to Tony which I think has the potential to vastly increase PC's membership, if done properly. The two ideas kind of dovetail in ways. (Think circle PC >> awareness >>dealers >> brokers >> increased sales >> enlarged PC >> more awareness etc.
Business cards are useful because they are a small standard size. I'm using these to get the word out about about our January Prius Meetup.
hey, every great idea has hurdles to overcome, such as this one... my suggestion: Make it GLOBAL, base it off-shore, and draw up your own internal regulatory structure... of course, it's a bit more of a pain in the nice person, but done correctly, you could have a real sweet enterprise running... hmm, I wonder what Danny might think of living on some tropical island somewhere, selling Prius's all over the world... h34r: of course, you'd have to define precisely what it is and how it's done, for example, the whole test drive thing... ...unless you're a repeat buyer, you'd have to be an idiot to buy a car without test driving it. so, the implication goes: i can see this working real well for repeat buyers and those that want to risk no test drive.. i'm fairly certain you could cut a deal with toyota directly. as long as you can get them their money, you'll get your cars... although i would imagine toyota doesn't want inventory sitting around... which brings me to the thought someone had of 'partnering up' with a broker... great idea, PC provides the "leads", they get the sale, with some comp. agreement drawn up.... ...whatever, there are a billion ways to cut up this pie, my main suggestion is go global and take it offshore. Should this global/offshore idea be taken seriously, I'd be happy to start some cursory research (this is sort of my specialty h34r: ), of course, I don't bullshit, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch, so I'd better get some serious share volume out of it.... h34r:
Everything I've ever read pointed out that brokers do not do anything different than a REALLY well-informed buyer does. They still have to use manufacturer's dealer networks. Buyers using brokers usually pay more than they would had they intelligently negotiated a deal themselves. Brokers obtain cars for people who are either too lazy to track down a deal, or are willing to pay someone else (the broker) to do the work and price negotiations for them. Brokers (like COSTCO) couldn't get a 2004 Prius because no dealer was willing to sell a Prius for less to a broker when he had clowns like us standing in line waving cash deposits at them. By the way, I consider myself an informed buyer and didn't even have to put down ANY deposit at all for my 2004. I also knew I had to go 3,000 miles to where most of the Prius were being delivered (California) if I hoped to get one with a reasonable wait. You know, I still have not heard of anyone using a broker to obtain a discount on a 2005 or 2006 Prius. Maybe later this summer as the tax credit expires after the sales goal is hit.
I disagree. Dealerships chase the business of good brokers, who sell high volume. They compete with other dealerships to get the brokers to buy from them. To do that, they even give brokers special deals on hard to get cars. My car was a bonus car, one which the dealership did not expect until it came off the truck. It was offered to my broker for MSRP, at $2,500 less than another buyer was ready to pay for it (when the cars were quite hot, as the 05 model went on sale), just to keep the dealer in my broker's good graces. All I had to do was sign the paperwork and pick up the car. I even got a loan for 0.3% less than my credit union offered at the time. There were no sales pitches, no negotiations, no hassle, no pressure and no driving 3,000 miles. P.S. In May and June, before the price of gasoline went through the roof, my broker was offered numerous Prius cars from multiple dealers at $1,500 to $2,000 under MSRP.
I think if the price was attractive enough I might. If the price difference was small I'd but from a local dealer. Why? Because I rely on a local dealer for service and repair work, and I want them to be in business when I need them. For this reason I always favor locally-owned businesses over chains, and stone-and-mortar stores over internet mail-order. I think selling cars this way would be problematic, however. Dealers cannot get as many Priuses as they want, and Toyota can sell all they build through their present network of dealers. Would they support a dealer that did not offer service as well? What about paperwork such as licensing and registration of the cars? What about state regulations designed to make sure they get the sales tax? What about profit to whoever provides the pick-up location? How would you actually get the car to the customer? If you go through a dealership (as Costco does, judging by an earlier post) would they agree to do it with a high-demand car? But of course those are all questions for the person (Danny?) who tries to set up such a business. As far as the question in the OP, it would depend on how much cheaper the car was, compared to a dealership.
