I spent two months and hundreds of hours researching before buying my prius, and spoke with dozens of dealerships across several states. These two really stick out as good dealerships to work with: 1. Danville Toyota in Virginia Sam Keeter, the sales guy, went out of his way to hunt down an option one package, looking as far as Chicago. He offered me exactly MSRP and no more, and was kind and down-to-Earth. 2. Toyota of Gastonia, North Carolina I ended up buying my car here, where they offered me the option one at $600 below invoice, (but with a $600 dealer prep fee so it came out even). Nick Joseph was the guy I worked with, and he went out of his way to get me exactly what I wanted without haggling or trying any bait and switch tactics. THe finance guy was straight-up too. No funny stuff, just straight by the numbers. (I'm a Calculus teacher, so I double checked everything). Lots of other places I went tried to steer me towards other models, or put me on a long waiting list, etc. These guys stood out.
Thanks for taking the time to post your dealer experiences and sharing them with us. I hope anyone in the area looking for a Prius find this thread and heeds your recommendations.
I had a beyond-excellent and fair transaction with a Ron Tonkin dealership in Portland. PM me and I can give you the sales person who I dealt with. We basically did the whole transaction via email, except of course, for the test drive.
