Guys, I need advise. I want a very specific color combination in the Prius 4. None was available in Arizona. I reached out to Dianne Whitmire and she managed to snatch one for me and will arrange for shipping to Arizona. The good side: I get the car in the color scheme that I want, with 0% financing. Sweet! The bad side: I can't trade my car, and have to go through the hassle of selling. I have yet to sign any documents though... Now just yesterday, a dealer contacted me via Carwoo to say that he'll be getting my exact car (fresh off the boat from LA harbor) in mid July, and the $$ deal is as good as Dianne's. I'll be able to trade in my vehicle, but the 0 APR will expire by then... So if it were you: go with out of state dealer purchase, use 0 APR, and sell own vehicle or ... use local dealer, take advantage of hassle free trade, but risk losing 0% APR or additional incentives?
In spite of the recent FED actions, Prime rates have still been untouched at 3.25%. The prime rate is the underlying index for most credit cards, home equity loans and lines of credit, auto loans, and personal loans. This doe not mean Toyota would act to halt 0% APR financing of course. You are also allowed to put up to $5k down on the financing deal using your card, until you sell your previous car outright. This might give your time to sell your car on your own at top dollar. I did that. Your putting a lot of pressure on yourself with such a specific search with the added pressure of interest rates in the future. Good luck to you with your Az hunting.
i'd go with princess di over an unknown deal. if you don't want the hassle of selling privately, you can sell it to carmax, etc.
Why not just drive to California and trade/deal with Di directly? You can TTL it when you get back home? Just did this with my Mother-in-Law (TX/LA) about 8 months ago.
Thanks for everyone's input. I simply don't have the time to drive out to LA for the trade. The car deal here with the local dealer is as good, so it just makes no sense to do that. Carmax is an option, but I feel I'll get a better price at trade-in; there's just no negotiating power with Carmax, whereas with a trade, they won't sell the new car if we can't agree to a fair price. At the end, I had to apologize to Lady Princess Di. I'll take my chances with the new APR, and I can buy it off cash if I had to.
Another option. Put you car up on craigslist. My last 2 both sold within 3-4 hours. Took less than an hour of my time and I had cash. If the car is right, the ad is honest and the price is right they sell. Then go fly out to di and get the car. For my wife's car I went 280 miles or so to save over $1k over local dealers.
I would opt for the local dealer. negotiate your deal, then give them the CarMax offer and ask them to match it. that's what I did with my purchase two weeks ago of my first Prius, a Five all tarted up in the color my wife wanted (silver). I have sold a couple of cars on craigslist, but in my case it took a little while and lots of emails to unload a vintage Volvo 940 wagon. I probably should have done it with my recent trade (a 2003 Camry with 48,000 on it), but I opted for convenience. Frodoz737 -- your icon looks like a 737-800 or 900 wing in Southwest livery. Right?
