Considering Leasing Prius Plug-In... Deal to good to be true?

What he said.

You'll be upside down, but when you SELL the car, you'll be right side up much more so. With a lease? You're never right side up, lol.

 

So, the $6,000 plus from Toyota on a PIP isn't really worth it because it is being applied to a lease?
Sounds like a bunch of us are buying a used vehicle or looking at another auto maker.
Good luck to you guys!

 

One bit of advice I got today shows that my Prius III is pretty worthless in today's market. The auctions are full of lease returns and trade-ins from 2010. Toyota offered attractive incentives for both financing and leasing in the last months of the 2010 models. If I sold my Prius outright or traded it in as an owner, I would lose a great deal of money. What to do!

 

Why not just keep it?

 

That could happen.

 

Leasing may have once been a lose-lose proposition, but if we had chosen to buy our 2010 Prius, we would have paid, adding together the down payment, payments, etc, exactly what it would have cost us to buy it off the lot. However, we are trying to lease a 2013 PIP, and that should work out the same or better, in that the purchase price for us will be less than the market value of the car at lease's end (assuming the price of gas doesn't plummet).

 

Now, for the question I came here to ask: how long did people who have leased a PIP lately have to wait to actually get the car? We put a $500 deposit down last Wednesday, with the expectation that the dealer would have one in at least one of our three color choices by Monday. Here it is Thursday night, and no car has shown up at their lot for us yet. Should we be worried? Has NY sold out of PIPs yet...?

 

I found a dealer with one in stock and had it the next day at the end of August. My local dealer I talked to a week before said they'd contact me when they got one. Never heard a word from them. From talking to several dealers in this process, it sounded like inventory was quite tight. I would not wait for your dealer to find one. Get proactive and find your own.

 

We put a $500 deposit on that lease, having been told they could definitely get us a car - only the exact color was uncertain. Now, about 11 days and several phone calls later, it's starting to look like they may have actually *prevented* us from leasing a PIP, by making us think we had reserved one. I guess we'll know for sure soon, but if no car appears, I'll be posting the names of the dealership, saleswoman, and lease manager...

 

It is quite likely that if your dealer was not familiar with the current market for PIP's, they underestimated their availability. The deposit should be fully refundable (never leave a deposit that isn't), so you aren't out anything if you start looking on your own. Just start calling dealers and talking to people. In fact, if you find another one, and then your dealer suddenly comes through, you are in a much better bargaining position because you have two cars to choose from and can make the dealers compete for the purchase.

 

Were going to be "out" a leased PHEV, I think, having been mislead into believing we had one reserved for two weeks. We're pretty angry at the dealership and saleswoman - who even now is trying to hold on to us, with the idea that she'll be the one to lease us a Prius II when this officially falls through. She's mistaken about that...

If anyone here can help us get a Prius PHEV in Upstate NY, please PM me or post here.

 

Dealers especially welcome to post - IF you actually have a car to lease us.

 

I contacted another dealership yesterday, one that is part of a large group. They located just two PHEVs total in their 16 locations, one white and one green. They were in neighboring Massachusetts. We put a deposit on the green one today. This had better not be a rerun of the last PHEV "lease" we put a deposit on. We are supposed to have the car on Monday. I wasn't satisfied with the lease offer, so we went with the Toyota regional offer, plus an Extra $27 or so a month for Excess Wear protection and gap insurance. (We park in medium to high risk areas.)

New Country Toyota of Saratoga seemed to be playing the "sell them what you've got" game with us, holding our money and not telling us that they had *six* requests for PHEVs filed, in the expectation of leasing or selling us a 2013 Prius II after the clock ran out. We will be getting our deposit back from them, after a "few weeks" for "processing." Let our experience be a lesson: putting a deposit on a vehicle doesn't necessarily guarantee that you will get it, or that it even exists...

 

Does this mean you are buying? Or leasing still?

 

Leasing, with $1999 down (actually a little under $4000 with tax and fees) and $179 a month, plus another $28 a month for excess wear & tear insurance and gap insurance. $207 a month for a PHEV that's covered for up to $1k in body damage is a good deal.

 

I would suggest you roll that down payment, taxes and fees into the lease and pay it monthly. There is no cost to doing so, and if you drive the car off the lot and total it, you are out the $4k.

Gap insurance is not necessary as there is no way you will have a gap with Toyota's $7300 down payment.

Don't focus on the monthly payment. Make them show you how the lease is calculated. Negotiate the purchase price just like a purchase. Know what the money factor and residual is. Knowing only the monthly payment allows them to manipulate the true cost.

 

We were told the gap insurance came into play if the car was totaled - I knew there would be no price "gap." As for negotiating... there are two issues here: the Prius PHEV is no longer a "White Elephant" that is hard to sell. They are pretty much all gone, and the fact that this dealer group had two in another state was a lucky break for us, which they knew. There would have been no negotiating on price. As for the lease payment, I would have preferred less up front and more per month, but their offer there was too high. I was prepared for them trying to make a profit that way, and went with the national ad because it was pre-defined and there was no way for them to refuse to honor it. We had limited time to spend there, and I didn't want to get into a hostile relationship with them right at the start. If the car is provided as promised, we will be satisfied. My housemate will be driving it, and she drives very carefully. She also has good luck, so hopefully the car won't get totaled.

 

After what seemed like endless hurdles and obstacles, my housemate got her "Sea Glass Pearl" PHEV this evening. The last hurdles were Esurance screwing up the insurance cards yet again (they did the same with my Leaf) and delaying us over an hour, and the dealership 'forgetting' to deduct our $1000 deposit from the total owed. Also, the car seems to be a Demo, with 111 miles on it before we drove it, but aside from a not-new-looking rear mat it seems to be in new condition, at least. I drove it the 22.5 miles home, and got 92 MPG (with about 3.5 miles left in EV range) in a mix of city streets, freeway and secondary road driving. We live in a valley and were going downhill the last several miles coming home, but I'm hopeful we can manage at least 70MPG in more normal driving...

 

Congrats! Glad you finally got it.

FWIW, my local dealer finally called last night and they have one PIP in stock. It will almost certainly go fast, but if anyone is interested I can put you in contact.