Greetings all-I'm about to embark on ordering Prius #2 (first one purchased off the lot in 2002.) My local Minneapolis dealers tell me 6 to 14 months (depending on who I spoke with), and outstate, smalltown dealers say 2 to 3 months. My questions are...in regards to having better odds of receiving faster, in your experience will I be better served ordering exactly what I want from the small town dealer, or do the big city dealers typically get product faster? Perhaps it's just me, but a 10 month delta seems rather large. And secondly, with 2006s being so tight, is now the time to order 2007s (and is that possible)? Thank you for your help.
In my experience the bigger dealer was the better way to go b/c they had more options coming in constantly. The smaller dealer I went to didn't have one I could test drive, and tried to sell me a Corolla. They also tried to tell me everyone had a 3 month wait list. I bought one off the lot 2 hours from them (30 mins from me), exactly what I wanted in every way. If you're up for some travel, check around an area in reasonable driving distance. You might just find what you want today, as opposed to waiting a few months. I know for a fact that VA dealers still have stock on the lot you can buy and drive home today. So maybe there's somewhere close to you with the same. Good luck!
Wow, 6 - 14 months seems like an estimate from a few years ago. My wait in NYC for a Feb order was just over a month and that was only because I didn't want to comprimise on package or color. Either things have changed vastly in a few months or the dealers in your area are really being shortchanged.
Each dealer gets an allocation, some much larger than others. Generally the big dealers get more. I suspect it's a chicken and the egg sort of thing: if you sell more Prius then you get more Prius, but how do you sell more if you can't get them? None of the dealers actually place an order, they just try to match up orders with what comes over on the boat. So it all comes down to how many orders the dealer has ahead of yours, and how flexible the orders are. If they are all for package #8 and you will take a package #7, then the first package #7 is yours. Even with the high demand and long waiting lists, I was twice offered a Prius right from the lot. If you are willing to drive a ways to get your new Prius, you should be able to shave off a lot of time from the wait. Tom
