Buying a new prius in stock! Is it pure LUCK???

It depends on where you live and the luck of the draw. For example, I put my name on one list (no deposit) in September 2004. I was told that I wouldn't be able to get one until February 2006! In January 2005 I started to get calls from them, but they didn't have the model I wanted. I contacted another dealer in April 2005 as they said they could get the model I wanted, but the day I sent the deposit check, they called and said they couldn't. I called another dealer that day and in a few minutes, had a Prius.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(stanlwyjohn @ Jun 12 2006, 08:22 PM) [snapback]270227[/snapback]</div>

Actually, I got mine in Nov. right off of the lot. Had been on a waiting list at another dealer.
When I stopped at the dealership where I bought it, there were several in stock. The sales
rep. told us that they had received several "extra" Priuses to sell due to their overall sales
volume.

Drive one home that day.

 

The dealer I purchased mine from seems to have three comming in every other week (big dealership). When I picked up mine two other arrived at the same time... and based on my visites before i decieded to lay down a deposit it appeared they where receiving 6-9 a month. Oh my wait was a week and a half... when I bought mine on the boat.

Now the local dealer had three on the lot when I was shopping, didn't like them, and when I drove by today I saw four sitting on the lot (smaller dealership). While the dealer 5 miles from work has/had a 1.5 month waiting list (mid-size to large dealership).

 

I was just lucky enough to purchase one over the weekend, and I was only looking for about 2 weeks. I used the internet to contact all of the dealers within 50 miles of here (there are alot around here in Orange County CA). The dealership I got mine from is in Ontario (about 35 miles from here). I will be picking my White Option 7 on Friday / Saturday when it arrives off the truck.

Someone backed out of the one I got, so I did get lucky. I think if you are persistent, and in an area with alot of dealers, than it can happen.

Nick

 

I had 3 separate deposits of $500 with 3 different dealers for a Magnetic Grey #8. After 3 weeks I started calling other dealers and the last dealer I called had my car! I drove over then and there and got it! That was last Thursday. I then drove my new Prius to the other 3 dealers and collected my deposits back. Stay on it and you will get one.

 

When I was looking for a Prius in 2005, I put a down on a black prius with option #3 and a grey interior with a dealer in Novato, CA. They called me up a few weeks later and told me that they were only ordering the black with oak interior. I was fumed. I spent all weekend upset over being told I could not get what I wanted. So I decided to tell them to refund my deposit. That following monday I did just that and when I was leaving I headed down towards Marin Toyota, and when I drove up, they were backing up a black Prius. I asked if it had been spoken for and the sales lady said nope, I was the first one. So, I said sold. It was Option package #4, but it was only 1,000 more, so I went for it. It was also a black Prius with grey interior. JUST as I had wanted.

My neighbor down the block was not so lucky. Had to wait six weeks for his Prius. So I think its just luck and perserverence, in my case... just luck.

 

I was looking at a bunch of differnet cars. THe Prius was one of them.

When I went to my local dealer in LA I was looking at a FJ. but I determined it was too tall.

The next day I called them back and asked them to drive it up to the house and check the garage clearance. Sure enough, it was too tall. I asked on a whim if they had any Prius' in stock. He said he just got a red with #8 package that morning. I said right then and there I would take it. He drove the FJ back to the dealership and then brought the Pruis over to my house with the paperwork about an hour later.

I was suprised by that.

Here are some pic's from delivery.

 

I waited 6 weeks after putting in my $500 deposit, and they got in a Silver pack 0 prius that I took. I had ordered a Silver pack 1, but who knows how long that could've taken and I had sold my car two weeks prior and the 5 mile walk/bike ride to work was getting unbearibly hot now that it is in the 80-90s. I do not regret my purchase but definately think the side/side curtain airbags should be standard on all cars.

 

It's not 'Luck'. It's a lot of phone calls, some flexibility in the color/package, and a willingness to travel to pick one up. I got a white Pkg 5 'off the lot' after putting a deposit on a beige pkg 3 at another dealer, and negotiating by phone for a red pkg 6 that had actually been sold, all within 30 miles of my house (and the red one turned out NOT to be sold, after all, but I'd bought the white one the white one before they called me to clear up the mistake).

There were other dealers I spoke with in my area who had pkg 7 or 8 on the lot, but I wasn't willing to pay for the extra's, since I had the deposit on the beige one (which came in the day after I bought the white one - got my deposit back last week).

I live in Central NJ, so I could easily travel into PA for a car. I needed a car right away, since my old car was totalled - I rented a car with Enterprise, who seem to have rental offices in almost every town, and returned it to an Enterprise office a mile from the dealer (someone from the dealership followed me to the Enterprise office while they readied my new Prius, and helped me find the 'night drop-off' box). I only ever visited 3 dealerships - an awful one I'd stay away from, the one where I put down a deposit the same day I visited the awful dealership, and the one I actually bought the car from - everything else was via phone. Start to finish was about 6 days (eight days after my accident - researched cars on the Internet before I visited a showroom).

So it's two months later and gas prices have gone even higher, but the 'magnetic gray' color has come out, and many people who were on waiting lists for other colors have now switched to waiting for the new color. So right now is a GREAT time to 'luck out'.