Hello Prius Chat! Long-time fan of the Prius. Hoping to become a proud owner soon. So I've known for a while that Prii are popular cars (I live in SoCal and about every other car on the carpool lane is a Prius) but I had no idea how popular. I started shopping for a 2017 Prius Prime last week and test drove at a few dealerships. When it came down to discussing price, NO ONE has given me a deal better than MSRP. First of all, of the 6 or 7 dealerships I've contacted, only 3 of them even had a Prius Prime in stock. Of those 3, only 2 dealers had vehicles available for sale (the 3rd said their Primes were already contracted to other customers). All three dealerships told me I would be lucky to get it at MSRP and that I should act fast. It seems like they are all getting upgraded wheels, tints, carpets, etc. so I would most likely be paying north of $30,000 BEFORE tax and fees. Is this an unofficial Prius sales tactic? I don't expect dealers to be throwing deals my way, but shouldn't the price be adjusted down rather than up? This is unlike any other car-buying experience I've ever had. Are the new Prius Primes really that popular? Is it just a bad time to buy? Am I really lucky to be paying MSRP? Thanks in advance for your responses.
Read the post right below yours, by Diane. She works at a dealership. She gives discounts. She is in SoCal. The dealer you went to is full of male bovine feces.
Car sales are all about supply and demand. Since the Prius Prime is a brand new car and there is currently limited stock, there's lower supply until enough of them get shipped out. And because people don't like to wait, lower supply means higher demand. The fewer Primes are in your area, the higher the price is likely to be. Since you're already in California, where most US Primes have been shipped, you would most likely be able to get a better deal by traveling to a city with more Primes available in general. You would have a much better chance of getting a discount if there are 20 cars in the area as opposed to 3.
Haha, that's a clever way to get around the moderators! Thanks for the tip! I'll have to look up this Diane. Hopefully she can set me straight with the facts!
welcome! have you shopped around? don't confuse prius with prime, they are two different animals. it's all about carpool stickers in cali. there was a $1,000. rebate for awhile, not sure if it's still on. if you look in the prime pricing thread, you'll see some pretty good deals. all the best!
It is a free capitalist market; supply and demand. Where you live, hybrids and high mileage vehicles apparently are still in high demand. In other parts of the country, that is NOT the case, partly because the price of gas is down. Your situation might be complicated by the Cali. emission rules. IF you cannot buy a new vehicle in another state and then license it in Calif., you are kind of screwed. If you CAN do that, widen your search to other nearby areas (states). At least widen your search to other dealers within maybe 150 miles.
That phrase is often confusing......because what is "right below yours" depends on how each user has the messages sorted to display.
