<rant> We have been waiting to buy a Prime for several months now. Finally one of the dealers in Kansas City (Hendrick Toyota) is taking orders. They want $1000 deposit (fair enough) but also full MSRP on a car that is 8 - 12 weeks for delivery. So for the Prime Advanced with a few options, they want $35,155, which is $2k over the invoice price (via Costco) of $33,145. No way am I paying them $2k for a car they only have to order, occurring no risk or expense on their part. They would not negotiate a lower price so we walked. I'd think Toyota would be pissed that they are letting factory orders walk out the door. I suppose I am naive on car pricing, but I assume they pay invoice, at most, and possibly get kick-backs from the manufacturer for the sales. So they would be making at least $2k with near zero effort and risk on their part. Toyota really ought to get more of these cars on inventory in the Kansas City metro. We supposedly have the best, free EV charger infrastructure in the country. I drive a Leaf myself and chargers are everywhere (I barely use my home charger). The Prius Prime would sell very well here. It irks me to see plenty of inventory on the coasts and nothing here. </rant>
You are lucky to get it at MSRP in the Midwest. If you can get one at all. A dealer in Lincoln, Ne as asking $36,000. Fly over states are going to be in this supply rut for a while. Some have flown to California to pick up the car. Prices with rebates are better there. Good luck. Several of us are in the same boat.
So you want to be exempt from one of the basic laws of capitalism: supply and demand. You can either wait things out locally or go to a market with a large(r) supply.
No, not at all exempt from the the laws of capitalism. That would be Toyota, the manufacturer, hiking the price for the dealer, then the dealer passing on that cost, with their hike. I'm assuming in this case that the dealers (no matter where in the country) get them for the same cost from the manufacturer. One would think, for an order, that they would be willing to settle for a decent profit, rather than zero profit. In which case the manufacturer also loses that sale. If the dealer has an inventory that allows them to hike the price since they control the supply. In this case they have zero supply, thus the manufacturer controls it. I suppose, in my business (non-consumer electronics) I'm used to manufactures selling through distributors. The distributors make a profit, but they NEVER turn away an order for non-stocked inventory as it's never in their interest to do so. If the manufacturer learned they were turning away factory orders, they would be dropped as a distributor. Sheesh I hate the car dealers. I suppose that's the nice thing about Tesla; direct factory orders.
You are being naive. All Toyota cares about is that the cars get sold. As you're walking out the door, buyers willing to pay the asking price are walking in: that's why they let you walk. @fotomoto has it right: supply and demand at work. Yeah, wait it out, never a bad strategy. Or shift your sights: go for a regular Prius?
Yes, but does Toyota get more when the buyer pays more (i.e. the dealer take a % cut), or does the dealer keep everything above invoice? As an low volume electronics manufacture, I'm more concerned about maximizing orders to keep my production running as long as possible. If have secured orders well into the future, that's the best possible scenario; this is exactly what Tesla is doing. If the distributor makes a profit, good for him, but if they ever refuse a direct factory order when they have no inventory, that's a direct loss to me.
we're assuming that toyota is making a profit on prime, or that they care about sales anywhere except california.
I went to Costco dealer last xmas and they refused to sell me the Costco price. Complained to Costco and they said sorry to me.. that's all they can do. I think Costco price maybe true after the hot season is over. It is impossible for now. iPhone ?
I'm just using Costco as an accurate estimate of invoice price. I'd be willing to order it at $34k, which is 1/2 way between invoice and MSRP, and also what others were paying in CA. Though I'm not paying MSRP.
I can't recall whether it was Consumer Reports site or KBB who said, at least back in January when I ordered mine, that they were selling, on the average, a few thousand over MSRP. They charge what they can get for them. Supply and demand, etc...
No order was refused. You wanted to pay less than what supply and demand dictated. It's as if someone came up to your factory and wanted to buy an item from you for less than the people on the waiting list. Wouldn't make sense for you to accept that order. Don't worry though. Gas is cheap. The original PiP sold for MSRP as well. I got it for $4000 off 6 months later.
You simply have to wait for the supply of Prius Prime's to exceed the current demand. This probably means you will have to wait until September.
This is how a free market works. "First adopters" usually pay a premium price. GET OVER IT. Would you rather have Government price controls on everything ?? (The correct answer to that is NO.)
I live in Northern California and decided that I wanted a Titanium Glow Advanced. There are 5 dealers within 3 hours drive. I went onto all of their websites and registered as being an interested customer wether they had the vehicle or not. One dealer had one with mats and the aero splitter. All of the dealers offered to get me the car as part of the dealer exchange program but the quotes were wildly variable; 1k over MSRP, 500 over MSRP but none came in under MSRP. I offered via internet 35k out the door, all in, cash, no trade in with the 1k Toyota incentive. I got the usual "We don't make any money on these cars, these cars are selling the same day back east for 2k over so you are "lucky" to pay 500 over, flat out "no",we have a waiting list for the car," and no response at all. I decided that I would need to wait until the year wore on and the car became less precious. Lo and behold a sales manager contacted me on the last day of the month and said he "just read" my email inquiry which was strange because they passed me through 3 people trying to get me to offer more two weeks earlier. He took the offer that "had never been brought to his attention" and boom, 24 hours later the car was in my garage. So hey, don't give up. The money is in your pocket and they want it. You will find your deal.
OP madengr, When Mercedes was discussing introducing an affordable, C line concept to it's dealers, Mercedes planned on a $20,000 price. The dealers squealed about that being way too low for a Mercedes. They countered with a $ 30,000 price. Yep, $ 10,000 more profit for the dealers. If I recall, the C sold very well and customers were happy being able to get a Benz for only $30,000 while their neighbors, the Jonses' could afford only a GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc.. It's supply and d . . .
