Since Chicago inventory is sparse, I decided to take a little road trip to western New York, where there are hundreds of units. There are also regional incentives through 3 April. Taking delivery about nine hours from now!
Great color! It grows on me daily as does the weird Prime shape. I'm also happy with the black softek or whatever it's called: very classy. You can really change the electric-only range if you drive like an old man with low blood sugar! I've bounced it from 30.2 to 33.2 after a few local runs, ambient temp. in the mid to high '70s; no A/C. You gonna luv dis baby, man! So silky smooooth, decent power, and stealthy quiet! Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
I'm sitting at my New York dealer about to take delivery and wanted to share some info. When I arrived at the dealership, the staff were already familiar with me as "the guy from Chicago." One of the salespeople informed me that Toyota made a decision to only allocate Primes to states with the most stringent fuel efficiency/environmental regulations, such as California and New York. Apparently Illinois and most of the Midwestern states do not have these guidelines, so inventories will remain low for the foreseeable future. He shared that his dealership has been getting calls from Midwestern dealers calling to literally purchase their entire stock of Primes as a lot; however, inventory is low due to local customer demand. So I'm very glad to be here closing this deal and about to make my maiden voyage home!
Sweet !!!!!!!!!!!! My Prime was delivered to the dealer just a little bit ago. I'll be picking it up tomorrow. btw, my salesperson says that color looks amazing in person.
John, it is going to be so nice having you with a Prime so we can all benefit from your experience with the whole Prius history line. CONGRATS !!!!!!!!
Thanks! The hope is to install that new hitch right away... which of course, I'll take photos of to share. My video camera is ready to go too. I also have a road trip already planned.
There is a Prius owners group meeting next week, a county energy expo in a month, and a plug-in owners meeting in about 6 weeks. So, my Prime will be making the rounds. I'll also meet with a few individuals for information sharing. There's lots of documents to create and their feedback will be priceless. I'd like to have a gathering at some point too... like the good old days when Prius was new to most.
Chicago Northside Toyota New 2017 Toyota Prius Prime Premium For Sale Chicago IL | VIN# JTDKARFP9H3012270
As a salesman I had the joke "If you can't trust a salesman, who can you trust? The customer would laugh and then I would say, "Well you can trust your Congressman, you can trust your lawyer, you can trust your ex wife, you can trust your president, you can trust your bank... the laughter continued, but it had a different tone! Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Do I drive my new Prius Prime Advanced from Western NY to Denver or do I have it shipped to Denver? Does anyone know someone who ships cars from Western NY to Denver? Would the Toyota Dealership know? How Much? Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
If you ask the dealership to handle the details it will be expensive. I told the dealership I would make the arrangements; all they had to do was be available to release the car to the trucker. I contacted movewheels.com, an online broker for auto shipping. I ended up paying $925 from New Rochelle, NY (near NYC) to Albuquerque. Prior to the car's arrival I went to my local recorder's office and obtained a temporary plate for $7. The plate is only supposed to be offered if the car is local but they didn't ask, and I would have fibbed had the question come up. No problems at all. For the permanent plate I first have to get a 'VIN verification' at my local police precinct free of charge, and then pay taxes and registration fees at the recorder's office. We are both Colorado residents but counties have their own peculiarities so you should call ahead and get the specific routine for your locale. Some NY dealerships want to handle temp plates and the Colorado sales tax before releasing the car but can usually be convinced to let the owner handle it. MUCH, much simpler and a whole lot less chance of a foul-up or dealership fees, but you do then have to go to the gov office yourself. One interesting detail: I'm reasonably sure that the lowest shipping offers tend to occur when you place your shipping order for next day pick-up even though the broker will have ~ 5 days to find a shipper. The reasons are convoluted but the short version is that you want a trucker who is already in that area, still has a space or two on the truck, and is not staying in that area for more than a half a day before embarking on their x-country gig. This is the window when the shipper is most motivated to agree to a low-ish price. If shipping cost is important to you, the trade-off is patience.