So I walked away from the deal I had pending on a Prius Prime Advanced from Westchester Toyota in New York. The car had been sitting there since January 1st, and I wasn't really interested in starting out with a car whose interior had been messed with for six months (it was a showroom car). But now between the offers I'm getting and the deals that people seem to be getting here, I'm just plain confused and exhausted, and I'm getting frustrated that I can't get this done. I've got a different dealer in NY who wants to sell me the car for $34,469 (MSRP $34,803). I have a NJ dealer who wants to sell me the car for $33,782 (MSRP $34,628). Then the NY dealer tells me that the NJ dealer is low balling me on the price, because he's then going to jack me around for $600 in dealer prep and "conveyance" fees (something to do with the $500 dealer hold back). I then tried via Costco to find a dealer in Pennsylvania, but that took me to Crystal Auto Mall in NJ, and now I've got him working on it. What I'm telling dealers is that I want an OTD price that includes 7% for IL state sales tax and the $2,500 rebate. All I want is a base Advanced trim, Blizzard Pearl over Black, though it doesn't appear than any car comes without some sort of add-ons. I read in the Prices Paid threads that some people are buying in NY & NJ for as low as $30,195 net of the rebate but before tax. How is this being accomplished ?
If you buy a car off the lot, you're going to find that some accessories have been added which pad the price. I ordered my Prius and it was delivered with exactly the optional accessories I wanted. It would appear that NY an NJ dealers aren't to interested in doing a discount above the rebate. Perhaps you need to go a little bit further to get a car that meets your requirements. I was at my local dealer mid-week for my 10K service and they had 6 primes on the lot; 2 were advanced. Neither was Blizzard Pearl though.
On Monday, I bought a blue/moonstone Advanced on Long Island. I really wanted this trim/color car so agreed to a price of $30,600. I was so tempted by a Maine dealer's Advanced titanium glow/black of $29,200 though. I began negotiations by showing the NY dealer my emailed quote from the Maine dealer. Each dealer did have additional doc fee for out-of-state titling of roughly $500. I'm happy as the car will be titled in Colorado ($5000 credit to CO residents)
It is being accomplished by being a little flexible and a good negotiator with informed prices. Most cars come with pre-installed options and not much you can do about it. In NJ, Costco price applies to only 2 dealers: Crystal Auto Mall & DCH Brunswick Toyota. Use the Costco price as a starting point only and try to bring it down more. DCH has just one Advanced trim (Silver with black interior.) Talk to Hesh Ismail to see what is the best he will do. Also, note that NJ sales tax is lower (6.875%) compared to NY and IL. So you will save considerably just on taxes on a $30K car. You have to do an apple-to-apple comparison between the various dealers. Good luck.
