Hey All, I'm in Los Angeles and the 2006 Magnetic Gray Package 8 that I ordered from dealer A in March arrived yesterday. Dealer A sells for MSRP. However, I am first on the list at Dealer B that sells the same car with a AAA discount of $400. The problem is that I'm not sure how much longer I would have to wait for Dealer B to get the car in. Dealer B gets his next allocation on Monday (7/17), but Dealer B is a smaller dealer and gets 7-8 Prius a month. If Toyota doesn't make enough MG in Package 8, then I would have to wait at least 2 more weeks for the next allocation. I'll have to decide on the Dealer A Prius by Sunday (7/16). What would you do? Buy at MSRP or try to save $400, but could wait 2-4 weeks more and the California HOV stickers might run out by then. By the way, I didn't mind the wait since my current car is running fine and it gave me more time to save money. Thanks for your opinions. (UPDATE --- 7/16/2006 at 9:30pm) Thanks for all the replies everyone. I apologize for not giving you feedback sooner. OK, here's what I did. I went with my instinct and like many of yours...I bought from Dealer A. I ask them to match the AAA discount of $400 and the manager almost laughed in my face. After I ask, he pulls out a book and reads that the Prius is a high demand/low supply car and it is excluded on the AAA discount list. OK, fine. I wasn't expecting him to match the discount, but I had to ask. My salesperson went with me to talk to the "head" manager who has been at the dealership for over 20 years. Next question, I ask if he could give me a discount for referring a friend of mine who bought a 2007 Lexus RX 350. The manager says they are a different dealship. I say both the Toyota and Lexus dealership have the same name before the dealership. No go. He wouldn't buy it. My Toyota salesman even confirmed my referral and gave the name of the Lexus salesman who got the sale of my friend's Lexus. I also tell him that the girl I'm dating and her brother a looking to buy Lexus IS350s by the end of the year. Still no discount. Lastly, I ask if he could throw in free tint. Nope. That costs $200. The manager says he can't give any discounts on the Prius because he has people who offer more than MSRP, but they don't accept it, so their customers pay neither more or less than MSRP. The manager even says that if his newphew or family member wants to buy a Prius they would pay MSRP (I didn't believe this either). My salesman asks for a free oil change and the manager FINALLY agrees to something. So, I got a free oil change. I went to the dealership at 3:15pm and was out of there around 5:45pm with my new 2006 Toyota Prius in Magnetic Gray/Dark Gray leather with option package 8. When I left the dealership the car had 6 miles on it. However, I test drove it the day before and it only had 1 mile on it, which I was very pleased with. I'm planning on calling Dealer B on Tuesday (July 18th) to see what their next allocation will look like. One thing that I didn't like about Dealer A is that they physically bring over the DMV paperwork to the DMV on Friday every two weeks and the next date they will bring the paperwork to the DMV is 7/28. This should impact my ability to obtain the California Carpool lane sticker. I asked the Finance guy who filled out all the paperwork if there was an electronic way or faster way to get the paperwork there. No. The finance guy tells me that it normally takes 20 business days to get your plates from the time the paperwork is filled out. Oh, he did say that the dealership does send a record to the DMV electronically, but the DMV will not fill out the records until the physical paperwork arrives. I thank everyone for reading and I'm now an OFFICIAL member of the Prius club. The wonderful car is sitting in my garage and I've started to read the many manuals. Cheers!
That's a tough one. There really is no guarantee when Dealer B will get a Magnetic #8. It could be in his 7/17 allocation. Or it might not be in any allocation for the next few months. They have no way of knowing what they're going to get. Now....he could trade with another dealer for one. But again...you have no way of knowing when he might be able to find and trade for one. $400 is a lot of money. Bird in the hand. And there is the HOV sticker thing too. You're safe on the tax credit until September.
I would rather get the Prius I want as soon as possible especially since there are no guarantees that Dealer B will get your color and package in their allotment. A Prius in the driveway is better than saving some money and not knowing how long you would have to wait. If you follow UCLA baseball we hope to come out your way next February when our East Carolina University Pirates play your Bruins. Should be fun!
$400 seems to be a drop in the bucket compared to the whole car. If you can get the car you want now (or soon) compared to possibly getting it later I would get it now. It you have to jus do not eat out for the next couple of months. Life is short, enjoy it while you can. I am sure once you drive it around you will think it is worth it to have it now. Who knows if you drive it around enough you will save $400 in gas by the time the other one would arrive.
What is the old saying? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!! You are only talking about 1.3% difference in price. Grab it while you can. You know how hard they are to come by. So, get it and enjoy it.
Are you nuts? TAKE THE PRIUS NOW!!! You are playing not only with missing out on carpool stickers, but you could lose out on part of the 2006 tax deduction if you get jerked around and delayed. HE WHO HESITATES IS LOST!
Hey, if you don't want the MSRP Prius, I'll take it!!! I'm waiting for a Mag Gray #7, but I *guess* I could settle for an 8!
Just wait (unless you have a real need to get it now, like an expiring lease or similar, that would significantly affect your cost of ownership). Your $400 additional cost of ownership for dealer A is not offset by any savings you can attain by not waiting another month (or even two months). but you have to look at $400 as it's actual value, for example: at a $60K/year salary, $400 is 1.66 days work (or about 2.3 days work after taxes); or 100 boxes (2000 total) cigaretts; or about 11.3 days adult admission to Disneyland. What is $400 worth to you?
I'm not one for wasting money, but if you end up not getting what you want - or having to wait another couple of months because dealer B can't get you what you want right away, you will be kicking yourself. Amortize the $400 over the life of the car and it won't be much. The other alternative could be to see if dealer A will match the deal of B, or meet you halfway, or throw in something else like mats, free oil changes, etc. Also - depending on what you are driving now and how much you drive, gas saved at what will likely soon be $4 / gallon may help pay some of the difference.
I say wait. I was in the same predictament as you were just a month ago. Choices were Dealer A - gold #7 for MSRP available immediately, or wait for Dealer B for a silver #8 I ordered for several hundred under MSRP with no firm delivery time (probably was months away). Add to that the VA Clean Plate deadline that was 3 weeks away. After waiting as long as I could for before the VA Clean Plates deadline, I ended up jumping on the first unclaimed #8 at Dealer B. Paid less, and got a red one. Wasn't too happy at first with the red, but it grew on me quite a bit. Being flexible in the color you want will help ease matters. I say wait a bit more and hop on the 1st package that your looking for that comes by if that color choice isn't offensive to you. $400 saved is $400 earned. Plus if HOV is that much of a consideration, just realized you're going to pay $400 for the priviledge of riding the HOV till next August. That's a pretty high toll IMHO.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tadashi @ Jul 14 2006, 11:00 PM) [snapback]286546[/snapback]</div> Don't be mislead, that would take 12,000 miles! (assuming the prius doubles your current car's economy)
Hey, I may be talking myself out of a deal here D), but I'd say the best reason not to wait is that you don't want to run the risk of not getting the full tax credit, which is due to start rolling back in September.
Considering a package 8 is gonna be around, what? $30,000 out the door; I would think $400 isn't that unreasonable.
+ $400 for the car you want. or wait and wait and hope and wait. $400 over 48 month loan isn't even $10 a month, even including interest. So skip a latte or two a week.
You asked what I would do--I would buy it now without hesitation. You'll soon forget about the small difference in price, assuming that the extra $400 isn't going to be a show-stopper financially. Besides, you'll make those of us who paid sticker feel better. And you wouldn't want to start out your new life in the Prius community by making us look bad, would you? - Doug
The fact that you've opted for Package 8 tells me that you're not hurting for money. Taking that into account, I'd say go for the one that's here now. There are too many stories on this board about dealers *saying* they're going to get someone's car at a given time and then not getting it for months afterwords (if at all). On the other hand, a third option is to try to use Dealer B's price to get Dealer A to knock something off the price of your car. If you could get them to meet you halfway (i.e. $200 off MSRP), I would think that'd be reasonable (although, of course, you might want to start your negotiating stance at the $400 off). You say it's a AAA discount? I think it's reasonable to see if you can get Dealer A to apply it.
For $400, you can get woodtrim dash kit, tint and mudguard. Or you can even get a portable GPS. Go to Dealer A as if you don't use the HOV lane and insist that you would rather wait and go with Dealer B. This will pressure Dealer A to price match or give you a better deal. When you get the best offer from Dealer A, just weight things out. Dennis
Before deciding, try these things: 1) Ask Dealer A if they can match Dealer B's price. 2) Call Dealer B and tell them Dealer A has the car you want, and ask how soon Dealer B can get you the car you want. In terms of HOV stickers and timeline: License plates took 2 weeks to arrive. I sent my application for HOV stickers in at the end of June and just got stickers #664xx.
It's simple -- dealer B IS PLAYING YOU. "Hey, I can sell it to your for $400 less if you can only wait a couple of weeks." Then the couple of weeks turn into four weeks, then six. Then your car comes in, only, gee, they added a couple of items at the port. That raises the price about a grand. Oh, but if you don't want this car, you can get back into the list. GET THE CAR FROM DEALER A. Or, heed the lesson learned by a young pup buying his first stereo decades ago... me: "The store across town has the same receiver, but he charges $100 less." store owner: "Does he have any in stock?" me: "Not right now..." owner: "My price is also $100 less when I don't have any to sell!"
Take the car that is in now! I have had a prius sold from underneath of me as I was driving the hour and twenty minutes to get to the dealership -- TI put my deposit it on it and I was driving for the scheduled pick up date and time. You never know what is going to happen to a dealer , they may never get the color you want or since you are buying at a discount they can move your name around on the list. $400 is great but you are taking a risk by not getting the vehicle you want. You can start saving on gas today.
