Bay Area Best Dealer?

Toyota of Walnut Creek was really good....they told me that they never mark up....the price is the price (sticker) and they gave me good value for my trade-in....I'd shop there again....

 

I dealt with Sunnyvale Toyota, you can talk to Jerome Ware. They have pre-printed dealer flyers with their up-front pricing. It is below MSRP.

They take a $500 refundable deposit (I know it is refundable as I cancelled my first order back in June). That deposit holds your position in line, they will not offer your car to anyone, it is yours. You can ask for a Jan '06 delivery if you want.

They were very straight forward. I paid cash, financing guy tried to sell me the maintenance and pre-paid service. If you come prepared with information from this site, you can get those items from them at nearly the same prices should desire them.

Feel free to PM me if you have other questions.

Ken

 

I live in Fremont also.
I got my Prius from Piercey Toyota (1st & Brokaw in San Jose). There is no best dealship, per se. There is only best salesman/woman at every dealership. I dealt with a guy named, Tak Lam. He is the fleet manager there. He is in charge of the actual ordering of all vehicles at Piercey. He got me a Prius in a record 7 weeks back in Nov, 2004 when most people waited 3 months or more. I also get $100 off MSRP back then. He is very straight-forward, just go in there and ask for him.

 

I second Toyota of Walnut Creek and also subnmit Toyota of Concord. MSRP only, no deposit.












Edit to correct spelling

 

Toyota of Berkeley charged MSRP for my '05 with no runaround. David Burrill specializes in the Prius and seems to understand it as well as (or better than) anyone else I've seen mentioned on this forum. Because Berkeley moves a very high volume of hybrids, the service department seems comfortable with them too.

 

I shopped around back in May for my 05' Prius. David Reiter and Gabriel at Tracy Toyota were the most knowledgable and laid back sales team around. A friend of mine recommended him and it was an easy sale. They even delieved the car to my car as part of the sale. I paid below MSRP, no haggling.

To be fair, I only went to Walnut Creek, Dublin and Fremont Toyota. Walnut Creek staff were friendly, they just did not have the car in stock and would not go below MSRP, Dublin had the cars, but I've heard too many horror stories about them promising cars and then not delivering them, Fremont was the worst, they wanted MSRP+ and had a pushy sales department and had to order the car or only could offer a $3k marked up leather edition on the showroom floor.

Tracy Toyota's contact info if you are interested: David Reiter-Tracy Toyota (209) 629-5244 or Gabriel (209) 830-5019.

(I'm not affliated with Tracy Toyota or any of it's staff, I just love the sales service I recieved there. I'm also ordering a second Prius for January delivery from them).

-Patrick

 

I called all around (up & down the peninsula, SF, Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda, Stockton, Sacramento, etc...) and everybody quoted me MSRP, so you can make your decision on which Bay Area dealer to go to based on other things. The most important question to ask the dealers is how many they get per month -- SF & Berkeley get about 70-80; Toyota 101 in Redwood City (where we got ours) gets about 40; others only get 3-4... Everybody quoted be 2-6 or 2-8 weeks.

Tracy Toyota seems to have a fair number of uncommitted cars arrive because they called me every week or two to offer me a car even though I didn't put down any deposit with them. They were really pushy on the phone, though, wanting immediate answers and kept asking me to come immediately (they would tell me they called another guy too, and he was coming, so whoever got there first would get the car). That really turned me off.

We wanted to upgrade to leather (dealer option), and got quotes from $1300 (I forget which dealer, but it was somebody with a very small allotment of cars) up to $3000. The only $3000 quote was at Tracy Toyota -- they wanted to start really high and work their way down -- this was one more thing I really didn't like about them. Toyota 101 quoted be $1500 off the bat with no haggling (their sales force is on salary, not commission).

We got our car in < 4 weeks after putting down our deposit. The leather is a great upgrade, but not quite as nice as the custom leather we put in an '03 Accord LX when we bought it.


mike

P.S. I don't work for a dealer, nor does anybody in my family.

 

I've gotta say that when we bought our 05 in Sept. 04, we put down $500 with Fremont Toyota and went through their fleet manager. We got exactly what we wanted in 45 days. Actually, we changed our mind in the middle sometime and asked to upgrade to a #6 and it only took an extra week.

 

$500 deposit seems standard, and should be fully refundable (may be a law in CA). I think most dealers will probably let you switch your order around after you place it. They would have no problem selling the car you originally asked for if you change your preference or decide to back out completely.

When we put down our $500 deposit, we were asked to rank our color choices and package preferences. That way, you may get a 2nd or 3rd choice if somebody in front of you changes their mind before your order comes in.

We selected Silver (1st), Tideland Green (2nd), and Driftwood (3rd); and package #3 as first choice, followed by package #4. A Tideland #4 came in first and we took it and love it. I assume somebody else on the wait list got the silver #3 they ordered for us whenever it arrived.

 

I concur. I have had a very positive experience so far with Toyota Sunnyvale. I worked with the Direct Sales Managers Zion and Jerome. The first quote was below MSRP.

(Hint: If you get some competitive quotes from other dealers, you can do better than the first quote. Just tell them that you already have a quote below MSRP from another dealer. However, it would be appropriate to give the dealer where you took a test drive the last opportunity to earn your business.)

Among all the direct sales managers that I contacted by e-mail, Zion was the quickest to respond and the most thorough. Some dealerships don't reply at all. Some are slow to reply and give the shortest possible answers. If you do some "legwork" from your computer, you'll quickly see the difference in level of service.

I paid the deposit in person in September. Zion is happy to take the deposit over the phone if you want to avoid the trip. I'm waiting for a 2006 model. The first shipment should be available in early December. Lots of people want delivery in January because of the tax exemption beginning in 2006. However, the wait is estimated at 3-5 months if you get in line now.

 

I haven't gotten the car yet, but I have two deposits in, one at Capitol Toyota (who quoted me MSRP) and one at Toyota of Sunnyvale (who quoted me MSRP - $350). On the flip side, Capitol says Jan while Sunnyvale says late Jan/early Feb for the exact same model of car. I haven't decided if I'll automatically go for the first one that shows up or if I'll go for the lower price for sure.

 

I'm not familiar with the salesman you mentioned but we bought our Prius from Toyota of Santa Cruz and we had the best experience we've ever had with a dealership. The salesman we worked with was Jim Scissoral (sp). He was extremely up-front about pricing, never pressured or anything. We actually spoke to him several times over the course of 6-months and then when we finally decided to buy (after we wrecked our car), he remembered us and worked with us through the process. He quoted us two weeks to get our Black #4, it arrived on the 14th-day. We hadn't specified an interior so he had saved us the Ivory int but we really wanted the charcoal. Luckily another black #4 had arrived at the same time so he swapped em for us without hassle.

We've gone back to him several times and brought our good friends back to him. They walked away the same day with a silver #2.

If you're willing to give em another chance, give Jim a call and tell him tha the folks with the Black Prius and Green flames referred him.

--GD

 

My impressions from the Berkeley Toyota here

 

See my post in added new prius to my stable in this section. Deal and Davie in Susanville. Best experience ever buying a car and a great price too. Check it out for yourself and call them. 3 weeks, no deposit ,and below MSRP. So simple and no finance manager trying to get you to buy overpriced dealer fluf. I walked in after they called and said it was ready and I was finished with the paperwork in less then 15 minutes. Really really good people, fast, honest, reliable. I would buy another from them in a heartbeat.
-Paul R. Haller-

 

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I bought my first Prius a month ago from Victory Toyota in Monterey from Alex Day who is the fleet manager there. It was smooth, pleasant. Price was at MSRP. They handled all the DMV stuff and I got my license in 2 weeks and my carpool sticker in another 2 weeks.

I'm ordering my second Prius from Zion at Sunnyvale Toyota. He is a very responsive and straightforward person in thier internet/fleet department. Thier price is the same for all at about $250 under MSRP. I put in my deposit for an '07 and had a call the next morning with the option to buy an '06 Red Pkg 6. Passed. 3 days later, called with the option on a Blue '06 Pkg 6.

I'd highly recommend Zion.

 

:angry: I just bought a 2006 at Geweke Toyota Scion in, Lodi, CA I got screwed. I was in a hurry everything we agreed was thrown out and they put their terms. Man I am pissed. I will never go to a redneck town again. They gave me $500 less on my trade in and they screw me by 1% on the financing.