Questions about 2021 Prius Prime LE

I can answer some of your questions but not the ones about California or DoorDash.

Best road trip car I ever had!!!! Compared to the Gen 2, it's vastly more comfortable, quiet, fuel efficient, and so on. You will lose some cargo space, but it's worth it to me. However, I have the driver's power seat. The manual seat in the LE isn't as adjustable, so you might feel differently.

Federal tax credit comes from your tax liability, not from what you had withheld.

6.03% on a new car is almost 2% more than my rate on a used Prius. I thought new cars always had lower interest rates. (My loan was from a credit union.)

Good idea on the videos. I really like the ones by Alex on Autos. Lots of information with minimal opinions.

 

That interest rate is pretty high although that also depends on your credit score. I got around 4% on a new LE last month from Toyota Financial. This was a decent amount higher than the loan I was preapproved for from another bank but the math worked out that higher rate didn't end up costing more than the incentives it was tied to. Get another dealer involved to see what they will offer and also get preapproved for your own loan from another bank. In the Northeast only the $500 bonus cash is dependent on financing through Toyota. So do the math with the interest. If you can get multiple percentage points lower on the interest rate on loan from elsewhere, it will easily save you more money than the $500 cash offer.

 

Check with you utility provider.

I'm just down the way from you and PG&E offered up $800 in rebates.

I'm sure SMUD has something similar .

 

The Calif clean vehicle $1000 for PP expires on April 5th, so better hurry. There is also a San Joaquin APCD rebate of $2k. Also $900 from an authorized Clean Fuel Dealer.

 

I can mention a little about road trip experience. My son and I drove my PP on a 4-day 3329 mile trip from Seattle to Denver and back last week. We didn't plug it in and used 74 gallons of regular gas. In 3 of the states the speed limit was 80 mph, so the cruise control was set at 90 mph and at 80 mph when the limit was 70. I was surprised that we got almost exactly 45 mpg at those sustained speeds. Using WAZE also helped.

 

Your tax liability is what ever the tax charts say it is at your income level, marital status, etc. after either the standard deduction or itemized deductions. It is not altered by your withholding. Whether you have nothing withheld or everything withheld, your tax liability will be the same. All that will change is who sends who a check and for how much. The ideal is to withhold exactly the right amount to cover the liability, so you don't have a surprise tax bill and the government doesn't get to borrow your money for free (also known as a tax refund).

So, as I understand it, if you have a $4,500 tax liability for the year and you withheld exactly $4,500 and bought a new Prime, that would reduce your tax liability to zero and you'd get all $4,500 back. If you had a tax liability of $3,000 and only had $2,000 withheld and bought a new Prime, you'd reduce your tax liability to zero and get back all $2,000 you withheld rather than having to pay $1,000 if you hadn't bought the Prime. The possible combinations are endless, but these show that your withholding is only related to your liability as it affects your tax refund or your tax bill when you file.

 

I just bought my 2021 PP LE financed through the Toyota dealership at 2.74%. But I had shopped around with other banks and credit unions. I came into the dealership with a blank check from a credit union that was pre-approved for 2.99%. The Toyota dealership’s finance rep shopped around for a better rate for me, which he offered at 2.74%. The way they explained it me, the dealership shops your loan out to other banks that offer better rates. Not a huge savings but better than nothing.

Out the door price(taxes and fees included) $23.5k in DC/Baltimore area.

I would ask for an “out the door” price breakdown to see what fees the dealership is trying to charge you. Negotiate fees. There are articles online that you can google to find out which fees are negotiable and how much some fees can legally cost.

I wouldn’t consider the Federal Tax credit as something to be factored into the negotiation with the dealership on price unless you were looking to lease the car. I didn’t even take it into consideration with the final cost of the car.

edit: your rate will depend on your credit score. But by applying for the loan at other institutions, you’ll get a better gauge at what rate you can obtain. 6.03% seems high to me but that could be dependent on location?