Hello! I recently joined when I decided to purchase a Prius Prime. I'm on the list with a local dealer, which happens to be the only dealer in the metro area that will sell a Prius at no higher than MSRP. The rest are charging anywhere from $1500 to as high as $5000 above MSRP. Has anyone de-badged their Prius yet? If so, would like to see some photos.
By de-badged do you mean take off the dealer logo they put on the car? When we had a confirmed delivery date on the '23, I asked my salesperson to NOT put it on and he agreed without question. Same thing when I bought my '05 Prius from the same dealership - I asked and they didn't put it on. They did put on a license plate trim with their name, but that's easily removed. Never hurts to ask!
Be careful... I talked to half a dozen dealers in the area when I was searching for mine... some said they didn't charge a dealer fee, but when it got closer to the car arriving, all of a sudden they started messaging me with a fee added where there wasnt one before.
I took all insignia off my Gen 2. The hybrid and Prius badges apparently have a psychological affect in some areas around here that creates a coal rolling response and aggressive driving....haha. Now they aren't quite sure! Removal left a few little holes but not rusty, and it took some work and experimenting with adhesive removers, alcohol etc, but my car is 14 years old and not too worried about insignificant scratches, and put some oval decals over the old Toyota center chrome badges locations. Now a generic car. The decals were roughly same color family as car with a clover emblem. I get a friendly honk occasionally from an Irishman..haha Probably you can find more professional advice on badge removal, and maybe easier with a newer car. Why do you want the badges off and which ones if one can ask? Of course, the dealer badge in your case is understandable ..why advertise for them if they stuck you for unexpected fees?
My dealer said he would never sell a car to a person that refused the dealership advert. But he followed up with telling me I could remove it easily later if I wanted. It was just a rear window sticker.
That’s honestly ridiculous. No matter how simple it is to remove, they should remove it if purchaser is asking. They’re not paying the customer for advertisement. I purchased an Lexus ES330 from CarMax back in 2008 and told them I would only buy the vehicle if they remove the CarMax logo from the back. They agreed to remove with no resistance.
He was also threatening me consistently over how much more he could have sold it for - said he was getting insane offers from Cali. I didn't push the issue lol. Just picked up the little stunner with 4 miles on her and scooted!
Thats actually funny - the Prius removed but the HEV + "Beyond zero" symbol still there. I was thinking on removing everyhthing besides the P R I U S. The other badges are more like a cheap afterthought different depending on country/region. In Europe its PHEV (instead of Prime) and its kinda redundant as thats the only one we get.
I just like the clean look of a debadged vehicle. I've done it with most of the vehicles I've owned in the past. In most cases, just using (very carefully mind you) a heat gun.
I recall many years ago (mid/late 1980s) Maryland (or possibly Montgomery County) dealers were required to have you sign an authorization for the dealer to add a badge to your newly-purchased vehicle. I agreed -- the badge was subtle (less than an inch by four inches), the dealer had a relatively good reputation, and the badge associated the dealer with a relatively upscale area. I don't recall being asked in the late 1990s, but then the badge was a license plate frame rather than a metal stick-on and the purchase was made in a different county. It would seem unreasonable for a dealer or salesperson to forego the profit and/or commission from a new car sale by refusing to sell a vehicle without the advertising marking. This sounds like an urban legend. I've rented Priuses several times in northern Florida (in an area that I would not guess is the most redneck-infested part of the state), but every time I've felt that I have been subject to unreasonable driver behavior -- nearly always from pickup trucks.
Pretty brazen. If there’s ever a buyers market again, that might change. Our badge (attached) has hung in there for nearly 13 years we’ve had it; I better not mess with it.
Reasonable or not, it was absolutely said to me. Car salespeople have been hurting for years. It's their time to flex now. They're confusing limited supply/buyer desperation with admiration for what they are doing.
I am considering the same. I want to remove the XSE, Prime and Beyond Zero badges as I think they look tacky. The P R I U S badge actually looks good. What I can't find out is if there is a hole behind the Beyond Zero badge.
So I went out and did mine shortly after posting. There are no holes and the badges came off easily with some dental floss. I then hit the remaining left over goo with GooGone and waxed the area afterwards. I removed the Beyond Zero Logo, the Prime badge and the XSE badge from the hatchback area. Photo: (note: no issue with license plate area. I removed my plate with a quick magic eraser edit so it looks a bit odd in the photo)
First thing I did! Dealer license plate frames and dealers sticker, beyond zero badge,AWD side badging! I decided to leave the Limited badge!