Pulled the trigger today... UPDTE- CANCELLED ORDER

You will be better off with a fleet salesman, or the internet salesman, over the guy "on the floor" at the local dealer.

This is all for the best. Seriously. You will be SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY with your new Prius!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brentmeister @ Oct 11 2007, 07:45 PM) [snapback]524332[/snapback]</div>

You know what else is a big rip off? Those "Eco-nomic savings" they make you think you are getting such a good deal on. When we ordered ours, we did the build your car online thing both ourselves and with the salesman. So we had a list of the prices of the packages. I told them no way on the extra mile ripoff stuff and that I didn't even want mats. Only upgrade other than package six was the XM radio..
After ordering the car we noticed on the Toyota website that it showed that the '08's also were to have the discounts so we called our salesman and he said ours should have a 1750.00 discount. COOL! We thought..Well turns out the window sticker price matched what we had in our hand, even with the 1750.00 discount..They had marked up the package six to make up for the difference. Really pissed me off..But what to do, down here in Austin if you don't want it the next person in ten minutes will..Even said we don't regret buying the car..On our second tank and getting 49.1 mpg as of this morning..Love it..
Just hate the "games they play" at the dealerships..Well, don't think it at the dealership level..The sticker came on the car..My guess is the problem is with the Gulf States region or maybe Toyota in General..Our sales guy was actually really nice..The car came equipped with mats even though we specifically said we didnt' want them so he got them for us for free..Not much but hey I will take em! They also let us do the paperwork days before the car got there so we could close the deal prior to Oct 1 to get the tax deal.



John

 

I had 3 yards fighting for my money and discounting. Paid nearly $2000 under advertised price and that was drive away. All I paid over that was for the comprehensive insurance. They even filled it with petrol.
Note, I bought mine used.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonjonbear @ Oct 12 2007, 09:16 AM) [snapback]524545[/snapback]</div>

Well you're a little late to the party that's all. For thr first 3 years that the Prius was out the full MSRP was anywhere from $500 to $2000 higher than the current prices. This past May Toyota started their 'eco-nomic' price reduction program by reducing the prices on the sticker.

Unfortunately you misunderstood how the discount worked because it was not explained clearly when you took your test drive or your didn't ask the right questions while you were there. It's all very clearly stated on the sticker. Your current price is well below what the original buyer paid back in 04, 05 and 06.

 

It's very easy to do all the negotiating by phone, email and fax. I initially contacted eight DFW dealers to get their ballpark prices and terms on my specific package, asked the three most reasonable to fax me their bids, asked the one I liked best to beat the best price and fax me the very contract I would be signing for the car, and only then went to the dealer to sign it. No fuss, no muss, no surprises. If they push dealer add-ons when you're on site, just smile and say "no" until they go away. You've got the money.

For this and other useful buying advice consult the Consumer Reports' April car-buying issue in your friendly neighborhood library or online.

 

I ordered mine at Toyota of Irving. Spoke w/ the guy who dealt primarily in the Prii and Scions. I had no probs w/ him. Car actually came in about a week ahead of schedule. It was a great experience for me that is why I don't mind sending more prospective buyers his way. If only I knew where his business card was. Anyways, I got my plates put on a few weeks ago, and they had 4 Prii on the lot.

 

The posts in this thread illustrate how to do it right. Pan the dishonest dealers, make corporate complaints, praise and send business to dealers you were content with. While it may be that the dishonest dealerships will never even know that they have lost sales due to dishonest sales force, the honest dealers will profit and become more successful. It serves the owners of some dealerships right for hiring dishonest sales force. Too bad they don't know how many sales buyers walked away from, since the dishonest sales force will just chalk it up to lookie-loos if asked about why a customer walked.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brentmeister @ Oct 12 2007, 03:54 PM) [snapback]524882[/snapback]</div>

Have you considered asking to see a copy of the factory invoice for the car? If there are fuel, research and advertising fee surcharges, then yes, those all go toward invoice price of the car. I personally wouldn't be surprised to see a surcharge for fuel given the price increases of diesel fuel. The further away you are from the port where the cars are offloaded, the more it is going to cost to transport the cars to their final dealer destination. This is probably the only time that being in California has worked for me - I had a 1 day turnaround from when the car was off-loaded to when it was at the dealer. Even domestic cars have involved a 1 - 2 week timeframe from when the car left the factory to when it showed up at the dealer.

Don't get too caught up in trying to squeeze the last little bit of margin out of the deal. At some point, the dealer will not want to sell you the car. Edmunds.com has been pretty reliable for me as a reference point for what cars are selling for by ZIP Code. Try to get as close to the price point that Edmunds sets for your ZIP Code. If you can get lower, great; but don't draw a line in the sand (so-to-speak) unless you are willing to walk away without a car for your efforts.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brentmeister @ Oct 12 2007, 05:54 PM) [snapback]524882[/snapback]</div>

I know Texas is a big state. But I'd consider negotiating with a dealer out of state, then flying out and driving my car back. Go with the internet manager and make sure you have a VIN number and the negotiated price in writing with no add ons in writing. Others have done it. See if you can track down what they did.

From what I see Florida and Texas have the most 'corrupt' Toyota dealerships in the U.S. I would never buy a car in either of those states.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Oct 12 2007, 09:33 PM) [snapback]524992[/snapback]</div>

One reason to consider purchasing 'in-state' - Lemon Laws usually require the consumer to file in the state in which the car was first sold at retail. So, if one were to go to Florida for example, any Lemon Law action would need to be pursued in Florida. I am not saying the Prius is problematic; just something to keep in mind. Conversely, taking delivery in California gets additional coverage for the HSD components, since those bits are subject to California's 10 year/150,000 mile emissions system warranty requirement.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(apriusfan @ Oct 13 2007, 12:31 AM) [snapback]525011[/snapback]</div>

My local dealership doesn't tack on anything extra. No extra port stuff you don't want. And they don't jack up the price over MSRP. They occasionally sell under but it's still hard to get a deal on a Prius. But you won't have to pay for the port options they stick on in Texas and Florida and they don't add stickers, decals or badges advertising themselves. They do put on a license plate frame with their name, but that's easily replaced.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Oct 12 2007, 11:21 PM) [snapback]525025[/snapback]</div>

I thought that the OP was referring to invoice as opposed to MSRP. $300 over invoice (even if invoice included $600-ish in fuel, research and advertising fees) is not bad (approx. $1,500 - $2,000 in savings depending on what factory options were on the car).

If the price that was being charged was MSRP + $300, and MSRP included an additional $600 in fuel, research and advertising fees, that is a rip-off. That alone would justify the cost of a Southwest Airlines 1-way trip to S.F. to get a car (it would even be worth having to put up with the extra screening that the 1-way trip would get at the airport).

Plus, if the car was purchased in California, there is the further benefit of the longer emissions control system warranty....

 

Ring dealer, ask price out the door ready for the road after all fees, when you find the best deal that's the dealer to go with. Don't bother with the dealers people on here have said are crap.
The only number that matters to you is how much is coming out of your pocket.