Bogus fees on top of invoice???

Man, some fees here:

I highly recommend you read the entire website at www.carbuyingtips.com, it's very good education BEFORE you buy a car. Their car buying tactics WORK.

Read the 7 chapters on Car Buying 101, starting here: www.carbuyingtips.com/car1.htm. Chapter 5 on negotiating tips and dealer scams is highly recommended. I'd read the whole 7 Chapters before going back to the dealer if I were you.

If you are short on time, read the basics: 5 Quick Steps to Buying a Car: www.carbuyingtips.com/buyingnewcar.htm

Ask them to see the factory invoice, it should have the Toyota logo on top, not the dealership's. Some dealers will show it to you, some won't, it's worth a try.

Good luck on your purchase, I'm educating myself ahead of my Prius purchase next month! Please let us know how it went!

 

Tim,

IMO, you are looking at bogus add-on fees. RUN, DON'T WALK AWAY FROM THAT DEALERSHIP. I would recommend you go to Edmonds.com and Cars.com, put in your ZIP code and price out the Prius and options you are wanting. That will give you a negotiating price to work toward.

The only PRICING that is usually normal to a transaction are:

Car MSRP (Your negotiated price below MSRP)
Package Cost
Any other Options you desire (Floor mats, mud flaps, etc.)
Transporation Fee (Usually between $660 and $715, depending where you live)
Color Adjustment (Can be up or down $, usually $0 to $30)
Dealer Processing Fee (This was $199 on both 2008 Prius I have bought)

I would recommend you get on the internet, email the Internet Sales Manager of 6 to 8 Toyota Dealerships, spec out the car, color, package and options you want and ask for quotations and delivery estimates. I have done this on both 2008 Package #6 Touring Models I have bought and saved BIG bucks. (One last September for $26,389 OTD and the other this month for $27,098 OTD)

 

The finance charges are legit, but it is something that the dealer pays the bank for doing business. You do not pay them. That comes out of their profit. When the dealer wants a Prius Touring with package 6 on their showroom they do not pay Toyota the full price of the car, they pay their bank the finance charge and the bank pays the factory the full price. Finance charge is something between $180-250 per month, depending on bank. If a car sits on the showroom for 3 or four months that adds up, that's why factories and dealers start coming up with incentives after the car is there a while, it gets really expensive to have that car just sitting in a lot. That's why nowadays you see those gas guzzling trucks with $3500-$5000 incentives; they are rusting away on dealers lots while accumulating finance charges. You won't see that on Prius because they are selling as quickly as they get to the dealership. Again, do not pay the finance charge as an extra item on your invoice because that's their cost of doing business, it's bogus if you pay their bills for them. They are not paying your bills for you.

I found that the best source for Invoice prices is Yahoo Auto, because they break it down by National, Gulf Coast and Southeast prices (which is how Toyota breaks it down). Yahoo Auto also includes the invoice prices for every single option, which I haven't found elsewhere. Gulf Coast prices are valid on Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Use this link to build your Prius through the Yahoo Auto website. You can choose Natl, GS and SE for each Prius model, and that will take you to the page with the invoice prices for the options: Yahoo! Autos -- Price Your New Car

What I would do, if I were you, is go to the Capital One car buying site (Capital One Auto Buying | Homepage) build yourself a Prius like you want it, and at the end they will give you a no-bullshit, no haggle price. You can own a Prius by exactly what they quote you, usually $500 to $1800 below MSRP. Take that to the dealership and show it to them. Tell them they better match that quote or you take your business ($$$) elsewhere. They can choose to have the profit or not. If they say they aren't making any money on a quote like that then remind them of the holdback (they get that from the factory after the sales are done), and that the invoice you are showing includes a fair amount of profit, maybe 5%, which any salesman will tell you is good profit. If they don't budge happily walk out and buy the car through Capital One. They stand to lose, not you. Again, good luck!

 

Whatever they call all those fees, the only thing that matters is the total amount you have to hand over. Get the same statement from multiple dealers and compare the bottom lines, and never mind how each of them gets there.

I wouldn't hope for much discounting. The dealers see gas prices rising same as we all do.

 

We just bought a Toyota Camry Hybrid for a few hundred under invoice (around $3k off MSRP), and the fleet sales mgr told us he would no longer sell a Prius for under MSRP (and he expected the salesmen on the floor to get premiums over MSRP of a thousand $ or more).

Strange how they were so willing to deal on a TCH but not a Prius. I guess everyone thinks "Prius" when they see rising gas prices.

 

Red McCombs Toyota they where correct in the dealer price for a 1224 it is $20,022 and the dealer price for package #4 $2,322 they where also correct on the floor mats (rip off in my opion) dealer price- $126. also the $680 is a Freight charge I think everyone pays this..

Base Vehicle Holdback of $449 (never heard of this)
Finance Reserve Charge $224 (never heard of this)
Destination is $715 (never heard of this)

$118 dealer prep fee (this could be legit)
$184 title fee (live in Ky so not sure on that one)

I would think a fair price would be 24,500-25,000 for a 2008 package #4 prius(thats out the door)

 

If you want to check for a car in Tulsa, Try where we have bought two Toyotas, Jim Norton Toyota. We have bought both of them from Rob Loethen. PM me and I will give you his cell number, the dealership number and fax no. Their web address is Jim Norton Toyota Tulsa Oklahoma Toyota Dealer Tulsa Toyota Tulsa Oklahoma Toyota Dealer Tulsa Toyota Dealer Toyota Dealer Tulsa Toyota New Toyota Used Toyota Preowned Toyota Pre-Owned Toyota Certified Toyota Cars Toyota Trucks Toyota SUV’s Toyota

The problem is that Prii are in sort of a short supply. Their website only shows three in their stock at this time. When we bought ours last year they had 23 of them in their stock.

2008 Prius 5 Door Hatchback Black Hybrid E-CVT $26,704
2008 Prius 5 Door Hatchback Touring Magnetic Gray Metallic Hybrid E-CVT $30,606
2008 Prius 5 Door Hatchback Magnetic Gray Metallic Hybrid E-CVT $26,704

You can check them out on their site.

 

I got quoted $200 under "invoice" for a 2008 package 6 here in Chicagoland. The price worked out to $25660 plus $150 doc fee, tax and plates. The total out the door was $27664.78. If other forum members are getting better prices, I would sure like to know where. Even if I had to drive a little, it may be worth it. I will tell you this, the dealers around here seem to have at least 20 of these units in stock (per dealer), but yet they will tell you how "hot" they are. I went to some of these dealers a couple of months ago, and I can't believe how many more cars they have in stock now, compared to then. I ask about the large inventory and they tell me "wait untill gas hits $4.00 per gallon, then they will be selling like crazy". I take that with a grain of salt,it seems to me that the more expensive that gas gets, the less money people will have to spend.
Where are the really hot deals to be had?
Thank you, rodbuster.
Also list price was $27685.

 

Toyota pays the dealer to prep the car. Tell the dealer "don't touch the car" and save $118. The sleazeball is just trying to double dip.

 

JimN is bsolutely right, read my first post on this:

DELIV/PROC/HAND 715.00 <--- what the heel is this? Delivery Prep? They get their lowest paid employee to remove some plastic sheets, attach some fuses, air the tires, wash and vaccum your car and it costs $715 for 2 hours of work? BULLSHIT! The poor guy made maybe $10/hr, and you're paying $357.50 per hour. Tell them to knock this off or you walk out.

 

Tim,

I have sent you a PM containing the dealer and contact info you requested. Good Luck and let us know how you come out!!