08 Prius Pricing and Availability

i got the touring package 6 for less, but times have changed since nov 07 and they demand more now. if you can wait til sept/oct you'll have your pick of the litter on an 09...btw, dealer cost is 24866, so where's the deal

 

By looking at the posts here on PC over the last week or so it seems that anything at or below MSRP is a good deal in most parts of the country now.

 

good luck, sounds a little fishy to me as you describe...keep in mind the deposit by law is refundable

 

Something is up. These cars can't be kept on the lots, so even if you did put a deposit down over the phone (which every dealer I've talked to will let me do), you can say no thanks and he'll just sell it to the next person in line and happily refund your deposit.

You're being strongarmed. I would be careful.

 

That kind of crap is exactly why I did not buy mine from Toyota of Plano. At the time they even tried to convince me that the $1000 deposit was not refundable.

There are at least 10 Toyota dealers in the DFW area. Have you tried most of them (phone calls, email, fax)? Paying too much and/or not getting the car you want merely to avoid waiting for a few weeks would probably be a mistake.

 

Hey Keri,
I would say Give Toyota of Plano the $1000.00. Here's my story. I started looking for a Prius last week. Most dealer didn't even have one to test drive. I heard anywhere from 6-8 weeks to Christmas to get one. Everyone was asking $1000.00. One dealer said if you find one then buy it.

I went to Toyota of Plano on May 6 and they had a rental to test drive but were not even taking orders. I test drove then told them to call me when they were taking orders. On my drive home I get a call on my cell from my salesman. He tells me that someone just told him they were getting one in in the next week or so, Mag Grey #6, but he needs me to come in right away and put down a $1000.00 deposit, that night if possible. I went home and talked to my wife, we discussed options and decided to give it a shot. I gave him my Amex over the phone to hold it and went in the next morning to sign.

Now the whole time I'm thinking this must be a scam and I fell for it. The car was due in May 10-13 so I thought I would get a call on the 13th telling me it was delayed. But at least I was in line for one. On Friday afternoon May 9 I get a call and he says hey your car is here can you pick it up at 9am tomorrow. I was shocked. He told me he actually got two. He called me yesterday to see how the car was doing and I asked him more about inventory. He said yesterday morning in their staff meeting they announced that another one had come on overnight and after the meeting was over all the salespeople were calling their clients. The dealership says first person there with down payment gets it. So I would say just stay after them and it's safe to give them the $1000.00.

I got mine in 3 days and I consider myself to be the luckiest person in Dallas. My salesman was Randy Imel at Totota of Plano, if you buy from him make sure you give him my name(Clay). Good luck!

 

Have a couple of things to add. My car has the extra package also. That worthless crap is put on by Gulf States and not the dealer. My friend told me the dealers sued a few years back to prevent that and lost.

For the extended warranty they may be feeling you out and may sell the car to the person who buys the warranty. For now I would say you don't know much about it and want to learn more, then refuse it at closing. They tried to hard sell it to me and I just said no.

Needing the money in person is in line with what my salesman told me after I already had my car. If I were trying to get one I might just send my salesman a $1000.00 check so that when the right car is available you're ready to go. They can't keep your money no matter what they tell you.

 

Prius has been somewhat of a hot comodity here in Dallas/Fort Worth area atleast. I suppose its the same all around the country. I had been looking for a pre-owned Prius for a few weeks but everything seemed over priced if available at all. I went to Toyota of Richardson. They had a handful of 2007 units with ~20K miles on each. They were asking for $25K for each of those. When I pointed out that was more than the price of a new 2008 Prius - they actually insulted me in front of my family. Had my 7 year old son not been with me, I would have retaliated - but I decided to let it go and just left as quickly as I could. I will never goto Toyota of Richardson and will tell everyone about this.
Anyway - later that night I got a 2008 pkg1 with 9K miles on ebay for $21K. Just had to go pick it up from Houston.
So far so good. Glad I got the Prius. Been averaging ~49-50 mpg.

 

An "extra" package, meaning pinstriping, fabric protection, paint sealant or similar junk? If one dealer claims that Gulf States does all that and they have no control over it you really need to talk to some other dealers.

You have the money, therefore you have the control. Don't let any dealer push your buttons. If you think you just have to buy something right now then they've got you. Avoiding one lease payment on your old car may turn out to be expensive. Take a deep breath, calm your nerves, and go read Consumer Reports' advice on buying a new car, either in the April issue of their magazine in nearest library or online at
ConsumerReports.org - Car buying guide for new and used cars by Consumer Reports

 

Interesting.... I spoke to NIGEL about 3 weeks ago about a 08 Touring. The price that he quoted me was 28,800. This was for the #5 with LEATHER and the Shield.

He was very nice and was willing to take a deposit over the phone. I live in NYC and was looking at buying it in PLANO and have it shipped. He was willing to deal with the shipping (at my expense) and also the TTL for NY. I was very close to taking the deal but couldn't justify the extra $4,000 that I would have to shell out over a NON touring in the NYC area. NIGEL had given me a similar time frame of 5 days for the car that I was interested in.

I will say that the DEALERS in the GULF COAST region were more open about when they would be getting the actual cars in. In the NE all this info is kept very close to those in the back rooms. When I left the DEALER here in the NYC they had stated 2 to 3 week. I did get it in the 2 weeks.

 

Don't worry about the deposit, use a creditcard if you can. You are very much protected by the law and no Toyota dealer is going to pull a fast one on you. I bought my car sight unseen and left a deposit and didn't show up to pick it until the end of the month. They tagged the car for me as sold and that was that. If they say they got one for you, they got one for you. You never know, there could be a delay, when they get it and if they don't give it to you that would be unethical because they are taking a deposit from you and like I said, the dealership just isn't going to participate in that kind of activity. I even filled out all the paperwork for them via fax and all I did when I went to pickup was sign over and over again.

 

Keri, read through CarBuyingTips.com new car buying guide, avoiding dealer scams, new cars, used car buying. You can buy the extended warranty later if you really want it. Don't borrow money to pay for it. Also refuse to pay for the dealer added stuff and port installed options for as long as you can.

At least e-mail the dealer's Internet Sales Dept. to see what that person offers.

The problem is that the model year has ended. Toyota isn't building any more 2008s so the only cars available are the ones in transit. Hybrid (meaning Prius) sales reflect gas prices. Gas is at an all time high. These cars sit on dealer lots for 2 weeks max. Most dealers (at least around here) have 0 to 2 in inventory. So you will probably find that the dealer has zero incentive to haggle as if you don't want to pay the price there are probably at least 2 or 3 people waiting in line that will.

Never negotiate out of desperation. If you can wait for the car, wait. Borrowing money to buy options you don't want or won't use is not wise.

In the end, you'll be happy with the car even if it isn't your favorite color or option package but this kind of money try to find what you want.

Good luck.