hi peeps. this is my first post. i have started the buying process about 3 weeks ago. no luck yet. the dealers in NE florida are terrible. lots of overpriced add-ons like that toyoguard, pin stripes to the tune of $1000 etc. i know these cars are in hot demand, but still. any advice?
If you relax during insertion, the "Appearance Protection Package" doesn't hurt quite as much. Seriously, though, I was not able to get out of the ridiculous price of the appearance package, and given the wait for these cars, I chose to pay it.
I would add don't be afraid to look out of state, if it comes to that. It may be cheaper to have a car shipped to you (or go pick it up, via an inexpensive one-way flight) than to pay for add-ons you don't want (esp. if they're charging a 'market adjustment' beyond the MSRP - which is ridiculous; don't pay that). I got on a waiting list here in Texas a couple of weeks ago (was in the 20s) and was told yesterday I'm now somewhere around #12. If that's true, that's awesome - it's progress at a pretty good clip... Still, I have no idea when I'll get mine. It's a waiting game no matter what, unless you luck out and find one on a lot somewhere. :clock:
Back in '06 there was a similar shortage, waiting list, etc. I found a car thru Carsdirect.com. It had a $500 added appearance package, pinstripes, door and side moldings, etc. I baulked at the first mention, thought it over for about 2 seconds, wrote the check and I was out of there in 45 minutes. The dealer admitted that it was their "mark-up" method, and at least I got stripes and moldings wher several other dealers were adding nothing, and marking over MSRP "take it or leave it". It all depends on how bad you want the car. Like the previous post says. "It only hurts for a minute".
My diligent husband called 75 dealerships around the Southeast, chatted up the salesman at each, left his name & number, and on Friday we had one secured. No deposit, no waiting. Tell them if they have a "fallout"--and they will, as people change their minds--to call you. We've gotten 2 more calls today. One from Marianna, FL and one from Slidell, LA. If you are flexible on your color and package ( I wanted Touring, Black, white, or Desert Pearl) you will be successful. Thanks to Kim's Toyota in Laurel, MS and our salesman, Danny, we got a Desert Pearl Touring package 5 at MSRP. She's a cutie. Brought her home to Florida (about a 3 hour drive--3 hours 15 minutes on the way due to a $150 traffic ticket my husband received) just yesterday.
It's not good. As several other's have put it, you've either got the choice of waiting and dealing with SET, or you can get out the SET area (AL, FL, GA, NC & SC) and try and deal with a dealership there. I only worked with a SET dealership because I bought through Costco. As the Prius has bee been removed from the Costco program, you can't do that today. My fallback was to buy from someone out of the SET region. Before the rush on the Prius, getting out of the area offered some price savings, but you did have to be willing to do the extra paperwork with the state and ect. Good luck!
The good thing about SE Toyota, is that you can see allocations at 5 or 6 nearby dealers by checking BuyToyota dot com. A very helpful tool, I used it to find my car.
I purchased my Prius at.... Ernie Palmer Toyota here in Jacksonville, and as JaxKat probably is aware it along with the other dealerships in and around Jacksonville, are hard to deal with (most notably, Keith Pierson in South Jax). Seeing as I was able to purchase a non-touring package #2 Prius in January with added leather seats from SET on the lot with no waiting, this alleviated the stress I had in driving my older 1998 Toyota Camry with 306,000 miles. I was able to secure the vehicle at $23,900 before TTT was added on (Tax, Tag, Title). It came to $25,600 total, so I was doing well. Hopefully you will be able to find a decent deal out there and good luck
