Wondering if I should believe my local Toyota dealer when he says I'll get an 09 in about 12 days. I have a $500 deposit and the more I wait the less chance I have of finding an 08. He claims they are very high volume in Southern Cali and are getting the first batch soon. He even promised a rental car if I don't get the car by the 6th. My 08 got creamed by a drunk driver and I'm just trying to get a Prius again. I bought my first Prius there and had a good experience. Wondering if I am getting shafted this time...
I did, but what good will that do if they can't get the car and all 08 inventory is dried up. I don't want a rental for 2 months. <Get it in writing.>
If the dealer did you right the first time and is willing to give you a rental (in writing) it doesn't sound like a bad deal to me. It may be a bonus for you further down the road to forge a stronger relationship also. If it feels good to you the extra value in the '09 might be worth the added wait for you. Good luck either way. Sorry for the loss of your car. GT
'09s are indeed in bound. In fact, many dealers got 08s mixed in with 09s. There's no delay in allocation between model years. However, some dealers do have excess inventory sitting around. Wasn't that way a month ago, but demand is down quite a bit right now from the peak.
I doubt that demand is down much, but supply appears to be up. Remember that Toyota's Prius sales numbers slump coincided with a shortage of vehicles, not a surplus. We will know when sales figures come out if demand is down. The inventory I've seen in the past few weeks has been used rental Prii, but that might be changing into new vehicles now.
They will be gone when prices spike again. Would be nice to see them become more affordable so more people could ditch the guzzlers they drive now! Seen something I haven't seen in quite a while, a car going down the road with smoke coming out of the tail pipe (nasty). I remember when I was younger, used to see more of it. Cars have gotten all around better but have a ways to go.
If you CAN wait... then DO. They ain't changing a whole lot with the 09's as I remember reading... so that shouldn't be the reason to wait... But it IS a newer model year car... so it will retain more value farther into YOUR future.
Allocations are down slightly(due to manufacturing constraints), and demand is down even more than that which is why some dealers now have a surplus of supply which didn't exist a month ago.
Why? The '09 is identical to the '08 yet costs $500 more. Since more dealers have '08s in stock now and are even discounting them, why not try and get an '08 at a discount and based on the lower MSRP?
Well it is August 08 so my tiny brain is telling me the production date wont be 2009 but if it makes you feel better, yes, I would trust the dealer to get you an 09 Prius by early September 2008. In Australia we use manufactured date from the compliance plate. I laugh about this idea of getting an 09 in 08 but it seems like a great marketing ploy. Talk about early adopters! Could it be the car isn't finished when they sell it to you?
