I live in SET's territory, and have been told by 2 different dealers now that they will only receive one in June. First time I heard it I thought it was just a sales tactic to sell an 09, but now that a second dealer has told me this, who hasn't even mentioned the 09, I'm starting to think SET is going to be late and slow in delivering the 10s. And, considering every dealer in the Atlanta area I've contacted so far is throwing in an addendum (lowest I've heard so far is $2,000), I'm starting to look at other options. Namely, ordering from another region where not every dealer is adding addendums. Is this worthwhile, and will it cost a lot to ship from another region to Atlanta? Has anyone done this before? I'd appreciate any insight into this, I'm anxious to get a 2010 reserved, but I absolutely am not going to pay any ridiculous addendums.
Yeah I would buy it from another region. It's your money and you have the power to say no, I refuse to pay your markup and will give the business to a dealer that is willing to play fair.
Definitely order it somewhere else. That is just what I did and I am hoping to pick mine up next Saturday in California. I am flying there on a one way tocket for $130 then driving back which is 12 hour drive, spending the night somewhere fun???? and make it a road trip. Call, call, call or email dealers within the distance you want to drive it back. If I was retired, would have driven across the US for fun
I was very fortunate to find one close to me and I plunked down a $1,000 deposit on it. The dealer printed out all the details for me. I know for example it's coming in on the vessel Kentucky Highway. They even threw in the floormats for me for free! They did tell me delivery is expected to be early June.
Looks like a wait for those just getting in line for a 2010. Was at Piercey Toyota in Milpitas, a big dealer. They have a wait list of 100 so far for the 2010.
Don't mean to be a jerk, but how would you avoid Toyota's break in recommendation for a new motor on the 12 hr. road trip? 'for the first 621 miles, avoid constant speeds for extended periods of time' I would not cruise the highway for hours on a new motor.
UPDATE: I just realized that Tennessee, a 2-hour drive from Atlanta, is in a different distribution region. So I called up a dealer in Chattanooga (the only one in Chattanooga), and within 20 minutes, I had the car at MSRP and it's expected to arrive in early June! So screw you SET and Atlanta Toyota dealers!
I'd love to see people start buying outside SE in droves. They just abuse the monopoly in that area. The people in the region need to put the screws back on the dealerships by taking their business elsewhere.
That's what I would do. As long as you aren't in a big hurry the back roads are more scenic and your fuel economy might be better. All we have in my area is back roads and highway. The city is small so I rarely drive more than 10% of my week in the city. Enjoy the trip.
I attempted to buy a 2010 Prius V with no extra options from a Northern California (East Bay) dealership today. I was surprised that the dealer had a few unsold cars coming in within two weeks, but when the dealer explained the terms being offered it seems pretty clear why. They are requiring the purchase of a $3000 "Kar Kare" package which sounds like little more than waxing the car before delivery. Also, they said the factory will not make Prius V's with no extra options, I must purchase either the nav system or the radar lane-safety thing, raising my expected price from $27000 to $33000.
I would think they would not be in a rush to deliver the 2010s until they have sold the 09s. The car market is still very slow, so I would not be surprised if they wait a bit on the 10s.
Good work, credgar! It seems to be a popular line among dealers, something like, "yes we admit we're going to screw you, but that's OK because everyone else does too. They're daring you to find an exception, so take them up on their dare and call *every* dealer until you find an honest one.
I have said it before; it is your money, do not let the dealership force you into options, packages you do not want or need just to get their car. Take your money and go somewhere where you are treated with respect and dignity. Paying over MSRP with forced dealer installed "options" is (legal) robbery.
I went to Irwin Toyota in Laconia NH. I dealt directly with the Sales Manager Al Faro. Very friendly and helpful guy. He threw in the floormats for free and none of the typical dealer games. So far I'm impressed with this dealership. If they keep being like this I will rate them 5 stars. Steve
After my bad experience with trying to buy a 2010 Prius outlined above, I broadened my search to the Insight and to a non-hybrid economy car, I was surprised by my conclusions: Doing some math on the economics of car buying, it just doesn't seem to make economic sense to buy a hybrid at this time. Hybrids seem to be priced as if gasoline was $8 a gallon, even if prices doubled from $2.25, it still would take too long to break even on the hybrids. In the calculation below, even driving 30,000 miles a year, which is a lot, it would take almost 12 years to break even on the Insight and that is the cheap hybrid! Compared to the 2010 Prius it would take me 26 years to break even over the Honda Fit because of the outrageous markup currently being charged on the new Prius. The numbers are not completely comparable due to different options affecting the prices (I realize it's unfair to compare a 2010 Prius with 17 inch wheels and nav to the Insight with neither but that is what's available), but they are comparable in the sense that the cars' options are configured in the most advantageous and/or desirable way to me considering what is available, so these are prices that I actually would have to pay. The hybrids get better city mpg than the Honda Fit but I am using the highway numbers because my commute is 90% highway. Purchase price numbers taken from truecar.com, which claims to report actual customer prices paid, I chose the "good price" numbers. The 2010 Prius price is taken from my personal experience. Although the 2010 Prius' numbers look the worst considering the dealer markup and the extra options I selected, to me it seems like the Insight fares the worst in this sort of comparison. In my mind the Fit and the Insight have very similar design goals and options levels, but the Fit is the clear cost winner with gas at $2.25. -------------------------------- Honda Fit $16940 35 mpg highway, 857 gallons of gas/year * $2.25 = $1928 per year fuel cost Honda Insight $21241 43 mpg highway, 697 gallons of gas * 2.25 = $1569 per year 2010 Toyota Prius $32000, 50 mpg, 600 gallons of gas * 2.25 = $1350 per year 2009 Toyota Prius $23364, 45 mpg, 666 gallons of gas * 2.25 = $1500 per year 30000 miles a year Gas = $2.25/gallon Difference in car price between Insight and Fit = $4301 Difference in annual fuel cost for Insight and Fit = $359 per year Time to break even on Insight over Fit = 11.98 years Difference in car price between 2010 Prius and Fit = $15060 Difference in annual fuel cost for 2010 Prius and Fit = $578 per year Time to break even on 2010 Prius over Fit = 26.05 years Difference in car price between 2010 Prius and Insight = $10759 Difference in annual fuel cost for 2010 Prius and Insight = $219 per year Time to break even on 2010 Prius over Insight = 49.12 years Difference in car price between 2009 Prius and Insight = $2123 Difference in annual fuel cost for 2009 Prius and Insight = $69 per year Time to break even on 2009 Prius over Insight = 30.77 years
