My PHV purchasing experience so far...

There is SIGNIFICANT price competition within a region. Have you ever shopped dealers for the same car? There is often THOUSANDS of dollars difference on the same car between dealers. It has NOTHING to do with the dealer network.

Distributors are not the limiting factor for price competition. They do not set pricing that the dealer sells at. And the distributor is not a "monopolizing" factor regardless of whether Toyota owns them or not. That's like saying Bose is a monopolizing factor because Best Buy and Target can only order Bose products through Bose. Tesla is a monopoly as they are the only ones offering the type of vehicle they do, control the mtg'ing, distributing, sales and prices consumer pays and people are willing to support that kind of monopoly as it fits their political views.

I'm laughing as all of a sudden people want a less government-contolled market when its an item they want, but are so willing to be controlled by the government (illegally) in every other way. It's the height of the most basic misunderstanding of the legalities of government and is hypocritical (I say this as someone with a Masters in business and a degree in Government Admin and law).

 

When you are at the dealer, look at all the inventory, the big building, all the people working in the building.
It's a big operation that is paid by the customers walking in.

When a car is sold, a portion of cost goes to the house (the owner) the other portion goes to the sales person.

When you are negotiating the price down, you are taking money from the sales person.
When the sales person has to go away and talk at the big desk, he is going to ask the house to take a hit on their portion of the commission and share the pain.

It takes at lot of money to do this, and it's the buyers that pay for it.
And when you speak of money, there are the politicians. The car manufacturers and the dealers pour money in and strange laws pop up. The politicians, manufactures, and dealers use the spin, that it's all about protecting the costumer.

Yeah, we all like being protected.

 

What's your point? Consumers actually have to PAY for something? The horror! Say it isn't so! And don't forget about the evil 'spin'. Ohhhhhhh. The drama! LOL

And what have politicians got to do with this and what strange laws are you referencing? Or are we simply using emotional words that "trigger" the emotionally weak people such as 'politicians' and 'money'?

Your post makes absolutely no point.

 

Price is one part of the reason why I drove 150 miles to buy my last 2 Toyotas. My local dealer refuses to deal and does not know their product. I tolerate their service department for recall work.

 

And this proves my point. If it were a mfg controlled network - like Tesla - you would gain ZERO advantage or savings by going to another Tesla dealer. You, as the consumer, would loose.

I applaud your taking your money and spending it with a different dealer. That, is being a consumer in control and not a victim at its finest.

 

I am honestly surprised by the ridiculously poor customer service you folks are getting from the dealers and their salespeople. I sold cars, particularly luxury cars and RVs here to Southern California for 23 years. The dealers I worked for mandated salesman training both in technical info and methodology of sales. We were all very concerned about the CSI, the Customer Satisfaction Index that the factories would watch like hawks in our area.
My suggestion is, make sure your sales person is a car enthusiast, and ask them what kind of car they drive. This could be a tip-off as to whether or not they're going to help you properly. I would refuse to work with the buffoons as described by the gentlemen in the UK or the people in Oklahoma; I would go to management and ask for a different salesperson. It's true that many EV-powered car buyers, particularly Prime buyers, know more about the car than the salespeople. I needed to test drive the car and actually see the car in person, the experience I had at Longo Toyota was fantastic. The people there knew the car and knew all the technical specifications. They had the car charged and I was able to go on an extended test drive. They delivered the car to my house, since I was about 30 miles from the dealership, and the people who delivered the car were able to answer all my questions. Buying a car is a HUGE investment; I would DEMAND a SUPERIOR sales person to help me with that purchase. If I couldn't get proper help in my purchasing a Toyota, I would call Corporate and ask for their help, explaining all the problems with the dealership and the salesforce. Make sure to mention the dealer by name and the representatives that you dealt with, bury these guys!! The wonderful Prime and you the wonderful clients, deserve much better treatment than what you folks have described.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

When I bought my Prius my salesman knew what I was interested in. In fact we drove 150 miles to look at this particular car. When we got in the car for a test drive he spent over 30 minutes explaining & demonstrating the car's features before we ever left the parking lot. The car initially had 2 miles on it. After our drive, it had 9 miles on it when we made the purchase.
BTW my salesman still has a Gen 1 Prius.

 

Dealer and salesman name?

Whenever you get outstanding service, let us know so we can recommend them in the future. Better still, add this to prices paid sticky thread.

Bob Wilson

 

Miller Toyota in Manassas VA. "Toyota" Sam Lee is the outstanding salesman.
My oldest son has bought 2 Prii from Sam. My other son bought a Corolla. I bought my Corolla from a different salesman (long gone) at that dealer. Although Sam was busy, he still stopped to say "Hi". Although he is not listed in Internet sales, he is very good at dealing with the purchase process remotely through email. When the license plates came in to the dealer, he was prompt at shipping them to my home.

This dealer is in the Washington, D.C. Area.



Miller Toyota Staff | Manassas Toyota Dealer

 

I was looking for someone to mention internet/fleet sales. Thank you Prodigyplace. I read about calling your local dealer and ask for internet or fleet sales department here on PriusChat. Internet/fleet department is focused on volume and quick sales. If you have your money or loan ready, they are ready to deal from invoice price.

I was attending new car owner event after buying my Prius v and saw internet sales on their org chart they showed us. So when the wife wanted to get her 2013 PiP with NY $3650 Toyota cash back, I asked for internet sales and they put me in touch with a salesperson that started negotiations from the invoice price. We took the first offer because we felt it was fair for everyone. We did the same thing when my wife wanted to upgrade to the Prime (w $3000 Toyota cash back). Very good buying experience except we still got moderate press to get undercoating spray, glass/paint protection, and extended warranty from the financial guy who has you sign final papers. We know how to say NO and make it stick.

So to make you buying experience as easy as possible, call nearby dealers and ask to be put though to the internet/fleet sales department.

 

Actually I bought my Corolla through Miller’s Internet sales department. The salesman’s instructions about the TPMS switch were totally wrong. Later when I quoted the user manual in an email he got offended. I made sure to contact Sam when I looked this last time. I believe he does fleet sales too.

 

I feel you. I don't count on car salespeople for good operation instructions. I'm always showing salespeople the hidden menus on the Prius family of vehicles to see if I can freak them out.

 

Isn't this essentially the same problem that brick-and-mortar stores are having with online merchants? The brick-and-mortar merchant acquires a building, buys a lot of inventory, and hires staff. Other brick-and-mortar stores offer the same or comparable products, providing competition. So the customer then comes into the store, sees and touches and feels the merchandise, and then pops out their smartphone and buys it online at a cheaper price from the manufacturer or online reseller. So should we outlaw online sales to protect the brick-and-mortar merchants and enhance competition?

I am not trying to be snarky. I am just trying to understand the situation.

 

Absolutely excellent point. Why don't we need laws preventing Apple from selling you phones directly or Delta selling you airline tickets directly? The answer isn't because of competition between local merchants (BestBuy) or travel agents, it's because of competition with Samsung or United or JetBlue...