My experience with 5 dealerships in S/W Ohio was that Prii are sold within hours of arrival. Every dealer has a waiting list and they just start calling down the line when a Prius arrives. No one had one on the lot or knew where I could find one to tst drive. I bought mine on faith. I received a call at 9:45 AM and was there by 10:30 and owned it by 11:30. They named the price (just over 26.5K for a 2005 pkg 6 and I paid the piper. Best darn car I have EVER owned. Drove it to NYC 3 days after purchase and averaged 51 mpg. Yippee! :mrgreen: Karl
I am not a lawyer but I believe that a non-refundable deposit is illegal in every state. The dealer would have an 'unjust enrichment' and if they don't want to refund you deposit you could take them to small claims court. They would have to prove any costs that you're giving them $500 cost them money and that is the maximum they could keep. You would probably get court costs as well. I am sure the lawyers on the board could tell you better than me. You might want to post you location to get advice for your state.
First, unless you have a signed agreement that indicates the $500 is non-refundable, it is almost certainly refundable, regardless of what the salesman says. If you are special ordering a car that the dealer doesn't have a reasonable expectation of being able to sell if you back out, $500 may be reasonable liquidated damages. But since the dealer will most likely be able to sell the Prius at/near MSRP should you decide to back out, there is no justification for the $500 being non-refundable.
I saved thousands on my Prius! I discovered the salesman was cheating on his wife and he gave me a generous discount. It was a great deal even after the detective fees. Many wonderful bargains to be had with this simple technique!
I have no idea what the commission is on a Prius, but on a package 6 sold at MSRP, the dealership is making around $3K above cost when you figure invoice/holdback, possibly more if there are any sales incentives.
Drive down to Houston. Seriously. Even though I didn't get a car from him, Chris Sterling at Fred Haas Toyota World (which is in North Houston and on I-45, making it quite convenient from Dallas) was the best salesman I dealt with in searching for a Prius.
