Prius Prime - official prices paid thread

It's a problem isn't it, sort of like having out of style clothes that just won't wear out

 

We're still happy with our family Prius fleet but the decision came down to a few realities: 1. If there were a major failure of the older cars that wasn't worth repairing it would not be easy to get the replacement Prime we wanted quickly (at a good price). 2. Though it looks like it now might survive, the $4502 federal tax credit was in danger of disappearing on Jan 1st (and still could). 3. The NJ $3500 incentive was still higher than the proposed Texas state $2500 EV rebate for 2018. I could ship from NJ and still come out ahead.

Also my wife and daughter, who'll get the two new vehicles, will have a very happy Festivus this year.

 

I was very happy with the responses from several dealers. My purchase was complicated by the fact I wanted two Primes in specific trims and colors - and wanted to get them from one dealer if possible. The ones who made my final group were:
Toyota of Runnemede (NJ) - Matt Davis. This is where I made the purchase. He got the Magnetic Gray from another NJ dealer after theirs sold to someone else early in my process. Had the absolute best price on the Plus model.
Toyota of Dartmouth (MA) - Sherry Barbosa. She was the most communicative and answered questions quickly. I was close to buying from them due to her responsiveness, but the rebate was $250 less per car in MA vs NJ, which put them at a slight disadvantage. Also, shipping was higher from MA.
Westbrook Toyota (CT) - Kade Boughton. Also very responsive. Prices weren't quite as low at the other two.
Vanderstyne Toyota (NY) - Tom Petrie. Was in the running on price and responsiveness until he realized that the Gray listed on his sheet was not the Magnetic Gray we wanted, but the classic silver. The 3 colors of Titanium Gray, Classic Silver, and Titanium Glow got messed up in several listing databases when they were listed as silver or gray interchangeably.
Dayton Toyota (NJ) - Dan Greco was also very helpful, but couldn't locate a quickly available Plus in Blue.

 

You mean you won’t make them battle it out in the Feats of Strength ?

 

Finally finished up the paperwork and got my Prius Prime Plus and loving it!
Didn't get a huge discount from the dealer since I had to order mine.

MSRP: +27100
Delivery, doc, other fees: +895
Tax (cap): +600
Dealer discount: -200
College grad rebate: -750
Out the door: 27645

There was also a -$1000 rebate but the dealer said I qualify for the 0% APR for 5 years because of excellent credit score and for qualifying for the college grad rebate. So I went with the 0% APR for 5 years over the -$1000 rebate.

They said if I had gone for the -$1000 rebate, then my interest would be at 6% for 36 months (3 years) at minimum from Toyota Finance which according to them would accumulate to over +$2200 of interest I would owe, which I found ridiculous for having excellent credit. Banks and credit unions were offering well below 3%.

I had a big dispute with the finance agent on how they came up with the $2200 @ 6% when the calculations didn't add up and they were so rude and didn't give an explanation. I just kept telling them 6% of $27645 is not $2200 but they kept saying that is the final amount, take it or leave it! Was I missing something in their interest calculation?

I could have paid off the car within a year, so the interest shouldn't have gone above the rebate amount, but they refused to give me anything less than 36 months.

Anyway its also my fault for not planning ahead with another financier, the dealer financier always tries to screw you. But still the 0% APR for 5 years is good.

 

congrats!
maybe if you run it through a payment calculator, it comes out to $2200. keep in mind that you pay 6% on the balance every month, it isn't simple interest. (i could be wrong, that is how a mortgage works)
anyway, enjoy the car and forget about it. all the best!

 

When I plug in your numbers, principle of $26645 (after the $1000 rebate), 36mo term and 6% APR, it shows a $810/month payment
I get a total of $2536 in interest paid over the life of the loan. You would gain the $1000 rebate but spend a lot on interest.

IF, you added an additional $1452/month to pay-off the loan in 1 year, the total interest paid would drop to only $874. You saved yourself $1662 in interest by paying it off early and actually made taking the $1000 rebate net positive by $126.

Now since you say you have the funds available to support paying it off within a year, you should also factor in the fact that you would earn interest on those funds. BUT, unless you're earning at least the 6%, you're better off paying the loan faster.

Comparing all that against the loan you ended-up with. A $27645 (no rebate) at 0% APR is a $460/month payment. You will end-up paying little more ($126) than if you took the rebate and paid off the loan quickly but if you simply put the funds you apparently have available into a 1% savings account, it would earn over $560 by the end of your loan so it could end-up being your best choice.

 

It seems to be a done deal. So it is a moot point to discuss now, but 6% is APR (annual percentage rate). Even with a simple interest rate calculation, you have to multiply by 3 (36 mo loan). @ct89 have it right, you were probably better off taking 0% APR offer than taking $1000 rebate. Since you got 0% APR loan for 5 years, there is no incentive for you to pay it off earlier than you have to. You don't save anything by doing so. Instead, save or invest your additional funds available to earn money on it. By the time your car is paid off in 5 years, you will have nice nest egg for your next car purchase. Congrats!

 

I signed the papers on a 2017 Prius Prime Advanced. It is Hypersonic Red with floor mats and lighted door sills.

First, I did a little research on the cost to the dealer, so I could make a good opening offer.
Invoice: $32,128.
Destination fee: $955.
Holdback $662.
Total dealer cost: $32,421.
This car has very little markup over the dealer cost, so there's not much room to negotiate.

Then I emailed 5 dealers' internet managers stating that I would pay 90% of MSRP on any Advanced they had in the lot, and gave them a stock number of an example for them to build the price. I only got one dealer to play with me on this route. He came back at 8.5% off MSRP. I waited until 1 hour before closing to go to the dealer. When I got there, he was charging an ugly Silver Advanced with Moonstone that had been sitting on the lot for 150 days. I told him I wanted the Red one that just came off the truck with 0 miles. There was the usual, "We only gave you this deal because this car has been sitting so long." But, I think they wanted to close one last deal, so they honored the 8.5% off MSRP on the car I wanted. Here was the end deal:

MSRP $34,988
Cash Price: $33,007
Sales tax: $2,564.25
Registration: $331.75
Doc fees $109
-$1,000 LA Region Rebate
OTD price: $35,012

In the end, the dealer made $586 profit and I think I got a great deal.

 

congrats! nice technique, i might steal it on the next go around. all the best.

 

That is what I figured too. I am happy with the end result. Now I have no reason to pay it off soon, so I can invest my money and make up the difference.

I also think bisco is right, this isn't simple interest rather its compounded interest. I was not aware of this because this is the first time I have ever taken a loan. But a good lesson for me when it comes time to get a mortgage.

 

If they were saying interest added up to $2200 over the life the loan, that sounds right.

It is easy to estimate: imagine that your principal drops from 100% down to 0% over the life of the loan in a linear manner. (It does not, but we are just estimating here.) Then your average principal would be 50% of the starting amount, so ~ $13,000. Each year you would pay 13,000*0.06 in interest, and you pay it for 3 years. Calculate 13000*0.06*3. Works out to $2340. **

---
Advice for next time:
Keep in mind that it is easy (credit score presumed OK) to refinance after the sale. If a juicy discount is offered in return for a lousy finance deal -- take it. Then refinance.

**
For people who like mental arithmetic:
Rather than calculating one half of the principal, start with one half of the interest, so 3 percent
For 3 years, so 9%.
10% of 26500 is 2650,
While 9% would be 10% less, so 2650 - 265

 

Thanks to everyone for providing pricing.

In the spirit of sharing I will post what I learned after 6 months of searching. (Yes I enjoy the hunt of finding the best price & I understand the car is at the end of the model year) I contacted dealers from Maine to NY and found wide variation in pricing. Pricing is very market/availability specific. Even within a given market I received quotes which were $2200 apart. So be sure to get multiple quotes.

The very best pricing I found is currently in NY for two reasons: 1. they limit the Doc fee to $75 by law 2. They current have the highest rebate at $3500. Think out the door roughly ~80% of MSRP

That being said I bought in Boston (Dorchester- you can search for the dealer name as they have 6 in stock at the moment). Smooth transaction- they honored the emailed quote with no issue and delivery went well. They did try pretty hard to upsell all the extended warranties but in the end they took no for an answer.

Prime Advanced Blue
MSRP $34,498
Rebate $3,250
Discount $3,821
Net $27,427
Dealer fee $404

Out the door $27,831 (before tax and registration)

Hope that helps you find a better deal....

 

congrats! all the best.

 

Definitely what you learned will help when you get a mortgage. The most important lesson that you learned is that you should always find out what will be the total amount of interest that you will pay over the life of the loan. That way you will see the true effect of various scenarios, such as even though a 15-year mortgage has a higher monthly payment than a 30-year, the total interest over the life of the loan will be substantially less. And a higher down payment will have a huge effect, something you won't see unless you look at the total interest for the life of the loan. Also you want to make as many additional payments as you can in the first few years of a mortgage where it will make a huge difference in the total amount of interest that you will pay. Most people do that at the end of the loan when they see that payoff has become within reach, but by then it's almost pointless because you will be paying very little interest in the final year or so of a mortgage. Another trick is that some lenders let you pay your regular payment split into two payments a month. Surprisingly this actually has a bit of an effect on the total interest paid since you are essentially paying part of the monthly payment two weeks early, reducing slightly the interest paid.

 

No favors from the lender are required -- just pay more than the minimum every month.
The arithmetic of the bi-weekly payment (meaning pay half the scheduled monthly payment every two weeks) works out to paying 13/12 more than the scheduled amount each month. IIRC this finishes a 30 year loan about 7 years early.

 

True, but I was referring to them doing bi-monthly payments for you automatically assuming you are already set up for autopay. Of course you can always pay extra any time you want.

 

So I picked up a Prius prime Premium yesterday from a NorCal dealership.

Color is Blizzard Pearl, it had door edge guards already on there, and I negotiated getting an alarm system to be installed. They gave me a due bill for the alarm and installation so I have to go get it put in. Will have to drive about 40 minutes from where I live to get it installed but that's ok.

So my out the door price for this vehicle was $29k flat.

How did I do? I feel like I got a pretty decent deal. I could have gotten a grey one for $28.7k OTD but decided to go for the white since they were also discounting the color upgrade by like $100 bucks. But I don't like the grey that much and I think the white looks great. Those two colors were the only ones that they had on the lot.

 

Better than some, not as low as others. That goes without knowing much of anything.

Did the $29k include any credits or TTL or trade-in ?

 

It's inclusive of everything except for federal tax credit and california incentive rebates. That was the out the door price. It's what I paid before leaving the dealership. So it includes the 1500 toyota cash back and TTL. No trade in.