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PriusChat "Certified Dealer" Program - looking for suggestions

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by Danny, Aug 12, 2011.

  1. Brant

    Brant Plugged-In Member

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    I'd like to be able to get a little off MSRP at Capital Toyota in Salem, OR please!

    - Brant
     
  2. DianneWhitmire

    DianneWhitmire High PRIUStess

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    They who?!

    THEY are making 15,000 PHEVs for the USA in the year 2012.

     
  3. DianneWhitmire

    DianneWhitmire High PRIUStess

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    Nobody can order anything who's not on the advanced order list.
    If there are ANY of the 15,000 units left available after the smoke clears, they will make cars available thru a regular allocation process BUT that has yet to be determined as to how to spread them around. I also suspect that our corporate guys are smart - and like me, they know there won't need to be a decision made on that because all the cars will be spoken for in the first few hours and there won't be extras TO spread out.
    :cool:


     
  4. pfile

    pfile Member

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    all this talk of selling out in minutes is making me nervous. are we supposed to be contacting dealers right now and negotiating prices? meaning, when the time comes to make the online order, do we have to specify a dealer right then and there? i seem to remember the video describing a N-hour window between placing the order and choosing the dealer but having a short amount of time like that is bad for the consumer. dealers know the clock is ticking...
     
  5. DianneWhitmire

    DianneWhitmire High PRIUStess

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    If you saw the video, you'd see that you have 96 hours to solidify a deal. Just get in and get yourself a CAR ordered. That's the most important part of the system - setting things up for YOU to get the car dropped SOMEWHERE.

    Based on the limited supply of cars and the hassle INVOLVED, AND trust me, it's up there.... and the sheer vagueness of what our
    invoices are going to be, I bet most stores are going to be at MSRP. Hard to promise a discount or deal when you have no idea what the car's going to cost you as a store as opposed to YOU as a client who already knows the sticker.

    I'm planning to go for volume, hoping it gets me even more Prii and wagons somehow. It's also, as they say, in my DNA to give the best deal and experience to my buyers.

    No matter where you are, get into the online system and secure your place. I see in a few places where someone's mentioned "dealers rushing to place their ordfers" and I don't know what you mean by that. Dealerships don't get to place orders. Buyers place their orders, dealerships don't order the cars. We are not permitted.

     
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  6. DianneWhitmire

    DianneWhitmire High PRIUStess

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    If you saw the video, you'd see that you have 96 hours to solidify a deal. Just get in and get yourself a CAR ordered. That's the most important part of the system - setting things up for YOU to get the car dropped SOMEWHERE.

    Based on the limited supply of cars and the hassle INVOLVED, AND trust me, it's up there.... and the sheer vagueness of what our
    invoices are going to be, I bet most stores are going to be at MSRP. Hard to promise a discount or deal when you have no idea what the car's going to cost you as a store as opposed to YOU as a client who already knows the sticker.

    I'm planning to go for volume, hoping it gets me even more Prii and wagons somehow. It's also, as they say, in my DNA to give the best deal and experience to my buyers.

    No matter where you are, get into the online system and secure your place. I see in a few places where someone's mentioned "dealers rushing to place their ordfers" and I don't know what you mean by that. Dealerships don't get to place orders. Buyers place their orders, dealerships don't order the cars. We are not permitted.

     
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  7. rrg

    rrg Active Member

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    I know I missed the sign up for the plug-in and the limited quantities will make this Prius chat "Certified Dealer" less import as soon as the set volume numbers go down and they become far and few between dealers.

    So please include the regular new 2012 as part of the program.
    This will keep the dealers on their toes to stride to stay on the top of the list even after they sell all the assigned plug-ins.

    Let's really leverage the forum to it fullest and help all the individuals that missed out early enrollment that are left this coming year with non plug-in's.

    my2cents.
     
  8. DianneWhitmire

    DianneWhitmire High PRIUStess

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    I feel just terrible for those who didn't get into the window of time to pre-order. Even thought the window was open for many months, it may just not have been on someone's radar till everyone was talking about "how much"... as I think the lower model's worth the $ for sure! I think that's what's started the groundswell. But, if there's no profit to be made and this car is a forced issue, as it seems, they will build all the need to and stop... and perhaps many will switch to the regular Prii or wagons.
     
  9. StuffOnARock

    StuffOnARock Member

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    Is that number set in stone? I'm sure you have the latest info and I trust your info before stuff on the web, but previously they were saying 16000 or 17000, and "we’ll deliver to whatever level the market wants†(Although in retrospect, that last bit was probably not for 2012)

    2012 Prius Plug-In Reaches 29,000 Pre-Registrants | PriusChat
     
  10. fayte2

    fayte2 New Member

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    I would also like to be considered part of the group if there is a 5% discount in the Bay Area. Please add me to the list. This will be my first time purchasing a Prius and I called a couple of dealers within the area. Some dealers told me to put down a $500 deposit and others had no idea of what was going on and never got back to me. The pricing that's depicted on the website cannot be marked up by the dealers, can it? If we choose the model we want, that's what they will charge us, am I wrong? It seems a bit ambiguous and unclear to me as to how this process will work.
     
  11. pfile

    pfile Member

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    okay, that's what i really wanted to know. because with the leaf i think it was the dealer who placed the actual order. here it sounds like i'll be placing the order. but i have to say that's a fundamentally broken process where i have to commit to buy something without negotiating a price. although as i alluded to, i suppose there's nothing stopping me from pre-negotiating it. if i understand what you are saying, though, no one is going to be very happy to make deals.

    in summary, it seems like the car companies can figure out how to screw up sales of cars on allocation more ways than one! :(
     
  12. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    15,000 is the official number. Toyota realizes that may be low, but they feel that it is easier to scale up production if demand is high than it is to scale down if not.
     
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  13. DianneWhitmire

    DianneWhitmire High PRIUStess

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    DUPLICATE POST oops
     
  14. DianneWhitmire

    DianneWhitmire High PRIUStess

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    No, this system keeps things on the up and up.
    My advice: if you speak to someone at dealership level that has to go talk to managers or get things approved :: buzzer sound :: that will slow things down. If you're at a smaller store, these things happen. If you're lucky, you'll find someone like myself who's sitting at the desk confirming all orders as they arrive in my in-box, one by one in order of arrival to the system.

    The actions that will possibly delay orders is someone NOT focused on this process while it's happening. Someone who will "do it later" because they think we have all the time in the world. Or, someone who's got to take the order to someone else to get it OK'ed. Look, everyone's got a boss. I do too. But, in my personal case, my boss knows my judgment to be sound and my efforts for the store, the customers, and the product itself is sound. In my case, there is NOTHING between me and your confirmation steps but you... because once I click in and send back and OK with pricing and promise, you have to go back and accept.

    For that reason, this system is NOT broken. It leaves the entire process in your hands. If anyone's whining about process, then they cannot understand the reason for it, or the brilliance of it. It seems to be designed to keep less than savory orders from eating up the cars that folks like you and me wish to buy.



     
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  15. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    Dianne, you're double-posting like crazy :)
     
  16. mitch672

    mitch672 Technology Geek

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    Its Priuschat, its so slow you end up clicking more than once, and it double posts.
     
  17. DianneWhitmire

    DianneWhitmire High PRIUStess

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    Like crazy? I only did it once!

     
  18. DianneWhitmire

    DianneWhitmire High PRIUStess

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    :: koff ::
    :rolleyes:

     
  19. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I want to add that Dianne's advice here is really good. But there are a few things that are key to this process that'll catch up a few folks:

    1)When the system goes live you'll be able to log in and you'll be placed in the queue in the order you managed to complete your order. At that point you have 96 hours to finalize your deal with The dealer you selected during the order process and they do their end of the process to complete the order in the official system. If that doesn't happen in 96 hours your place in line is lost and you have to start all over and take a spot at the back of the queue.

    2)If you find that the dealer you selected suddenly wants to screw you on price you also have to start all over. (I'm not clear if you can pick a new dealer in that first 96 hours and keep your place in the queue or if you lose your place...I'll have to check on that).

    3)So...it is to your benefit and the dealer's if you find your dealer BEFORE the order system goes live and agree on your price. Thus the origin of this thread--we want a list of preferred dealers you can contact, make sure you have an agreement with, and then they'll be the one you select when the system goes live. Then completing the order and agreeing on a price should be a breeze and your risk of ending up either paying more than expected or getting pushed to the back of the queue are mitigated.
     
  20. DianneWhitmire

    DianneWhitmire High PRIUStess

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    Evan is right.

    BUT: you can go in and modify car and dealer in that 96 hours. I wouldn't chance it, but you can do it. I'd cut the deal prior to ordering lines opening up.

    I gotta say, in regards to the small volume of those preorder cars vs. the cars available after the system runs out of pre-order units... I'd jump on that order line immediately if you want a car in the early part of the year and at a good deal.

    After the pre-orders are settled, it's going to be like the wild wild west out there for cars.