Southern California...is Prius inventory drying up?

[noelty]

After three months of waiting for my existing lease to end...I am finally ready to buy a Prius. Sadly, I missed out on the low APR ofers in March, and after having talked to two different dealers I am getting the feeling that inventory might be a bit tighter...at least the dealers are playing the "$4/gallon Prius' are flying out the door" pitch.

Any advice? Is invoice plus a couple hundred still possible in So Cal?

[Mr.Vanvandenburg]

In my opinion, as a rule of thumb, 10% off msrp is a good deal, applies to some other makes as well. So in CA with 8% or so tax plus license plus $45-55 doc fee, the final out the door price would be very very close to factory msrp. I just offered and stood firm, no add-ons wanted. Went in at 7 PM on a Friday night, so they were in a hurry to make a deal and go home , since I was the only customer in the place. I called first, got a good salesperson who had the car ready and waiting to test drive, in color I wanted, with one mile on the odometer. A helpful salesperson is important, one who wants to make a sale and doesn't mind working some for it. I asked on the phone the mileages on the two available and he had no problem going out and looking that up for me. One had 17, this one 1 mile. A lot of others only argue about everything and wouldn't have helped. I was on the way home by 9PM.

[qbee42]

Here in Michigan they are mostly gone, and we are back to waiting lists.

Tom

[GoEco]

Noelty, I bought mine for invoice two weeks ago, not far norht of LA. They'd promised $300 over invoice but somehow we got it down to invoice when the manager slipped and offered it. LOL.

I would start emailing the dealers b/c I found the internet groups to offer a flat price, well most of them. There were a few that were not as willing to deal. One actually told me they could not honor their price of a few weeks prior because "the market has changed." And yes, several were giving me the song & dance about them flying out the door. I don't know if it's true or not. I guess my rambling point is you can still get a good deal if you want to buy off the lot. I'm not sure how willing they'll deal with trades from other dealers.

If you want my take on the SIX dealers I contacted just send me a message.

[1x1]

I think inventory is drying up, or has already dried up, in many locales. It's definately back to "waiting list" status here in Denver, CO. We want white and there were none in the state. We put down our deposit 2 weeks ago and were told it'd be 8 to 12 weeks before we see our car. 6 weeks ago there was a lot of them sitting on dealers lots, due to the production increase, but that's all changed, as has pricing. My auto broker mentioned most dealers have increased his price more than $1000 in the past few weeks.

[portageprius]

Here in NW Indiana it has suddenly become very hard to find a Prius. For about a month I have been planning to buy one, sold my wifes Matrix, and of course now that we are ready to buy can't find one on a lot from South Bend to Chicago.

[gussom1]

Hi,

I would try Thousand Oaks Toyota, we just bought a white package 6 for $2,000.00 off. They do have sales all of the time. With the sticker maked down $2,000.00 we got $4,000.00 off.

Nice dealership too.

Good luck

[priusmaybe]

Look at other pricing threads. It seems folks at west are getting the best prices on the Packages 5 and 6

[GoEco]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gussom1 @ Jun 13 2007, 10:28 AM) [snapback]460968[/snapback]</div>

Hi,

I would try Thousand Oaks Toyota, we just bought a white package 6 for $2,000.00 off. They do have sales all of the time. With the sticker maked down $2,000.00 we got $4,000.00 off.

Nice dealership too.

Good luck
[/b]

Glad to hear that. That is where mine is going to be getting it's servicing done, after the run around I got locally. However when I emailed with their Interet guy he was the least forthcoming with their pricing. So YMMV.