Dealers don't swap policy?

[NJ Dave]

I have a deposit on an 05 Prius at a dealer. I am expecting that he will be calling other dealers or checking their inventory somehow to find a vehicle for me.

As a crosscheck, I asked at another Toyota dealer today and was told that dealers don't transfer the Prius, so the buyer in effect has to call every dealer every day to find out what is in stock.

Is this a typical experience? a Toyota policy?

I will call the deposit dealership tomorrow for an update.

Hopelessly idealistic, NJ Dave.

[bruceha_2000]

Hopelessly idealistic, NJ Dave.

Quite! ;-) I don't think they want to take the time and effort. People are already buying every Prius that comes in, settling for a color or package that isn't their first choice and some (foolishly IMHO) paying over MSRP.

Why cut into the guaranteed profit margin by spending time that could be used trying to get slower sellers off the lot?

[disneydad]

You have to do all the leg work, i called 22 dealerships and was able to get my prius before the end of the year because of it. I would still be waiting if i stayed were i first placed my deposit.

[NJ Dave]

disneydad;

Thanks for the info. How long did your whole process take, once you started calling the 22 dealers? like, you called daily for a month or something?

And what was your technique, when reaching the receptionist? Ask for the sales mgr, or the Prius specialist, or anything tricky? I'm asking because I want to avoid getting a slicky or ignorant salesperson who tries to rip me off somehow. Would prefer to deal with someone who at least has an idea what a Prius is...

Dave.

[Ray Moore]

After contacting 30+ dealers in an afternoon, I found my Prius in about four hours and flew to Denver the next day and drove it home the 1000 miles. Start to finish, about 52 hours. This is after waiting on a list for about three weeks and deciding that was just absurd. YMMV

[Ray Moore]

Ask for the inventory manager.

[ltu1542hvy]

If you don't mind travelling a little bit, you can get a new Prius at MSRP with little to no wait. After being put off by my local dealer's qoted 8 month wait, I found out about a place in the Washington DC area that claimed to get the quickly. I contacted them just before Christmas and said that I wanted a new Prius in mid to late January and specified the color and options that I wanted. I am getting the exact car that I want and it will be available on January 18th and I will pick it up on the 22nd (anticipation is about to kill me). So, if traveling to Northern Virginia is not out of the question for you, try Tom Quinn at Jim Koons Tyson's Toyota at email address tquinn@jimkoonsauto.com . So far he has been very pleasant to deal with and appears to be very upfront about everything.

[NJ Dave]

Well I was on the Toyota website and writing down all the NJ dealers' phone numbers, and noticed they all had email addresses listed, so I copied them all to an email address group and sent out a generic message to about 27 dealerships.

Rec'd about a dozen email replies and a couple of phone calls from dealers who knew how to use a phone book (I didn't list my phone # in the email).

There were some cars out there but none to match our desires. Our local dealership sales guy had not given us much hope but the Sales Mgr there did reply to the email and by the end of the day I had a VIN#!

Turned out the Mgr knew that the configuration I desired was allocated to another customer who didn't care about configuration, so he was able to swap us, putting the other customer in the higher package and linking us with his car!

So if the car shows up this week as promised, it will only be a few weeks from want to get!

Dave.

[mb99fairfax]

Please be careful when dealing with Koons Tysons Toyota. Buying a vehicle at this dealership may cause you problems for a long time.
There are 2 web sites that contain important information and warnings in reference to Koons Tysons Toyota:

www.KoonsTysonsToyota.com
AND
www.KoonsTysonsToyotaSucks.com

Good Luck!

[ltu1542hvy]

I did buy a Prius from Koons Tyson Toyota yesterday. Yes, they did get me to sign a "Binding Arbitration" agreement. Today when I was looking through the stack on manuals that came with the car, there was one document that talks about "lemon law" rights with specific details for each state. This document leads me to believe that subjecting the customer to "Binding Arbitration" is not limited solely to this one dealership but is practiced by all Toyota dealers. Can somebody else who bought their Prius from dealers other than Koons sound off whether you signed a Binding Arbitration agreement or not?

FWIW, my experiences with Koons Tyson Toyota do not correspond at all to the comments in those two anti Koons websites listed in the previous post. For example, the salesperson was VERY interested in selling me a car and bent over backwards to accomodate me. This was the exact opposite from the comments about disinterested salespeople brushing off customers. Next, the sales person did not treat me in a condescending or hostile manner at all because I was knowledgable about the Prius. In fact, he seemed to appreciate the fact that I was as interested and as knowledgable about the Prius as I was. In addition, Koons DID NOT try to hide or "sneak in" the Binding Arbitration clause in the Buyers Agreement. Before I signed the paper, the "financial person" I was dealing with at that point pointed out the Binding Arbitration clause and explained it to me BEFORE I signed the document.

Overall I was a very happy with the way I was treated by Koons. I believe that Caveat Emptor (buyer beware!) applies to any car dealership, not just to Koons Tyson Toyota, and I would hate for them to be singled out as being worse than anybody else. To that end, I am very curious whether other Toyota dealerships make you sign a "Binding Arbitration" agreement as well, or whether this is something that is limited only to Koons.