That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It

[Hodag71]

I've been looking into buying a Prius on and off for a couple of years. Every few months I would contact one of the Toyota dealers in Colorado Springs and/or Denver. The last time I talked to a dealer was last fall when gas was over $4 and there was still a long waiting list. I was not about to plop down a $1,000 non-refundable deposit and then sit and wait. So I kept driving my '96 Chevy Cavalier and getting a comfortable 30 mpg.

On New Years Eve Day, I spotted an ad for an ’08 Subaru Forester that was about $4,000 under MSRP, so I decided to give them a call. Hueberger Subaru in Colorado Springs is the biggest Subaru dealer in the U.S., and I was hoping they would make an even better deal seeing as it was the last day of the year. No luck.

On January 2nd, the ad was still running so I decided to stop in in person to look at it and see if I could get them to move. Nice car, but still no luck getting them to go lower. Oh well, their loss.

There are about a dozen dealerships on a strip called "Motor City Drive," in Colorado Springs and as I was driving away I went past the Toyota dealership. I decided to stop in to ask about the waiting list… and to my surprise there were several Prius’ on the lot.

As I stepped out of my car, I heard a salesman tell another customer that Toyota was offering a $750 rebate.

"Wow," I thought, "this is a far cry from a few months ago."

"Interested," the guy asked?

"Yes. Got any fully loaded," I inquired? "I want something with heated leather seats."

Long story short, the salesman was brand new. Neither one of us knew that Prius' don't come with heated seats.

"Want to take a test drive," he asked?

"Okay."

Seaside Pearl with Bisque interior. MSRP $28,913.

It was a nice afternoon, but those leather seats were kind of cold even on a sunny Colorado day. Right away I noticed there wasn’t a switch on the seat to turn on the heat, but the salesman told me it is controlled by the touch screen. However, he said, that because he was new he didn’t know how to find the right menu.

Over the course of the test drive and the buying process the topic of heated seats came up several times and each time he said it was only a matter of figuring out how to find the right control screen. No problem, I thought. I'll figure it out myself later.

After a bit of negotiating, I drove off with a new ’09 Package 6 for $26,000 plus tax and $399 handling.

That night I was reading the owners manual and discovered it didn’t have heated seats after all. I was pissed.

The next day I went back to the dealership to let them know that "unheated" leather was much too cold in the winter, and that if I couldn’t have the heated leather they told me it had, I would rather have cloth. I was ready for a real hassle but after the Sales Manager realized that the new guy screwed up, he gave in and told me the dealership would pick up the tab to have aftermarket heaters installed.

Sweet!

I’ve been driving it for five days now and average 48 mpg.

They are going to install the seat heaters next Monday.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

[Bill Merchant]

Congratulations on a sweet deal, Hodag71, welcome to PriusChat!

Poor newbie sales person, but even many experienced Toyota sales people know next to nothing about the Prius.

[billarb]

That is a sweet deal but it really reinforces the notion that many of these salespeople just don't know the product that they're trying to sell. When I was shopping for mine in November of 2007, I had one salesperson crowing about the wonderful federal tax rebate. Fortunately for me, I'd done my own research and learned that there were no longer any rebates for Prius at the time I was buying my car. I pointed this out to the salesperson and she told me I was wrong but I only had a limited time before the rebate would run out.

Needless to say, I ended up purchasing my Prius from another dealer (after double checking with the IRS!!!).

[KK6PD]

Way to go, nice score. Welcome to da group!! Your gonna have fun!!!

73 de Pat KK6PD

[blamy]

Isn't it just amazing the general lack of knowledge of car sales people. Not just Prius sales people either as it happens at all places where cars are sold. I think you shouldn't be able to sell a model car without first reading the owners manual as a minimum! It borders on ciminal behavior some of the cr_p sales people tell potential customers.

[cycledrum]

For the record ...

Any dealer taking non-refundable deposits to wait for any car is Not a dealer you want to do business with.

I put down $500 refundable with Toyota Sunnyvale about August 10th. My car became available through Piercey Toyota.

My refund was in my mailbox 1 day after calling Toyota Sunnyvale.

I don't think a non-refundable deposit exists. If you get on a wait list, lose your job, decide you cannot afford a car, it would be criminal to keep your money for nothing.

In fact, if you should find a Toyota dealer taking so called non-refundable deposits, you may want to question their management, or take the issue to Toyota Corporate.

[cycledrum]

Has anyone had 'heaters' installed in their Toyota leather seats, or is this notion BS also?

[Hodag71]

Seats are nice and toasty now.

Can only put them on high for a few minutes, and then turn them off ... or switch to low.

Bought a set of Michillen Ice Xi2. Much better on snow and still getting 48 m.p.g.