For those wavering about buying a Prius....

[dancekat59]

My dealer offered only $300 for my well maintained '98 Corolla because it had 203K miles on it. I refused their offer and took the Corolla and my brand new Prius home. I didn't want to sell the Corolla on my own so I took it to a lot... paid them a fee where they hold the car and show your car to potential buyers. In one week, it sold for $3300. I'm sure you can easily get MUCH more than $400 for a Honda Civic elsewhere.

[TonyPSchaefer]

When I was on the waiting list at Libertyville Toyota in Illinois, I was pleased with how I was treated. The pleasure continued all the way through the wait and on into ownership. I still go back from time to time for this and that and people recognize me.

My deal?
Because I was on a long waiting list that spanned more then a year (really!) there was uncertainty as to what MSRP was going to be. Toyota increased the price from '04 to '05. Also, it's unfair to base trade-in value on a car that's not going to be traded in for several months. So here's what we did: We signed a contract stating that I would pay MSRP for the car when it came in regardless of the year. In return, I would get KBB for the trade-in, a very well-kept Buick Regal. When Priapus arrived, that's exactly how things went down. We walked over to the computer station, pulled up KBB and that was the trade-in value. I am not a haggler nor a bickerer. I was comfortable.

[seasidetraveler]

I don't think they were offering him $400 for his car, I think what he meant was that was the difference in what he wanted, and what they were willing to pay.

[kirbinster]

Keep in mind that depending what state you are in it may not pay to sell it yourself - and the dealers know that. Take for example that you have a car that is worth $10K in trade, in New Jersey if you trade it in for that value it reduces the taxable amount on the new vehicle, so you save yourself $700 in sales tax. Thus, you would have to make more than $10,700 yourself just to break even on a private sale not to mention the added insurance for however long you keep the car, etc....

[jimmyrose]

I just bought my '06 on 7/14/06. We were offered ~$500 for a '97 Grand Caravan SE that was in pretty good shape but had 125,000 miles on it and the Carfax report the dealer ran on it indicated it had been in an accident. I originally found this out when I brought it in for service one day at the local dealership (we bought it used, private sale w/53,000 miles in '00 or '01-I specifically asked the guy if it had ever been in an accident and he lied right to my face; he was the original owner-should've Carfax'd it-lesson learned). The guy at the dealership said it was repaired well and must have been because we never had any problems with it.
The salesman confided to us that we would do better selling it privately (ahem, DUH). I sold it within 18 hours for $2000 just by putting signs on it (we live on a main road) and pricing it very competively. I could have probably gotten more, but I wanted it to go quickly. The guy who came first gave me $400 and a request for a week to come up with the balance (which he did), but I told him I was keeping the signs on and taking names & #'s - we stopped after about 3 days and 10-12 back up offers.
If they would've come anywhere close to $2K at the dealership for trade in (which is what KBB said it was worth for trade), it would've been a done deal.

[quagmire0]

Yeah the $400 was the difference between what I wanted and what they offered. The car I was trading in was a 94 Buick Regal. The Civic I'm keeping

No matter. I just put in an order today for another Prius. Should be in in another two weeks. This one is a little better since it is Black with gray interior...the other one had beige, which is much harder to keep clean IMO.

[Taath]

Wow, I am actually pretty surprised the dealership wouldn't work with you. When I went to get my Prius here in Arizona about two weeks ago I went in, told them how much my monthly payments would be and that if they could achieve that they'd have a sale. After a few hours (yeah, hours) of negotiation they eventually gave me $12,000 for my car which had about a $9.000 KBB price and got me where I wanted to be. Guess a lot of it depends on the individual dealer tho. Best of luck to you.

-Taath

[rufaro]

Then, of course, there is the old trick of not bringing your trade-in into the picture until AFTER you have all the other negotiations locked in...

[quagmire0]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rufaro @ Aug 2 2006, 01:38 AM) [snapback]296133[/snapback]</div>

Then, of course, there is the old trick of not bringing your trade-in into the picture until AFTER you have all the other negotiations locked in...
[/b]

Yeah, I actually told them what I was bringing in and what I was looking to get for it beforehand. When I got there they huffed and puffed about 'what bad condition it was in' and had they know that they wouldn't have quoted me what they did. Granted, it's not in great condition, but with the dealer charging MSRP the trade-in is the only avenue to negotiate with.

What I really think was going on, and it is just speculation on my part, was that the salesman had mentioned that the owner had an aunt looking for a Prius and that because we beat her to it, she had to order one instead. My thought is that the owner didn't budge because he knew he could just sell it to his relative if we walked.

I've decided to just try and sell it myself, since I have a few weeks before my Prius comes into the dealer.

[Actual Mileage]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Renocat @ Aug 1 2006, 01:18 PM) [snapback]295719[/snapback]</div>

Well, I call it being a woman and shopping for a car by myself. <_< I figure they saw me and thought...there is no way she knows what her car is worth and she really wants a Prius so lets play with her.

Dealer #1 called me back the night before I was picking up my Prius from dealer #2. He asked if I had given any more thought to buying a Prius. I said actually I have and I pick up a package 7 tomorrow morning. I don't think I have ever heard a salesman stutter before. He was mumbling how he thought the service manager had offered me to0 little, yada, yada, yada, I said yes he did, I was offended and went to a dealer that respected me, my time and my money :P
[/b]

Bought my Prius on July 15.
I wanted to trade in a 2005 Maxima - loaded, after market stereo, not a scratch, with mounted snows. They had a 2004, with more miles and no extras, selling on the lot for the"no haggle price" of $21,000.
They offered me $14,000.
I was paying MSRP for the Prius, but that was all they were going to offer. EOM.
If I was smart, I would have called some of the other Toyota dealers around Maine.

Instead I paid cash for the Prius and yesterday sold the Maxima to a very nice woman for $19,000. She got a great deal and loves the car (6 speed - great car, only it gets 18 MPG city driving. So I tripled that w/ the Prius).
So that is $5,000 I saved. Sort of.
Ridiculous. And with the sales tax advantage, the government is pushing you to trade in for less.

SO TODAY I GET TO REGISTER MY PRIUS! YIPPEE!

Now to fix the audio.