SET Dealers selling only to locals?

[rhanson739]

I'm in the Southeast district.

In the past week or so, I've encountered two dealers who claim that they are restricting Prius sales to locals-only.

One dealer suggested that it was a dealership policy that they've implemented: They will only sell at MSRP to county residents, in order to "take care of our loyal, local customers." If anyone from a non-local county were lucky enough to get a Prius from them, they'd charge $3,000 over MSRP.

I told them what they could do with their policy.

Yesterday, at another dealership, they suggested that they had a SBM Prius Touring 5 coming in (they didn't seem too sure, or were hedging a bit, or perhaps being deceitful... I dunno), and it fits my target. But they claimed that Toyota/SET is declaring that they can only sell a Prius to people from the town where the dealership is located. The salesperson - a highly reputed salesperson - suggested that we find someone in that town who could provide an address for warranty documents, tags, etc.

I told them that I was uncomfortable with "lying" about my address, but that I could rent a PO box for a short time in order to come up with an address. He said, "That'll work."

My question is: Has anyone else heard of Toyota corporate or SET implementing this policy across all dealers in the district? Other districts?

If it's SET, then I wonder what happens commitment I have with another dealer two counties over from me. I put down a refundable $200 deposit for delivery of an 09 in September. I haven't heard from them about this supposed policy, but would like to armed with knowledge before calling them.

Thanks!
Rob

[eclipse3g]

Are you sure its not just a Dealer decision, as they want the owner to bring the car back to them for service and warranty work. Why, because dealers make more from that area than they do from sales.

[lefat1]

its dealer policy and they want to keep it in the family so to speak. keep you coming in for service etc. same thing when harleys were hot, dealers wanted you to keep the bike for service accessories and other increased and constant revenues..you get the picture

[rhanson739]

The first two replies are accurate for the first dealer. They clearly & specifically stated that they wanted to "take care of their own."

The dealer from yesterday, however, claimed that it was a SET decision. That's what I'm trying to determine; Was my salesperson mistaken?; Did they misspeak?; Is it true?

It sounded like phooey to me.