Toyota called me today...

...on behalf of my local dealer. They are interested in buying back my 2006 Prius and will make a "significant offer" because they need cars on the lot. I have an appointment on Saturday for them to look at my car.

I doubt I will sell them my Prius, but I couldn't resist finding out what they consider a "significant offer".

Has anyone else received a call???

IMHO, their call was just a sneaky way to get you in to the dealership, so they can sell you a car. Let us know how it comes out.

Yeah it happens all the time. If your lucky the "significant" offer will be kelly blue book trade in value.

It's a regular gimmick.

What they really want to do is sell you a new car . . . . . . :car:

Thanks all. I did ask specific questions about the 2010 and if they had any 2010s in stock and some questions about other models, and the caller didn't have very much information, and she wasn't trying to talk me up either. She did say they were interested specifically in buying back the Prius and the Yaris.

If I go on Saturday I'll let you know what they offer.

Personally, I think it's nice that the dealer is calling you and keeping in touch and giving you options regarding trade-ins, etc. Isn't that better than them completely forgetting you as soon as you hand them the cash for your car?

Of course, an uninformed, naive, or easily convinced customer can fall victim. So it goes both ways.

It's a tactic. Get you to the dealer and then they start talking about a new car and they'll give you $xxxx for the trade in...

Unless you're already looking to trade in, don't bother.

Marketing BS, pure and simple.
What do you have to lose ? Thousands of dollars, if the salespeep is slick.

It's a sales ploy. They're not after Priuses and Yarises, they're trying to shift their 2010 Priuses before the 2011 comes in. Who better to target than people who have bought fuel-efficient vehicles? 1) Thank them for the trade-in estimate 2) Test drive a 2010 Prius to get the feel of the car 3) Run away as fast as you can and don't let them delay your exit. You're happy with your current vehicle. In the next couple of years you will have far more options with Ford and Toyota introducing smaller, more efficient hybrids as well as the new PHEV and BEVs coming to market.

This looks to be a standard scam, er... business practice, that
dealers resort to about this time every year:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/42364-toyota-wants-your-used-toyota-resell.html

Don't go! You will be tortured with hot coffee, snake oil, smoke and mirrors and dancing women. I think since most of their other cars are no longer for sale they are turning to used and new Priuses.

Hey if you Really want to be TORTUED go to a Time Share tour to get free tickets to something like my wife dragged me to, now that's tortue!:frusty:

I'm of the opinion that you never ever come out ahead on even on par from trade ins. Ever. Even with the cash for clunkers program. Dealer always takes advantage of you, otherwise why'd they even do it, right?

Thanks again for all the responses. The weather is supposed to be bad tonight into tomorrow morning, so I'm not going to bother. I really am happy with my 2006 and hope to get at least another 4 years out of the car.

My wife felt tortured because I went into serious overtime shredding all their financial arguments purporting it to be a good deal.

No calculator accuracy was needed, crude +-20% mental estimates were far more accurate than needed to sink every one of their positions.

Interesting... I've never received phone calls before, but IIRC, I've seen junk mail from Nissan dealers (and maybe Toyota dealers too ) claiming they want my cars because they're in short supply, blah blah blah. It's just another sales tactic.

The phone calls the OP got are real surprising though.

Yup . . . gas got high in 2005 also, and that's when we got our 1st invite. Clever marketing, and you'd think that once most folks had seen these ads, everyone would know ... but the ads keep comming.

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