So assuming that final check for msrp included sales tax and tag/title, you wound up paying about almost a couple of grand below MSRP? Good going! Forget about beating the time, has anyone beaten that price?

Why did you post date the check? What leverage or benefit did that buy you?

Post dating the check prevented it from bouncing! (I had to do a transfer of funds from a stock market account). No, I still had to pay tax, title and license fees in addition to sticker price.
Tom

Ahhh, so post dating was essential! Good for you having the cash on hand to make this happen in an hour!

Well I can beat that, sorta. My wait was very long (13 months) and very short (30 minutes) at the same time.

In April '04 I decided I wanted to get a Prius. I checked out one that belonged to a co-worker's in-laws and loved it. Problem was my wife didn't. That sparked a huge fight that ultimately lead to us getting a divorce in December '04.

With my new found "freedom" I checked the dealership in April '05 and looked over the option packages and color options. The dealer told me I couldn't get option package #5 (which is what I decided I wanted.) They told me I could get on the waiting list for a #4 or a #6 and it would take 8 weeks. I didn't want to give them $500.00 at the time because I needed the cash to pay my taxes. So, I left.

Anyway, on May 8th, 2005, I decided to go to back to the dealer and find out what I could get for my trade in. As luck would have it my new Prius (a millennium silver #5) had just been taken off the truck. The dealership called the original person who ordered it and he told them he no longer wanted it. It took me 30 minutes to do the deal, as they worked up the paperwork while I was test driving it.

FWIW, I’m happier with the car than I was with the x-wife, so I suppose it all worked out. 8)

My experience was that my wife and I went to the dealership to place an order and expected a 6month wait, but there was a silver option 6 with the navigation, blue tooth, and SS/SE on the lot but it had a $10,000 markup. When the dealer asked if I liked silver I said sure that is fine, so he offered me the one on the lot. Told him I wouldn't pay a markup and that I was fine to order mine and wait, so he went to talk to his people, and when he came back he offered it to me for $3000 over MSRP. I said no and that I would wait for mine to come it. He said that we should talk about the weather for 5 minutes so that it would look like he was doing his job then he went back to talk to his people, and lo and behold when he came back we got it for MSRP. It had the wood trim aftermarket add on junk, but it doesn't look bad. So, mine wasn't an hour short, but at least it was the same day I went to place my order.

Atoyot
http://www.atoyot.net

I walked into Longo Toyota (Los Angeles, CA) and found 25 Prius in stock. Well, about 10 were already sold and just waiting there. The rest were available. Didn't even wait 1 day.

Picked my silver pkg #3 and two hours later I became a Prius owner. So far, I'm loving it!

This is my 3rd car from them....

Well, I put out some requests on the internet on Saturday April 2 and got replies within the hour. Called Kearny Mesa Toyota about the Black #1 I was interested in. But they were closing before I could get there and I was going to Vegas the next morning. I said I'd test drive one when I got back, if the car was there fine, if not I'd wait or find another.

Wed. it was still there. I test drove it and then said I'd buy it. So yes, less than an hour. But it took *them* a few hours to do the paperwork. Mostly I had to wait for phone calls, printers, and the finance guy had to be told repeatedly I did not want the toyotguard, lojack, extended warranty, etc. I got there about 1 pm and didn't leave until after 5 pm. After the paperwork I had to wait 45 min. for them do to the checklist and wash the car. Since I had skipped lunch (I was only planning on taking a quick test drive) I was really hungry by dinner time.

Went to Dealer in Goldsboro, NC yesterday just looking a drove off with a new 2005 Millennium Silver Metallic Prius with pkg #6 for invoice plus 3%.

:guns:

My Prius actually waited for me.

I was car shopping on a Saturday afternoon, looking at Prius and the Acura TL,. I stopped at Carson toyota and asked about Prius and told them I wanted a package 6 in sals red. They didn't have any so I left.

At that time I was leaing to wards the Acura, I've always had Honda stuff. Both bikes and cars. When the very next friday Carson calls me up and says, we just had a salsa red #6 roll off the boat it will be hear this afternoon. I said sure I'll take it and showed up at around 9 oclock after work and the Prius was sitting their waiting for me.

Of course this was just before Toyota doubled production so I paid up the wazzu. ($5000 over MSRP, but they lowered my interest rate 3 points from what most places were offeeing me at the time, so over the life of the loan it works out to like $1,000 over MSRP)

I walked into a dealer last april on a whim. I had been planning to wait another 3 or 4 months before I seriously looked into buying one, but it was Saturday afternoon and I really didn't want to do the yard work I needed to do. So I bundled up the wife and kid, showed up at the dealer at 4:00 and drove away two hours later with my silver #6.

My wait was four days. My local dealer had two '05s, pre-sold, on the lot on the Tuesday evening we dropped by, and I could only test-drive a used '04. That was enough, so I got on the list, hoping for a Salsa Red. I was told to expect up to a six-month wait.

The following Saturday, my wife dropped by a different dealer, who offered her a Driftwood on the spot. Before we could go to plunk down the deposit, our original dealer called (less than an hour later) to offer us one of the unclaimed "pre-solds," the Tideland we now own--I liked that color a little better.

I had put myself on a waiting list at some denver/frontrange dealerships around the first of the year 2005. With my new job I travel to the town of Sterling about once a month. Sterling has a Toyota dealer. In February they had one Prius on the lot. I did not have time to stop but the next day I called and it had already sold. I debated about putting my name on the list at the dealer in sterling, but the salesman told me that they did not have a waiting list. Just watch and everyonce in a while they get a few in, he said. Forward to June 23. I go to sterling for meetings and drive by they have 3 prius on the lot. I did not want to stop as I wanted my wife to be involved in the purchase. She called the dealer and they said they would hold the silver one ( it was just a base model) until we could come by and look at it on the 29th. We went and after a short test drive we talked about my trade in of my subaru. They gave me more than I expected for it and so we signed. Payed MSRP, my insurance will only go up 16 dollars a year, I use my car for work in which I am paid mileage, I have more room than my subaru, and yes getting 50mpg is really cool.

My Prius purchase was also an hour.

I had a hold on a Prius from another dealer who had one coming in on allocation that would have come in another 7-10 days or so.

Through a mutual friend who worked at another dealership (Tom Wood Toyota), a salesman called me to advise me that he had a Prius available in my configuration (Salsa #4) if I wanted to check it out. I figured I could wait a week or so more for mine to be delivered.

Then 3 days later on a Saturday when I was on another side of town close to the second dealership, I just decided on the spur of the moment to talk to the salesman and explain why I never returned his calls. He showed me the Prius and said I could have immediate delivery if I wanted it. This is one of those cars whose financing fell through.

I told him no thanks, but I had one coming in from another dealership. He asked me if I wanted to go over the "numbers" and he proceded to quote a trade-in price of $600 less than the other dealer who was charging MSRP. So I said "yes!"

Since I hadn't planned on buying the car, I had no checkbook with me. The salesman just took my trade as collateral, gave me the Prius and told me to come in on Monday to bring the check and title.

From the time I came in and saw the salesman to the time I drove my Prius off the lot it was only an hour!

I think I got you all beat. I wasn't even looking at priuses, would've liked one, but too expensive. We had a budget of about 10k for a used camry or something. Went to the toyota dealer and test drove a 2003 camry, thought it was good. Did some more internet shopping. found out that we could get a 2005 camry with 4-5K miles for about 17K. so we upped our budget. went to the dealer to test drive and a Salsa red # 4 was sitting there. The guy I was meeting just started selling cars a week before and said that the place was buzzing, because the guy that ordered was there and decided he wanted a scion instead(idiot). He went to get the keys for the camry and I said what about the prius. OK . We had to have someone show us how to drive it. I decided to get it during test drive. Drove home to pick up wife and kid. She test drove and found it roomy enough. sold. I love the car. Can't wait for the 2008 Sienna hybrid.

last tank (3rd) 614mi 58.5 mpg.
Current tank 144mi. 61.7 mpg

I forgot to mention that I called all the toyota dealers when I went home to pick up the family, and they all said that they had no priuses in stock.

and it was the first car sold by the guy I met there, so he didn't get any commission on it.

Purchased my 2005 millenium silver (BC pkg.#6) from Orland Toyota in Tinley Park, Illinois. The deal took less than 30 minutes and the credit check, etc. another 15-20 minutes (paid sticker - no more). I went there to have the oil changed on my wife's 1998 Corolla and came home a little over an hour later with a brand new Prius!

[img=left:2a4677d03e]http://www.uic.edu/depts/endo/Prius2.jpg[/IMG]

I had been corresponding with my dealership off and on for a few days (I bought 3 cars from them previously) and had an appointment to order a prius on a Thursday at 1:00. I was told there were none available for a test drive. By 1:20, I had test driven a Prius and by 1:30 was writing up the order. They had a blue one on the lot but I really wanted black or silver. After about 5 minutes into the order writing process, the sales manager came out of his sales meeting and said that a guy had ordered a black #6, just test drove it and decided he wanted silver instead. He was test driving at the same time I was as I saw the black beauty, and he was in the showroom with me so I know it was not a come on. At any rate, within another 30 minutes or so the dealing was done. The remainder of my 5 hour stay was spent listening to pitches about the extended warranty and pre-paid maintenance (I kept refusing), waiting for the car to be washed and fueled, and moving my stuff from my old car to the new. By 6:00 pm I was home with my new Prius! I paid cash plus put some on a credit card, so there was no financing stuff to go through. During that first 30-40 minutes, there were two other people in wanting a Prius. One was ordering, the other was test driving my black #6 (just before I said it was sold!).

I made my dealer wait for me.

Test-drove my Prius TWICE during the week, then stalled them over the Fourth of July weekend. Came back in on Tuesday after the holiday and finally bought it.