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California. Should I buy a '19 Prime now with $2500 incentives or wait until the end of the year?

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by PoundTown, Jun 6, 2019.

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  1. PoundTown

    PoundTown New Member

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    I'm looking to get a good deal on a 2019 Prius Prime. As I said, I live in California. The current incentive is $2500. I've been looking at past incentives and can't find much information. I have another car and can wait until the end of the year or January or whatever. Also will there even be inventory by then? I'm in Northern California. Looking for a Plus model. I've found that they had about $5000 off in December or January last year and the year before on a slickdeals thread, but that was for the North East and CA had only $1500 off. From manufacture rebates I guess. I guess there's also dealer cash off? I've never bought a new car before so any advice there would also be helpful. I know Costco does no-haggle pricing I was thinking about getting a Costco membership for this and hopefully get something around invoice price minus all the incentives I can get. But looking to get the cheapest possible new Prius Prime (ideally in metallic gray or whatever the dark color is) and I guess maybe because they changed up the 2020 a little there could be some better deals towards the end of the year. But I really don't know the best time to buy.

    Thank you all in advance. First post.
     
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  2. kevin.c

    kevin.c Member

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    $2500 is a pretty good rebate in CA, but you should wait if you can.

    The 2020 Prius prime is ~3 weeks away and it comes with a 5th seat. It’ll definitely have good incentives by the end of the year.
     
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  3. Luconi

    Luconi Junior Member

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    I bought a '19 plus over memorial day and negotiated for 3100 off on top of the 2500 cash ($5600 off MSRP) and did very well on my OTD price. This dealer really wanted to move cars.

    If you have the luxury of waiting then wait - I needed to get something new and it worked out well for me. I'm happy with the car and the price I paid.

    Don't forget that the 2020 is also $500 more than the 2019 model. If you don't really need the 5th seat or updated electronics I'd consider a better deal on a 2019. I actually like having the center console for the kids to keep their stuff organized in the back seat.
     
  4. PoundTown

    PoundTown New Member

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    Yeah that's what I'm thinking. But I'm worried there won't be any inventory. Also I think it was last year where the rebate was only $1500 in CA. I can definitely wait but don't want to miss out on a deal and then end up waiting another year for the incentives on the 2020.
     
  5. PoundTown

    PoundTown New Member

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    How did you mange to get 3100 off on top of MSRP? That sounds great. Congrats. Yeah I'm looking for the 2019, not looking to get a 2020. I'm just trying to figure out the best time to buy one and not have them run out of stock while I'm at it. I can wait, I've got an old car that I drive. Looking for a Plus. Is there any way I can check inventory in my area? Just check all the dealerships near me I guess? I can't just order one from Toyota and have it shipped to a dealership? Also good point about the increase in price for the 2020. Definitely seems like it's possible to get a good deal on a '19. But I don't want to buy one and then the next week or month they have a 5000 incentive or something. And I also don't want to wait to long and risk them running out of stock lol. So I don't really know what to do.
     
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    welcome!

    start emailing dealers, and asking for their best price on a car you like in their inventory.

    you should be able to get a great discount on top of the rebate. i doubt you will ever see a higher rebate in cali.
     
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  7. PoundTown

    PoundTown New Member

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    Thank you, I will do that
     
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  8. evpv

    evpv Active Member

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    And keep in mind that you can't use the 1.9% Toyota financing if you take the $2500 cash back from Toyota, so you'll have to secure your own financing or pay cash.
     
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  9. lextoy

    lextoy Active Member

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    my guess would be that in cali, you wont see better than 2500. but you can haggle for some dealer incentive on top of that.
    they run out of inventory. too many greenies out there buying up all the primes...lol
    if you want to wait AND go to the east coast to get the 5k rebate, i think you will see it there.
    of note, getting 5k manufacturers rebate kind of makes dealer tighten up, they only want to kick in 1 or 2k on top of a 5 k rebate...
    i think wether its 2.5k manufacturers and 3k dealer or 5k manufacturers and 1k dealer, there is a baseline price they wont sell the car below. also some dealers arent that interested in negotiating, they will wait for someone to come along and buy at closer to list price.
    thus no guarantee of getting 5-7k off your purchase. its a bit nerve wracking. if you are willing to come east to buy in december, wait. if not, go ahead and buy now, haggle for 5-6 k off the msrp...
     
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  10. PoundTown

    PoundTown New Member

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    Thank you, that's all very great information. But how is everyone getting thousands off MSRP? I emailed a few dealers and basically got them down to a little bit below invoice price (plus 2500 off from the current Toyota incentive). I can't imagine I can get them to take like 2-3 thousand off on top of that. From what I've read they only make maybe a few hundred from selling it at invoice. If I could get 5-6k off MSRP I would be ecstatic and buy it immediately.

    Here's the numbers from Costco of MSRP and invoice.

    Base $27,350 Invoice $26,257
    Options $0 $0
    Destination $930 $930
    Total $28,280 * Invoice $27,187

    Best I got was $27,100 including destination fee, so a little bit below invoice. But not including taxes and about $500 of other fees/title. That number doesn't include the 2500 off from the Toyota incentive. So with the incentive it was 24,700, and out the door with tax and title/fees it was 27,600. I could email all the dealerships but they all start their sticker price about the same on their sites and its hard to think that one of them will go a few thousand below actual invoice price.
     
  11. Luconi

    Luconi Junior Member

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    This. ^^^

    There are 3 very good times to purchase a car:

    1) End of year
    2) Memorial day weekend
    3) End of month.

    If you need a car soon, I would start emailing or calling all of them mid month and get their best price. Get the best quote and start asking other dealers to beat it. If they don't want to budge just stay on the sidelines until the last few days of the month and tell them you will buy today for the price. 99% of the time one of them will budge. Remember it's a game.

    Negotiate over the phone and email. Be polite but firm. Do not walk into the dealer until you have written out the door price you're happy with. I would figure out the out the door price you're willing to pay and negotiate from that.

    You're basically only going to show up at the dealer to sign the paperwork and hand them a check. If they want more than that, or won't hold to the deal, walk out.

    Try to find a "volume" dealer. It's usually a little easier to get a better price from a big dealer vs a smaller one.

    Dealers don't make as much on new cars and sometimes are willing to take a loss to hit a sales goal in order to get a bonus from the auto manufacturer.
     
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  12. kevin.c

    kevin.c Member

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    Where in California are you buying? This matters a lot
     
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  13. bamike

    bamike Junior Member

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    We are getting those discounts because we bought the car in December of last year or early this year, leftover 2018 models. Also, the big discounts were on the East Coast. I don't know about California but my impression is it's harder to get a discount. Some people actually flew to the East Coast Dealers to get a huge discount and then drove back.

    This website gives you an idea of discounts available now in MA on the east coast. It will increase at year end but it's a good basis to compare your pricing.
    Drive Green | Meet the cars
     
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  14. PoundTown

    PoundTown New Member

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  15. PoundTown

    PoundTown New Member

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    I see. Makes sense, thank you for the link.
     
  16. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    The discounts in the Northeast are to make up for the lack of government incentives in other states.
     
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  17. PoundTown

    PoundTown New Member

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    Yeah that's a good point and I thought the same. I think it ends up being a similar price in the end with the extra CA incentives. I'm trying to find a good price on one and may just buy it now to get the current 2500 incentive and not worry about the incentive going lower or having them run out of stock. It turns out to be a pretty good deal as it is.
     
  18. evpv

    evpv Active Member

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    I got $2100 off sticker on my Plus last month, and the $2500 from Toyota. South Coast Toyota in Costa Mesa, SoCal. Dianne Whitmire (Dealers & Pricing section of this forum) is excellent, no hassle, very knowledgeable. Got my carpool stickers yesterday, she applies for them in advance so you don't have to wait so long.
     
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  19. dcninenine8

    dcninenine8 New Member

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    can i ask what your OTD price was?
     
  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    wow, great deal for cali, go dianna!
     
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