Sunnyvale Toyota - Interesting CA only option

I think that almost surely means that is all HE has in stock. I would run from dealers that lie intentionally. I will put up with a few peices of missinformation due to lack of knowlege, but give me a break. When you enter your zip code into the Official Toyota Prius page, it is intended to offer you options available in your region. Also, I bet it wouldn't be too hard to find some dealers in CA that let you seach their stock on line to prove Sunnyvale wrong.

 

Q. How can you tell when a car salesman is lying?

A. His lips are moving.

 

Yes, but for the better, more honest sales people, their lying can euthamistically be called exagerating or missunderstanding. There are a lot of good sales people who will not intentionally flat out lie, but will provide there best understanding as a guess at an answer from time to time.

The more you know about the product yourself, the more you can recognize this. During a visit to the Portland Auto Show, I listened in on a conversation between Toyota salesman answering potential customers questions. I think the saleman meant well, but they were asking where the electric power comes from, and the salesman was saying the Prius makes its own energy without using the ICE to do it. When further questioned that the electric energy had to come from somewhere, he said the alternator. What alternator???? I was tempted to jump in and say that the radio antenna picks up the electric energy out of the air.

 

I have excellent results dealing with a salesman named "Lino" at Walnut creek honda. He is a straightforward honest person in a world of crooks. We have bought two cars from hom so far and have been very pleased.

Good Luck,

Montana Rane

 

No not true, but some dealerships will order more of a certain package if they think they can make more profit that way. So, that could be true at his dealership.

With the internets, you can often check new car inventory on the dealer website - so you can tell right away if he is BS-ing you. He is.

 

It's BS. There are three packages. Low, middle and full. Obviously he only had the full packages on the lot. In fact, I think you can get the highest either with or without leather. So if all he had was leather, he only had the very highest. Any way you look at it, he was BSing you. Call someone else.

 

LOL! That's what I tell people the parking guide does. It's a cell phone antenna attached to the front license plate. That it wirelessly sucks electricity in to recharge the car every time I drive under high power lines. You should see their faces. They buy it every time.

 

I've been shopping for a Touring edition, and it seems that the Touring only comes with Package # 6. Several dealers have told me that this is true for the entire west coast region, and Toyota's website seems to confirm this. But non-Touring's seem to come in most flavors.

 

Apparently, for Touring Prius in San Jose, CA, it is true that Pkg 6 is only option.

Go to 2008 Toyota Prius Hybrid Car Site

Then click on the "Shop" tab for pull down menu and select "Build Your Prius".

Enter a zip code for CA, which I used one for San Jose and clicki on "Go".

Check the "Touring" radio button and then click "Next.(check bubbles that you can only select one which deselects all others are called radio buttons even though the yonger set probably have never seen a radio with mechanical buttons like this)

At this point, you get a radio button for Option A but you cannot uncheck it. That is to say, the radio button is jamed. So there you have it. Option A is the only option which is Pkg 6 with leather. Beyond this, only minor options like floor mats and first aide kit.

Option A $4,175

• 50 state emissions (FE)
• Package #6-includes Smart Key System [1], backup camera [7], Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) [11], anti-theft system and auto-dimming rearview mirror with HomeLink® [6] universal transceiver, JBL® AM/FM 6-disc in-dash CD changer with nine speakers in seven locations, auxiliary audio jack, MP3/WMA playback capability, satellite radio capability [2] and hands-free phone capability via Bluetooth® [3] wireless technology, voice-activated DVD navigation system [4], and leather-trimmed seats and steering wheel (NR)

 

The OP made no distinction between Regular (non-touring) and Touring models. I find it hard to believe that only Package #6 is available in the South Bay. If that is true, then they should drive to Stockton or Sacramento to find what they want.

 

Yeah, you are right. Let me just clarify, I can imagine the OP might have gone to Sunnyvale dealer and said I am looking for a Touring Model Prius, and the salesman replies they are only available with leather seats. The salesman is referring to Touring, and the OP could assume he means all Prius. If the salesman wants to clear out a large inventory of Touring, or believes he can make a higher comission, he or she is not likely to feel compelled to make this reply perfectly clear by saying "The Touring is only available with leather seats". Anyway, it is dumb because customers shouldn't have to be forced to take leather to get the larger wheels if that is what they want.

 

I know that some dealerships do stock up on certain option packages and/or models depending upon what they think they can sell.

The dealership that I bought my Prius from has an online inventory:

http://maitatoyota.com/inventory/search.php/ID_maitatoyota/TYPE_new/SORTBY_price/MODEL_prius/PAGE_1/


They have 37 in stock, 4 of them are Touring. The lowest is $23,334(I'm guessing Package#1), the highest is $28,404 which is Touring Package #6.

Keep in mind that my MSRP for my non-touring #6 was $29538 in Feb 07. I paid $26,538 (3k under MSRP) + tax, license, etc.

So you may be able to deal with them because they have quite a few in stock right now.

 

My guess is that Mr Joe Salesman at the showroom level is not lying, he just doesn't know any better. And he doesn't know any better because it's not him ordering the Prius. That is probably done by someone in the dealership management team. The guy who orders the Prius has a choice of three packages and requests only the fully loaded one, because, well, he can make more money that way. Mr Joe Salesman gets told by his bosses that all they can get is a fully loaded with leather car, and that's what he tells you.

I say that from my current experience looking for a Prius with package 4 or 5. I called a few dealerships in a 50 mile radius and got very conflicting information on what packages are available from several dealerships. One dealership tells me they can get the Base Prius in package 2 or 3, but only Touring in 5 or 6, no package 4 available. One other 6 miles down the road tells me that Tourings only come in package 5 but package 4 or 5 can be had on Base models. If I bring up the Toyota website they tell me that in their dealership that's all they can get. I'd blame the management for the disinformation.

If were you I'd do the same and call a bunch of dealerships to find out what they have and can offer. I finally found a dealership that has exactly the Prius I want coming in on 10 April, only problem is that the dealership is 35 miles away from my target area. Not too bad for me if I want to be picky with options and color.

 

I can vouch for Walnut Creek Toyota - that's where I bought mine just a month ago. We dealt with Katie in the Internet Dept - she was awesome! Down-to-earth and as honest as I've ever seen a salesperson. I would buy again from her in a heartbeat. We left there feeling like we didn't have to take a shower after all the sleazy salesman at other dealerships that we had been dealing with before.

Walnut Creek Toyota is wonderful! We drove over 200 miles to go there!