1st Prius - 2011 Prius III Bought Yesterday But Only After Major Haggle

Honestly, I don't know...Why would you bother ordering a car and waiting if you can find the car you want from an inventory of 42 at one dealer or 40 at another or 60 at another? Chances are that you will find your car in someone's inventory.

 

To answer your question, yes. A buyer can order according to their specificiation and wait. The wait is the problem especially now that Toyota Prius production is restricted. From a U.S. dealer's perspective, waiting for a production car is a chance that the buyer will cancel and go somewhere else. It's all about inventory in this country. IMO

Normally, try and make the sell from their inventory. If the dealer doesn't have what the buyer wants, the dealer locates from other inventories or from the distributor. All for the sake of not loosing the sale.

 

We went through a different kind of hale hassle in March when Toyota was advertising a $1999 down/$189 per month lease special... we called and visited several dealers in the Atlanta area trying to find a base 2011 Prius that fit the ad. All of the dealers had some kind of added "protection plans" or other gimmicks to try to raise the downpayment from hundreds to thousands of dollars. We stuck to our guns and walked out... one dealer called back and gave us the exact deal we wanted. Buyers rule.

 

Good negotiating! Ask and you shall receive; most of the time.

 

Bought ours for sticker price, which matched internet price and other dealers offers.

 

For what it's worth, gap insurance is a legimitate product that can be useful in some situations. Say you buy a new car for $27,000 and put little or no money down, then, two months later your car is totaled in an accident. The insurance company will only give you the current market value of your car and a used (albiet slightly) car will be worth several thousand less than a new car, so you won't be able to pay off your loan with the proceeds of the insurance claim and you'll be left owing money on a car you no longer have. If you have gap insurance it will kick in and pay off the rest of the loan for you.

Now, if you put down a decent amount on the car then you won't ever owe more than the car is worth and you won't have a need for gap insurance.

Also note that you do have options on the gap insurance... the company making the loan will offer it and most insurance companies also offer it. If you do want to get this then it pays to shop around a bit.

 

Happened to my customer about 6 mo. ago. Oncoming driver went left of center & totaled his 2010 Prius V. Insurance gave him $3200 less than payoff, so it came out of his pocket. Didn't get GAP on the replacement either.

 

True, I'd take it a step further and even if you negotiated down to your target price and haven't played the I'm going to walk card, tell them thanks but you need to sleep on it and get up. Then they will come back with the "what will it take for you to close the deal today?" and you save a little more.

Another tip, especially if you're trading in: Do your homework and come up with the monthly payment you should be paying if financing if you get the deal you want. Also calculate the monthly payment if you put a $1000 down, if you get the car for $1000 below your target price and if you get the car for $1000 above the target price. Work with those numbers when negotiating.

The reason why is the dealer may try to BS you on your trade in, or with fees not well explained, or it just saves you from having to recalculate sales tax every new deal they come up with. Eliminate all that and just tell them "I need to pay $X as my monthly payment, that is my budget". It is so much easier just to work with that number since there is nothing they can hide.

 

Congrats on your new car Lisa.

I am curious: you wrote that you put a deposit down before driving to the dealership. Did you receive a receipt in return that showed price details ?

 

Can I ask why you didn't negotiate the interest rate at the dealer? This is an often overlooked bargaining chip. tell the dealer you're preapproved at xyz credit union or another dealership but you want that rate straight from them. it's too bad 0% is gone from the dealers on prii now, but you can still negotiate down on that rate and spare the re-fi fees....