For those wavering about buying a Prius....

Good luck next time bro. My deal was pretty hard and I have to admit that I might have been caught up in the moment, but I don't regret it at all.

 

Good for you. There are enough Prii around these days that I'm *sure* you can find a dealer that will work with you. If you can't, maybe consider selling the car privately? I notice you're in the Chicago area; maybe look at Grossinger Toyota (if you haven't already)? I have no personal experience with them, but Danny (the founder of this site) just got his Prius there, and they had a big event.

See this thread.

 

The first dealer I went to wanted to lowball me on my trade. I had done research, knew what KBB was and was prepared to walk. And that is just what I did, I walked out on the deal. 2 days later I went to a second dealer, they gave me $6000 more than dealer #1 and I drove the Prius home 2 days later...not 1-2 months later like dealer #1 said it would be.

It does pay to shop around, I am very happy with my deal and enjoyed the car buying experience over all.

 

Yup, I think you did the right thing. The worst thing you can have happen to you is regretting the deal you made, you then won't be happy with the car for quite a while until all of that washes out of your brain.

I was lucky and bought my used 02 Prius last April, right before the gas prices started to sky rocket. I couldn't believe the deal they gave me for my trade and was waiting like an impatient 2 year old to sign the papers before they could try and start dealing again. They actually gave me $2k for my 94 Explorer which I paid $1700 for at auction a year and a half before that. I was quite happy with the deal. I'm sure they made money on the car, which I also feel I got for a great/fair price, but both sides were happy.

Hang in there and I'm sure you will find the dealership that is willing to meet your terms, if you don't you may have too high of expectations on your trade. Do you have a Carmax in the area? If so, take it to them and get a free quote of what they will give you for your car.


dave

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hokie-Dave @ Aug 1 2006, 10:44 AM) [snapback]295666[/snapback]</div>

But you only told us half the deal. What were the specifics on the '02 you bought and how much did you pay?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(quagmire0 @ Aug 1 2006, 01:03 PM) [snapback]295713[/snapback]</div>

Well, I call it being a woman and shopping for a car by myself. <_< I figure they saw me and thought...there is no way she knows what her car is worth and she really wants a Prius so lets play with her.

Dealer #1 called me back the night before I was picking up my Prius from dealer #2. He asked if I had given any more thought to buying a Prius. I said actually I have and I pick up a package 7 tomorrow morning. I don't think I have ever heard a salesman stutter before. He was mumbling how he thought the service manager had offered me to0 little, yada, yada, yada, I said yes he did, I was offended and went to a dealer that respected me, my time and my money

 

Have you considered selling your car yourself privately? You might make more than that $400.

Good luck on your search. You are going to love this car.

 

If you are so determined to get more for your car, why not try to sell it? Honda Civic's should be easy to sell.

 

My dealer offered only $300 for my well maintained '98 Corolla because it had 203K miles on it. I refused their offer and took the Corolla and my brand new Prius home. I didn't want to sell the Corolla on my own so I took it to a lot... paid them a fee where they hold the car and show your car to potential buyers. In one week, it sold for $3300. I'm sure you can easily get MUCH more than $400 for a Honda Civic elsewhere.

 

I don't think they were offering him $400 for his car, I think what he meant was that was the difference in what he wanted, and what they were willing to pay.

 

Keep in mind that depending what state you are in it may not pay to sell it yourself - and the dealers know that. Take for example that you have a car that is worth $10K in trade, in New Jersey if you trade it in for that value it reduces the taxable amount on the new vehicle, so you save yourself $700 in sales tax. Thus, you would have to make more than $10,700 yourself just to break even on a private sale not to mention the added insurance for however long you keep the car, etc....

 

I just bought my '06 on 7/14/06. We were offered ~$500 for a '97 Grand Caravan SE that was in pretty good shape but had 125,000 miles on it and the Carfax report the dealer ran on it indicated it had been in an accident. I originally found this out when I brought it in for service one day at the local dealership (we bought it used, private sale w/53,000 miles in '00 or '01-I specifically asked the guy if it had ever been in an accident and he lied right to my face; he was the original owner-should've Carfax'd it-lesson learned). The guy at the dealership said it was repaired well and must have been because we never had any problems with it.
The salesman confided to us that we would do better selling it privately (ahem, DUH). I sold it within 18 hours for $2000 just by putting signs on it (we live on a main road) and pricing it very competively. I could have probably gotten more, but I wanted it to go quickly. The guy who came first gave me $400 and a request for a week to come up with the balance (which he did), but I told him I was keeping the signs on and taking names & #'s - we stopped after about 3 days and 10-12 back up offers.
If they would've come anywhere close to $2K at the dealership for trade in (which is what KBB said it was worth for trade), it would've been a done deal.

 

Wow, I am actually pretty surprised the dealership wouldn't work with you. When I went to get my Prius here in Arizona about two weeks ago I went in, told them how much my monthly payments would be and that if they could achieve that they'd have a sale. After a few hours (yeah, hours) of negotiation they eventually gave me $12,000 for my car which had about a $9.000 KBB price and got me where I wanted to be. Guess a lot of it depends on the individual dealer tho. Best of luck to you.

-Taath

 

Then, of course, there is the old trick of not bringing your trade-in into the picture until AFTER you have all the other negotiations locked in...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Renocat @ Aug 1 2006, 01:18 PM) [snapback]295719[/snapback]</div>

Bought my Prius on July 15.
I wanted to trade in a 2005 Maxima - loaded, after market stereo, not a scratch, with mounted snows. They had a 2004, with more miles and no extras, selling on the lot for the"no haggle price" of $21,000.
They offered me $14,000.
I was paying MSRP for the Prius, but that was all they were going to offer. EOM.
If I was smart, I would have called some of the other Toyota dealers around Maine.

Instead I paid cash for the Prius and yesterday sold the Maxima to a very nice woman for $19,000. She got a great deal and loves the car (6 speed - great car, only it gets 18 MPG city driving. So I tripled that w/ the Prius).
So that is $5,000 I saved. Sort of.
Ridiculous. And with the sales tax advantage, the government is pushing you to trade in for less.

SO TODAY I GET TO REGISTER MY PRIUS! YIPPEE!

Now to fix the audio. :blink: