Prius Prime - official prices paid thread

correct on the fed. check the cali code to be sure, i thought it was the place of registration, but maybe they are trying to support the dealers. if that's the case, fly out here for 4k off plus better discounts. or buy and have shipped.

 

You may not be phrasing the question correctly. You should ask "What is the maximum I can put on a credit card toward the purchase?" I usually get anywhere from $2k to $3k on a credit card, including both 2017 Primes I purchased at different dealers. The 2012 PIP I used Toyota Financing only because of a $2k credit if I did. The credit was applied to the purchase price. I paid it off in one month to avoid financing charges.

 

I don't think you read the post that I quoted. The OP has already financed the car. OP was planning to pay off loan with a 0% credit card. So I said I wasn't sure if Toyota Financial will let you do that. I've only dealt with VW, Ford, and Hyundai and none of them will let you pay your monthly payment using a credit card.

I was shocked when the dealer that sold my Prime let me pay for it all using a credit card. So I had to split $22,000 over 3 credit cards. Got about $330 cashback that way.

 

My wife and I brought home our Prime Premium a few days ago. Only add-on is all weather mats.

Our final, out the door price with all fees was $24,608. No money down or anything.

 

Yeah. Turns out Toyota Financial does not want to make it easy for consumers to get a better financing deal. They do not accept credit cards at all, not even for your regular monthly payment. In my case it's not a big deal because I can just pay the whole thing. I'm just disappointed that I won't get to float the balance on 0% for a few months and collect the interest. In my case I'm missing out on about $326 that money could have earned in interest over the course of paying it off.

Losing $326 is far less bad than the $4,000 in interest I would pay if I just paid the payments for 5 years.

What I like to do is pay off the loan up front and then pay myself the car payments (to savings). Then I end up with the $4,000 extra, not to mention the bonus ~$500 in interest that money earns in my bank account instead of Toyota's. Then I have the cash to buy another car when need be.

 

And you paid off that $22K within a grace period with cash?

 

Yes, it would be counterintuitive to not pay off within the grace period right? I don't know about you but I'd rather not give credit card companies 16.9%.

Oh, if anyone wants a good credit card, get a Citi Double Cash card. 2% cash back, 2 year extended warranty, price protection, no annual fee. I think there is a $100 sign-up bonus. But remember, don't buy things on a credit card unless you can pay it all off next month.

 

Apologies for misreading your OP. I used to work for a credit card company, so I am surprised the dealer allowed the full price to be charged to credit cards. I have seen this with used cars, but never a new car except for exotic cars. Based on the fees he had to pay for $22,000 in charges, he likely lost at least $220 ( 1%) or the same $330 (1.5%) you saved. BTW I regularly churn credit cards for the sign up bonus. If I knew ahead of time a dealer would take a cc for the full purchase price, I would have either negotiated the price down some more and paid in cash or come in with three or four new cc's with huge bonuses for spend in the first few months. I just used one for $600 in travel credit for $4000 of charges in 90 days, just got two other airline cc sign up bonuses (what I used for my Prime purchases), typically worth $500 to $600. When the annual fee comes due, I cancel if they can't offer another incentive. Note that my FICO only temporarily dips by acquiring and canceling recently acquired cc's.

In a travel blog I frequent, it was considered the holy grail to get a finance company (usually mortgage) to take credit cards for payments. There was a loophole for a while when you could buy a gift card at Walmart, walk over to customer service, buy a money order ($0.40 cost at the time), pay for it with the gift card and then pay your finance company with the money order. I used to rent tools at Advance Auto, where you had to pay a deposit and they would take a credit card, but when returning the tool, would ask how you wanted the refund and even gave cash if requested. Although finding something like this is getting rarer, it is still possible, but to do it regularly before someone wises up and shuts it down takes some ingenuity and luck.

 

These are still the best prices I've found in the NY area. Just debating to go for it, or wait to see if the rebate will jump to 5k in Dec. It a risk i guess. Was hoping for some type of black friday bump, but that appears to only happen in the NE area.

 

Waiting for December incentives may be a good bet, with gas prices very low and lots of Primes in inventory.
I got an email quote last week from Balise in Warwick, RI, on a 2018 Prime Premium. I assume TTL and freight adds $1500-2000 to the below.
MSRP $30,562
INVOICE $29,671
DISCOUNT -$5,640
BALISE E-PRICE $24,921

 

I’m in Long Island, NY, and I was told by the dealer that it’s a $5100 Toyota rebate PLUS the $4500 tax rebate on top of that, for a total of $9600 in savings… Is that not the case??

 

Sounds right.
4000 Toyota rebate
1100 NY Clean air rebate
4502 federal rebate

don't let that stop you from getting them to lower the price off MSRP more on top of that.

 

I’m really wondering what it takes to get that full $4500 tax rebate…

 

you need to have a tax liability of $4500 or more for the year, to get benefit of the tax credit/rebate.

 

Oh ok… May I ask how I find out what my tax liability was for, let’s say, 2017’s tax year? So I can get a rough estimate? In other words, what line do I need to look at on my 2017 tax form to see what my tax liability is?

 

If you're looking for a definitive answer, it's around $51,000 according to the 2018 tax brackets: New: IRS Announces 2018 Tax Rates, Standard Deductions, Exemption Amounts And More

If you have other tax credits, you'll need more income or Roth IRA conversion so contact a tax expert if you have any questions.

 

So all I need is to make a total year income of around $40,000 to get the full tax credit? Because I make around 41-42k.

 

Any other readers with a similar question, should continue to the other thread. $40k is not enough for the full credit, it looks more like $51k.

Understanding the Prius Prime Tax Credit? | PriusChat

 

depends on your situation

 

Picking up my brand new 2018 Prius Prime Premium today! $26,300 out the door. Not too shabby