Purchased Prius in Baltimore at $1200 off MSRP!

Well, we just returned home from picking up our Prius!

All in all it was a pretty decent experience. Actually, it was one of the smoothest automobile transactions I have had, with regard to the dealer.

Four weeks ago, I started out at the Maryland Toyota ddealer websites in search of our new Prius. We had test driven one at our "local" dealer but this dealer, I found makes it a practice of loading up their cars with a lot of added "extras" that I did not want or need. While the sales person was nice enough, I knew I would wind up spending more money than I wanted on a car of I bought through them. Anyway, I started asking for quotes through the internet from all of the local dealers for a package #6 while my husband went to our local credit union and secured financing.

We received quite a few quotes back, all at MSRP (not bad) except one: Castle Toyota in Baltimore City. They were quoting a whopping $1200 off of the MSRP! I coudln't believe it. I called up Greg Taylor, the Internet Sales Director, and basically asked him if the price was for real, and what's the catch. :lol: No catch other than the price was a VERY limited offer to the vehicles in stock. There were three, one with a package #6. I told hime we would be there that night. To make a long story short, we wound up not buying the vehicle that night because we couldn't come to terms with our trade-in. Not their fault, really. Our car had been in a major collision so we will never get a good price for our car.

We went home that night and drowned our sorrows in our beverage of choice and decided to just let it go. It was a good effort on our part. Then, my husband and I did some creative financing, and we both got raises at work B) So, three weeks later, we were ready to try again. I got a hold of Greg Taylor again, and told him we had re-evaluated our situation, and we were ready to buy a Prius. We were not trading a vehicle this time, and we had already secured financing. But we wanted to know:

1. Could he get us a Package 6, with grey interior in either Barcelona Red, Seaside Pearl or Magnetic Gray
2. Could we still get it for $1200 off of the MSRP?

Luckily, the answer to both was yes. We would have to wait a little for the car (he had two package 3's on the lot, but trading them [Dealer Exchange] around here is a big pain, apparently.) He said he had a Package 6 in Magnetic Gray coming in on the 8/30 shipment, and my husband and I agreed that would be a satisfactory vehicle. So we sat and waited.

Well, this afternoon, I decided to give Greg Taylor a call and see if everything was still a go for the 30th, and I was hoping that perhaps a VIN# cold be revealed and I would get our credit union on the path to getting a check cut for the dealer. Well! Apparently, the Magnetic Gray didn't make it on the order for the 30th. BUT his Sales manager managed to get us a Barcelona Red #6 with gray interior! Whoo hoo! It had just come in the previous night, wasn't even in the inventory yet so he hadn't called me. I beat him to it.

So, this evening, we went to the credit union, finalized the loan, got the check, went to the dealer. Greg Taylor had turned us over to the very capable hands of of our salesman named Marshall. Nice guy! Likes his Prius'! He made sure the car was gassed up and ready to go, went over all of the documnetation and warranties, showed me the cup holders and vanity lights and then it was off to the Finance guy.

Now, I was expecting to get a load of baloney at this point. I mean, here we are, we managed to get this car for $1200 off of MSRP, we weren't trading in a vehicle (so no profit to be made there), so I was expecting them to try REALLY hard to make up those $$ by trying to get me to buy all kinds of packages and extended warranties etc. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. They did their due diligence... they told me all what they had to offer. I politely declined and then we signed the paperwork, put the temporary tag on our car and away I went! Home with our new baby!

I got home and the first thing I did was get myself a cold beverage and started reading the owner's manual. :lol: Who would have thought that would be so exciting, eh?

Anyway, we are very happy with our sales experience. We would wholeheartedly recommend our dealer, and the two sales persons who took good care of us. They said to feel free to send others their way... they have more Prius' in stock!

 

Woops. Sorry 'bout that...

If it's any consolation... believe it or not, Maryland has quite a few 2006's still hanging around the lots. Many of them are pkg 3's & 6's. (You can only get packages 3, 6, 7 & 8 in the Central Atlantic region. Also, no black. That went away when the Magnetic Gray came along.)

And even some dealers will DX them to other dealers within the region (It's how I got mine.) So, if you are in MD/DC/PA, give them a ring and tell them you want $1200 off the MSRP too! :lol:

I can see it now... Greg Taylor will be hearing a lot of whining on the other end of the line, "But you gave M Smith $1200 off MSRP...)

 

My husband has told people that my hobby is purchasing new cars from auto dealers. A lot of family and friends will "enlist" me to help them get a good deal on their new car purchases.

Hubby told his buddy that the only reason we bought a Prius was because I had heard that folks were paying thousands over MSRP and I love a challenge. :lol:

 

Yeah, that's our state govt. for ya.

Thankfully, if you are military, you can get around that. If you buy a car in another state, and register it there, you do not pay that fee if you are active duty military. They did that so that us poor schmucks who get transferred every three years would be't be forced into bankruptcy or sell and purchase a new car each time we move.

Hire myself out? Nah... I just like educating folks. My younger sister was in awe when I told her she could negotiate all sort of crap. "You mean the extended warranty price is negotiable? I don't have to pay for dealer advertising fees?" But think it's two fold: You have to know what is and what is not negotiable, and you have to have the [ahem] brass accessories to tell the Finance guy when it's time to fill out the paperwork. You do pick your battles. I wasn't paying for any dealer prep, advertising etc. To me that's all in the cost of doing business. But the Dealer Processing fee (which was only $99 with the dealer I went with) was something I was O.K. paying. They were providing me a service by processing all of my paperwork so I didn't have to go to MVA. That alone was worth the $99. :lol:

 

Yeah, the packages are availabe regionally. I don't know the rhyme or reason behind it...

Colors too. Once the Magnetic Gray came out in May, the Black wasn't availabe for the Mid Atlantic region anymore, go figure.