-$2,568 MSRP - XSE Premium w/Solar (30 Sep 2024)

• 2024 Prius Prime XSE Premium from Toyota of Santa Barbara (California)
• Color: Guardian Gray (01M2-22)
• It has 12 miles and it's "on the ground" at the dealership
• Base MSRP: $39,670
• Incentives: Toyota Military Discount ($500 - verified online)
• Add-Ons (with codes and pricing)
  • Factory-Installed Options ($2,245)
    • GX Solar Charging Roof ($610)
    • DV Digital Rearview Mirror ($200)
    • LX Advanced Technology Package (Panoramic View Monitor & Advanced Park) ($1,085)
    • SD Heated Rear Seats ($350)
  • Port-Installed Options ($368)
    • EF. Rear Bumper Applique ($69)
    • 2T. All-Weather Floor Liners and Cargo Liner ($299)
  • Dealer-Installed Options
    • Simonize exterior and interior (free but without lifetime warranty)
    • Edge and cup guards bumper guards (included in sales price)
  • Delivery Processing and Handling: $1,135 (standard for all Toyota Prius Primes)
• Pricing Breakdown
  • "Total Advertised Price" with everything above: $43,418
  • minus dealer markdown of $2,568 = $40,850 "Cash Price Vehicle"
  • Document Processing Fee: $85
  • Sales Tax $3,786.49. (~8.25%)
  • Electronic Vehicle Registration (DMV Desk): $33
  • Total Cash Price: $44,754.49
  • Paid to Public Officials
    • CA Vehicle License Fee: $266
    • Registration Fee: $311
    • CA Tire Fee: $8.75
    • Other "California": $20
    • Total: $605.75
  • Sub-total so far: $45,360.24
  • Manufacturer's Rebate (military): -$500 (or a student discount)
  • Plus my $5,000 cash downpayment = $5,500 total down
  • Amount to be financed via Toyota @ 7.62%, so $39,860.24
  • Total Finance charge if I were to pay off this car over 5 years: $8,199.16 (but I'll pay this off shortly to avoid these charges)
  • Total Payments: $39,860.24 + $8,199.16 = $48,059.40
  • Total Sale Price: $53,559.40, including the $5,500 downpayment and 5 years of finance charges
  • Total I'll pay: $45,360.24 (no finance charges)

Credit to the outstanding sales and finance team: Yan (internet sales director) and Rick (finance) and Mikey (connected services). To give credit where credit is due - Toyota of Santa Barbara made this entire sale happen within 4 hours from over 250 miles away, from first phone call to me downloading my signed documents.

After seeing that the 2025 models will be identical except for new badging ("Prime" to "PHEV"), I knew to move on the outgoing 2024 models, particularly on the last night of the month and the quarter (30 September 2024). It's ironic that just 2 months ago these were selling in the San Francisco Bay Area for $3,000, $5,000, $7,000, and $10,000 over MSRP.

How I got here
I needed to replace my daughter's (now totaled) 2017 Chevrolet Volt. We own 3 of them (2 were 2016 models), and a 2018 Chevrolet Bolt. We loved all of them, and never thought we'd ever buy an American car after loving our Honda and Toyotas over the years. But we did, and Chevrolet made a huge mistake (IMHO) by dropping the PHEV Volts. But their local service was crap. Nice people, and the service guy did what he could, but we would need to drop off our Volt(s) for repairs for a month+ at a time, and it just go to be too much hassle. We got our Bolt's battery swapped out after the massive recall, so we're happy with that and my wife continues to love that car. But we were ready, and needing, something new.

So I assembled a 1,155-cell spreadsheet (31c x 35r) analyzing different used cars from online to I could have objective data across all makes and models. Car and Driver rankings and awards, costs, mileages, gas tank ranges, MPG, purchase location and distance from my house, tire costs, tire sizes, etc. Then assigned weights to my topics (range was high up on my list, along with MPG and mileage and year of make), added up all the standardized information, and then divided them all by their respective prices to create a quick ratio, and sorted them. Hyundai's Elantras and Sonatas topped my list of used cars (I tried to stay under $20,000), followed by Kia Fortes and Nissan Altimas. I only picked cars that cars online listed as "great values" and were within 3 years old and were within California to whittle down my list. I included all makes and models to compete on my list. Most were Korean, then some Japanese cars. Volkswagon and Chevrolet only made the list once. Hondas were rare, probably because their asking prices were over $20,000 since people really love those cars. Ditto for Toyotas.

Then I got to thinking: Since we loved the PHEV Volts so much, and since the better and newer cars were getting so close to their original asking price, I figured let me allow Toyota and Honda to compete on my list by adding their NEW cars to the list and seeing how they stack up against my weights and priorities. Damn - the Toyota Prius, even with its 2x pricing, came out on top. Why? Probably because of the high combined mileage range, the brand-new model year (2024) which means full 3-yr warranty, top Car and Driver & KBB & Edmunds rankings, and near-zero mileage.

So I began a full-court press looking for a 2024, Guardian Gray Prius Prime XSE Premium. I identified 67 Toyota dealerships in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Texas, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Arizona. I tracked their internet sales director's names and email addresses, dealership addresses, etc. I really liked the idea of the solar charging roof (2-8 miles added per sunny day), so narrowed my search to include that. Seems like the only 2024 solar options remaining were all in Guardian Gray. Top internet sales dealership kudos to go San Francisco Toyota for being the first with complete Out-the-Door (OTD) pricing and straight-forward email communications. Next kudos go to Manhattan Beach (CA) Toyota for their straight-shooting OTD offers and good communications via email. Chula Vista Toyota had exactly the car I was looking for, but it wouldn't arrive for another month and their follow-up never happened.

Then I contacted Toyota of Santa Barbara. "Yan" is their internet sales director. She's young (i.e. genuine and truthful) as a recent UC Santa Barbara graduate. She's head-and-shoulders more articulate than any other sales person I'd interviewed. She communicates well, both written text and emails, and spoken words. She understands punctuation, grammar, and spelling. No, I'm not kidding - she's a rare find. To be fair, when I dealt with finance directors or sales managers they were, far and away, more mature and genuine and articulate than the sales people they'd rather shove you off to. They were often more direct and very respectful, but busy. After Yan was able to convince her sales mgr to match another dealership's $2,568-off-MSRP pricing, we began the sales process for their XSE Premium with solar. Rick was efficient and professional and polite with his financial processes and presented all the paperwork I needed to sign online for convenient and quick signing. He made his pitch for the extended warranties, but I declined since we purchased them in the past and have never used them (to our fault). Mikey will help with setting up Toyota's connected services. I'll take an Amtrak train down to Santa Barbara from Salinas ($59) on Friday to go pick up the car. So far, very happy with my sales experience at Toyota of Santa Barbara.

 

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Hi Julio, Yes, that's a good point. We're happy NFCU and USAA members. I've also gone with USAA in the past to reduce the paperwork with both the car loan and car insurance, but this was a unique scenario.

Because I was negotiating for thousands of dollars below MSRP and could otherwise afford to pay for the car in full (from a previous car sale, savings, and other sources), I knew I needed to give the dealership some way to justify eating into their holdback (2% for Toyota dealerships), real estate fees, marketing fees, etc., that Toyota pays every dealership.

So my strategy was to offer to use whatever Toyota financing loan scheme they'd like so the financing mgr could justify the initial loss of profits, mainly since Prius Primes were selling as recently as this summer for thousands over MSRP. So, by the end of October, I'll pay off the loan, thereby avoiding the five years and $8,199.16 in financing fees.

Could I have instead placed the money in a better investment vehicle to make a 1% - 2% profit over the 4% NFCU loan? Yup. But not having to move money around, immediately recoup $8,199.16 for new investments, and endure five years of monthly $800.99 payments when we already have the cash was the (admittedly rare) scenario I liked better.

This way, both the dealership and I feel like we made out.

1. They eked out one more car sale during the final 3 hours of the month (and quarter) to help their standing among competing dealerships and pump up whatever quota they were shooting for,
2. I got a great car at a $3,068 discount, and
3. Toyota moved another car off their books.

I'm happy to give the dealership my business (glad to support the local economy), I'm delighted for the family and me, and yet, somehow, I don't feel one ounce of regret that the multi-billion dollar corporation will lose out on my measly (to them) $8,199.16 in finance fees over the next 5 years.

 

Here's what I sent out this afternoon to the 67 dealerships with whom I approached to make a deal.


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To all 67 Toyota dealerships on this thread (blind-copied for email courtesy), from California (mostly), Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, Connecticut, and New Jersey.


I have found and purchased a Prius Prime XSE Premium (Guardian Gray with solar charging roof) from Toyota of Santa Barbara for $2,568 off MSRP + $500 military veteran discount. To set the context, here in the San Francisco Bay Area, Prius Primes, just two months ago, was going for $3,000, $5,000, $7,000, and $10,000 over MSRP. With last week’s announcement that the 2025 Prius models will be nearly identical except for the new PHEV badging, that’s when I knew I should act quickly.


Honorable mentions:

• Toyota of San Francisco (Jacky Ma) for being the first to respond to my request and for offering out-the-door (OTD) pricing, as I had requested. I would do business with him anytime.
• Manhattan Beach Toyota (Gabriel Stitt) was incredibly responsive and aggressive with pricing, one of the few who was. They were also blessed by having many Prius Prime XSE Premium models from which to choose, a benefit they held over most dealerships. They were the first to introduce me to solar charging roofs, which became one of my defining criteria. I would do business with him anytime.
• Toyota of Chula Vista (name redacted) had precisely the Prius Prime I was looking for (Guardian Gray, solar, XSE Premium), but we simply couldn’t consistently and reliably connect. I was ready to purchase their car, but they lost the deal to Toyota of Santa Barbara, who was incredibly responsive.

If you’re wondering why Toyota of Santa Barbara won my business (for your training sessions, perhaps), here are some thoughts on which to reflect:

• First of all, kudos to Yan (Internet Sales Director), Rick (Finance Manager), and Mikey (Toyota Services Connector). Let me explain how they were different.
  • Toyota of Santa Barbara has appropriately and effectively empowered their Sales and Finance teams to act swiftly, jointly, and authoritatively.
    • We (including Rick from Finance) went from my first phone call to her at 5 PM to a signed contract with Rick (with a Toyota-financed loan) in my hands within 4 hours, all from 250 miles away, on the last night of the month and the quarter (30 Sep) while they were slammed with other customers. Very impressive.
    • Yan is a UC Santa Barbara graduate with a BA in Psychology and a minor in videography. She is articulate, young, and genuine. She understands how to use punctuation, grammar, and spelling. She is technology savvy (like with texting and email). She’s responsive, probably because she lives with technology as a young person. Yes, this made a massive difference for me.
    • Rick followed up with all the necessary paperwork, loan documents, identify verifications, military validation via ID.me (for the $500 discount), fees and payments ($5,000 down in cash via credit/debit cards), and the obligatory extended warranty pitch which I declined.
  • Mikey will set up the car for Toyota remote services. I’ll take the Amtrak train to Santa Barbara on Friday and drive away that night.

Some suggestions from a new Toyota customer:

• Please stop your salespeople from emailing janky-nice person videos introducing themselves. They’re embarrassing. They make Toyota and your dealerships look sappy. I get that you want to connect with potential customers. Ask your young staffers how they might do that better via online services.
• Purchase Grammarly for your sales staff to effectively proof customer communications before they embarrass your dealership or Toyota.
• Speaking of connecting with customers: Look at your “Meet our Team” pages. I did. They’re vastly under-utilized and out of date.
  • You’ve got people on there who no longer work for you. Or you list “Internet Sales” people but have no way of connecting with them using the internet (like email).
  • Savvy customers don’t want to go through the corporate Toyota Sales portal, where we’ll be sliced and diced by AI algorithms for future marketing spam drives, etc.
  • And we don’t want to “Talk with an Associate.” That’s why we’re going through your “Internet Sales” person if you even have one. Tip: Identify your “Internet Sales” person and provide multiple means of getting to them. And make sure they’re empowered to act swiftly and authoritatively (like Yan was for me).
  • It was strange how the sales managers would email me asking if a Sales Associate had connected with me. It demonstrated a disconnect within the sales team, the lack of technology savviness, and a breakdown in communication and collaboration.

I get that you know your market(s) and your local customers, so you may decide to disregard my comments above. But suppose you want to excel at selling Toyota cars in the modern age. In that case, dealerships need to up their game in a more profound, effective manner that significantly increases collaboration and not just communication. It isn’t easy—I get it. (I teach about team building and leadership for DOD senior leadership, including Admirals and Generals.)


Best,
A new Prius Prime XSE Premium owner

 

Many thanks to these top 5 outstanding YouTubers who provided meaningful, detailed, objective, and subjective insights that helped me make a much more informed purchasing decision.

• MKBHD: Opened the door for me to the new, "sick" Prius.
• Scotty Kilmer: Hysterical, savvy, opinionated, practical, insightful, educational mechanic who's big on Toyota and Honda
• Car Care Nut: Calm, wise, master-certified Toyota mechanic explains complex car features in a simple, intuitive manner
• SavageGeese: Slick, intense, thoughtful driving and subjective insights with extremely high standards
• AutomotivePress: Automotive engineer measures paint thickness in microns and uniform panel tolerances in millimeters