more incentives 4/04/2007

I just got mine last Tuesday, thought I got a good deal, but this is pretty nice.

I don't see a Package 9, what is that?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(filiberti @ Apr 7 2007, 07:29 AM) [snapback]419331[/snapback]</div>

I just bought mine too, but I don't think we missed out on anything. Up until this there was promotional 2.9% financing which will tend to save about that much over standard interest rates. On top of that the tax credit was reduced on 4/1 by about $800 or so. My option package would have only been about $600 off, so I'm coming out pretty far ahead.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mightywhitee @ Apr 7 2007, 12:09 PM) [snapback]419396[/snapback]</div>

I bought my Prius last week $2,500 under MSRP (right at invoice). All these "incentives" are usually just gimics. Most of the time you can do just as good anytime by dealing a little. The tax credit and interest rates though usually are good to shop around - you can't bargain down to these.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prickly commute @ Apr 7 2007, 11:24 AM) [snapback]419448[/snapback]</div>

However, in this case the MSRP of the package #5 and #6 are dropping by $2000 (and the invoice on these will drop a little less than $2000 I'm thinking). For the typical shopper aiming to pay invoice, the $2000 is real savings that you couldn't bargain down before. So, for example, my 2007 invoiced at about $27000 and I paid $26500. Now that same car invoices at ~$25200, and I could have bought it cheaper still.

That said, this all needs to be tempered by the 0%/2.9% financing under the old incentives, and the $1575 tax credit we pre-April-buyers got. It's all good.

 

<div align="left">Invoice dropped by about $1,600 on a package 6. However, when you consider the loss of the tax credit and special financing most of us March buyers made out better than those buying in April. I am in the Central Atlantic region and got the 2.9% for 60 months. At the time, the best rate showing on Bankrate.com was 6.25%, so by financing the total amount of my package 6 purchase (including tax, tags, etc.) I will save more than $2500 in financing costs.

One thing to keep in mind is that production remains high for the Prius in this is next to last model year. Meanwhile the tax credit is completely phased out by the time the 2008 model year is selling. Barring a big sustained increase in gas prices my money says the incentives on the Prius will only get better in the next year.




<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(2bits @ Apr 7 2007, 05:24 PM) [snapback]419540[/snapback]</div>

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I also got the 2.9% 60 month in March, plus the bigger tax incentive. I'm happy with the decision to go for it. I think they just switch from financing to cash-back incentives to try to counter-act the drop-off they might see after the tax break declines.