My Prius buying experience so far...

Where are you located? I assume you're in a more rural area but most rural areas are at least within a couple hour drive of a city... If I was you I'd test drive the one the one dealer has... then hit the phone and talk to the fleet managers at a handful of the dealers in the closest city. Do all the negotiating on the phone and get a fax/email copy of their offer if you can. Tell them you're planning on driving "all the way there" to pick it up so you want something in writing. Use this to negotiate the price with the others. Then plan a day trip.... it's going to save you thousands in the long run so it'll be worth it.

Mike

 

Well, since you haven't told us what area you are in, it is hard for us to offer suggestions.

You might go to toyota.com and do the "build your Prius" there... you put in your zip code and then dealers will email you quotes. You might consider putting in a zip code for a larger metropolis area, and get quotes from more dealers. You could carpool/ride a bus/fly to the area, get your Prius, and drive it home.

 

Ever take the family on vacation? maybe visit Central Florida since if it nice weather right now and lots of stuff to do here. We have many dealers here and lots and lots of cars available. There are so many here that the dealers fight each other to see who gets your business.

Just a thought! :bump2:

 

When the 2nd Gen Prius came out, I went to a Toyota dealer in Riverside, CA. to trade my 1st Gen in for it. Long story short, I wanted a base model (having waited 3 Months for my first Prius to ship, I was willing to wait again). They wanted to sell me a loaded model. The sales manager came up to my sales guy and told him that I'm just wasting his time.
One email to Toyota and these guys were calling me willing to give me anything I wanted. I was so soured by the experience, though, that I decided to keep my 1st Gen (until it died last month).

 

Thats been my experience with Toyota dealers, I have never encountered the outright lying experience from dealers like I have with Toyota dealers, they have really put a sour taste in my mouth about buying a Toyota. I love the car, but I'd seriously consider another brand over Toyota because of the dealers, and I dealt with 8 dealerships in 3 different cities.

 

from above post "I have never encountered the outright lying experience from dealers like I have with Toyota dealers"

same here

told mee that for mee there are enough people to buy so if i don't buy don't care kind off attitude!

and stil asking outrageous prices for models out off warranty do to age or miles driven

at the end i got my car form a different country all together! for really good price

i am so agry about it that i now also go abroad for my maintenance

 

It's funny, I never really thought of this before until I read the last two posts. When I initially went into the local Toyota dealer the first time I asked for a car brochure. They replied, "we don't stock brochures because Toyota's sell themselves and therefore the literature is a wasted expense". I thought that was crappy but forgot about the incident until now. Those jerks. :rant:

 

I've seen 10-20 sitting at LA dealers. I got mine in Jan 06 thru carsdirect.com. The same day I filed with carsdirect, they found one at a dealer 50 miles away, I made the drive, wrote the check and was out of there in 45 minutes. Don't know where you are, but give it a try. Its free. Why wait and get all frustrated, there are lots of ways to buy a car.

 

Where I live there are plenty of Prii on the dealer's lots, not sure why. At any rate, I went on edmunds.com, and did the e-quote thing, where you fill out what you want and edmunds will contact dealers near you that have the car you want. As expected, they all contacted me but no quotes, so I asked each for a quote. I got quotes of 22,900, 22,500 and 22,400 for an '08 package 2. Went to the dealer that gave me the lowest quote. The saleswoman was very nice but wouldn't budge on the price and more, but it was a fair price so i went with it. Very smooth. Had I not gotten the prices I wanted I at least had three quotes in hand that I could use to leverage the other dealers.

 

You've apparently never been to a Ford dealership We owned two Ford Contours, which we loved, but man were the dealerships awful. Corporate wasn't any better really, they really destroyed those cars. We had a '96 SE V6 Sport 5sp, and it was a great car. Euro designed, US built, great quality, very fun to drive. When we bought our '99 it was like a totally different car. They had moved the SE from the SVT/US built platform to the GL Mexican built platform (aka, the rental car platform), the sport package had basically become a badge rather than a suspension, they had dropped the 5sp, and material quality had plummeted. It was an ok car, but what a disappointment knowing how good it had been. We had very few problems, but for the odd recall or warranty repair we had to take the car in to be diagnosed, pick it up while they ordered parts, and then take it back to have the work done on every single occasion. And thats even after making an appointment and telling them specifically why we were bringing it in and what TSB or recall number we were bringing it in for. Same exact experience at 6 dealers in 3 states.

That aside, the only nice experience we ever had buying a car was at a Land Rover dealer. They were only nice because they were over charging us by several thousand dollars, but we really wanted a factory certified. Given the amount of work it needed, we made the right choice. Still, they were always really nice

Rob

 

Where I ended up buying my car, the dealer literally almost refused to take my money, they were real close to demanding that I take their credit offer, which was much higher than my bank, claiming that its only a few dollars more.

I almost walked out I was so pissed, then when I wouldn't budge, they demanded that I go down to my bank and bring back a check, which is not the accepted practice, but I wanted the car, so I told them I would go, but don't expect a check. My banker called them and read them the riot act, after that, they literally threw the keys at me when I returned, had me sign the papers and I was persona non grata after that, they didn't even show me anything about my car, and sent me on my way with no temp license plate, noticed it down the road and had to go back.

 

I've dealt with Ford dealerships, Jeep dealerships, and now a Toyota dealership. The reality is all they want is your money and they're willing to say or do anything to get it. I have NO respect for car salesman, new or used.

Here's one for ya:
Q: How can you tell when a car salesman is lying? (scroll down)
































A: His lips are moving.

I think that sums up my position on the matter.

 

I've only ever bought two cars and both were from the same Toyota dealer. I've had no problems with them. You can tell that they want you to be happy with them so you will bring the car to them for service and also come back to buy your next car from them.

 

Consider yourself lucky then, I had very similar experiences in San Antonio and Houston, Toyota by far has the worst dealerships, and I know, I've bought plenty of cars over the years, had some ok dealerships, some barely ok, and some great ones, but in 8 Toyota dealerships, not one I would consider again.

 

You have never expeirenced lies until you deal with Cramer Toyota in Venice, FL

 

Following some very bad experiences when purchasing new cars I purchased a new 1997 Honda Civic. That was my first experience at a Honda dealer. Since then I purchased a 1999 Odyssey when they were in short supply and high demand, and then a 2003 Honda C-RV. There were two Honda dealers involved, one in Simi Valley and the other in Thousand Oaks, CA. All three purchase experiences were pleasant events. In fact I had used the edmunds.com calculations to determine what I would be willing to pay for the 2003 C-RV which was about $18,400. The dealer had a weekend sale and were offering the exact model we were looking for for only $17K.

After 11 years dealing with Thousand Oaks Honda I can only say they are a class act. Their service department is top notch, and the sales people were never pushy or dishonest. I'm paying dealer prices for service and I know I could do better at a small independent shop, but I trust Honda and they have been very good to me. Honda has twice paid, or partially paid, for things to be fixed well beyond the warranty period.

The Toyota dealer in Thousand Oaks has a bad reputation so I generally stay away. However when searching for the Prius I did stop there a couple of times. My experience there was of high pressure sales and dealer add-ons. They wanted me to pay $96 for door guards - those plastic strips that can be purchased at an auto supply dealer for $10. All their cars had them GLUED onto the doors and they wouldn't remove them or take the charge off. So I went to another dealer.

The Simi-Valley dealer (across the street from the great Honda dealer) had me in the sales department for 3 HOURS to close the deal. I walked in telling them they had the car I wanted, I was willing to pay $25,000 out the door. That was my 30 second speech for the next three hours while they shuffled papers and offers back and forth between the salesman and manager. What a crock. I walked out with the car and paid $25,149. If they had told me their bottom line was $149 over my price at the beginning I would have been willing to pay right away. But we went down from $28K in small increments. Every time I would repeat my number $25K.

I wish the Honda Civic Hybrid was an equivalent car to the Prius - it isn't. My experience with Honda has spoiled me and I would be glad to buy from them again. The Civic (non-hybrid) was a tempting alternative several thousand dollars cheaper but the Prius was simply a nicer car.

My first service at the Toyota dealer in Oxnard CA was not bad, but it fell short of any and every service I had at Honda over 11 years. The Toyota dealer underestimated how long I would have to wait for my 5,000 mile service, then slightly messed up delivering the car to me at the end of the service. I asked the service manager about a ticking noise but he said the Prius shouldn't make any noises. Obviously he didn't now as much about the car as one could read in the operators manual.

The jury is still out with me and Toyota dealers. But I have to say Toyota is still way better than any experience I had with American car dealers in the past. Perhaps they have improved but I'm soured on American quality and service.

jd

 

Thats just how it usually is with cars. Grreat cars go together with so-so dealers it seems. My dealer David Maus has a toyota dealership and a VW dealership that I know about. My car salesman was a snake and a liar. Oh and an idiot also. But the service department advisor and service tech manager are jewels. I walked the service area with them and every tech there was willing to spend time with me to get to know them even though they were busy. My service for nitrogen in the tires came with a carwash also. I have only visited the dealership twice for minor service needs but each time I got a carwash and vaccuum.

Maybe it is just that sales people and their managers are that way by nature. Maybe you have to be pond scum to want to do that kind of job on commision only? Im sure that if they were on salary it would be much different. or I hope it would!