A Prius in hand ??

It's cliche, but a Prius in the hand is worth...?

Could you believe it?!!

After saying I would not buy from Moses Lake, they called this morning to say they have a 2005 Tideland AM (the car I want) and offered it to us at MSRP! I could not believe it, after I wrote yesterday that I would not buy from them because they were greedy and changed their pricing policy.

http://priuschat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?...r=asc&&start=35

We got on the phone to Burlington where we had an 'order' and we were number 12 on the list with 2 others wanting the same car ahead of us. They just had received word yesterday that they had a silver AM and white BC, both 2005, due in. No one ahead of us on the list had noted interest in them, so they offered them to us. The BC was out due to color. We agonized for hours abou the silver AM, calling and asking about our options:

If Burlington could swap with Moses Lake? - No; I understand due to the increase of expense to the dealerships.

I had read here that someone's dealer was able to swap allocations to get the car they wanted, so-
Could they swap with someone else who is allocated a Tideland that they don't have yet? - Not likely, many orders are for Tideland or Seaside.

That's when we asked how many ahead of us ordered the same car (2). We also found out that they had only seen about 4 Tidelands in they last 6 months. It could be a long wait.

Moses Lake called back around 5pm and my husband tried to get them to throw in the extended warranty or sweeten the pot, but they wouldn't - not surprising. We told them that it would be a few weeks before we could get over there and they said that wouldn't be a problem. We declined because at this point we do not trust them. And we don't want to go all that way to be surprised with add-ons or other "oh, didn't we tell you"s.

Finally, I decided that a Prius in the hand was better than a green one. We said we would take the silver one from Burlington. We will ask to stay on the list for a Tideland and perhaps keep or sell the silver one, if it comes in.

We don't have many details about the car yet. They say they just learned about it yesterday. Apparently Tuesdays are when most of the dealers around here learn about their allocations. Our salesperson said they would have more details next Tuesday, but that the car was about 4 weeks away.

After thinking about it, Moses Lake probably doesn't have the car in their lot like they gave the impression of. I'll bet that they got their allocation info yesterday and offered us the allocation.

I have to let off some steam-
:flame: :flame: :flame: :flame:

This shouldn't be this stressful.

 

I agree with you - the tide is turning. Last night after deciding on the silver one. I remembered to see if Dianne had posted the latest allocation numbers for SoCal. They are getting a whopping 561 Prii for the last half of the month. That is over double of what they usually get, except the exceptionally high month of July. So I think Toyota has finally gotten the picture and ramped up production of the 2005 model. If this trend continues they will get over 1000 allocations in October, increasing their numbers by a third to double to that of the past. That is significant.

That green one may not be as far away as I thought.

 

I did get a look at another Toyota car with a similar green and when we bought our minivan (shame on us, but I'm reformed now) a few years ago Ford's green was the same. In overcast conditions it was gray, in bright sun it could be green. But I kind of like the dark gray and it is different than silver. After making this decision I have seen tons of silver vehicles on the roads in the last day.

I'm sorry I missed you too. I might/hope to make it down this Sunday and maybe I can see your car then.

 

hmm...have you washed it lately?

That is different than I expected, but I am still not totally sold on silver. I will really try to make it down to Bellevue to see your car. There is suppose to be some sun, so maybe I will get a chance to see what you mean.

 

That is just one more thing I am looking forward to. Now when I wash our van it is like washing two cars and I can never get the center of the roof even with a handled brush. I even have to get on a ladder if I want to get the windshield really clean.

A Prius will be a joy to wash. ahhhh :angel:

 

I just about have myself convinced that silver won't be so bad, when you guys come along.

I might just have to leave it up the the Prius gods.

 

Thanks Dave,

Now that I have seen Tideland in the wild I don't mind silver so much. Tideland is nice, but it is darker than I expected. You are right in the sun it becomes more olive. Silver is a fine compromise. The only thing is that, particularly in Bellevue, it seemed like nearly all the cars were silver. Although I think I'm going to like the grey interior better.

I didn't think I liked the Salsa red, it seemed too bright, but I saw it in the wild in Vancouver B.C. a few weeks ago and now I think that is the color I like the best. But I hear from our dealership that that is a popular color also.

Oh well, we'll see what happens.