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Bought it in Southern California.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by moolman, Jan 6, 2006.

  1. moolman

    moolman Member

    Joined:
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    Just bought a Silver Pine Mica, Beige interior, Package #8.

    It was a long day for me, went to Frontier Toyota in Valencia. I went there and wanted to buy there because it's close to where my wife works and she could easily go there for service. Well, they kept changing the price on me and the finance rate. Would not take my ELOAN check, saying it was unreliable and all that BS that follows. They offered me 5.9% since my ELOAN was at 5.35. I refused to go higher than what I got but with the 5.9%, I could take advantage of the $400 graduate incentive and it evens out. I walked out on them the day before because they wouldn't honor the ELOAN but I came back since they promise no more BS and again they are near my wife's work. So we get there at 8am, now they say that the 5.9% was never mentioned and they still won't take the ELOAN check. What the heck? So now we threathen to leave and get the 5.9% again. The problem was not my salesman Diego but the closer Sean, older guy, green eyes or at least they weren't brown. Anyway this guy is a total jerk, the day before and even now. He tries to be nice in the beginning. Keeps insisting I write them the deposit check before meeting the finance guy. I refused because then they have me. So now he gets a bit of an attitude. He asks if I'm going to buy accessories, I say no. The salesman and I agreed on price and he said I had to buy nothing. So now he agrees but I have to refuse the items to the finance guy which is fine by me. But before he leaves, he again gives a bad attitude. This is the same guy that lied to me so many times before. I get sick of his crap and just walked out without saying a word. They knew I was pissed at that guy and I asked the salesman to not have him there in the morning when I came but he was there.

    Stay away from Frontier Toyota in Valcencia unless you want crap from them or at least maybe avoid the closer Sean. I really wanted to buy the car there and they just made it so hard on me for no reason. Poor sales guy was so pissed at the closer because he was begging me for 2 days to come back in and I finally did and he lost the sale again last minute because of Sean's attitude. Avoid at all cost. Besides that the cars inside was all muddy, they didn't bother to put something down on the floor for test drives. The rear was really muddy and needed water vacumning.

    Then I get a call right after I leave from Carson Toyota, the guy says the price is $1000 over MSRP and I balk, calls me back and says that he'll sell for sticker, I tell him I'll come in late night. I go there and met a different salesman. I tell him that I won't take anymore crap and just keep me away from the annoying people and he'll have a sale. He says he'll try. The closer comes says Carson Toyota usually sells the car for $6000 over and for a good price right now will give it to me for $2500. I'm like what the hell didn't they quote me sticker. So apparently, the manager on duty didn't want to sell below $2500 and they were willing to let us walk apparently. Anyway, they ask me who quoted me the sticker price and I told them the name of the original salesman that called that morning. He confirmed with the morning manager and they agree on sticker.

    The best rate they offered me there was 5.95, they also tried to crazy crap on me at first where they added $2500 to the sticker and made the loan a 72 month loan, to make the monthly seem lower. I asked him if people are stupid enough to fall for this kind of BS and we all get a good laugh. So now he offers 5.95% which I would of taken since the Grad Incentive evens out the difference but I was weary of being mislead, so I said I would just use my ELOAN check which they said was fine.

    So I go to finance, it's real late at this point before closing at 10pm so I guess he's tired so I ask him about the 5.95% and he says they were wrong, it was 6.9%, my guess is he just wanted to leave so didn't want to do the paper work and would rather just take my ELOAN check at that point. So it was better for me. He didn't ask me to buy the extended warranty and no push at all, just said if I wanted to add anything in general and I said no. My guess is that this guy if I came in the afternoon he would of did the whole extended warranty speel and the rest of the finance dance to get me to finance with them. But I could tell he was tired and just wanted to bail. I did ask him the price of the 7y/100k and he wanted $1895 or so and $2200 if I bought later. Double of what's offered here.

    I check over the paperwork for fishing things. I bought an Accord a couple of years back and the fiance guy tried to sneak in a $800 window etching without saying anything. At this point it became a cash deal since there was no financing, so I didn't have to bust out the laptop with the finance program. That way I could match up the monthly payment and make sure they weren't inserting any unnecessary things. A calulator and some double checking. My break down is:

    From Carson Toyota
    $29524, package #8, Z1 package and bumper aplique, 2 PIOs.
    $45 doc fee, max allowed in CA.
    $2439.44 8.25% sales tax
    $253 licencse fee
    $8.75 tire fee.

    So total out the door is $32270.19, finance a little more than half from ELOAN at 5.35% through Sam's Club for the cheaper rate than the normal ELOAN rate.

    I'll add that Frontier Toyota had a BS electronic registration fee of $30 or so which I'm glad Carson did not. They claim you get the plates faster, who give a crap about that, I'd rather save my $30.

    My salesguy Henry was a good guy, very calm the whole time. I was a bit miffed at him for letting the closer go at me but I guess that's his job but I was an inch from walking out again when they pulled the $2500 over sticker and that 72 month finance rate. But my wife said to hear them out and it worked out.

    So Carson does not sell for MSRP unless you get to them to agree to it before you get there. Obviously the salesguy wants to sell at sticker because he wants his commish but the manager has to be in the right mood or maybe they need a quota to meet during his shift.

    So here's where I went, Frontier which I highly don't recommend. Hamar Toyota in Mission Hills, 118, 405 area. They want $1500 extra for the chrome wheels. La Crescenta is $2000 over MSRP. Both Hamar and La Cresenta have a couple of cars since nobody will buy it over MSRP, you can try your luck though, just like me you might walk in when the moons align up right and they decide to be reasonable or can't wait for a real sucker to come in and pay over MSRP.

    North Hollywood Toyota had a silver #8, MSRP, I think they promised on the radio to only charge MSRP. Glendale Toyota had a Seaside Pearl #8 at MSRP. Santa Monica had Seaside #8 not MSRP. Long Beach Toyota had a white #8 at MSRP. This is what I remember for now, they had a bunch of cars at the dealers I went to so there is no shortage but they won't go below MSRP, but you can always try. I would and did.
     
    #1 moolman, Jan 6, 2006
  2. Auntie

    Auntie New Member

    Joined:
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    I'll second that! My husband and I also had a very bad experience with Frontier Toyota. Very aggressive, very hard sell, lots of lies, etc. We ended up buying at Sierra Toyota in Lancaster, which I highly recommend. No pressure to buy anything we didn't want, no strange fees, etc.

    We paid:

    $28221 (package #7)
    $45 doc fee
    $2331.95 sales tax
    $244 license fee
    $8.75 tire fee
    ---------
    $30850.70
     
    #2 Auntie, Feb 15, 2006
  3. Darwin23

    Darwin23 New Member

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    Jan 28, 2006
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    Panorama City, CA

    I got my prius at frontier toyota. I'm happy that i got my car since nobody else seems to have the red prius these days. However, I have had some problems with them with the add ons and pricing they gave me. First, they overcharged me with the tint. 250 for the tint, that i can easily get for 170 bucks. wont sell me the car unless i pay for it. Thats fine, i let that one go...only to find out that the tint place wont tint the two front windows because' its illegal unless i pay an extra 75. The warranty was also overpriced at 1500, which i negotiated down to 1100. Its still 130 higher than what is available here...but i just let it go also. Overall i ended up spending about 300 more than expected. Not very cool, but at least i got the car i want. My overall experience with them is..."so-so"
     
    #3 Darwin23, Feb 15, 2006
  4. aaf709

    aaf709 Ravenpaw of ThunderClan

    Joined:
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    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    Vehicle:
    2022 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Limited
    I got my '05 at Carson at MSRP (this was last April). Very fast. I had picked out the car online on Thursday (the 14th) and picked it up on Saturday (the 16th). Had friends drive me there (they had no clue as to why I wanted to go). Went in, wrote the check and left. They asked if I wanted to pay $1200 for the extended warranty. I said no and they said OK.
     
    #4 aaf709, Feb 15, 2006
  5. fshagan

    fshagan Senior Member

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    Got my Package 3 at Ventura Toyota, and in the end it was a pretty good experience. They did push a bit on the stuff the finance guy wants you to buy, but otherwise didn't try to pack the car with wheels, leather, mats or any other dealer add-ons, and sell ALL of their Prius at the factory MSRP.

    They will put you on a list, but my one complaint was that they wouldn't hold a car for me for a few days until I got back into town. So you have to be ready to go in and close the deal the day after they advise you its in town.

    Santa Barbara Toyota said they do it the same way .... MSRP, no dealer add-ons.
     
    #5 fshagan, Feb 15, 2006
  6. tedb

    tedb Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Woodland Hills, CA
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius
    Model:
    II
    We got ours at Hamar Toyota in Mission Hills. We went there via on-line referral source (either Costco or So Cal Auto, can't remember). The sales person said he would deliver car for list -- and they did. They also estimated 3 - 5 week wait (in November) and they were right on. However, once they called, I did have to move fast.

    All of this was after we went to Santa Monica Toyota which told us up front it would be list +$1500 worth of add-ons, lo-jack and something else -- and we walked.

    Ted
     
    #6 tedb, Feb 15, 2006
  7. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

    Joined:
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    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    You don't have to get your car serviced where you bought it so you could buy from anywhere and still get it serviced near where your wife works.

    Boy, I'm glad I don't live in L.A. if that's an example of the car dealerships up there.

    I bought mine at Kearny Mesa Toyota in San Diego. MSRP and no add ons. Howard Sheehy is the internet sales manager. No pressure. No lies. No bull$h¡t.

    I wouldn't put up with any of what you guys did. I walk a lot easier, faster and when I walk I don't turn back.
     
    #7 Godiva, Feb 16, 2006
  8. hngu7721

    hngu7721 Junior Member

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    Garden Grove Toyota. I had been in the market for a little over 2 weeks, and would routinely call dealers every week to check availability or projected allocation. Luckily, during one of the calls, Garden Grove told me they'd just taken receipt of a silver #3 not 30 before i called! MSRP was settled prior to me arriving. It was negotiating trade in of my VW Passat that was interesting. The fair value blue book on the car was 7K, and i'd been offered anywhere from 4K-7K for the car from various dealerships. After a bit of haggling, i was able to get them to take the car for 8600 towards MSRP of the Prius! The two guys working the deal were great (Jeff and his manager from Jersey whose name escapes me). During negotiations they did come back and started adding numbers to the MSRP, which i immediately told them to don't even think about adding on leather and chrome wheels. They both laughed and said OK, OK just take the car as is.

    As a side note, after 1 week with the cloth seats, i contacted my sales guy and told them i wanted leather added. He called the Skyline rep (they do almost all of the major SoCal dealers) and got me leather installed for 1K cash. All in all, i'm a happy customer and can recommend giving them a shot.
     
    #8 hngu7721, Feb 16, 2006
  9. Rancid13

    Rancid13 Cool Chick with a Black Prius

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Los Alamitos, Orange County, CA
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Bought mine at Longo Toyota and had a fantastic experience there, with both of the sales guys I worked with (they work together). I ordered it officially back in August with sales guy #1 (a client of my husband's) and between August and December several cars that fit my order came in that I declined, because I preferred to wait until 2006 to take delivery.

    When I first arrived at the dealership to pick up and pay for my Prius last Wednesday, sales guy #2 let me take it for a 30-minute test drive and explained the inner workings of everything inside and outside the car. The finance guy did offer some of the extras (extended warranty, lo-jack, etc) but I politely told him I wasn't interested in adding anything and that was that.

    I got a follow-up call a couple days ago from sales guy #2 and yesterday from the customer service department to see how I was enjoying my purchase, if I had any questions or concerns, etc.

    There is a bit of a wait if you order thru Longo, but the service I got there not to mention that they sell the Priuses AT MSRP, made it well worth the wait IMO. Plus they have a Subway restaurant, Starbucks, and AAA office inside the dealership too. :)

    Edited to add:

    I also got charged lower sales tax at Longo than I thought I would. They are in Los Angeles County where the sales tax is 8.25% so I had approximated my sales tax using that figure. They actually calculated my sales tax based on where I live (Orange County) at 7.75%, which actually saved me several hundred dollars, which was pretty nice.
     
    #9 Rancid13, Feb 16, 2006
  10. moolman

    moolman Member

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    I've had my SPM #8 for over a month now and am finally able to Zaino it later this week.

    Longo would be my first choice, my family has bought many cars from them before. There choices were very limited because they sell out so fast.

    About the sales tax, you get charged sales tax on where you register the car, not where you buy it. So if you live in a 7.75% tax area, you get taxed that, so they didn't do you a favor. Vice versa, if you live in a 8.25% place and you buy at orange county, you get taxed 8.25% still.

    Alex
     
    #10 moolman, Feb 16, 2006
  11. aaf709

    aaf709 Ravenpaw of ThunderClan

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    Vehicle:
    2022 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Limited
    That's true and Kearny Mesa was very good last time I went, so I'll probably go back there again.

    Only 1,500 miles and I'm at 15K. My, how the time (and the miles) flies. For me the Prius is a pleasure to drive and am waiting for it's first real trip. So far it's only been 200 or so miles each way.
     
    #11 aaf709, Feb 16, 2006
  12. jakesfnm

    jakesfnm New Member

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    All this car buying history is very helpful. I'm looking for a pkg. 3 silver or driftwood pearl at msrp no add-ons. I live in the Palm Springs area but can drive anywhere in Southern Cailfornia for a good honest deal. Anyone heard anything re how long tax credit will last?
     
    #12 jakesfnm, Feb 25, 2006
  13. H2OSkier

    H2OSkier Member

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    Los Angeles, CA
    I wouldn't recommend Hamar as they told me on the phone they had a car and would sell it for list. Only to get there to find out, oops you got to pay $1800 for chrome rims. Promptly walked out on them.

    I had a pretty good experience at Frontier. The salesman, Avo, was very nice non pushy, and actually knew the answers to most of my questions. The person I had a problem with was Brant i.e. the closer. They did try to sell the add ons but were ok when I said know. They wanted a deposit that night, but I told them I'd give them the deposit when the car came in, $500 would have been fine but not $6500. I also got them to accept a credit card for the deposit, more points on my card. Brant just came across as the typical sleezy used car saleman. I just stayed calm and firm and told them what I wanted. From starting to look for a car to actually getting one was less than 3 weeks.

    As it turns out, I've had several dealers call saying they had a car after I got mine. If you work the phone and stay with it you can find a car.

    Ken
     
    #13 H2OSkier, Feb 25, 2006
  14. inventor00

    inventor00 Active Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    Tax Credit- According to Dave Hermance - our Toyota Speaker at the OC Prius Club yesterday, Toyota is estimating they will sell all 60,000 by June, and you get one quarter grace, so you need to buy by the end of Sept.

    Other car manufacturers will be next year sometime...since they have hardly any hybrids..ugh.

    Lobby your Congressman (Fed) to get the tax credit extended.....

    Car pool stickers- CA- According to a very knowlegdeable source- they probably will not cut it off at 50,000 - because they do not have time to do an evaluation.

    Suggest you all start lobbying your local congressperson (CA State) to continue it in 2008 when it dies at the end of 1/1/2008.
     
    #14 inventor00, Feb 26, 2006
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