Classic Silver or Seaside Pearl, Aug 4, Madison, WI

Hi Welcome to prius chat.I know how u feel about the desision making.I was going for a 2006 package 3 and ended up with a 7 :lol: .The extra bells and whisles like the nav and bluetooth ive learned to love.I dont get lost anymore ! The choice is yours!if you can afford the #7,id say go for it.IF long waits are common in your area,you may risk not getting the full tax credit!i think it drops in half after sept.Which ever choice you make,its a no loser with the prius.
PS! there really isnt much difference in the 2006 vs 2007! maybe 2008 will be the prius next gen.!i dont think its worth losing the tax credit for.

 

Given that Jon Lancaster is the only dealer I know of with non-refundable deposits within 200 miles of Madison, you're pretty much stuck with them after what I assume was your $500 deposit and your signature on the sales contract stating that you owe 5% of the MSRP as a penalty should you cancel. Otherwise you could almost certainly get one faster in Northern Illinois (like me), or save hundreds of dollars with a one-way flight to the DC area given their apparent current surplus out there.

With that gripe aside, congratulations from a fellow Madisonian on your impending purchase. Please keep in mind that after September 30, the tax credit is cut in half (it does not go away), so it's $3900 - $3150 to get the #7 now, or $0 - $1575 to get the #4 in October. I must say that I have been pleased with the navigation system, love the bluetooth, and appreciate the HID headlights, so if that's still in your price range, I think you'll find it to be worthwhile.

 

Hey! I am picking up my #8 tomorrow at smart motors.

Anybody wants an 03 GLX 4motion Passat?

Cheers!

 

Hey fatfenders - I had a few Jon Lancaster threads going on here when I was dealing with them, and it may be encouraging to know that I did ultimately get my deposit refunded in full. I posted that in one but possibly not the others. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that if you're serious about considering another dealership for whatever reason, I suppose you could always ask nicely about a deposit refund. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to get an idea about availability in the general area first - give Curt Hermann at Fox Lake Toyota a call and ask what he's got coming in - he was a straight shooter with me.

With the trade-in, you don't have to give them the car. They wouldn't give you a price up-front, right?, so the trade isn't written in the contract. Keep in mind that if you sell it to anyone other than the dealer where you are buying the new car, you will pay more sales tax on your new car because you don't get to subtract the trade. So effectively you've got to divide the private sale price by 1.055 to figure the equivalent.

With that said you might try taking it to a place like Schoepp Motors and see what they'd pay for it. Also try a local dealer for that type of car (Mercury, right?) especially if it's low mileage or in good condition that they might be able to offer it as certified pre-owned. Here's a tip about selling it yourself - I found when we listed our CR-V on carsoup.com that the ONLY one EVER to look at the page was me! I figured it would be a good place to list it because it's advertised so heavily in this area. Talk about $40 down the drain. YMMV.

I hope this all works out for you in one way or another. Please keep us updated.

Alric - congratulations, another Madisonian. I'm considering Smart for service on our Prii and would be interested in any impressions you might get from dealing with them.

(Just re-read Fatfenders post so this followup will probably show as an edit)

So, you have to decide on the #7 today? This might be an excellent time to ask about getting your deposit back, if you're serious about going down that route.

 

There's not much to tell about how I got the Jon Lancaster deposit back. I called on a Wednesday to cancel my order, got a disappointed and muttering response from my salesman that Jon Lancaster considers contracts to be binding, and that he would refer it to a sales manager for further action. Wednesday through Thursday I went back and forth here on Priuschat with various folks encouraging me to fight (onerpm in particular was helpful). On Friday I called and left a voice mail for the sales manager asking for a call to discuss the refund of the deposit. Later that day the salesman called me back and asked if I wanted them to tear up the check or return it to me. I checked my bank, noticed that the check was already cashed, and called the salesman back as a courtesy so he wouldn't look too hard for the check. I received the refund in the mail less than a week later. As to why there was a sudden change of heart, I surmised that the fact that the Priuschat thread in question was the #1 Google hit under the sponsored ads for Jon Lancaster, perhaps that was motivation. Or maybe there was a genuine change of heart. I'm just not sure, and haven't bothered them anymore.

In the present, here are some things I would recommend that you do.

1. Call some other dealers. Inquire as to availability or waiting time. If there's nothing out there, then it doesn't pay to start fighting with the current dealer. As noted, I worked with Curt Hermann at Fox Lake and also recommend Rob Smithburg at Elmhurst (a bit longer of a drive from here). You could also check out TJ at Grossinger, since he's a Priuschat sponsor, although I have no personal experience with him. Anyway, summarize this step as "do some work to see where you stand."

2. If you decide that you are interested in pursuing other options, then you can go about contacting Jon Lancaster and asking for the refund. I don't know if it's best here to say you're "seeing other people," or if the value of the trade they promised isn't sufficient for you to continue buying a Prius, or whatever. I personally think that honesty is best because then you never have to keep track of what you said earlier. If you opt to do this and think there may be a problem, you could always check with the bank to see if they cashed your deposit check yet, and put a stop payment on it if they didn't. This was one suggestion that someone here had for me in my experience -- kind of a "duh why didn't I think of that" -- but realize that doing this without them agreeing to refund the deposit is like firing the first shot in a war.

I'm happy to get in touch with you if you want, but there really isn't much more I can add other than what I've written here. Still, I recognize that hearing moral support over the phone is better than reading it off a chat board, so if you want, PM me your number and I can tell you about our buying experience if that'll help.

Edit about trade-in values: for the CR-V in great condition, we got KBB "good" plus $500. For a 2002 Civic that was a little beat-up cosmetically we got KBB "good" which was a little bit of a stretch. I wouldn't expect any dealer to go much above KBB, which seems always to be lower than NADA or edmunds. Although, this is about the only negotiable part of your sale.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Taco Mel @ Aug 16 2006, 07:50 PM) [snapback]304398[/snapback]</div>

Good experience with Grossinger.

Think you can get more with a private sale of your present car, by far, no matter who the dealer. (Check KBB).

Good luck in whatever path you may travel.

For sure, you'll get better milage on that path in a Prius.

 

I'm glad to hear that you now have an opportunity to look around. If JL can get your car in faster, more power to you (and them). But if you can get one more quickly somewhere else, or get another dealer to work harder, you should be able to. Competition.

If nothing else, approaching JL about a potential refund of the deposit should convince them that there are other suitors looking for your business. Maybe they'll look just a little harder, or give you a little more for that trade, now that they know they are not your one and only potential source for the car.

Just punch a Chicago zip code (60606) into the dealer locator on toyota.com and you'll get everything in northern Illinois. Note that they sort by distance so you'll get them almost in opposite order of how far from Madison they are, but it will list all of them. Ditto for a Milwaukee zip code catching that entire metro area. The links to dealer websites on toyota.com were only about 50% accurate but Google quickly found the correct website given the dealer's name or telephone number. I found the online "in stock" list to be of varying value depending on the dealership. Many "in stock" Prii are already pre-sold. One of the Prii I bought was listed, and one was not.

If you put in the legwork of a little searching and a few hours of calling around, you should get a very good idea of where you stand, and you will likely find something. Good luck!

(Taco is my son's nickname, and Mel rhymes with Bell. )