Help! Am I being scammed?

I suggest that you carefully read the contract that you signed to see whether it contains a "cooling off" period where a buyer can rescind the contract without penalty.

I further suggest that you not purchase an extended warranty or prepaid maintenance at this time. You can purchase the correct Toyota extended warranty up to 3 years/36K miles from initial sale, for <$1,000 (search PriusChat for details.)

Why pay $1,300 or more for four years worth of oil and filter changes, and inspections? That is a big ripoff.

 

I did some shopping in Seattle two months ago, while trying to decide between Insight / 2009 Prius #2 / 2010 Prius. Your vehicle price is similar to what I was offered through a no-negotiation program, for a car with a few hundred dollars of options installed. (I elected to wait for the 2010s.)

My very first car was also financed through the Bank of Mom, and that is probably your best choice too. 20% is simply unacceptable, my credit union is offering 4.99 to 5.99% this month.

I don't do extended warranties. After 30 years, 5 cars (Ford, Honda, Subaru), and over 700,000 miles (including the spouse), not one of the dealer-offered programs would have come close to being worthwhile. If you must have one, try the program on this site instead.

The hard sales pressure to use their financing and service plan and warranty plan is normal. They make a lot of extra money on those "packs". Just so No!.

 

Steve, I'm sorry you didn't ask for advice before signing the contract. www.carbuyingtips.com is helpful. The car comes with 2 fobs--GET BOTH. Prepaid maintenance is a waste of money because if you read the manual the only maintenance is oil & filter changes. I bought filters in bulk from a Toyota dealer on line and saved quite a bit. Any Toyota dealer can sell the extended warranty & prepaid maintenance. "WarrantyShack" is a Toyota dealer. IMO extended warranties are also generally a waste of money. If the extended waranty is a good deal for the buyer then it wouldn't be offered for sale. If you expect a repair that makes the extended warranty a good value then you shouldn't be buying that POS.

On the surface it sounds like the dealer let you drive away with a loaner so you may be able to void the existing contract. If you had bought the car you would have received the 2nd key. Don't put too many miles on the car and good luck voiding the original contract.

 

Hi- I bought a 2009 Prius (package 2) in Feb. for $22,790. They talked me into the prepaid maintenance and long term warranty for over $3,000. I talked to Troy at Warranty Shack and he told me I could call Toyota Financial and have them cancelled. I called Toyota Financial and they said to fax them a letter with the info they needed. I received two checks from them for the entire amount I paid. Also 20 per cent finance is outrageous. You have 3 yrs or 36,000 miles to get the long term warranty. The maintenance and warranty are both available on this site for a more reasonable price...Mike P.S. don't wait too long- there is a time limit to cancel these items

 

Just to be clear about one thing: Troy at "Warranty Shack" actually works for a Toyota dealer over here in western MA (Toyota of Greenfield). So, you're getting the real Toyota warranty from a guy that's great to deal with.

 

Not sure if you've already driven the car off of the lot yet, or if you've paid them yet, but if you haven't actually taken delivery of the car yet, you have every right to back out of the deal, regardless of what you have signed. 20% is outrageous, especially since they are offering 0% for 36 months and 3.9% for 60 months in my region. Not sure if you just have really bad credit or if they are ripping you off, but there's no way that you should get 20% if you have good credit. I used to work in the finance department of a Toyota dealership and they were big on inflating the prices of warranties and maintenance agreements in order to make the customer think that they were getting discount when they lowered it by a $100 but still paying over the Toyota listed price.

You definitely should ask to see the bank approval to verify that the rate that they offered you is the rate that you were approved at. Many times, dealers will get an approval and then boost the rate to make more money. In Michigan law, dealers can't raise it more than 3% above the bank's approval rate, but not every state has laws to limit how much they can raise it by. I've seen reports on 60 minutes about TN dealers that raise rates by 12%. The dealer gets to keep all of the excess money because the bank only charges the dealer for what they approved you at.

Also, even at the listed price, every dealer makes a profit off of the warranties and extended maintenance agreements, even the GAP insurance and life insurance has a profit built in. If they are not offering you a price under the Toyota listed price, then they are just banking off of you inexperience.

It's very sad, but my dealership sent me to a finance training course one time for Toyota dealers and they taught us to stereotype people based on their appearance, their current vehicle, and their credit. We would always give the worst deals to minorities who were driving American cars and who didn't have at least a 700 credit score. They would get completely ripped off. That is a big reason why I left, I couldn't bring myself to do that and they kept urging me to do it. You definitely have to shop around A LOT in order to make sure that you're getting the best deal possible on a new car. Some dealers are just completely evil.