Houston Meet Up - 8/29/09 11:00 AM

I have bought from 3 different dealers locally, all just dependent on who gave me the best quote that particular time. Just e-mail a lot of different dealers with your model, color and options, and a request for a quote. This gets you to an internet sales guy, who are usually more experiend and have greater flexibility to get things done. Don't be afraid to look outside of Houston, at small town dealers. Let them know you know the invoice and MRSP. Of course in this case there is unlikely to be any dealing on price; you are mainly just trying to see who has an allocation that matches up with what you want, or is willing to do a little work to get it for you. You also want to weed out the ones trying to pile on the worthless port or dealer addons. Do not buy the story that GST requires port installed options. It is not true, so long as you identify the car before its been processed. Insist on a VIN if you sign a contract or place a deposit, and that any deposit be refundable on demand or by a specified date (if they can't deliver). If noone can give you a VIN, you may just have to place a deposit and wait for the next allocation.

 

GOOD MORNING HOUSTON! Last call for the great Prius roundup! We'd love to see as many different colors and models show up as possible....

 

Say, you suppose if I showed up with some ramps and oil, I could get someone to do my oil change for me, just for the fun of it, ala Tom Sawyer?

 

Thanks to everyone who showed up. Enjoyed meeting you all, some of you for the second time. Thanks to Dan for showing up with all his guages and information, and giving a few of us a driving lesson in xman's car, with a scanguage hooked up. I think even Dan may have learned a couple of things, since he hasn't actually driven a 2010 that many times. Thanks to quantumslip, we proved 2 iphones can be hooked up to the USB interface at once, one on the aux port & tab, and one on the usb port & tab.

Here's my pics: Picasa Web Albums - Greg - Hybrid Party

and here's the line up: