Locating the 2006 Prius you want

I just posted this in reply to someone who said he was having problems locating a Prius with the price and package he wants. I typed it very fast, so sorry about any typos. Toyota's home page has a great tool for locating Priuses in your state and elsewhere that are in stock or available. Hope this helps others:


I may be wrong, but I don't think the 2007 Prius is coming out until around late October or early November. Did some dealership tell you that you can get one now?? If so, I would not do business with them.

If you are looking for a 2006, try this method to find one: go to Toyota's home page. On the lower left, there are several links, such as Build Your Car. One of those links is called something like "Locate a dealer." When you click on that, a tiny white block will open right under the link, asking you for your zip code. Type it in, and another page will open showing you a list of dealers in your area (within something like 25 to 50 miles), and a link to each one's web page. In my state, Louisiana, the home web pages for each Toyota dealer all look almost exactly alike except for the dealer's name. At the top of each home page, usually on the left, but sometimes on the right, you will see an area for searching the dealer's inventory. There are three white blocks, one is for the manufacturer's name, which always shows as Toyota, and thus does not have to be filled out. The other 2 are for the model and year number. Just fill in Prius and 2006. A page will then open that shows you a list of all Priuses that the dealer has either IN STOCK or AVAILABLE. The key term is the latter, as most dealerships I check show one or two, if any, in stock. But AVAILABLE tells you which Priuses are in your whole area (the dealers in the area swap them back and forth). I'm not sure how big the area is. From what I could tell, it's not the whole state, but about 50 to 100 miles or so. The list also shows you the price of each Prius and the Option Package and other options it comes with. You have to click on each listing to see those details.

If your closest dealer has a Prius in stock, but not one you want, but the ones shown as AVAILABLE does include one you want, repeat this whole process for each dealership that Toyota's home page came up with for you. Also, if none of the dealerships thus listed have what you want, start from the beginning again, but this time put in the zip code for a big city about 100 miles away, get the list of all the dealerships there, and do this whole process again. For example, I'm helping a friend who is now looking for a Prius. I live near New Orleans, so first I checked all the dealerships in the New Orleans area and within about 50 miles, which was about 7 dealerships. She is being way too picky, tho. So I then got from Toyota's web site a list of all the dealerships in the Baton Rouge area, which is about 90 miles from New Orleans. If necessary, I could also get lists of dealerships from other cities in Louisiana that are another 100 miles or so away, or even check Houston, or any place in the country. My friend now can't decide whether she wants a Prius or hybrid Camry, so this could be a long search.

Good luck. If you're willing to drive as far as 300 miles or so, I think you will find it's not that hard to locate a Prius with the price range and options you want.

Gary
2006 Super White