Need advice please...

SHOP AROUND !!!!!!!

(This is like deciding to get married to your first date. Don't do it...)

Keith

 

True confessions time - I seem to have some sort of weird psychological condition that results in my feeling guilty if I enter a store and don't buy something (chapstick, gum, whatever). But even I agree with Keith. If the dealer can't get what you want in a reasonable time frame, you really have no reasonable choice but to look elsewhere.

 

If you stay with your current dealer you'll get one eventually, may be sooner than you think. If you cast your net wider and put your name in at several dealers or check inventory of all dealers within driving distance, obviously you will increase your chances of finding and getting one sooner. However, what you will pay will vary at each dealer too, some will deal more than others and the spread can be considerable. Your choice, fast or cheap, unlikely both...

 

I agree with the other posters. Look around. When I was looking for a G3 Prius, I put a deposit down at one dealership and was on the waiting list for the other.

 

I'd look around too.

We visited a dealership some friends had good experience with. They had purchased 3 Toyota's in the past including their Prius. Nice sales guy but it seemed like he had zero authority. We initially were looking at the 2009s too. The sales fella needed to go ask his manager several times about additional options we wanted installed and dealer locates and so forth. Maybe the manager was a micro manager or my view of a stereotyped old-fashioned sales guy I don't know.

To continue the story we switched horses and went for the 2010 after looking at how long we usually keep a car and wanted the latest and greatest. From there our experience with the dealership just went downhill . . .

As I found out brochures became available I requested a brochure. The sales guy gave me an excuse that they weren't in and didn't expect any in because they hadn't been ordered. An hour later he found them and gave us a call. I would have appreciated an 'I don't know but I'll go check and give you a call back' or 'I just had another customer ask and when I checked I was told they were ordered and an approximate date they would arrive'.

We then asked the sales fella to let us know when the first 2010s arrived sold or not so we could take a peek to help in our decision process. We stopped in when other dealerships in the cities started to receive the 2010s. We dealt with a second sales person (first one had the day off) who was very rude to us. He said he didn't know when they would see the 2010s but that it would probably be another 3 weeks. I asked him if by chance he could check Dealer Daily to see which ones might be expected. He immediately shut me down and said he didn't know what that was. The cars were on the lot the next week when we came by again. The rude salesman happen to be there when we walked in but seemed to slink away. I know he recognized us.

So the last straw as when we were looking at the first Prius they had received. A third sales fellow (first one was busy) let us peek at the car. This time we were told they had received 10 and this was the only one left. I knew from PC that there were only about 275 for the Chicago region in the first wave. There is absolutely no way they received 10 of them when I know how many dealerships were in the area to split them between.

To give this story a happy ending we went to a second dealership and were much happier. The sales fella was completely open with us about Dealer Daily and even showed me the screen of all the cars in the region that were expected in. He didn't run back to a manager at all and answered all of our questions. If he didn't know the answer he was big enough to admit he didn't know for sure but he would see what he could do to find out the info we needed. We are now proud owners of a 2010 in the color and with the options we wanted.

 

It could be the dealer, you'd need to determine that. But it could simply be the short supply of SR models available in NY.