No waiting lists in California, no choice allowed!

I'm sure they think the demand is so great in CA that they do whats best for themselves and less hassle.... what lazy jerks for car salesman.... don't they have any pride at all for knowing they took care of a customers needs?

I agree, screw them!... I would order elsewhere... even if I had to travel to get what I wanted... If your going to spend 30K, you shouldn't have to grapple and grovel like a beggar!
Take your business elsewhere..... just to spite them.. even if its more inconvienent.
I'm sure glad Toyota is making more prius's... with talk like this, the price could only go up in the future!

 

My roommate put a deposit on an '06 Red package 6 from Toyota from Escondido. Currently she is 18th on the list. She is getting the exact car she wants. They are also running an interesting deal at that dealership. In their rental car department, they have one Prius, package 3, for rental. Whatever you spend on the rental can be applied directly to the purchase of a new one.

Also, they are charging her $29,490 out the door. You can find them at http://www.toyotaescondido.com/

hope this helps,
Randal

 

Try placing an order through Costco. You should be able to get what you want, and who knows, you might get a small discount too.

 

I have been scoping out the So. Cal dealers, and see three approaches:

1. MSRP + dealer markup (sometimes hidden as leather/wheel upgrades). Carson is indeed +$6000 (yikes!)

2. MSRP, but first-come first served. Each salesman has a list, it's a race to get there first. Power Toyota (various cities) all seem to do this.

3. MSRP, with a list, right of first refusal. Some require deposit, others don't. Cabe Toyota (Long Beach), Rancho Santa Margarita, Quality (Corona) are examples.

No joy for me with Costco, their response was no special Prius pricing, they referred me to Tustin Toyota, which is a category 1 (per above) dealer.

I'm going to go with dealers from category 3.

I have more dealer contact details if anyone is interested.

 

I too have posted a broker # who gives 500 below msrp...but his fee is 250.00 and you don't have to deal with dealers and you get the car you order.
You prob need to be in the states of Wahington, Oregon or Idaho to make it worth your while.

 

You can go out of area. Rural is better than urban. This is a bad time of year to be driving over passes. I have a theory that state capitols are better that other dealers but that is based on very limited data. If you want Helena Motors in Helena MT. Has cars. Long, Long drive for you. Look around.

 

I think that mark-up is the asking price from the non-internet/fleet salesmen. Different situation with the internet/fleet department.

 

Wow..what does that mean?.. I am unfamiliar with the difference?
Why would on demand such higher prices?.. to pay for overhead?

 

I thought this was pretty standard, but at the Toyota dealers around here you can generally get better prices if you deal with the internet/fleet sales team instead of the regular sales team. The internet/fleet salespeople make less per vehicle, but the intent is they move higher volumes. In the case of Carson Toyota, the 6K above MSRP is the asking price from the regular sales team.

 

Frankie D is right on the money. I'm in Newport Beach and have been checking around with all the dealers. I'm on the list with a $500 refundable deposit with Rancho SM and with Fremont Toyota up in the Bay Area. Dianne W. at Carson is a wonderful person. I have been keeping in touch with her for the last six months since I met her at the OC Prius Club but she is $2000 above MSRP. I really wanted to buy a car off of her but $2000 is a lot of money even if you can afford it. I found Fremont Toyota (C. Rickey Hirose) off of Priusonline (I understand that he is banned here) and he has been very good about keeping in touch with me and I believe that he can deliver my choice by the end of the year. I have no problem Jet Bluing up to Oakland and driving it home. I'm one of those guys who is antsy about losing the HOV sticker so if push comes to shove I'll pay over MSRP if it goes beyond 1/1/06. Obviously, it helps if you are flexible on packages and colors. I want a Seaside or Silver package 8 but will also do White or Driftwood. I might even take a package 7 and get it leathered myself.

I'm also very skeptical of these lists that dealers put you on. I think you still have to keep in constant touch with the dealers and keep bugging them all the time in order not to be forgotten about.

 

My dealer, Maita Toyota, in Sacramento was category #4 . . .
MSRP with no deposit, waiting list with right of first refusal. If you refuse the choice you stay in position for choice of next shipment (if you are waiting for closer or exact match). Excellent communication and service, little/no upgrade pressure.

No reason to put up with that other B.S.
(P.S. a Southwest flight to Sacto from SoCal is very cheap.)

 

I must've dealt with a catagory 5 dealer then. Told them exactly what I wanted (Seaside pkg3) and they ordered it from Japan. Called and told me "your cars being built today", "car completed final assembly today, vin is.....", Car was put on the boat today", Car arrived in LA today"...... Waited 3 months and paid MSRP with very little pressure to upgrade, "If you want leather, we can do that", "With this new technology you should really think about the extended warranty".

Either that, or they just happened to get what I wanted and really blew smoke up my butt!!!!!

 

All of the contacts I've made are Internet/fleet, and they all vary within the categories I described. But, I do believe the Internet/fleet pricing is more reasonable than off the street pricing. The Carson +$6000 markup is as posted in the window, but the Internet/fleet markup is "only" $2500....

 

Oh YEAh!!! Well I’m glad my dealer was a category 4 . . . we changed our minds a few days before delivery. We saw a Salsa Red out in the wild and I fell in love all over again.

That was the color of the first ‘04+ Prii I saw.
I remember it like it was just yesterday . . . it was a warm late Summer evening in 2003 at the California State Fair . . . Salsa Prius behind the velvet ropes . . . it was love at first sight!!! :wub: :wub: :wub:

 

Interesting comment about Tustin Toyota that's where I bought mine. It was on the lot and guess what it has leather....... hmmmmmmm.......

 

I VERY HIGHLY doubt this. It's not the kind of thing lawmakers are likely to legislate about.

As for dealer mark-ups, that's just free enterprise. Some people will pay ten million dollars for a house. I think that's ridiculous. But they have so much money that it's nothing to them. Similarly, some people have so much money that it's worth it to pay $6,000 over MSRP for the coolest car in the universe, without having to search around or drive to Montana.

On the other hand, some people think it's foolish to pay $20,000 for a car, no matter how cool or how green it is, when a $500 beater will get you where you want to go, or a late-model used car for half the price will cost you less over the life of the car.

High demand and low supply means dealers can get a premium. And why shouldn't they? You bargain for below-MSRP on a car if you can. Why shouldn't a dealer take above-MSRP if he can get it?

I can get angry when some people work 50 hours a week and don't get paid enough to put food on the table. I cannot get angry when dealers over-charge for a luxury car that's in short supply. Especially when a bit of footwork will still get you one at MSRP! (And a drive home from Montana in a brand-new Prius might be a lot of fun!)

 

Please pardon me for being so krass, but that sounds like the "sucker" price! Wow!....

This sounds like "ticket gougers".... the original artist never mean't for thier tickets to sell for 2,3,400.00 a ticket, but put them for sale for 55.00.

These dealers are no different.... I think Toyota would want more of that profit?....

Toyota "purposely" sells thier cars at a certain price to promote goodwill for others to buy also!... They have even sold at a loss to do so in the past! Surely Toyota knows they could sell for much more when people are standing in line willing to take anything they can get and grovell for with whatever options they can get their hands on?

Maybe they need to put a "limit" on how much they can be sold for to prevent Dealers misrepresenting thier interest? I kinda thought thats what MSRP was?.... I guess the term "suggested" really leaves the door open eh?

These dealers "dealer wheelers", think on the same lines!

If the market will pay that price and we pay it to the dealers.. all that will happen is Toyota will be forced to raise the price to prevent the dealers from making a bigger profit than they are making themselves!

The Ticket gougers attitide is that if he can buy the ticket then "its his" and he should be able to sell it for whatever price the market will demand? Just like a commodity?
But the Artist who did the real work to write and teach the band and spend hours away from home performing it to promote it are then sideswiped in a single 5 minute move as the gougers make 10 times the profit that the artist who performed and created it?
When a musicians tickets "sell out" every time.. I think they know they could raise the price!.. but they want normal people to be able to afford them too!
Without the mass numbers of the normal public getting involved... the hybrid move would never take off!

I don't really think it is that much real work in letting a car get dropped off at your dealership while having people standing in line to buy it.... why do they think they deserve 6K profit on top of the already 1500.00 a dealer makes anyway?

I wonder how they sleep at night..... Maybe if you don't have a concious you can do ok?

 

Business is business. They are not selling water to people dying of thirst. They are not making much of a profit on the SUVs, so the Prius is their opportunity to make a profit. Profit, by the way, is not a dirty word. You don't have to buy from dealers who have pricing policies that differ from your standards.

 

Yes your right... business is business and every man has to live with what ever "business" he conducts!

Business is just a term that defines an exchange between two individuals.

I guess this is the power of this forum... it gives people knowledge of the "businessmen" out there to avoid and unreasonable deals to stay away from!

I'm sure the ones paying the 6K extra are only doing so because they don't "know" there are other options! Knowledge is power and those who don't have it, suffer!

But profit has always been a game of deception in many transactions....
This behavior has gone on for thousands of years and your right, it has become accepted as a normal way of doing business... But that doesn't mean its right!

"Right" would be having all your cards on the table without there being any deception involved!... but that wouldn't be normal business would it?

If that behavior is ok, then we also shouldn't get upset when the polititian lies and gives an image of promoting one thing and really doing another.... thats just politics right?

Just because its gone on a long long time, still doesn't make it right!

Thankfully there are some dealers that don't live by those "principles" , if you can call them that!

I guess when we are discussing what is "right" we are not discussing business!