Our Car Buying Experience

We have gotten a tremendous amount of information from PriusChat. We’d like to repay the favor by sharing how we approached the process of buying a new Prius.


We feel we got a very good deal, though not the lowest anyone has ever gotten. We felt a little under the gun because the car we were replacing had days to go to pass a smog inspection that would require substantial repairs. And, the Toyota incentive of $1000 off or 0.0% 60-month financing would expire in a few days. We also were willing to put in a day’s worth of research.

There are many methods to buying a car – this is just one. In fact, I’d love to hear of others’ approaches for the next time we buy a car.

1. Identify the make/model/options you want through online research and test driving (Our choice: Prius TWO

2. Identify # miles you are willing to drive to buy a car (Our choice: 200 miles)

3. Get TrueCar estimates for all the zipcodes in your buying area. (There are 46 dealerships in the Northern California/Bay Area from Folsom to Modesto and from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz)

4. From quotes received (we got 25), determine the “real world” price range from low to high ($22,169 to $23,867 before incentives, a $1700 difference)

5. Apply additional criteria filters such as
a. Value of closer dealership (All other things being equal, we would travel 50 miles for a $500-$1000 discount. We eliminated 30 dealerships that were > 50 miles, but offered no $$ benefit).
b. Reputation for customer service based on Yelp Reviews (> 3.0) + BBB rating (A or A+). We used these ratings as a way to filter out 10 dealerships.

6. Six dealers made the cut. We used the lowest TrueCar quote we got as the “rabbit”. It was from a dealer that was too far away and had the lowest Yelp scores of anyone (1.5). But, it served as our target price.

7. We then went to the dealership that had a good price and was relatively close, within 15 miles. (We negotiated a fair deal of $22,700 which was our fall back position, from a reputable dealer.)

8. At this point we were comfortable seeking the best bargain we could. We respectfully and politely called two dealers by phone, shared with them the lowest price we had gotten on TrueCar and asked what each of the dealerships could do.

9. Within minutes, one dealer with the best reputation in the Bay Area was able to get a deal approved that was below the deal we already had.

10. We called a dealer with decent customer ratings about was 20 miles closer and negotiated a deal over the phone that just about matched the lowest price we got from anywhere. So when we got to the dealership, there was no further discussion. The price was already settled.

11. Yes, maybe we could have gotten an even lower price, but this hit our target. Also, I think there’s a fine line that determines whether the discussions will be confrontational or collegial. This good karma came back to us when we traded in our old car. We were dealt with not just fairly, but generously.

12. We went to the dealership within the hour and drove off with the Prius a few hours later. Very easy process on a weekday morning with few other customers, no pressure to buy any options. In fact, we were laughing most of the time and actually enjoying ourselves.

13. If our Bay Area neighbors would like specifics, please privately message me.