Seaside, #1, Greensboro NC, 8/12/04

After considering a couple other cars, my wife and I went back to our first love; the Prius.

Date Ordered: 8/12/04
Dealer Ordered From (Incl. City/State): Rice Toyota, Greensboro, NC
Timeframe given for delivery: 18 months!
Color: Seaside
Option Package: #!
Your # on Dealer's Waiting List: not given

Has anybody else been given such a long wait time?

 

Thanks for the tip Danny.

Actually I don't mind somewhat of a wait like hbolter. (About 9 months or so.) This will just give me some more time past paying off my previous car. I'll just have to keep the older of the cars fixed up a little longer. Which so far it has been holding up pretty good. Whaddya expect? It's a Toyota.

I just hope over this wait the price increases from Toyota doesn't get out of hand. I'd hate to think I'd end up paying the same price as if I were to pay an unscrupulous dealer to get one now. Like one thing I noticed they will not be offering a minimal package in 2005. As far as I'm concerned this car has a lot of nice stuff without adding any of the package stuff. And in my opinion, those things are way over priced, except maybe the airbags.

Speaking of dealers, my dealer added a 'recording and handling' fee of $269. Is this a typical amount for this? It seems a lot for a little bit of paper pushing.

p.s. excellent job on the board, Danny.

 

-update-

I talked to the dealer today to try and get some more detail. Here's what I found out. They are holding to the 18 months with a little give or take. I am 62 on the list and they get at this time 3 a month. They said they were told the production goes up in May, so the factored some of that in there to come up with the 18 month wait.

He also told me the packages they were getting and the percentages they would get. It went something like this:

#2 (GY) 10%
#5 (AI) 57%
#8 (BG) 33% (I have 'BC' in my notes, so I think either he was mistaken on the number or the letter code.)

What a bummer! If I had to bump up the package, I was really interested in the package formally know as #7 (AM) which the CA dealer shows they are still going to get. It's a real nice blend between added tech and safety/performace features. I really don't care for package #5, especially after reading on this forum how the JBL system doesn't really sound all that better. And, do I really need an alarm and a glorified garage door opener for $2k?? Also, it has a cassette. That's just gross! ukeright: (Just kidding, I've always hated cassettes and was one of those that bought a CD player when they first came out. The only cassette player I have is sitting by my PC so I can copy them to CD if one comes my way.)

 

Re: Seaside, #7, Greensboro NC, 8/12/04

-update again-

I went and saw the dealer tonight to change my order. Since the #1 for 2004 is going away I settled on the AM / #7 (that in #4 for 2005) and put in the order that way. Even though they are not getting any of these in their allotment I was able to order this way anyway and he could put it into the system. Since the wait is going to be a while anyway, what's a little more anyway. When I found out about long wait times I put in the order anticipating buying the car in a year.

The dealer thought there might have been a slight increase in cars he's seeing, (and this is still before the manufacturing increase which is not due until May.) so even with 'special order' the 18 month wait should be on the conservative side.

 

-and yet another update-

We called the dealer yesterday to get an update. I got an answer back on my answering machine. It looks like I'm down in the forty's now and he implied the rate at which cars were arriving was about the same.

I think I'm starting to bother him a bit as in he said he'd call me if there was any changes. And also he mentioned possible noticable changes in 6 months. (I wonder if he is referring to the production increase in May.) Thing is, it sounds like allotments have been bumped up for the US already from what I'm seeing here. That's what I was hoping he would comment on.

Also from his description it sounds like I'm on the back side of the pile. As in there could be slight room for dealability when my time comes.

 

...with March brings the winds of change.

It looks like I will be getting my Prius a little sooner than my original plan. Also not by my original plan.

A couple weeks ago I noticed a couple of dealers talking about selling Prii with small discounts so it got me to thinking. So a contacted a dealer up in Northern VA and sure enough he has a Seaside Blue #4 (AM) coming in soon. So after considering things like the price of the Prius going up again soon and the uncertainty the local dealer can really get a AM even though they say they think they can, I decided to go for it.

Interesting thing; today I get an email from the dealer welcoming me to the Prius family and it's today the day I'm pumping gas at the local gas station at over $2. hmmm... :wink:

 

)I guess I need to bring some 'closure' to my order thread now. )

...and April brings one Seaside Pearl #4 (AM) :mrgreen:

The car got delayed just over a week because of snow in New England, it didn't make it to the dealer as they originally thought.

Anyway the Prius did arrive last Friday and I flew up and picked it up Monday. The exact color and option package I was looking for. It came with two extra options outside the mats. A cargo net and a bumper appliqué. Reasonably low cost add ons compared to some dealer add ons I've heard about and I don't mind them being there, especially the cargo net.

There was only one hiccup with the dealership in VA. First off I got the car for the price he quoted (just a little under MSRP). The only thing I had an issue with was I took a thing called an 'express check' from my credit union up there. It is made out to us and then signed over to the dealership when we find our car. The dealership there got squeamish about it and would not accept it even after talking with the credit union people. I think they got burned by some voucher thing that looked similar in the past. Funny thing, the credit union people said this is the first time a dealership has not accepted one and they have handed out many. (Region stuff I guess.) Anyway, the dealership did come up with a contingency for me with some 7 day thing and I was able take the car. All I needed to do was get a check written to the dealership from the credit union with in those 7 days. So we took care of that at noon today and a check has been Fed Exed to the dealership.

So... the ride from the dealership in northern VA to NC was quite nice. A nice 'get acquainted' time you could say.

As far as the local dealer here in Greensboro... They returned my check with no issues and said they were glad I was able to find a Prius. Also they said to bring it to them for service. Very pleasant, no hard feelings from them. I do think I'll bring more service their way.

(Thanks galaxee for the suggestion. The main reason for going with a VA dealership was they don't get the #4 (AM) package around here and it was uncertain if the local dealer could order one and how long that would have added. Funny thing, the salesperson in VA said the demand for #4's has been going up for him and a lot of them have been folks in NC. :lol: )