Silver, Package 3, January 5, 2006, Los Angeles.

First Contact, January 4-5, 2006

Date Ordered: January 5, 2006
Dealer ordered from: Toyota of Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA.
Timeframe given for delivery: About 8 weeks
Color: Silver Pine Mica, or Silver, or Seaside, or Driftwood.
Option Package: 1.

I met with Evan Lafair and Ben Girmay at Toyota of Hollywood. They presented me with the folowing projected cost for my package 1, and estimated that because I was flexible about color they could get it for me in the late February, early March allocation.

They quoted MSRP straight down the line and firm.
Base Price: $21,725.00
Destination: 580.00
Option Package 1: 650.00
Cargo/Floor Mats: 186.00
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$23,141.00
Documentation Fee 45.00
Sales Tax (8.25%) 1912.85
DMV Fees 213.00
Tire Fee 8.75
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Total OTD $25,320.60

Other Terms: $2,000.00 Refundable Deposit. I have a feeling that I could have
negotiated the deposit down, but the larger deposit worked out to be in my best interest
because they let me charge it on a credit card so I got 2000 rewards points.


Second contact: January 16, 2006

With a good tax return and having had a chance to play with SKS, I decided to upgrade to package 3.
They kept me in position on the waiting list based on my January 5 deposit date, quoted me a new straight down the line MSRP price, and said that it would be about the same amount of time as a package 1 would be.


Third Contact: January 19-20, 2006

I received this email:

I called Evan to follow up. He said it was very unlikely for my car to come in late February, early March, it would almost certainly be later. He also added that Silver, which had become my first choice color, would take more time because he had people ahead of me who were signed up for silver package threes.

The Expanded Search: January 24-February 4.

Thinking about the late March delivery and the fact that my old car has license and insurance due then, and really not wanting to wait that long, I decided to take a more active approach as I detailed in a different thread:
Los Angeles: Looking for a Silver Package 3

I'll be finishing up this post by talking about my delivery, on or about February 16.

 

I took delivery of my new 2006 Prius, package 3 in Silver just like I wanted, on February 16. After a short wait, Stan was gassed up and ready to go. I had a copy of the Pre-Delivery Service checklist with me and I looked in, around, and under the car for what I had read on here were some common gaffes in the PDS. Some people had posted that they didn't get valet cards with their new cars, I got a full pad of them.

After checking it over at the dealer, and spending some time driving around the neighborhood in Riverside, our first ride together was all the way to San Francisco - I had previously scheduled a road trip for the long holiday weekend, so I showed up at the dealer to pick up my car suitcase in hand and ready to go.

I've been very pleased so far with both my buying experience and my driving experience. My friends all saw my glee at the car and all of its electronics and agree with me that it is the perfect geekmobile for me.

 

One final observation....

I had no problem at all getting my deposit back from Toyota of Hollywood. I asked for it and they did the refund charge slip no questions asked.