Sure are a lot of New Priuses on Dealer Lots

Not sure about the new ones, but my husband and I have tried to negotiate for two used Prii in the past week and were shot down, pretty hard. We have great credit and a Subaru trade in.....not sure what this is about, but I would think they would be falling all over us! Weird......

 

They may not want your Subaru.

What are you expecting the used Prius to cost & what is the option package?

Go to www.aaa.com to build a new Prius & get dealer quotes.

 

Just a note, I'm also in the market to buy (hopefully this weekend). I've been shopping for about 2 months now. Depending on your region, your dealers may be willing to negotiate a little bit. I'm finding myself having to get out of my immediate city to get a reasonable price. 3 hours away and I can get a prius for about 3k less than here.

Word of advice, don't forget to try dealers that are a little further away.

 

I have three Prius taxi's and all three I had to travel out of town to get a deal. As soon as the dealer smells a chance to get an out of market sale they seem to be more flexible. My first two Prius cars I saved $2200 by going 5 hours north. My local dealership is well known for not finding very much wiggle room. (language used by the sales guy at my local dealership)

The worst part is I explain to them that I will be putting a 4th taxi on soon and that means that every 4 years I would be in to purchase 4 Prius and that I would be a great catch for any sales rep. I also explain to them that I have approx 40 people or more a day in my taxi and that 70% ask me about the car and I give a glowing review and explain how each car saves me $8000 a year in fuel and approx another 3 to $4000 a year in maintenance cost when you factor in much less labor and parts than most cars and the extra income earned by the Prius almost never breaking down and working a lot more days per year than a North American car.
I explain how I would be directing potential customers not only to Toyota but also directing them to that particular sales rep. After all that they still don't budge much?????????????

Toyota was in my City to release the 2010 Prius and all involved were calling the taxi company where I ave my cars and requesting the Prius taxi's. I took one guy out to the airport and he had a lot of questions and seemed very interested in my opinion. Turns out he was the President of Toyota Canada. He never told me who he was but my brother saw an article in the Durham paper that had interviewed the President of Toyota Canada and he talked about what the taxi driver that took him to the airport had said and how impressed he was with my sales job.
I took this article to the dealership when I bought my 3rd Prius late in January and showed it to the sales guy to let him know that I was no full of bs when I tell them about my great sales job and these days my great defense of the Prius with all the bad press, and he still looks at me with the same look at gives me that same bs answer about having very little wiggle room. Out of market I went again.

Anyone looking to buy a Prius should be willing to go a few hours out of market and the deals get better once they smell a chance for an out of market customer.

 

The dealers aren't discounting much because they know that given time the whole thing will blow over just like it has in the past. People have short memories and the Prius is still the best car on the road today.

 

I agree. However, I have to disagree with the no discounts. Dealers are in the business of moving cars. They have to meet their monthly numbers and by not moving vehicles, their report back to corporate isn't all that well received.

Yes, dealers seek to make money. On top of making money, they're also looking for # of vehicles sold each month. I'd like to watch a dealer simply stock pile prius and stay completely unwilling to negotiate.

If the bad press was going to move on tomorrow, yep, dealers will just hold their prii a few more days. However, in this uncertain economy and media-run world, who knows when the next big event is going to cast a shadow over the current toyota debacle.

It's probably safe to say that most of us here believe in the quality of the product. We don't need to sell each other on the vehicle. I'm just one to believe that the dealers will need to move these vehicles and one should be able to find some deals out there.

The dealer will almost certainly never sell for a loss (barring some major issues)... they will, however, well for smaller profits. Even if they sell it for $250 above what they put into the vehicle, it's another car off the lot and another check mark on their #'s sold for the month. They'll make up on their profit loss on the next vehicle they sell.