Well, I went to the Dealership to buy today..

MSRP on a 2011 Prius at this point? That's nuts.

If nothing else, check the TMV at Edmunds on Prius. Check for incentives at Toyota Dealerships - New & Used Car Deals & Special Offers | BuyAToyota.com, Edmunds and New Car Rebates, Cash Back, Special Financing & Lease Rates.

Also, the price you're given at carsdirect.com should be the upper bound of what you should pay since you should be able to get that price w/o any work. If you're a Costco member, try submitting a request for quote thru their auto club. All of those should be <MSRP.

 

For Costco, it varies. We went to a dealer that was the approved Costco dealer for the area. My friend ended up trying to get the dealer to beat another dealer's price (this is outside of what you should do w/any sort of Costco deal).

At the end, IIRC, the salesman said the Costco price was $500 under invoice (and showed us a paper w/that dealer's Costco pricing policy), which is worse than what my friend got (partly due to the $1K Nor Cal incentive going on, at the time).

Long ago, my parents got the Costco pricing on a leftover 07 Altima Hybrid (was Feb 08). The dealer actually was willing to go lower than the Costco price (don't remember numbers) since it was leftover. My parents didn't want to really spend time haggling esp. since my mom's car was totaled and she'd need a replacement fairly soon. The Costco amount was lower than the Carsdirect price.

 

Yeah, just hang out for a month or so and go for the 2012 Three. You'll be getting the new intake manifold on it, and 3 door smart key. Not that it's a big deal to grab the fob once in a while, but might as well get an upgrade.

The '12 seems more geared for iPod with its USB port and no more CD changer. They figure people aren't using CDs all so much these days. These days you download iTunes in players for the car. Then there's the Entune if you have a Smartphone.

anyhoo, that guy was nuts trying to charge full sticker. Sounds like there's not many dealers around.

 

When first approached (attacked) during your next visit to a Dealership, have them direct you immediately to the "Fleet Manager" without further discussion. The Sales person hates this, but has no choice. Decide before hand and tell this Manager the exact car and options you want, and stick with it. Know that "Fleet" does do Dealer trades and will pull up area and/or regional inventory and tell what is available. You will get a better deal.

 

Get the car you want!

Were there any negotiations? I like when they say "how much do you want your payments to be"These guys are trained. I always get beat up on a trade.I like to have an out the door price in my mind When I go in to the dealer! You sure should have been able to make a fair deal on a 2011! cars.com is a good place to see whats out there.they say used cars are hot right now. Sell it on craigslist go with cash.

 

Too bad you drove a 100 miles for nothing. Well, I suppose you gained knowledge.

When you do get your Prius, Where are you going for dealer maintenance and warranty work?

 

My experience with a larger town nearby was similar.

We test drove a '11 back in November. The salesman was either lying to me or uninformed (not sure which is worse). He told me that Entune would only be in the V's. He said there was no such thing as a power 8 way seat on the 4. He said that he couldn't order what I wanted at the beginning of the new year and that we would have to take whatever happened to come in. He was very aggressive about selling the '11's he had on the lot. I was completely irritated by him.

A couple of weeks later I went into my local dealership (bad past history not an issue here) and talked to the first salesman I came across. I told him we had test driven an 11 and that I was interested in ordering a '12 at the beginning of the cycle in December or January. He was informed about the '12's and admitted that he wasn't sure about the back-up camera and pricing on the car for the new year. He promised to get back to me when he had more information. He called a couple of times to let me know he was still around, and then the 3rd week in December, he called to let me know that they were "preferencing" the first order of '12s if I wanted to pre-order one of them.

I did, and we will see how that goes. He called me the beginning of last week to let me know that the car is "on the boat." Of course I'll be posting back to complete the experience. His pricing was list (of course), but even with that it was cheaper than an equally set up '11 (I HAVE to have the back-up camera) at full list, so I'm a happy camper. I don't have a trade in, so that isn't an issue.

I'm a retired teacher, and I really hate being treated like a "stupid, uninformed girl" when I've been researching this thing since I sold my 01 prius in 2008. So far David has treated me right.

 

Are you going for Blue Ribbon? My 2009 was the equivalent color, Spectra Blue Mica. Now I like light shades as long as not White, so it's Silver.

 

If KC is in your area of search, Molle Toyota was good to deal with. Their price was the best in KC. I negotiated the whole deal via email and then went and picked up the car.

 

Costco program is fine if the car is something the dealer wants to sell. Our Costcos only discount in stock cars, no orders. I found it useless as most cars can be bought at invoice, especially 11' Prius's right now. We came in at $700 under and some here have gotten more than that off.

 

Fleet Manager, not Sales Manager. Using Toyota.com's-Find a Dealer-Advanced Search, and your being appx 100 miles from St Louis, resulted in many options. Use Advanced Search with your zip code, Awards filters and radius miles you are comfortable with, and visit them all. End of the month is also better, as they want their sales numbers to come up. Using this method, I went to 15 Dealerships, plus 2 additional while visiting in the next state. One visit each narrowed it to 3, then the negotiations began. I received a very good deal. Try to get pre-approved financing with your bank or elsewhere before you begin. You will not get Blue Book for your trade in, Red book at best, factoring mileage and condition. The Dealership will play the pencil whip game with you if financing with them. Sorry but it has to be said, know that most Salesmen will also try to take advantage of the fact your a woman. Decide exactly what you want and stick to it. Be strong but polite. Wish you the best.

PS I almost bought mine in Kansas, then would have just paid my TTL in Texas. You can by out of state.

 

:nod:

 

The Wolfchase Toyota in Memphis is offering $2,500 off MSRP on the 2011 Prius. I received price of $24,910 for 2011 Prius III with Navigation and floor mats. They also have 0% financing available on 2011 models. Unfortunately, they do not have any 2012 on the floor.