What Do I Need To Know Before Going to the Dealer?

Check out Edmonds.com for prices.
Since The price of gas will soon be 4.00 or more, get to the dealer as fast as you can.
Good Luck To You!!

 

Read through CarBuyingTips.com new car buying guide, avoiding dealer scams, new cars, used car buying and contact the local dealers immediately. As the price of gas increases so does the Prius. With gas now at $3/gal here I would expect one will be paying close to MSRP.

The other factor against you is that the dollar hit a 5 year low against the yen. Sooner or later (and I'll bet "sooner") Toyota is going to start wanting more dollars for their cars that sell.

 

I agree with JimN. You should walk in with some quotes from various dealers around your area.

fightingchance.com is another very good web site to look at.

Good Luck

 

Go to Toyota Cars, Trucks, SUVs & Accessories and "build your own" so you can see what packages include which options and how much MSRP is. Don't get any extras, like paint sealant or undercoat or window serial number etching - all crap that the dealer may try to get you to pay too much for. Don't get pre-paid maintenance or an extended warranty (you can get these later here if you really want them for a lot less than the dealer may charge). You should go to your bank and credit union to see what their finance rates are, but sometimes Toyota Financial Services or the dealer's source is more competitive.

And if you feel too pressured, tell them so and just walk. They need you more than you need them, since another dealer is available.

 

ConsumerReports.org - Car buying guide for new and used cars by Consumer Reports

I bought mine by phone, email, and fax, getting bids from multiple dealers and challenging the ones I liked to match the best price. When they try to sell you crap you don't want just say no. You have the money, they want it, therefore you are in control.

 

Used Cars, New Cars, Buy a Car, Sell a Car, Car Dealers - AutoTrader.com

Also, shop for financing before speaking to a dealer. Find your cheapest interest rate and don't pay any fees. Credit unions are almost always less expensive than banks.

 

bring someone with you, for the following reasons:
1) in case i need a cosigner - and he/she would volunteer to keep the interest rate down,
2) to give you a ride home, so your not stuck there if the dealer wont
negotiate

the dealer will hard sell you various optional packages and or devices, every single one can be refused and purchased later on.

warranty can be purchased up to 3 years/36000 miles for 980.00 online to extend the base warranty for 100,000 miles 7 years something with 0 deductible (expect 1500 - 2000 at a dealer with a $50 deductible)

prepaid maintaince will cover all scheduled maintaince up to 55,000 miles (mostly just oil changes and tire rotations) (<800 or so online)
(expect to pay 1500.00 at the dealer)

various protection thingies, like for the bumpers, paint, seats can all be refused

i think anything option 3 and higher has a built in alarm, but not a glass breakage sensor, this is one thing you actualy might want to consider having the dealer put in at the time of purchase if the price is good. but
then again you can shop around and have this installed later

if you want lojack, just for the sense of security against maybe getting carjacked or something like that, dont spend more then $650 maybe 750
because last time i checked lojack will come to your house or work for 650.00 flat

dont let the dealer put any of his advertising decals or placards (ones that are glued to the actual body work)

thats about it

 

make sure you get an instruction manual, theres a dealer check list you can check to make sure all the stuff the dealer supposed to do, like install the shelf in the glovebox, weird stuff like that, is on here somewhere

make sure you get two keys

dont lose your keys! they might cost at least 150 each plus paying $ to the dealer to replace if they are lost, dealer typically wants $500

 

^The address of the dealer.^
Sorry I couldn't help myself.

 

My suggestion is to do your pricing before you go to the dealer...
Call all dealers with in a comfortable radius of your home, for me it was 100 miles. I told them all the same thing..
Quote me on the price of a package #6, NO Addons. I need your quote for the car, taxes and fees all itemized out. Look at consumer reports web site and get the invoice price and see how fair you're getting quotes. I then took my BEST quote to my local deal and told them I want them to do business with me and they beat my best quote by $500. I'm 100% satisfied...

I arranged financing with my bank, 7.5% and saved an extra 1% by having my payment taken out of my checking every month... so 6.5%
Our prius pkg #6 was 25,892 + tax, title, fees, for 72 months $434 a month.

 

most important right off, IMHO, dont buy the extended warranty or the pre-paid maintenance, that will save you thousands right off. you can get the extended warranty here for less than $1000.

Good luck and let us know what you get!!:wave:

 

go to bankrate.com to get local car loan rates. the dealer will have ridiculous rates- we saved 3% or more (i forget) when we refinanced the loan we got from the dealer.

that original loan was the single biggest financial mistake i can recall making.

 

Make sure you know what your bank, credit union or whatever can give you for rates, I negotiated with my credit union and got 4.99, because a credit union in San Antonio was offering that, and I told my credit union I was going to go with that, since theirs was 5.99, so they offered the same.

Toyota dealer was trying to rip me off, they wanted 7.5, then when I told them I had 4.99, they went ballistic, they said, well what if we can match it, I told them that really was meaningless, if you can beat it, thats different, so they came back with 5.65 as their lowest, I laughed, the funny part was, they tried to convince me it was just a few dollars more.

 

www.penfed.org

4.99% up to 72 Months.

All done online.

 

Great Thread. I think John1701 had a "First Day with a Prius" PDF at one point. It tells you all the stuff the dealer is supposed to give you on deliver (but never do). I'd also suggest you bring a quart of oil. Every Prius I checked at my local dealer was low on oil on the lot... go figure. Over-full is just as bad.

As far as some of the other suggestions go... I'd suggest you find a credit company you trust or have a relationship with. Get a good faith quote from them, and tell them you want the credit score you got when they ran your credit.

Now call all the companies you don't trust as much and ask what they can give you with that credit score. "DON'T LET THEM RUN YOUR CREDIT". Every-time soneone runs your credit your credit score drops (usually by 0.3 pts). If you show up at the dealer with 12 runs on your credit, they won't give you any kind of financing deal.

I'd also consider just buying the car online. AutoTraders.com is how we got our "other" hybrid. Great experience. It puts you through to the "internet sales director" and you do the whole deal over the phone. When your happy, give them a 500 deposit with your credit card and they will use that to deliver the car to your house (if you want). Delivery cost 300-400 dollars and it's different than the "toyota dealer delivery charge"

Also, try to hint that you will give them a good review. Many dealers get a bonus if they get a high customer sat. review.

 

I just want to reinforce what has been said before:

1) Go to your local bank/credit union and see about pre qualifying for an auto loan. This may be a good time to figure out if your bank is really meeting your needs, btw.

2) Go to toyota.com and spend a little time putting together the Prius you want, and get a list of dealers to inquire with.

3) Get quotes from multiple dealers.

4) Do not let the dealer sell you any extras. Well, unless they give you a great deal on all-weather mats, perhaps. But, if you want all-weather mats, at least look them up online first, so you will KNOW if it's a great deal!