[moahb]

So I placed my order for a Silver Pck. 9 on Feb. 12, 2004 with Rick, Fleet Manager at Capitol Toyota in San Jose, CA. At the time the dealer told me 4 months. Since then, the price has gone up $300 and wait times are just out of this world. I have tried to get in touch with the dealer to find out if my wait time may have changed (ie increased) and what my deal will be as far as price, will I pay the price i was quoted, or the new price. The dealer never answers his phone or returns my calls. I have been trying to get some update now for weeks to no avail. Am I being unreasonable trying to find out this soon in the game? I just want to know whats going on. Please advise.

Thanks,
Noah

 

[richard schumacher]

A good dealer would call you back.

It took six months to get mine (9 October to yesterday. Yippee!).

You should soon get a letter from Toyota explaining the price increase. People who ordered before 10 March will get a refund from Toyota (not the dealer!) after they receive their car. Check the agreement you signed with the dealer. It probably says specifically that they are allowed to pass any price increase on to you and that you are then free to decline the car and get a refund of any deposit you made, but it may say something else.

 

[stancy]

RE

Having sold Toyotas in the past, I can not imagine a dealership/salesperson not answering inquiries. This is definitely not the way Toyota trains its personnel. I would contact Toyota through their website and relay this information. Toyota, in my opinion, will follow through and see what the reason for the snub. In a case such as a backlog of ordered vehicles, I would think free transfer of information would be a necessity. I wouldn't deal with them and I would let others know about your experience so they can make up their own mind if they want to deal with a dealership that won't answer questions.

By the way, how did you find out about the increase in your price?

Stan
2004 Silver Millennium #7

 

[Sparky]

Find a new dealer.

I started looking for a Prius in late March. After visiting two dealers and calling another, I put a deposit on a #7 Red model a a local dealership even though the paperwork included some modest, but questionable charged.

Three days later another dealer that I called, called me back and offered a #9 option package in Black. I bought it and canceled the order from the local dealer.

A smart dealer will keep you in mind, call you when they get a car and try to make the sale, others like the local dealer will try to squeeze out the extra buck at the expense of your confidence and good will.

Be careful ...shop around.

 

[moahb]

Seeing as I have been on the list for two of the quoted 4 months, I don't particularly wish to get off their list and then have to wait who only knows how long. I am really not happy though with this experience. The dealer is Rick Santos at Capitol Toyota. I am going to try to contact Toyota Corporate, and probably also see if I can get in touch with a manger at my dealership.

As for finding out about the price increase, i read about it on the board, and it is now listed at the higher price on the toyota website. I haven't been personally told that my price was increasing or anything of that sort.

Thanks for your advice, it is helpful for someone like me who has never done this before.

Still very excited to someday have my prius.

 

[moahb]

further information in regards to this dealer

So today I spoke with the Customer Relations Manager (Tony Johnson) at Capitol Toyota, and while Tony did not make any apologies for how I was seemingly ignored by Rick, he immediately answered my questions and check my status. He said I now have about a 3 month wait, which takes my total wait time to 5 months ( I was originally told 4months in Feb.). He also seemed sympathetic in that he was like, Toyota should make more of these, the technology is so good....Grr, I wish Toyota could get its act together and up the production, and get the distribution to be more accurate. Sigh, still waiting.

PS. IF anyone knows of better/quicker dealers in San Jose, please let me know, Thanks!

 

[grebe]

We had a similar (but slightly better) experience here in Alexandria, VA. Our original salesman was a young guy - he rubbed me the wrong way from day one. He was nice enough though, and was reluctantly patient with us. We ordered our Prius on 11/15/03, being told there was a good chance we'd get it before 2004 started.

We got a Prius (not the one we "ordered") on 3/16/04. Blue #7 never came. But we did get a Red #9. But not before finding out in early Feb. that our salesguy no longer worked at the Toyota dealership! I had emailed our salesguy once every two weeks requesting a status update. One time I never heard from him.

In the end it all worked out. It turned out that he had told us #7 was something it wasn't (keeping track of the packages confused the heck out of us for some reason), and our new salesguy ended up being great.

Moral of the story - be persistent, and when your salesguy isn't working out, go higher up in the company and get answers! Good luck - it is worth the hassle (I think, by now I might have been brainwashed).