[Rmarchena]

Did your dealer sales person know more than you about the Prius prior your purchase?

In my case, she did not.!!! What a shame!!!! If it was because her, I did not buy it. I know for a fact that sales people get trained in new models.
In the Prius case was insufficient.

 

[firepa63]

I went to 3 dealers before I bought my 04. One of the 3 sales persons was very familiar with the Prius. The other 2 were not. One couldn't even start the car. Guess where I made my purchase... Guess where I plan to buy my Highlander hybrid...

 

[bshef]

My Dealer from Corona Calif....was an Owner of a Prius and knew most everything about the car.....not to mention his enthusiasm.

 

[melgish]

The salesman told me that if the car runs out of gas, I can drive for up to 50 miles.

The salesman told me that "B" was for Battery Only mode.

(For those of you just tuning in, these are flat out inaccuracies)

 

[Old n Bold]

My salesman was fairly proficient in most things about the car. He missed on two things. I asked about the orientation of the map (the direction the car was pointed was up on the MFD). He said that was always the way it was and it couldn't be changed. Wrong! I found out how by reading the manual.

His second error was more understandable. When briefing me, he said he would put my home in memory. He asked my address and I told him I lived on a 2.6 mi. private road. He replied that he could not put that in as the mapping program could not see private roads. When I got home and stopped in front of my garage door, I pressed the mark box to memorize where the car actually was. Suddenly, it painted in the entire private road and it has been on the map ever since and guides me to and from my house with no problem. "Gertrude" doesn't even warn me that I am leaving the stored area and am now on my own. I told him aboaut that too!

 

[Astrowoman]

I took 2 test drives with 2 different salesmen. Both knew a lot more than I did (at the time) about basic operation of the car. The only thing that I caught one out on was claiming that most people really do get the EPA rated mileage on a regular basis.

 

[mrv]

in Sept. 2000, when I went looking for a new car, I went into the Toyota dealer to ask about this new car I had heard about (my husband didn't know anything about it at the time). Since it was almost closing time, the salesman just handed me his Toyota University training binder, and told me to come back the next day for a test drive. When I returned the next day and returned the book, he told me that I now knew as much about the car as he did... (I did spend some time online (the only sites at the time have now become http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius/ and http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/toyotaprius/ ) and actually found an owner in my town that answered most questions that I had.

The only problem I had with my dealer was that he said that I'd be able to install the navigation system after delivery, since all the buttons on the dash were already there... (There is no such add-on, and to retrofit the factory system is very costly in both parts and labor time...)

For my 2004, I went to a different dealership. (I had moved, and I already had a referral discount with this dealership.) I haven't heard anything incorrect from this dealer, but I can say that we each know some things about the Prius that the other does not (but he's very Prius-knowledgeable).

My mother didn't have a bad time with her dealer when purchasing her 2002 Prius (although the finance guy and the service department scared her away forever...). Her saleswoman was very good about the ordering process, and didn't try to guess at anything (since my mother already knew about the car).

 

[OverTork]

I don't really know how knowledgable my dealer was. Except for the test drive I had pretty much answered all of my own questions. Thanks to the combined knowledge and experience of this group and others all he really had to handle was the paperwork. He was a nice enough guy though.

What's more important is what does your mechanic know.

 

[jdkuehne]

Yes, because I knew nothing the first time I saw a Prius. However, she told me that the ground clearance was 7 inches and I could see just by looking that it was less than that (4.9 inches actually).

jdkuehne

 

[Sanny]

Yes, because I knew nothing the first time I saw a Prius. However, she told me that the ground clearance was 7 inches and I could see just by looking that it was less than that (4.9 inches actually).

jdkuehne

Yes, but you can always dream about those 7 inches.

 

[evander]

Yes, because I knew nothing the first time I saw a Prius. However, she told me that the ground clearance was 7 inches and I could see just by looking that it was less than that (4.9 inches actually).

jdkuehne

Yes, but you can always dream about those 7 inches.

Sweet dreams, Sanny. But to the question at large, my dealer knew everything except how to get the car into accessory mode when pressing the Power button. I informed him later after reading the manual.

 

[Uttley]

My dealer knew the bare bones basics. I was very unimpressed with his knowledge of the car. I asked him a couple questions about the conversion from the gas motor to the battery and he responded, "I'm not a mechanic." K ...

So then as I took a test drive I started asking leading questions.
-"As I accelerate, the gas engine will be used, and coasting can pretty much be handled by the electric motor, right?" "Yes."
-"When I hit the breaks gently, the kinetic energy is being transferred back to the battery, right?" "Yes."

So as I noticed that he was pretty much just a head-nodder, I asked:

-"So if I get onto the highway I can get better gas mileage by going about 80 because the electric motor will just maintain my speed and no gas needs to be used, right?" "Yes."

Heh

 

[Guffman]

My salesman (only two months on the job apparently) told me that the SKS was something that would be introduced in the '06 models (duh!).
When I went to pick the car up last month, three months after ordering, he attempted to explain the car's various features to me before handing over the fobs - he still didn't know how the SKS worked, amongst other things... pretty sad, you'd think the Toyota dealership would do a better job training their salesforce.
I knew WAY more than him from reading the forums and various websites about the Prius.

 

[accadacca]

My salesman was a prius owner and a real stud! :lol:

 

[evander]

My salesman was a prius owner and a real stud! :lol:

Lucky you! Have him switch to Service.

 

[accadacca]

White 2005 BTW. We have had it since December. What a dream! :wink:

 

[GreyMud]

I had test driven 5 or 6 before buying (traveled a lot for work), so I was fairly comfortable with the car.

My saleswoman impressed the heck out of me by being completely honest and not beating around the bush.

"With the limited production on this model, we really don't negotiate price." (got MSRP)

"I just don't know that. I can find out for you, if you would like." (was more mechanic questions)

Seegar Toyota, west suburb of St Louis.