My experience with buying the Prius
First I read several books on car buying and the auto business in general. The best of these is "Don't get taken every time" by Remar Sutton. Web page at
http://www.dontgettakeneverytime.com.
The book is a real eye opener on the car business and dealers. Also about internet car sites and buying over the internet.
Then got the dealer invoice cost on the car and all options from sites like Edmonds and Kelly Blue book. Consumers Reports also will give you the true dealer cost as well as the dealer hold back and any special dealer incentives going on. The cost for 1 car price report is $12. Web site is
http://www.consumersreports.org
Then emailed 5 Toyota dealers and told them I was going to buy the Prius that week, that price was the only factor, and the lowest guy won. It's important to let the dealers know you are serious, have decided on the exact model, you have the dealer invoice costs, and you are going to buy the car within 5 days from someone.
Received 3 replies back and then started bargaining via email between the dealers. I had the invoice numbers, knew what the dealer holdback was and started from there up. Never start from the list price down.
Within 48hrs I had a deal that allowed me to get the car for exactly $51 over the
true dealer invoice price. The MSRP was $21392 and I paid $20024. That's $1368 off the "suggested retail price". If I wanted to spend more time I expect I could have shaved another $50 off the final price. I had no trade and went with Toyotas 0% financing.
The April 2003 issue of Consumer Reports has the entire issue devoted to cars. There is an good article in it tilted "Tricks of the Trade" which covers 10 of the common dealer methods used to part you from your money. It's worth reading. Car dealers are not you friends!
Also a ploy the dealer tried to use was he showed me the "Dealer Invoice" which did show the true dealer invoice cost for the car and the options, however down at the bottom of the invoice was a line labeled TDA for $325. He tried to convince me that this was the Toyota Dealer Advertising charge and that Toyota Motor Sales USA added it to all dealer invoice costs to cover regional advertising. Wrong!!
This is a bogus charge the dealers use when someone says show me the invoice on the car. It appears the dealer is charged this by Toyota when they order the car. This is pure 100% BS. The dealer makes up this number. Remember with desktop publishing you can whip out a very convincing looking
Offcial Invoice with what ever numbers you want.
If you just do not want to do any dealing or hagling with car salesmen there is a buying service that for a flat $200 fee will get the best price deals in writing from 5 dealers in your area and you then pick the best deal. I have not used the service but the group is a non profit consumer information service. The web site is
http://checkbook.org.
The dealer also tried to add a 1/2% county sales tax on the full purchase price of the car. In Wisconsin there is a 5% State sales tax and SOME counties have a 1/2% sales tax. The county I happened to live in does not have the 1/2% sales tax. The amount was $100 and when I pointed out to the salesman there was no county sales tax because of where I live his response was "Oh yeah, I think your right"
This would not have been a big deal except when I went to pick up the car 2 days later and sign the final paperwork the dealers financial manager typed up the sales contract and again there was this 1/2% county sales tax of $100 on the final contract and again I had to tell him that was incorrect, there is no county sales tax in my county. Like they did not know this?? And they sell 1000's of cars a year. Right.
All this could have been just a simple mistake, and I am sure if I picked it up after I had signed the final document the dealer would have refunded the $100. But I have to wonder if I had had not noticed the error, would the dealer after his bookeepers had discovered the overcharge for the nonexisant county sales tax have notified me and sent the refund as soon as it was discovered?? Maybe.
So far happy with the car. It is VERY high tech. Definitely leading edge technology. Just hope it is not "bleeding edge". In 5 years I will know!
Consumer reports sends out a survey to all subscribers asking lots of questions about the relibility and satisfaction of new cars bought.
Toyota Prius rated number 1 in owner-satisfaction ratings for small cars this year.