[nlsjma]

I need help. My wife and I have decided to buy. We've only found one dealer so far that is willing to sell at MSRP. Some say "no markup" and then require you to buy $3,000 worth (yeah right) of either leather seats or custom wheels. I understand they're hard to get and I'm willing to pay full price (which I've never done in my life.) But where?

Does anyone have any tips on how to buy at MSRP? I'm in Orange County. Are there other areas where the demand is lower and the dealers might be more reasonable?

I want a white with package 1 (or maybe 3.) I've found one that's a package 6 but I just don't know if the nav system is worth so much extra.

Any help would be appreciated.

JLN

 

[fshagan]

Ventura Toyota in Ventura is selling them at MSRP ... they won't budge below that. From what the salesman and sales manager tell me, there are very few package 1's that they run into, but they do get the package 3 trim level.

A little bit closer to you, Keyes Toyota in Van Nuys (I think), also sells at MSRP. I have dealt with the Keyes organization on other cars, and they have an active Internet Sales department.

 

[dgstan]

You don't say where you've looked, but did you try Rancho Santa Margarita Toyota? They're affiliated with Longo, so they always seem to have cars available (but not the Tideland #6 that I wanted).

I was on their list, but ended up buying somewhere else. I felt bad about not buying from them since they treated me very nice and never thought of charging anything above MSRP (and no dealer add-ons). Of course, this was in January, so things might have changed since then.

Try Mike Flores or Chip Kochendorfer at RSM Toyota.

You also might want to try the Toyota dealer in Corona. They seemed to be on the up-and-up. I ended up getting my car at Symes Toyota in Pasadena. They were great as well, but they are, obviously, not in Orange County.


DGStan

 

[BOXOUTBM]

Try Toyota of Long Beach. When I purchased mine back in March they were not selling over MSRP and were not using a waiting list. They sell on a first come first serve basis. They almost always have one on the lot and if not ask the sales person to check upcoming inventory.

Good Luck

 

[cazabianca]

I bought mine three weeks ago. The car I was driving died so I didn't have months to wait. I went to the Toyota website which gives web links to all the dealers in our area. I sent an E-mail to about thirty dealers saying I was ready to buy now. I stated the option package and 4 colors I was open to. I received E-mails and phone calls from 10 of them the next day. I found that if I was willing to wait 2 weeks I had about four cars to choose from. Longo Toyota, El Monte called me with the car I was looking for one week after I sent the E-mail. I went down that night and bought the car at MSRP. No hassles. I would suggest contacting Longo because they have the largest sales volume in the US. I was amazed to see their 3000 car four level parking structure in the back full of inventory. When we went back to get my car they had 12 Prius on hand.

I had two dealers tell me they would mark up the car. When I told them not to call me back they made it clear they would sell for MSRP. I didn't have anyone try to sell me extras. My impression was they just wanted to move the product as soon as it came in.

I heard of people buying from a dealer in Stockton, CA. They offered to transport from the airport to the dealership.

Good luck.

 

[CGameProgrammer]

When I was looking to buy a Prius, I found it was really easy finding MSRP Priuses in California, but nearly impossible in any other state.