I have been looking at replacing my 2000 Insight with an 04/05 Prius (as we have a baby due in December and need a back seat) and I have been asking at the dealers I have access to. So far this is the 4 or so around San Jose CA and 2 in the Valencia/North Los Angeles area.
All seem to have the same story; "if you want it, you have to wait" (and pay markup). In Valencia they said they could get me the option package (9), but not the color (red) in 10 days or less, they had about 10 cars coming in, 2 were already sold, but they had a non-negotiable $3K markup. However they had 2 on the lot they could sell today (option 8 in silver and option 9 in blue), that was about 4 weeks ago. A friend of my wife just got a car from a Los Angeles dealer after a 2 month wait, so the quoted 6-9 months I've been told by the N.California dealers seems a little hard to believe these days (and that was what the Sunnyvale dealer quoted me 3 weeks ago).
So 2 weeks ago I was in Denver, CO and saw at least 5 new Prius on the lot of the local dealer, they had pretty much every color including red! I was driving by and didn't check to see what options but I was surprised they had so many. I'll be back there in a few weeks so I'm planning on stopping in to see what the story is (markup, options etc, pre-sold).
My question is this: Is there only a supply problem on the coasts where these cars are perhaps more accepted? Do the buyers in the snow belt and central states have an easier time (less wait and no markup) getting them? I want to believe that the local dealers are creating the demand to their financial benefit and that there isn't really a shortage if you're willing to import the car from a different state, but I don't have any evidence of this (yet). The car's a 50 state model so bringing it into California (or any other state) should just be a matter of registering it and paying local road taxes and registration fees.
thanks in advance
-Richard
All seem to have the same story; "if you want it, you have to wait" (and pay markup). In Valencia they said they could get me the option package (9), but not the color (red) in 10 days or less, they had about 10 cars coming in, 2 were already sold, but they had a non-negotiable $3K markup. However they had 2 on the lot they could sell today (option 8 in silver and option 9 in blue), that was about 4 weeks ago. A friend of my wife just got a car from a Los Angeles dealer after a 2 month wait, so the quoted 6-9 months I've been told by the N.California dealers seems a little hard to believe these days (and that was what the Sunnyvale dealer quoted me 3 weeks ago).
So 2 weeks ago I was in Denver, CO and saw at least 5 new Prius on the lot of the local dealer, they had pretty much every color including red! I was driving by and didn't check to see what options but I was surprised they had so many. I'll be back there in a few weeks so I'm planning on stopping in to see what the story is (markup, options etc, pre-sold).
My question is this: Is there only a supply problem on the coasts where these cars are perhaps more accepted? Do the buyers in the snow belt and central states have an easier time (less wait and no markup) getting them? I want to believe that the local dealers are creating the demand to their financial benefit and that there isn't really a shortage if you're willing to import the car from a different state, but I don't have any evidence of this (yet). The car's a 50 state model so bringing it into California (or any other state) should just be a matter of registering it and paying local road taxes and registration fees.
thanks in advance
-Richard