[eesser]

Hi Guys -

Just in case anyone was looking for a prius, I thought I'd share this info:

I decided to buy a prius last week, and started looking. Finally yesterday I got tired of calling dealers in the bay area (I had called 6-8 and was waiting for dates, etc), so I did a "mass fax". It was a friend's idea, and it worked really well.

I made a one-page note basically saying I was ready to buy a car, but couldn't find one, and spelling out exactly what I wanted (silver BI only). Then I made a list, from Toyota's website, of about 25 dealers within 100 mi or so, and faxed all of them. My fax machine has a feature where it will scan in the page, and then I can enter all the numbers at once.

Worked like a charm. Within 3 hours I had my silver BI. Had to drive to petaluma to get it, but it was exactly what I wanted.

Today I got a call from a guy in Salinas, Carter Powell, who also has one. So if you're looking, sounds like that's the place to go. You can reach him at (831)444-0700. I don't know him, and no nothing about the dealer, but he/they sounded very nice. I also got the impression that they had a number of priuses (prii?) available or coming in.

Thanks,
Eric

 

[jeromep]

That is a great method of searching for a car. It is like a RFQ where you spit out what you are looking for and your specifications and those that can deliever send back bids.

If it hadn't been for a friend's recommendation on a dealership north of me, I probably would have gotten around to something like that.

 

[JKnight]

Congratulations!

This is such a GREAT WAY to buy a car. Everyone needs to learn this technique!

BTW, I found my used Classic Prius through Cars.com. I punched in "Prius" and got a list of 60+ used Prii for sale in my area.

Jan

 

[eesser]

Yeah this really worked nicely. I'll definately use the technique next time I buy a car (which is hopefully a very long time from now!)

EE