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2004-2009 Toyota Prius Prices Paid and Buying Experience
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Comments
Best money factor on a lease I saw in my research was .0011 back in March, best I got offered in the past week was .0025
Right now, buying is better than leasing but it may not be long until that changes. Just my speculation based on some solid facts, I have no inside info.
Scott
Thanks!
1st question: Is this a good deal? And where is there room to negotiate?
Base Model - $22,175
Package #6 - $4550
Rear Bumper Applique (?) $65
Wheel Locks (alloy) $65
Preferred Acess Pkg. - $277
Destination Charge - $620
Total $27,752
Thanks!
I'm ready to dump my gas-guzzling, leased Mercedes for a Prius. The car dealer faxed me the rate sheet and next week I go in to negotiate.
Is this a good deal? And where is there room to negotiate?
Base Model - $22,175
Package #6 - $4550
Rear Bumper Applique (?) $65
Wheel Locks (alloy) $65
Preferred Acess Pkg. - $277
Destination Charge - $620
Total $27,752
I live in Connecticut and there is no tax charges on the car.
Thanks in advance!
1. It's August. In less than 3 months, the 2008 models will be on the dealer floor. At 9 months into the production year, a 2007 model has depreciated even before you take it off the floor. Consider delaying your purchase accordingy.
2. Consider Package 5 as a more effective package. All Package 6 adds are leather seats for which they nail you for over $1300. Leather seats in a Mercy B might be nice, but I've never heard anybody rave about the leather seats in the Prius and for that matter only part of the seat is leather anyway. If you have to have leather, talk with an auto upholsterer who may be able to offer you a higher quality cover at a better price. $1300? IMO, it isn't worth it. Consider: $1300 will buy enough fuel to run this car for well over $22,000 miles!
If you want to make some useful comparisons, have a look at the Prius offerings at Fitzgerald Auto (www.fitzmall.com). I've found their listings useful for getting a feel of what is happening in the market.
They don't charge sales taxes when you register a vehicle in Connecticut? That's unusual. I know there are states that have no sales tax at all but I didn't know Connecticut was one of them.
Good hunting. Remember, you have the checkbook - you're in control.
You are a saint! Thanks for all the information...It will be put to good use and save me quite a bit of money. CT is currently not charging sales tax on hybrid cars...I'm not certian if all hybrids are part of the deal but the Prius falls into this category. It makes it that much more appealing. I'll shop around until I find what I want at a fair price.
All the best to you!
You are my Angel! I rather wait for the 2008 than paying for a 2007 the ridiculous price of 29,756 (as this dealer wanted me to pay last Sat). I left the place without even saying good buy. Are you advising for a 2008 instead of a 2007? If that is the case, this is what I have been waiting for. Thanks for all the information. By the way, the dealer told me that the 2008 will be available in Sept.
PRUSA
You also have to consider some things that are not all that intuitive. For example, yes, Connecticut doesn't levy a sales tax on hybrid vehicles but what may happen is that the dealers in CT accordingly raise their out the door price that partially, if not completely offsets the tax savings. A way of beating that is to purchase the car in an adjacent or nearby state that permits you to purchase the car without paying sales tax if you provide the necessary documentation that it is being taken out of state. Alternatively, you could have an adjacent state physically deliver the car into CT which makes that issue moot. Motivated dealers will do this, often without additional cost.
If you do wait for the 2008, remember that the contents of the respective packages offered will vary from year to year so be sure you choose the package that includes the amenities you want. Again, I would reconsider the cost effectiveness of opting for the leather seats. Take a look at a current year model with those seats to see if they really make a difference to you. This is after all a practical moderate priced vehicle, it ain't a Mercedes. And particularly if you have children that will inhabit the Prius, I strongly recommend opting for the standard seat covers and putting on some waterproof seat covers made by GT covers. They're an excellent fit, washable, and they preclude the nightmare of dealing with cat pee, wine stains, dog poop and the mess that typically follows kids
around. When you eventually sell or trade the car, you can peel them off and interior essentially still looks new.
There isn't a gun with a barrel big enough to make me deal with a floor salesman for any vehicle in this day and age. I'd stick with the internet division of the dealership -most every one of them has this department. Amusingly, the internet department and the floor sales department are almost like two independent companies within the same dealership and there is no love lost between them.
Stick with one individual in the internet department and make it clear that you want them to provide you with the dealer invoice for the car you are considering because you want your negotiating to involve invoice-plus rather than MSRP-minus.
An annoyance everyone has to suffer no matter where they buy is being pushed through the dealer finance office, even if it's an all cash transaction. You will get a pitch to purchase a 7 year extended warranty for as much as $2000. Don't get sucked into this. An extended warranty is a discrete commodity which can be purchased from any Toyota within the basic three year warrantee period and some dealers specialize in selling just the warranties, some for less than $1000. The pros and cons of the extended warranty itself is another subject to get into once you purchase the car. It MUST be a Toyota warranty. I'd avoid 3rd party warranties like the plague. And ironically, it isn't a 7 year policy, it's actually a four year policy because it piggybacks onto the basic three year bumper to bumper warranty.
Another thing, the most generous warranty on Prius hybrids is offered by what is called CARB compliant (California Air Resources Board) states. These states are California, Connecticut, Maine, Massacussets, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhose Island and Vermont. If you ultimately determine that your most cost effective route is an out of state purchase, be sure that it is one of the states listed above because the warranty you will get for both the hybrid battery and the entire emission control system is substantially better than the same warranty Toyota provides for the non-CARB states.
Finally, I don't know if CT permits solo drivers of qualifying hybrid vehicles to travel in the HOV lanes. If this privilege is available, before you buy out of state, (if you buy out of state) determine whether a vehicle purchased out of state and registered in CT will qualify for this perk.
You're wise to surf through the Edmunds forum for tips on how to best position yourself for buying a vehicle. I encourage you to look back through previous months on this subject. This forum has saved prudent buyers millions of dollars. Armed with solid information, you'll be able to make it happen, rather than watching it happen, or even worse, someday wondering "What happened?"
Good luck and remember, you have the hammer!
Total out the door was over 28k, along with a rediculous 6.9% financing for 60 months. When I asked if it would be a lower rate at 36 months, the salesman replied with "not really". Down the road at the Ford dealership there are signs everywhere for 0%--like we're idiots I guess.
The salesman also said he wouldn't budge much below full MSRP. I'm definitely going over to the Honda dealership later this week, where it'll hopefully be more reasonable.
This is in Michigan.
Back when they were "flying off the lots" it was because of a shortage.
They are still a car in the high end of the demand chain.
You have better control if you do it that way and the salespeople will not be able to play the games where they try to hide the rate and terms from you by only quoting payments.
Note that the Touring model will be in short supply next year (2008) so be prepared to jump if you find one.
Why would this be?
Price 21888$ (200$ below 22088 invoice) + Tax and license
Its from Bay area dealer : Toyota Sunnyvale.
There are a lot of people who just buy on price. The Touring tends to be equipped with more "options", so appears a lot more expensive. If you look closely, however, you will see it is only a few hundred more than a similarly equipped standard model.
There has been a report that Toyota will also release a "stripped" model in 2008 in the US (no options), for a little less than the current lowest package. Perhaps this is a clue that the majority of people really do buy on price alone. I personally buy the options I want, rather than trying to get the lowest price by buying a stripped car.
All this is probably Toyota "slotting in" the car against the competition (price wise).
My calculated guess is that this month end they should sell this car (PKG#2) for 300-500 below invoice. I had 2 dealers with same price. Another was Gilroy. Gilroy has 2-3 cars left from previous month stock. You should bargain for 300-500) below invoice for that.
Selling Price: $23171
Dealer Service Fee: $600
State Sales Tax: $1336
County Tax: $25
Tag/Title Fee: $125
For a total of $25257 out-the-door. They also gave us $1500 for our trade-in of a fair condition 1994 Honda Accord EX.
My wife is convinced we got jammed hard, but I want to run it by you guys to see what you think.
MSRP for a Package #2 Prius is $22175 plus the destination fee of $660 for a total vehicle cost of $23,410. You paid the dealer $23,171 plus a dealer ripoff of $600 for a total of $23,771. So you ended up paying $600 over MSRP. Edmunds reports an average purchase pricea (TMV) of $22,293 or about $1400 less than you paid for the vehicle.
I'm being quoted 28200 OTD for a package #5 by literally every dealer.
Can anyone give me any options? Any nearby states that can get this deal done?
I want to pay around 27k OTD if possible.
I'll look into the internet sales more today.
25200 price
27032 OTD (tax, title, plate transfer, doc fee)
It took contacting 5-6 dealers to find anyone willing to negotiate. I recommend contacting the internet manager, and bouncing prices off the different dealers, looking for a match. The majority of these dealers were unwilling to even listen to a below-MRSP offer.
The 2008s will start arriving at the end of this month (some dealers on west coast). Prices aren't changing much, perhaps $40 according to one dealer rep. The car is pretty much the same as the 2007, same colours, options, etc.
There will be a new 2008 Standard model with some decontenting for a significantly lower price than the cheapest 2007.
I don't believe that Toyota is providing any sort of lease support on the Prius in your area right now. As a result, if you were to lease this car through Toyota Financial Services right now, you would have to use its standard lease money factor. The last time that I checked, TFS' buy rate standard money factor for consumers who qualify for its Tier 1+ credit tier was .00285 in your area. What you were told is correct, Toyota's lease program for the Prius is not very attractive right now. Still, I personally would be very hesitant to purchase this car with the intention of holding on to it for a really long time.
Car_man
Host
Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Forum
I would -require- the dealer to warrant the 12V battery for 3 years as part of the sales agreement due to the potential for damage. Unless they replace it with a new one. That should cover you. Do check to make sure the seat heaters don't work when the car is off and are powered only when the car is in "ready". Otherwise the "mechanic" got it wrong, and needs to fix it.
Please, the dealer rep was not "lying". I said the prices weren't changing -much-. And they aren't. Please read more carefully! And please don't call people lyrs. You could say he was "misinformed", for example, if you disagree.
These are California prices:
"Standard" model -
New "lower cost" base model:
$20,950, $1,225 lower than current base price. They deleted cruise control, tonneau cover, heated rearview mirrors, wheel trim ring, and seatback pockets. "This removed equipment from the new standard grade is available in factory option packages." At extra cost, of course. Removing equipment and dropping the price does not, in my book, constitute a drop in price.
Package B or HG $23,370 No changes from 2007 Model
Package C or HK $25,375 Modest drop in price - $40.00
Package D or NL $26,075 Same $40.00 drop in price.
Package E or NW $27,345 Same $40.00 drop in price.
Touring -
Package #6 = Leather and Navigation (I hear it may be the only Touring Package - we shall see) - $27,865 Same $40.00 drop in price.
Some reports say the prices have gone up $150 for each model. YMMV. Either way, no substantial changes in pricing.
Personally, I find it hard to believe the 208V battery was discharged. I -hope- the dealership was just confused and called for help unnecessarily. The system shouldn't let the 208V battery discharge below about 30% state of charge. It should shut down and not restart after a few tries. Perhaps they had to call for help because they didn't know how to reset it (they have to use the THHT (Toyota hand held tool). I don't know and can't think of how the "mechanic" got to this state. Toyota should hire him to help make the cars "foolproof".
The price is advertised on Mercury news ads. No negotiation at all.
I am new to this.
I could not help but notice your comments about the internet divisions. I have not found them to be all that much sharper. They have been quoting me prices that exceed $2500 for a 2007 Prius. If you would like, I can tell you what dealer quoted me what ridiculous price. These were all dealers I asked for a quote on cars.com
Ironically Toyota is advertising a clearance sale on 2007 Prius cars. I have located over 600 Toyota Prius vehicles all over the country. A local dealer in Kingsport, Tennessee, and others, stated that they are not discounting the car at this time--those are their terms.
I would like to know if there is any point to buying a 2007 at more than MSRP when the 2008 will be out soon. Also, I have bought many cars in the past from salesmen, but have never met car sales people like the so-called internet divisions who demand a hefty profit over MSRP across the board. Do you think that maybe the idea that the internet people are easier to deal with is a fallacy?
Any suggestions on rounding up a deal on either a 2007 or a 2008 Prius?
Thank you.
Echoparkgirl :shades:
Here are some of the quotes I received yesterday from various dealers within 2-3 hours of Johnson City, Tennessee. :shades:
A dealer from Chattenooga, Tennessee:
In about 5 days, I will have an unsold white 2007 Package #2 with carpet and cargo mats for $24,608. Everything else is pre-sold.
Easely, SC dealer:
Thank you for considering us for your purchase of a Toyota Prius. We pride ourselves in being the only Toyota dealer in the upstate of South Carolina to earn the Prestigious President’s Award last year. We have made that achievement 16 of the last 17 years. You’ll always get a fair price, a friendly staff, and great service after the sale at Toyota / Scion of Easley.
Here is your price quote on the vehicle you have requested:
Year: 2007
Model: Prius
Body Style: 4 Door Hybrid Sedan, CVT
Included Options / Accessories: Package #1 Includes: Backup Monitor, Smart Key System, MP3/WMA Playback Capability, And Auxiliary Audio Input Miniplug
Your e*Price: $23,272.50
E*Price Includes a Processing Fee of $299.50
The price increased when I asked for package 5 to the following:
$26,800
Thanks in advance
This is from a dealer in Cincinnatti:
Thanks for the email!
I would have to order The Prius you'd want(package #5).Retail is $26,379 and we are not discounting the Prius at this time.I'm not sure if
you're familiar with Kings Toyota but we are the largest dealer in the Cincinnati region(Ohio,Kentucky,Michigan and Tennessse) so we can
get this Prius sooner than a smaller dealership.We sell a high volume of Prius'.
Thanks,I'll attach an invoice of a Prius with the package you'd like.
18186 VEHICLE INQUIRY REPORT DATE: 08/09/07
DCV920 TIME: 07:3 :confuse: 2
Model Number: 1224C SERIAL # :73290214 Check Code: 5
Model Description: 4-DR GAS/ELEC Category ..........: F
Year ............: 2007 Current Dealer ....: 220-34085
Interior Color ..: FE11 FE11 Wholesale Dealer ..: 34085
Exterior Color ..: 0040 WHITE Previous Dealer ...: 00220
Body ............: HYBRID GAS/ELEC SEDN Invoice Date ......:
Number of Cyl ...: 4 Ship Date .........: 08/03/07
Allocation Number: 073 Retail Date .......:
Engine Number ...: 4681070 Date of First Use .:
Vessel Number ...: 056 TRAC ..............: NO
Vessel Name .....: HEIJIN V059 Damage ...........: NO DAMAGE
PDI ...............: NO
Fleet .............: NON-FLEET
Port PDS Complete .: NO
VIN .............: JTDKB20U573290214
Ignition Key.....: 68200
Factory Installed Accessories: FE NL
Port Installed Accessories ..: CF EF
Retail
Vehicle Base Model ...................: $ 22175.00
Total Accessories .....................: $ 3544.00
MECHANICAL & PERFORMANCE
Hybrid Synergy Drive System
1.5L 4Cyl DOHC 16 Valve w/VVT-i Engine
Elctrnic Cntinusly Variable Trans (ECVT)
Electronic Power Steering System
MacPherson Strut Front Suspension
Torsion Beam Rear Suspension
15" Alloy Wheels w/P185/65R15 Tires
Front Disc and Rear Drum Brakes
SAFETY
Dr & Fr Pass Advanced Front Airbag (SRS)
Dr & Fr Pass Side & Curtain Airbags
Traction Control (TRAC)
ABS w/Elec Brake Force Dist & Brk Assist
3 Point Seatbelts w/ALR/ELR Pass Belts
Side-Impact Door Beams
Rr-Seat Child Restraint Sys (CRS) Lower
Anchors and Top Tether Brackets (LATCH)
Direct Tire Pressure Monitoring System
EXTERIOR
Multi-Reflectr Halogn Auto-Off Headlamps
Dual Clr-Keyd Pwr Heated Outside Mirrors
Chrome-Type Finish on Front Grille
Rear Spoiler
COMFORT AND CONVENIENCE
Auto Climate Control w/Air Filtration
AM/FM CD with 6 Speakers
Push Button Start
Remote Keyless Entry, Engine Immobilizer
Cruise Control
Liquid-Crystal Multi-Info Display Panel
w/Energy Monitor, Fuel Consumption,
Climate Control, O/S Temp & Audio Status
Tilt Steer Wheel w/Climate & Audio Cntrl
60/40 Split Fold-Flat Rear Seat
Variable Frnt & Intermittent Rr Wipers
Heavy-Duty Rr Window Defogger w/Timer
Pwr Door Locks & Wndws w/Dr Auto Up/Down
Cntr Console & Dual-Compartmnt Glove Box
2 Auxiliary 12V Power Outlets
Cargo Tonneau Cover & Undr-Floor Storage
Overhead Console with Map Lights
Fabric Cloth Seats
Retail Total
Vehicle Base Model .........................:$ 22175.00 $ 22175.00
50 State Emissions ........................
Package #5 Includes: Voice-Activated DVD ... 3280.00
GPS Navigation System; JBL AM/FM 6-Disc CD .
Changer with 9 Speakers, Aux Audio Input ...
Miniplug, MP3/WMA Playback Capability, ....
Satellite Radio Capability, and Hands-Free .
Phone Capability via Bluetooth; Vehicle ....
Stability Control; Backup Camera; Smart ....
Key System; Anti-Theft System; ............
Auto-Dimming Rearview Mirror with .........
HomeLink; High Intensity Discharge (HID) ..
Headlamps; Integrated Fog Lamps ............
Carpet Floor Mats & Cargo Mat .............. 199.00
Rear Bumper Applique ...................... 65.00
--------- ---------
Total Accessories ..........................: $ 3544.00 $ 3544.00
Destination Charge ..........................: $ 660.00
TDA ........................................:
Gasoline ...................................:
Dealer Holdback ............................:
Whsl. Financial Reserve ....................:
---------
Total ......................................: $ 26379.00
Residual Value ...: 24 36 48 60
------- ------- ------- -------
STD 14,527 12,753 10,335 7,453
LOW 13,196 10,779 7,896
I have talked to people on the phone as well. The prices have been uniformly high,
Does anyone have any suggestions? I am usually very good at buying cars on the lot--the internet divisions are not dealing!
Echoparkgirl