Prius in Texas
Created July 21, 2004, at 7:22 am by Anonymous
I was put on a waiting list back in February of this year for a 2004 Prius. I went to a larger city dealer because I thought I would get one quicker. I was told it would be between 4 and 6 months. Two months later, after reading in the paper that Toyota was increasing production on the Prius, I decided to email my salesman to check on the status of my order. I couldn't get an answer back from him after several attempts, and he only responded after I had contacted the Internet sales manager and complained. He told me it would now be 2 years! I called him on the phone to find out what was going on, why the change, and he said he had never told me 4 to 6 months, he had said 2 years (which would have been fine if he had, but he didn't) and was very rude to me. I guess they have so many people clamoring for the car that they don't have to try to sell them. So I called a dealer in a small town 40 miles from my home and asked him his opinion. He was very nice and said that really no one knows what's going on, when they're going to get any cars, how many, anything. He said there is no one "big pot" that everyone's name goes into so that it would be more fair (first come, first serve), but that each dealer does it however they want. He said they were getting one Prius about every month and had 18 people on their waiting list. He said that based on what he knew at their dealership, it followed that a city dealer would get more cars but would also have more people on the waiting list. So I went ahead and got on his list too, just in case. Besides, if it comes down to it, I would much rather buy the car from the small town dealer since the other guy was rude and basically called me a liar. I have only seen about three or four Prius cars so far in traveling to and from the city, so I guess they're slow in coming or must be going to another part of the country more than here.
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7 years ago
I feel your pain. Don't know how other franchises work but know that Ford has a pretty good system to allocate, order and track vehicles. We ordered a new 2002 Thunderbird in late 2001. Dealer had allocation of 17 for the year and we were 11 in the list. Order was submitted in Feb. for late March/early April production. Got the car on April 19. Within 2 weeks of what we guessed when we placed the order.
Other manufacturers may go through a distributor system which is pretty iffy as to who gets what and when. Hot commodities get footballed around depending on which other vehicles get ordered, etc. Also, sales people don't always know what is ordered or when they will come in. They will tell you anything, including buy this other vehicle now and get a hybrid later.
7 years ago
Waiting lists in Sacramento Area:
We went to one dealership who told us the waiting list was about 1 year long. We then went to another dealership who said it was generally 2-4 months long. The second delership said they didn't necessarily go in order, rather they tried to match up what options came with on the with the options people had requested, especially car color.
We asked if they were charging a premium on top of the MSRP, and both dealerships said "no."
They also said there was no bargaining a price down.
7 years ago
Hello all. Yes, the waiting lists are terrible and the markups equally outragious. We have been on a "waiting list" with Vandergriff Toyota in Arlington, TX since Dec '03, with no encouraging news. We originally put down our five-hundred dollar deposit with them, no mark-up over MSRP and assurances that we would have our car in 3-6 months.
This reminds me of a situation when I was attempting to purchase my Mini Cooper a couple of years ago. The market was the same. Waiting lists and unscrupulous dealers were charging extreme mark-ups or forcing you to buy their dealer installed options. Well guess what? We got organized on a national level. The internet is a wonderful thing for consumers. We created a list of dealerships across the US and rated them and gave insight into how much they were charging and the wait. People were willing to travel to other states if the were given a fair deal. Well, pretty soon most of the dealers started charging sticker and artificial waits disappeared. I purchased mine locally at sticker with a 3 month wait.
I say we do the same with the Toyota Prius. We are being done over by the dealerships. Yes, they can get you a Prius and yes they can get it for sticker and yes it can be done in a timely fashion. The problem is, people are willing to pay over sticker which places them ahead on "the lists" and makes the waits seem longer. Lets level the playing field. We need to refuse to pay over sticker, not be forced to have dealer installed option, and be guaranteed a wait not to exceed 3-6 months.
Here are the dealer in Texas I have some knowledge concerning:
Vandergriff Toyota in Arlington, TX: internet manager is Mike Mercer. Friendly people. Not charging over MSRP to be placed on a "list", but long wait probably with people paying extra getting theirs sooner. Five-hundred dollar deposit. Manager will not comment on how long the wait (indefinite). My wait has been 1 year.
Toyota of Lewisville, TX. Internet manager: Kevin Cleveland. Charging Five-thousand dollar over MSRP with a nonrefundable one-thousand deposit. Estimated wait 4-8 months.
I'll update as I get more information. Please add your information regarding your experience at the dealers you've come in contact.
7 years ago
Additional information on Texas dealerships.
Toyota of Grapevine, Texas. Internet sales manager: Mark Smith. No longer putting people on a traditional waiting list, instead puts you on a contact list. When a Prius (any Prius) comes to their lot, they contact you and it goes to the first person to come and purchase it. Manager would not comment on how much charging over MSRP, but did state there is a "market adjustment". My estimate from their previous email offers is about four-thousand dollars over MSRP.
7 years ago
I guess I'm lucky to be in Ohio. I am on two waiting lists, both in Cleveland (I live closer to Dayton) and neither are charging over the sticker price.
Their allocation is similar to what was mentioned above.....as the cars come in, the salesman goes down a list and says: this is the car, with these options and this color....Do you want it or not? The first one, in order, to say yes, gets it.
I have already turned down two (silver and tan) because my wife and I settled on either red or blue....I hope I made the right decision.....
7 years ago
Sorry to hear about the waits. Here in Saskatchewan, Canada I took one for a test drive and was told there was another coming in next week with the package and color I wanted. I would try a rural dealer: most vehicles out here are trucks.
7 years ago
I ordered my 2004 Prius in April from Manhattan Beach Toyota in the LA area (after checking out two other places nearby) and was told it would arrive in 4 to 6 months. I was not told at that time that ordering one w/less options would likely mean waiting longer. But, based on my latest conversation with the salesman, that seems to be the case.
I put 500 down on the package w/extra wiper and extra bags and was told my overall price of approx. 23,200 would not change if I got the 2005.
It has now been 9 months and I was told there are 6 people ahead of me who have been waiting longer than me. (I've run out of room, see next posting for more.)....................................
7 years ago
And all of us ordered the lower-end option packages and/or the less-popular colors.
The salesman asked me recently if I wanted to change to the $5,000 option package, as it would likely result in getting the car sooner, but I declined..... I would imagine it is standard practive for auto makers to make more of the expensive packages, but I'm not happy with that system.
Despite assurances that they would keep me updated, I have yet to get a call from them. I have had to inititate all contacts. Toyota has been known for service, but this lack of interest and/or less-than-honest predictions and incomplete info. is quite appalling. Ya gotta hold our hands!........
7 years ago
In October 2003 I deposited $1,000 with Milton Martin Toyota of Gainesville Georgia, for a blue,green or tan Prius with all the options. One never came in and six months later, I got my money back.
I had also been tryng to find one all over north Georgia during this time. Got to test drive a pre-sold Prius at Toyota Mall of Georgia but they had no control over what was alloted to them so I finally gave up and bought a Honda Civic Hybrid. I like it very much but would still have preferred a loaded Prius.
I have been trying to buy a loaded (4WD) Escape Hybrid since 2002 but - best I can tell - none have made it down this way.
Right now I'm going to keep what I have and wait untill the Toyota Sienna. becomes available. I'll never buy another vehicle that isn't a Hybrid or a vastly improved one, like I suggested in post # 9 of: Multiple, inline electric motors? by tim.
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