How to buy a new car?

If you know what you want and you don't want the icky dealership experience, just hire a broker. It'll cost a few hundred bucks, but they make it super easy.

It really only works if you know what you want down to the model/trim/color.

 

would love to know how long it will take to move the bz's

 

Yeah, and the preponderance of plug-in Prius versus regular variety. The latter seem as rare as hen's teeth around here, most every one I see rolling by has the "extra gas cap" on passenger side. And you'll see a lot of posts, people looking for a Prius, but getting the plug-in instead, maybe some bait-and-switch at work, not sure. At any rate, seems little thought is given to the not insignificant differences.

 

any gov credits on plug ins?

 

If I google:

do new Toyota prius plug-in in bc have any rebates

The AI summary starts:

As of late 2025, the main provincial CleanBC passenger vehicle rebate in BC for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) like the Toyota Prius Plug-in is paused,

One thing, it's the ONLY way to get one with the smaller 17" rim option, with some god-awful, black-plastic wheel covers. And no spare of course.

 

All 2025 and newer Camry are hybrid. i really enjoy my 2025 Camry XLE moving from a 2017 Prius Two that took a hit from a 4Runner a year ago.

Unless things have changed in the past year, at least in my region, ..The wholesaler chooses the vehicles & options and allocates then to a dealer. Stock was so thin, dealers would not trade among themselves. I bought my 2925 XLE after it was allocated but before it was assembled. The wholesaler in a neighboring region added all sorts of useless extras to every vehicle. I do not need a $70 USB charge cable set.

I ended up paying full MSRP a year ago but got the options I really wanted..

 

Just a word of caution; don't tell them you want to pay CASH. They won't give you their best price, if they know that there's no chance they can make-up for it in the finance department.
I did that once and switched to cash. They did not like it and since they were being a 'D**k' about it; I said fine - I'll finance; and put it all on my 1% back credit card. They wanted to play word games, so did I. They said NO DEAL. When I hit the last door into the parking lot; the owner asked me very politely; to come back and do the deal. That gave me an additional 1% off the price.. The credit card company charged the dealership 3% of the gross, as far as I know, possibly discounts/breaks over certain dollar amounts. It was EOM, so I guess they were really desperate to get that sale onto the books. I believe that one cost me about 4 hours of my time about two decades ago. I've heard that they're a lot more friendlier these days easing the knife in.

 

First, use Visor | See the whole market to compare dealer inventory. They are miraculous in what they let you do, including being the only car search platform that let me exclude options I didn’t want. Solid recommend!

Next, understand the state of the market. You can do that by looking at dealer websites and watching Delivrd on Youtube. The guy who runs that company (a car buying and negotiating service) shows what he does to get good deals and gives periodic market updates. Right now, most Camrys are sold before they arrive on the car lot.

Then, figure out what’s really important for you, and what would be nice. Determine a target discount or out the door price and check around with different dealerships to see who can give you what’s important at your price point.

If you’re negotiating in person, let the dealership run a credit check on you. That tells them you’re considering financing, which gets them more money. Focus on out the door price or your target discount instead of letting them talk about monthly payments. And remain ambivalent when they ask if you’re paying in full or financing until you have a firm offer.

Then when they try to sell you protection packages, warranties, etc, only take the ones that would be useful to you, and be ready to negotiate down on anything you choose. Or you can so what I did and decline everything. Then pay for the car and enjoy!