Toyota Wants Your Used Prius To Resell At lunch today, a friend who owns a Prius and is not given to exageration or hyperbole told me that yesterday he received a registered letter from Toyota. In the letter Toyota offered to buy his Prius (2004 or 5) for the amount of his down payment and any outstanding loan. Further, the letter said that Toyota intended to recondition the car and resell it. His car has 40K miles, no damages, always dealer serviced. I said that he should hold out for the Blue Book valve if it's greater. If this is true, what could be driving this at Toyota?? Would you do it? My 2008 has just over a month old with 1100 miles. If I could do a drive in swap for the next gen Prius I just might go for it --- Barcellona red of course.
Are you (or your friend) sure the letter was from Toyota and not a dealership? It seems rather odd to me that Toyota itself would buy an older Prius just to resell it. I could see them buying an older or higher mileage (200K+) for study and research. Not if my Prius was running smoothly with no problems on the horizon! I hate car shopping.
Funny, I posted the same thing, about a YEAR ago Who's lovin' the search tool. Anyway, yes, the dealers periodically market this way, so you'll buy a new car.
I would only do it if they would take over my payments on my current car and give me a new car that I would own outright. I plan to keep this car long enough for me to pay it off and enjoy not having any car payments on it. What they want you to do is pay them car payments, rather than your current lender or no one if your car is paid off.
OH yea, this type of letter is always coming from the Dealership to lure you in for a trade, never from Toyota Headquarter. The letter always solicits you for your current car is on demand in used market, and they don't have enough inventory to meet such demand, thus they'll pay top trade-in dollars for yours....blah blah blah.
I've had several letters from a Honda dealership where I purchased a '97 Prelude SH, there weren't many of them made and apparently they are in some demand. It was definitely from the dealership, not Honda. They never offered a specific amount, just said that they'd pay "top dollar", whatever the heck that means. I passed and still have the car.
Which, by the way, is likely less than the current value of the car. Like others said... its a sales ploy.
There is more than one way to skin a cat (or customer). Ok, so you sell your car. Then you need to buy another one. It's just another gimmick to get the public to buy more cars... Keith
Re: Toyota Wants Your Used Prius To Resell Tell them the down payment was the full amount, because you paid cash. See what they say
Thanks for the input. I can see that the letter is probably a sales ploy. It was just last week that this same person said that he was thinking of selling the car as it was "nearing the battery's reliable life." I took exception and related the story of taxi's and other vehicles going strong at 200K miles and more. I encouraged him to come to PriusChat to get the whole story. On Monday I'll relay your comments. As to the sales ploy, how soon I forgot. When I purchased my Prius, I was bound and determined not to get caught up in the new car price smoke-and mirrors-game with the sales person playing fast and loose with payments and trade in value to maximize their profit. To that end, I lined up my own financing, and I disposed of the old car myself. The only topic up for discussion was the price.
