I'm discussing prices with a dealership by email and they are quoting me $500 for a Sirius radio installed on a new 2008 Prius, is that a fair price?
Ouch. No. You can get the hardware for $150, and either install it yourself or get a stereo shop to do it. There's a long thread over in the Audio/Electronics forum.
Thanks, I am questioning whether or not I wanna get satellite radio at all, most of the stuff I listen is kinda off the wall and browsing through the list of channels for both XM and Sirius I don't see much that I's really listen to a lot... I have a collection of over 800 CDs that I am in the process of transferring to MP3 and I might just use the MP3 feature more than satellite radio anyway.
If I had that much of a CD inventory, I'd probably skip the expense of a satellite radio. And I say that as one who has XM and loves it. I first subscribed to XM largely to avoid the need to accumulate a CD collection when I didn't have much of one. And I still don't; XM fits the need.
It may not be fair, but it's pretty much the going price for dealer installed satellite radio, either Sirius or XM.
Now that I think more about it I don't think I'll be using satellite much at all. Back when I last lived in the US I was single and listened to my CD colection daily. I like listening to my music loud, but since getting married I haven't done much of that as the wife doesn't appreciate loud music like I do . Also, for the past 4 years I have been commuting to work by bicycle more out of necessity than out of any concern for the environment. I am in the Army and the Army (I mean our commander here in Korea) in its infinite wisdom has made it illegal for E6 and below (which includes me) to drive, so I have no car. Because I commute by bike I don't listen to music on the way to work. Now that I'm going back to the US I'll be commuting to work by car and that will be my chance to get reacquainted with my CD collection. So I'll hold back my idea of getting a satellite radio unless I feel a need for it later. $500 does sound steep, however!
I was originally quoted $770 for XM radio installed and got them down to $580. Maybe could have gotten an installer to do cheaper but the dealer will stand by the radio. They put the antenna inside and I think I will ask them to redo and place it on the roof. I travel through hills and narrow valleys to go to work and it is cutting out a lot. it didn't do that in my previous car. So in this case they might do the work twice and the price won't seem as bad. They do have to take the whole dash apart and they even removed one of the rear seats to put this in. It took them a couple of hours.
If the dealer put the antenna inside, they are just cutting corners and way overcharging for an inferior installation and product. It is NOT necessary to take apart the whole dash, as was originally thought. The plug can be accessed with simply the removal of glovebox and right-center vent. There is a 16-character, fully integrated Sirius solution available for only $100-$150 if you shop around. See the thread noted above.
Satellite radio install on a Prius is simple and straightforward. I can't believe some people are willing to pay the installer $300-500 or more per hour of labor.
When I got my 2008 in December I got the XM package. The dealer wanted $500 for it, despite Toyota's own web site showing an MSRP of $450. They agreed to sell it for $450. I realize that saving $50 on a $25,000 car is (at best) a minor victory, but at the time I didn't feel like trying to buy something online and then have to figure out how to install it myself--I just wanted it done.
