Hello! My fiancee and I are planning on getting a prius to replace the old 99' jeep we have now. We have a maximum limit of $20,000 and I'm hoping to get the best possible for that. Due to getting some monetary help from the fiancee's parents, we are locked into buying from a dealer and it must be either new or certified pre-owned. The dealers around us seem to have only a handful of 2008/2009 prius's under that number. I've seen a number of 2010-2012's that are just over that marker. How feasible do you think it is to haggle for a standard trim prius Gen II or C for 2-3k less than the listed price? I have no experience with buying a vehicle from a dealer before (only having bought a used car years ago from a family friend with the help of a mechanic friend). Also, with the 2008/2009's we were worried about the reports of HID headlamps failing and the high cost associated with replacing those. Is it possible or feasible to request that the prius not have those? They seem to be standard but I do not know if it is possible or affordable to have the headlamps changed to something that doesn't have a high failure rate. Thank you! We'll do our best to respond to you all and keep you up to date with what we get! Edit: I figured I'd ask some more specific questions. I've heard the new 2013 Prius's will be starting at under $19k. Can I use this information to get a lower price on the older models? A place near us has a 2009 Prius, standard listed for a little over 20k. It only has 35k miles on it and looks to have had regular oil changes and no accidents/other issues. It doesn't look to have gotten any tire rotations according to carfax, should I ask about that?
Keep looking, I bought my used but new to me 2010 Prius Package II for $18,500 OTD with only 10,500 miles on it, in like new condition. I had to drive 1 1/2 hr's to get it but it was worth it to me. If you can go with money in hand up front it will speak volumns to a stealership, opps I mean dealership and branch out further if you have to. Remember to stand your ground and go else where if you have to.
When we actually purchase the car, we can go with the money up front. We don't plan on paying monthly or anything. That sounds like a great deal! I'm definitely going to keep looking. We don't want to drive too far away but we may have to to get cheaper prices. We do live in a city which makes the prius slightly more expensive due to how many people are buying them. It looks like a lot of the used 2009+ prius's are only slightly cheaper or the same price as a Prius c. Would it be viable to try and haggle for a decent price on a 2012 Prius C?
