Back when I bought it new in 2003 they were made in England or Japan only. They also were in short supply- you couldn't buy one off the lot, you needed to order one- it was a 2+ month wait. One fellow at work has the same year, color, trim level, etc... as mine- we bought them one month apart, but at different dealerships. His has "Made in England" sticker on the door sill, mine has "Made in Japan" sticker on the door sill. Interestingly, he has had some problems with his car that I haven't had with mine.
The Region orders the cars then allocates them to the dealers. NJ, CT & NY are in the New York region. Good luck hunting for what you want in the Central Atlantic or Boston Regions. Some dealers will make a trade out of region, others won't. Shop inventories on the Internet & contact the Internet sales Dept. If you are a AAA member use their service to find a car & get quotes. Walking into a showroom is the best way to get the highest price.
American Express also has a new car builder (using truecar.com data): American Express | New Car Pricing It'll give you up front pricing and you can let dealers in your area know what you're looking for and hopefully have them compete against each other for your business.
I don't know why car dealers are so difficult to work with. I went into my local dealer to complain that they haven't communicated with me once about my Plug-in preorder, and then I told the guy that there's a saleswoman in Southern California who communicates with her customers every day and goes out of her way to answer every question, online, even to people out of state who bought elsewhere. I asked him why he couldn't be like that. While he was thinking of an answer (and no doubt thinking that he'd sell fewer cars that way), I said, "How many Plug-in preorders did you take? This saleswoman sold over 150 in a day." That shut him up quick. His eyes got as big as pancakes.
Well, in my (the OP) case I had to order the car from an out of state dealership to get what I wanted. I used the Costo program to have dealers contact me. FWIW- Costco is invoice + $250 to $300.... far superior than haggling w/salespersons. Nice thing is- they got the car I wanted (2012 Prius Five) without the additional $5k AT package and no extra $500 fee to port trade another dealer for it like the NY dealers demanded. All was done via email + telephone- no need to go to the dealership other than to pick up the car. It's scheduled to arrive at NY Harbor tomorrow- and if all turns out as planned I'm driving to PA (149mi) on Saturday to bring it home.
Because some are still running their businesses as they did in 1965 where every town had it's dealership and you bought from them like it or not. They had a captive audience... The internet has changed the way we purchase cars- some dealers accept the change and prosper, some keep doing it the same old way... and are bound to wither.
Nicely done! I think one reason car salesmen might be so ornery is because they might be realizing that they will be obsolete some day. I mean, you're only 1 step away from simply placing an order online for a car and paying someone like costco $300 to deliver it to your front door....here's hoping the next car I buy will be like that.
Toyota does things differently. I waited for a special order for 16 weeks and the car I wanted was not what I wanted. I took a Five off the lot at a dealership 90 miles from my home dealership. I thought my local dealer was wacked.... I had the same experience with both Lexus cars..... Toyota builds cars via zip code...... ??? The Tech package is $$$ but,,,,, It is very nice. I had my Lexus in for service and my loaner was a hybrid with that package. My next Prius will have that package. All the best, jim
