first time visitor... hope to ultimately spend a lot of time here, I'm not an owner yet. So... ok, it's more than obvious now that I'm going to have to wait for a Prius... perhaps a very long time. My question is, is there a 'right way' to order one to expedite the turnaround? Should I be going to the highest volume dealer possible? a small town dealer? Any recommendations? Is there any talk out there among dealers as to how long the wait might be? My wife absolutely has to have the blizzard pearl and we'd like a solar roof... so ordering is really the only option I see. Just wondering if we're going to be waiting through the end of the year. I apologize if there's already a thread discussing this... I couldn't find it. Thanks in advance for any input! Jeff
Finding the Prius you want is more important than going to a large or small dealer. Any volume size dealer will be able to order, locate and/or sell from inventory. I would start by searching dealer inventories using Toyota.com. Enter your zip code according to how far you want to search. You might also use Edmunds.com to validate pricing and options. Since all dealers have internal ability to search other dealers within their distribution area, so you could go into a dealer and see what they find for you. As you've probably see from threads, inventory is becoming scarce especially if you are color and equipment specific. Good luck with your search.
Here's how it was in 2008 when Prius was in even shorter supply than now .. By June, Hayward Toyota, a smaller volume dealer was not taking deposits or names on waitlist at all. They would have a few come in from time to time, but they would be sold immediately. Same with Fremont Toyota, no waitlist. You'd call them, tell them what you want, maybe they'd get back to you. Piercey Toyota is a pretty high volume dealer - they were doing waitlists all Summer, no deposit required. They did come up with the Prius I spec'd in early June, the car came in Aug 26th. Sunnyvale Toyota, probably biggest seller of Prius was taking $500 refundable deposits and names on list. They did refund immediately after about a month wait. Every dealer seems a little different.
I agree with the previous poster about getting on Toyota.com and doing a dealer search in your area. You can view most dealers inventory online and once you select a dealer they can view in stock vehicle's in the surrounding area, giving you the best chance to find the color and package you want. When shopping for our Prius it was not hard at all to find the color and package we wanted. They'll tell you inventory is drying up yet the dealer we were dealing with had 6 new prius vehicles delivered this week. Of course we are on the East Coast where demand is not as it is on the west coast.
Welcome, Jeff. The USA is divided into regions. The regions order the cars from Toyota then allocate them to their dealers. About all you can do is keep looking around as far out as you are willing to travel to get your car. Best wishes for finding a Three-Solar or Four-Solar in your neighborhood.
