my car broker experience - BIG thumbs up!!

some of you may have read my post about a coworker telling me about how his sister had bought a prius through a car broker at a really great price. i'll be honest, i was skeptical. how was someone going to find me a prius at a better price than what i had found on previous posts here on pc? i figured i'd go through costco or aaa or go to one of the dealers mentioned in the LA area dealer thread. from my research and calling around it wasn't looking like i was going to be able to get the 07 touring #6 in magnetic gray for the $2000 off sticker that everyone else was getting. i was told that the touring model was not being discounted for that much. i went to manhattan beach toyota, torrance toyota and called hamer in the valley. best i was offered was $500 off. i also had a car that i was trying to trade in or sell but with the holidays, it was hard trying to find a buyer and the dealerships were giving me next to nothing. on top of that i was trying to make all of this happen before the new year so i could get the tax credit for 06. enter mike at watershed automotive.

i did a search on the local craigslist and saw a posting by mike advertising his services - specifically for getting you a package 6 prius for $2000 off sticker. again, you could understand my skepticism after hearing from 3 dealers that this was not possible but it seemed worth looking into even though it wasn't for the touring model that i originally wanted.

we went back and forth for a few days while i tried to sell my minivan. while he waited, mike tried to find me the gray package 6. in the middle of this waiting period i mentioned to mike that i really wanted the touring model. within a couple days, he tracked one down at a dealer that was a bit out of town and secured it for me even though my van was still not sold. luckily, i eventually did find a buyer. because of the holidays, funding for the woman who bought the van was delayed. mike was still able to get his contact to hold the prius for me. it ended up being over a week before i was able to take delivery. i'm sure that the dealership could have sold that prius - especially since it was the only one available with those specs at the time. of course the time that i finally had the check for the dealership was in the middle of a busy work week. so going out to the dealership was going to be delayed a couple more days. mike had offered to give me a ride to the dealership the following weekend but he ended up topping that by getting the dealership to deliver the car to my driveway.

i can't say enough about my experience. it looks like these kind of deals are becoming easier to come by now but at the time, mike was the best ally in my search.

here's the deal i got:
MSRP - $29,692.00
CASH PRICE - $27,387.00 (excl. tax and license)

i highly recommend giving him a call, especially if you know exactly what you want. he seems to pride himself on customer service. he even offered to come over to give a tutorial on all the features of the prius. plus he's a nice guy.

you can reach him at (310) 741-7044 or email him at [email protected]. his website is www.watershedauto.com.

thanks to priuschat, i was able to approach the purchase of my prius with the right knowledge to get the best deal. i love this site!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(aaf709 @ Jan 23 2007, 02:41 PM) [snapback]379743[/snapback]</div>

i'm sorry about your experience. it seems like it's so hard to find trustworthy service providers now a days. but i'm sure most of us can appreciate finding the "go to" guy.