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That's a great approach, and when there's a glut of cars sitting on dealer lots, you might even get responses. Right now, when most cars are selling for more th

That's a great approach, and when there's a glut of cars sitting on dealer lots, you might even get responses. Right now, when most cars are selling for more than sticker, you won't. If you don't buy a car, that's fine, there are others who will.

aliqot 4y ago
This has a finite window of viability.
- qzw 4y ago
  Of course, and I really look forward to the eventual auto dealer winter, but if you actually need a car right now it’s a serious pain in the ass.
  - aliqot 4y ago
    I empathize, I hope it works out for you.
    - qzw 4y ago
      I appreciate it, but it’s actually not bad for me personally. My wife wants a new car rather than need one. We can afford to wait but can also afford to buy now, and I wanted her to be happy. But I know many others are definitely not so fortunate.
chrisseaton 4y ago
You’ll get responses, just with quote that’s higher - and that fine it’s a market.
andrewmcwatters 4y ago
People said this at the height of the used car shortage. It still wasn't true. In my experience, suckers were buying Corollas at 25%+(!) over MSRP. All I had to do was go to another dealership. Let me put it this way: you've got the entire continental US you can buy a car from and shipping a vehicle coast-to-coast usually costs under $2,000. So, what do you think is truer? Is the market excruciatingly tight, or are there just a lot of people making bad purchases out there?
- jancsika 4y ago
  > So, what do you think is truer? Is the market excruciatingly tight, or are there just a lot of people making bad purchases out there? At least for the Prius Prime someone wrote a script to grab the data which you can peruse[1]. E.g., for 6/30/22 there were 113 LEs, 99 XLEs, and 18 Limiteds that weren't listed as presold on that spreadsheet. I spot checked both by enumerating through Toyota's list of dealerships and emailing roughly 50 dealerships. Based on the response I'd say even in July only 10% of those numbers were actually available. And cut that in half once I let them know I was inquiring out of state. Average markup over MSRP was probably 5k. (Outlier was 20k "market adjustment" :) So regardless of whether people are making bad purchases, the market is exceedingly tight. https://www.reddit.com/r/PriusPrime/comments/vcajy9/2022_prius_primes_allocation_spreadsheet_updates/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PriusPrime/comments/vcajy9/2022_pri...
toss1 4y ago
Yup, last time, I just started looking for a particular few cars, got by parameters down (desired trim levels, cost limits, etc.) and emailed requesting quotes. Most wouldn't play, but I found one who was just "yup, this is what we've got, this is how we can configure it... cost is $xyz". After a few rounds of email, maybe a couple tel calls, I had a deal, went there for the first time to pick it up. When my wife needed a new car in the next year or two, guess who we called first? Same no-hassle deal. It's a bit of a drive to get there in the adjacent state, but totally worth it. Edit: Also, we made deals for vehicles they had in stock, not custom-configured from mfgr.

aliqot 4y ago

This has a finite window of viability.

qzw 4y ago
Of course, and I really look forward to the eventual auto dealer winter, but if you actually need a car right now it’s a serious pain in the ass.
- aliqot 4y ago
  I empathize, I hope it works out for you.
  - qzw 4y ago
    I appreciate it, but it’s actually not bad for me personally. My wife wants a new car rather than need one. We can afford to wait but can also afford to buy now, and I wanted her to be happy. But I know many others are definitely not so fortunate.

chrisseaton 4y ago

You’ll get responses, just with quote that’s higher - and that fine it’s a market.

andrewmcwatters 4y ago

People said this at the height of the used car shortage. It still wasn't true. In my experience, suckers were buying Corollas at 25%+(!) over MSRP. All I had to do was go to another dealership. Let me put it this way: you've got the entire continental US you can buy a car from and shipping a vehicle coast-to-coast usually costs under $2,000. So, what do you think is truer? Is the market excruciatingly tight, or are there just a lot of people making bad purchases out there?

jancsika 4y ago
> So, what do you think is truer? Is the market excruciatingly tight, or are there just a lot of people making bad purchases out there? At least for the Prius Prime someone wrote a script to grab the data which you can peruse[1]. E.g., for 6/30/22 there were 113 LEs, 99 XLEs, and 18 Limiteds that weren't listed as presold on that spreadsheet. I spot checked both by enumerating through Toyota's list of dealerships and emailing roughly 50 dealerships. Based on the response I'd say even in July only 10% of those numbers were actually available. And cut that in half once I let them know I was inquiring out of state. Average markup over MSRP was probably 5k. (Outlier was 20k "market adjustment" :) So regardless of whether people are making bad purchases, the market is exceedingly tight. https://www.reddit.com/r/PriusPrime/comments/vcajy9/2022_prius_primes_allocation_spreadsheet_updates/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PriusPrime/comments/vcajy9/2022_pri...

toss1 4y ago

Yup, last time, I just started looking for a particular few cars, got by parameters down (desired trim levels, cost limits, etc.) and emailed requesting quotes. Most wouldn't play, but I found one who was just "yup, this is what we've got, this is how we can configure it... cost is $xyz". After a few rounds of email, maybe a couple tel calls, I had a deal, went there for the first time to pick it up. When my wife needed a new car in the next year or two, guess who we called first? Same no-hassle deal. It's a bit of a drive to get there in the adjacent state, but totally worth it. Edit: Also, we made deals for vehicles they had in stock, not custom-configured from mfgr.