Hello, I am new to this group, and I wanted to take advantage of all the wonderful advice that I have read so far. I am considering a Prius, a car that I thoroughly enjoyed during the test drive, but I was wondering if there was any difference between the wait times when you order from the net and when you order from the dealer directly. I know that the online ordering must be finalized with a deal first, so I was thinking that doing it right from the dealer would save time. Is this correct or no? I really appreciate the help. thanks!<br><br>Steve<br><br>P.S. Also, would it be worth the wait to wait for the 2002 to come out, or will they increase the price for that??

Steve,<br> I don't think it makes any difference. If I remember correctly, the salesperson took me over to a computer in the showroom and placed the order - same as if I would have done from home.<br><br> Rumor has it that the 2002's will have cruise control and maybe side air bags. Cruise control doesn't mean much to me since almost all my driving is city, but the side air bags would be nice. <br><br>Craig

In Message 4283, dtran85748 asked:<br><br>&gt; I was wondering if there was any difference <br>&gt; between the wait times when you order from the <br>&gt; net and when you order from the dealer directly<br>If you are ordering a NEW Prius, you MUST order via the <a href=http://prius.toyota.com/ target=new>http://prius.toyota.com/</a> web page. If you don't, you place yourself COMPLETELY at the mercy of the dealer (how many dealercritters have ever shown mercy?).<br>As of this evening, the Prius site states: "For requests finalized and submitted by your dealer today, the expected vehicle delivery month is July to mid-August 2001."<br><br>&gt; P.S. Also, would it be worth the wait to wait <br>&gt; for the 2002 to come out, or will they increase <br>&gt; the price for that?? <br>Depends: Do you want a MY02 Prius? Do you know when it will be introduced? Do you know what options will be available?<br>One thing for SURE: there are NO dealers that KNOW for sure! In fact, there is only ONE person who might know but I bet he isn't telling.<br>As for the MY02 price: Anyone ever see a "sold-out" model go down in price in the following model year?<br><br>Now then - If you are willing to go for a "used" Prius, ask the groups about TRAC (Toyota Rent A Car) Prius availability and price. I know that my dealer sold theirs (at MSRP+) and is waiting on a TRAC from another dealer for demo use! I have heard of folks walking into a dealer and "walking out" with a TRAC Prius.<br><br>YMMV<br>Bill Powell<br>(Prius: Just Drive It!)

Hi Steve - been there, done that. I thought for some reason I'd skip the web part and go straight through the dealer. The dealer, Lawrence Toyota NJ, was... stupid, didn't understand the process, and failed to order my car. They performed the web order process the same as you or I could and never finalized. They didn't use my e-mail address either so I never got any info at all on the car (and believe me, I tried). I should be getting it in about a week after finally getting the regional level involved (after six months and many many many hours of phone calls), but to cut down on your chances of having a dealer ruin your experience, do the web order yourself. That's just one less step for the dealer to foul up. That will also hopefully insure that Toyota will be able to contact you by e-mail if there are problems like the dealer not finalizing.<br>2 more tools for your Prius purchase survival kit- ask the dealer right off for a contact name and number at the regional office. It seems that is the only way to get any information or action. My dealer lied about contacting the regional office at least three times. The 800 cust. serv. number won't give you that number either. Trust no one! :)<br>Second-If you have ANY questions or concers about the process, if you don't hear anything and you think you should have, if something just doesn't feel right, use that number RIGHT AWAY. Don't wait, don't be shy. Demand action. If I was more forceful at the beginning I would have avoided a lot of pain. You are giving Toyota 20,000 af your hard earned dollars. You have every right to make them do their work.<br>Good luck,<br>Scott

Hi Steve, I'm new to this group, too! I just ordered mine a couple weeks ago. I went straight to the dealer, and they did the web stuff for me (although I wasn't there to see it). I started receiving e-mails from the "Toyota Prius Fulfillment Team" (which has an address you can't reply to) telling me I had not gone to the dealer and finalized the process. I called the dealer a couple times to figure out what was wrong. They kept telling me all was fine on their end. I finally talked to the lady who did the actual processing, and she said something about how the web site had some sort of glitch that caused the computer to think that I was another person who had ordered a Prius, but who had NOT finalized it with the dealer. Anyway, she did some fiddling, and the next day I got an e-mail saying my Online Purchase was finalized (yea!). Not sure who is more important in this scenario--the dealer, or the "Toyota Prius Fulfillment Team." The lady at the dealership seemed to think that all was kosher at the dealer, even though I was still getting those e-mails. Anyway, I guess I didn't really answer your question... Just sharing my experience! Good luck...<br><br>cheri

just to answer your question.. as far as my knowledge goes .....at the present time... the dealers hardly has any control over the cars.. the regional office distributes the vehicle... and the dealership is where u pick it up and pay for it...and that is pretty much it. So i wud say the fulfilment team is responsible for everything unless of course u order it through a dealer and then the dealerhip has to go thru the process.

Bill, "dtran",<br><br>I bought my Prius as a TRAC car from Crow<br>Brothers Toyota in Tulsa. I wanted to test-drive<br>one and it was the one I drove; they also told<br>me that it was the first one they had got in<br>and they had been using it as a TRAC car since<br>they got it. Since they had it for a while,<br>they had been authorized to sell it. Dunno<br>how true that all is but I heard that same<br>thing from the salesman and the customer<br>service critter, so I took it at face value.<br>This was on March 2, 2001.<br><br>I was able to purchase that Prius and drive it<br>off the lot. It had just over 1000 miles on it,<br>the build date on the FMVSS compliance sticker<br>is 6/00, and it has a relatively low VIN (49xx).<br>I think they may be getting another one for a<br>demo, or they may have borrowed one from the<br>other Prius dealer in town (Jim Norton). I<br>know there was a Prius on display at the Tulsa<br>auto show two weekends ago, but I don't know<br>if it belonged to one of the local dealers or<br>Gulf States or what.<br><br>Just another data point for you.<br><br>Matt Roberds