Buying hybrid cars: Still getting robbed?
Looking for their next victim
Deal? What stinking deal?
One of the great adventures of the American consumer is buying a car. Sadly, however, the dealership, the salesperson, and the finance department just never quite provide the impression they are on your side. Inevitably, too often the image portrayed by Robin Williams in Cadillac Man rings far too true.
Buying hybrid cars can be even worse, as there is often less selection, and numerous dealer add-ons, especially whenever gas prices increase – not to mention outright ignorance and even deception regarding the capabilities of hybrid technology.
And, now that dealerships are going to be exempt from any new oversight by a new consumer protection agency, I guess we can expect more of the same shenanigans.
Back in 2008, during the height of the gas spike, I wrote Robbed: Buying a hybrid car. Then, it wasn’t just dealer add-ons, such as dealer-installed leather that consumers had to accept, it was often dealer-fees as high as $5,000. In fact, in the Los Angeles area it was basically impossible to find a Toyota Prius that wasn’t marked up at least an extra $3,000 by the dealer “because of demand”.
Ultimately, car dealers proved quite clearly then that they will get as much out of the consumer as possible.
Now, perhaps a new government watchdog would have achieved little in protecting the US auto consumer. Despite my name on the telemarketer ‘no call’ list, for instance, I still receive quite a few telemarketing calls. Inevitably, making the law is the easy part, enforcing it is where things often get sticky. Anyway, whether a new watchdog would have helped is now almost assuredly irrelevant.
Thus, if you’re in the market to buy a hybrid, good luck. Do as much research as possible and always be ready to walk away. Believe it or not, there are always some fair deals to be had – even back in 2008 – but finding them often takes a lot of shopping around. Stay strong.
car dealers don’t care if they are selling 5mpg guzzlers or Prius Hybrids – it’s the art of the deal and if you walk in giving them the impression that you are locked into one kind of car or model you might as well turn around and bend over because that’s what car dealers do – guy.
Even if you have no intention of buying anything but a Prius – NEVER EVER let them know that.
Just let them know that you ARE going to buy a car for the right kind of a deal and they’ll play ball – because that’s what they do.
you gotta understand car salesman.
once you understand them.. you’ll be happy.
heh heh..
or at least happier.
What do you think about the Prius lease deal? $200 a month for 3 years, $2000 upfront.
Can you believe that I might need to get a car just half a year before the Volt comes out!?
Anyway, are lease deals like the advertised Prius deal more straight forward and involve less haggling?
PS, I have zero experience buying a car, and I have very little interest in haggling.
Oh, and this post is so timely. I actually visited the site today planning to contact you or post a comment about the Prius lease deal.
saw a prius lease at pasadena toyota for $174 + tax, and $2104 due at signing. still, the problem with some of the lease ‘deals’ is that they require Tier 1 credit, are only available on limited supplies, etc. that’s where things can get a big sketchy on the leases.
still, i was at Bob Smith Toyota in LaCrescenta yesterday – didn’t check into their prius leases – but they had a ton of them on the lot.
outside of that, if you qualify, i thought that was a pretty good lease deal. it wasn’t that long ago that a prius lease would have cost significantly more.
anyway, to me, the real art of the deal is all about financing, and it’s the easiest place for them to get tricky.
nonetheless, with inventory up, especially here in California where the automarket has gone from horrible to bad – still far from recovered – you should have some bargaining power.
Drach – you want to rule the deal? You show up with cash. Yeah.. I know that’s a radical concept…. heh heh… but if your credit is not bad and you have access to a good credit union… you walk into the deal with a cashiers check and let me tell you – money does talk.
The last car we bought – when we said we were going to pay cash – the haggling stopped and we got on to the deal.
It’s not a bad strategy.
I only try to concentrate on the economy vehicles which will benefit me in present and future. With hybrid vehicles constant knowledge and information is required to maintain these vehicles. If you are ready to cash on very high then HYBRID is the best option…..
absolutely. unless you personally know someone in the finance department, i like to stay away from the finance department.
to me, often all the haggling is just a distraction towards getting consumers more relaxed as they head into the financing department. as if the tough part is over now that you haggled down the price, but really, it’s often only just beginning.