Nope that dealer is up to no good. Car deposits (for a waiting list) should be refundable. I actually put my name in 3 dealers with no deposit and kept calling around regardless for 3 days and within 1 hour of putting my deposit to another dealer, I got my car. I didn't even buy it from the dealers that I was on the waiting list for.

 

I agree with nabookie.. I called about 20 dealers in NJ, CT, and PA before eventually putting deposits in with 3 of them. All the depostis I made were refundable and done over the phone with a credit card, no signing. A couple of dealers actually have some in stock to sell! I found 2 white, 2 silver, and a jasper pearl but I'm holding out for the magnetic gray. Ask the dealer what their allocation is, if they only get 1 or 2 a month, move on and call a bigger dealer, otherwise you'll be waiting 6-8 months.

 

Ah, well now I have the real scoop. Our deposit IS refundable according to our new salesperson. He said if I really wanted to I could go put deposits at other dealerships and I would get the deposit back if I got one somewhere else. Now... for the long explanation of the new salesperson...

In a fit of car waiting list impatience I checked our dealer's online new inventory for the hundredth time. I noticed the Prius was back on the list. It wasn't listed for a while and there were THREE listed. We never test drove one, so I thought I'd call and find out about test driving one. After all, we could buy a fully loaded Prius for about the same price as the TCH base model will cost us (due to the fact that the tax credit is higher AND the state of CT does not charge sales tax on the Prius).

I called up the dealership and explained our salesperson wasn't in today, but I'd like to talk to someone about test driving a Prius. The receptionist put me on hold and the person who answered told me that our salesperson isn't a salesperson anymore! She took another position with the company (Greeter???). Anyhow, she gave him our paperwork on Wednesday and he was planning to contact us next week to check in with us.

Unfortunately ALL three of those Priuses are sold. They are on the lot, but they were all matched and sold before they even arrived. He said their waiting list for the Prius is 3-5 months now. Occasionally they do get one in that isn't matched at the time, but it's a roll of the dice for what the options will be. He said he'd look into it and call me back.

About 15 minutes later he called back and said that at the end of the month they are expecting to get a tan one in. If we want it he could get it for us, but it doesn't have stability control, though it does have the side curtain airbags. It would, of course, cost less than the TCH. We chatted a bit about it. I don't really want a Prius, actually, I want a TCH.

I explained the whole car color situation. I also asked him if he thought it was really possible that I might get my color of choice before the end of September. He said there really is no guarantee, of course, and that it would be realistic to expect it to take 4 months. 4 months would be October. He also said that if I am expecting to drive this car for ten years that if it was him he would wait to get the color he wanted. My husband said the same thing.

He also told me that it was true that they could get me a gold one with a sunroof from another dealership. He said, "You know, not to be flip or anything, but the sunroof does have a cover." LOL, yes I am aware of that. I just don't think I should pay $700 extra for one when I am going to keep it covered all the time. I forgot to say that if he offered me a gold one with leather I might change my mind . I did ask him about Mag Gray too. He said I'd probably be waiting longer for Mag Gray than for Jasper Pearl up here . So, I asked him what the popular colors are. He said, it really varies, but around here the colors that are not so popular at the moment are white and gold.

Then I asked him why when I search the new inventories in other parts of the country I see dealerships with more than one (one dealership had TWELVE) TCH in stock. He said, in some parts of the country the hybrids are not as popular as other parts of the country, so those areas may have them sitting around. I asked him why he couldn't get one from there, and he said that they do "trade" with tri-state area (CT, NY, NJ) dealerships, and have even gone up to MA, but that it's not practical to "trade" with dealerships that are further away. They have to send someone to drive the car back, and that's not pracitical. (I wonder why they can't ship the car... but I digress.)

He said he would absolutely call me before I leave for my business trip at the end of the month, which will be after the next allocation. So, I am just going to try to stop obsessing and wait and see what happens. At least I *will* be able to get a TCH, even if it's not the color I really, really want.

And thank you to everyone who is putting your pictures in the Photo area. I can't wait to see a Jasper Pearl in there .

 

Our dealer is the highest volume dealer in the state. I assume that being the case, their allocation is more than 1 or 2.

 

Some dealers will ship. I found a base mag gray in Miami. I live near D.C. They offered to ship it to me right away. I had a trade, or thought I did before my current dealer low-balled me on the trade value, so I decided to wait because we couldn't handle a trade over such a distance. Now that I know about the insultingly low trade-in offer, I should have gotten the one in Miami. But I digress....

 

I took the advice of someone on this board and did not settle to be on the waiting list of one dealership. I'm in Los Angeles......so I am definitely in an area that has more of these than other areas of the country because of the sheer number of dealers in my local area. However, I was in touch with over 20 dealers. Eventually, I was on the waiting list with three dealers. I took my name off all of those waiting lists yesterday because I was able to purchase a car on Monday -- about 1 week after I started looking, and take delivery of the car on Thursday. In the meantime, there happened to be several TCH that I turned down because of color or some additional dealer add ons that did not make the car appealing to me. I had additional offers after I ended up purchasing my car. My car is a Mag Gray fully loaded TCH. I'm not sure what is the most appealing color combination here -- but I was willing to take blue or gray.

One of the things that I did for the dealers not working with waiting lists that had mentioned that they might have cars coming in that might not be sold is to call them every periodically. I actually felt like a pest -- but it worked. I think the salesperson that sold this to me felt like he should give me a chance to buy this to get me to stop calling him!
I was driving home from work today when I was right next to a blue TCH. I'm starting to see these on the road now here in LA!

 

Lil:

Have you seen the Jasper Green---- up close and personal?

I initially wanted one, thinking it would be a slight change from the Aloe Green Metalic. I saw a sold one on a dealer's lot and didn't care for it at all. I can't quite describe the color other than it is very bright looks a bit like a Roy's Taxi here in Austin.

I'm sure that there are those who will love it, but It is one of those colors that you will love or hate.

Please, please, please, before you wait months for this color, make sure that you see it in real life. You really can't tell much from the swatch in the brochure or with a couple of the pictures that I saw somehere on the web.

Others: Please don't flame, I'm sure that you like the car and that's great. I think that we will all agree that it is a bit of an unusual color. I just don't want anyone to wait for a long time and then be disappointed.

You may want to watch the inventory in your area and then see a "sold" car before it is delivered.

 

I have not actually seen it in person, but have seen a variety of photos online and the swatch. I like greens of all kinds. I have the impression that Jade Pearl is a more yellowish green than the Aloe available on the regular Camry. That's fine with me.

I assume that this is one of the more accurate representations of the color: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/con...40_copy_27.jpg

I just wish someone who actually HAS a Jasper Pearl TCH would post photos here .

 

I am not sure why everyone can't do it here, but I found my Prius by going to toyota.com and build,price my own. after going though several screens, they give you an option to build to order, then when you complete that you click find my toyota and they show the delivery dates for what is coming to dealers close to you, I know you can't do it in the Pacific Northwest or California, because some who tried can't get to those screens, but I just tried it for a Jasper Pearl Camrey and it showed 14 coming into the Panama City Florida area during the next few weeks. Try it for zip codes around you, maybe you won't have to wait so long. PM me if you have any questions or want me to fax the ones coming in here, you might want to fly down for a beach vacation and make a road trip back

https://www.greenhybrid.com/compare/.../signature.png

 

Lilarienne,

Check out the Car & driver review that TKCamry found: http://www.caranddriver.com/shortroa...ry-hybrid.html
If you click on the Multimedia-Photo tab, you'll get around 25 different photos of which at least 15 of them are of the Jasper Pearl TCH. That might help your fix for now for the Jasper Pearl.

Rod