I arrived at BWI Sunday at 1145. Salesman John Reida picked me up there (on his day off) and drove me to dealership in Gaithersberg, about a 30 minute drive.

All went as planned...
- Price was as-stated
- The asked me about extras (service plan, loJac, etc), but no major arm-twisting or pressure.
- Car was detailed and ready-to-go with a full tank of gas.
- I brought my own funding, so business office stuff was painless.
- I was familiar with the TCH, so I only got the "Readers Digest Version" of the orientation. However, John was very familiar with the car and ready to go over all of the details if I had asked.

I was out of the dealership and on my way back to Texas by 2PM!!

Since I left mid-day, I took 3 days to return to TX. The trip was very nice, including some good fall leaf viewing (slightly past peak, but still nice). I arrived home Tuesday afternoon.

Not having been there before, I was a bit concerned about the deal falling-through at the last minute. However, everything was exactly as promised. I highly recommend John and the Fitzmall folks!!

Note: They don't haggle on price. I notice their prices are back up on the TCHs. They also have several in-stock. Keep an eye on their prices. I suspect that they will go back down.

 

Glad to hear that all went as planned, and thanks for the report.

Now...give us a "seat of the pants" comparo between the 07 and 09. Any obvious differences?

 

We had one of the first 07's made in Japan. This one was made in Georgetown, KY.

I sense that there are some small improvements in trim and technology to make it run a bit smoother and quieter. The air noise around the sunroof seems lower and the whine during braking seems quieter.

The new car has daytime running lights with an override for "off."

I got navigation and the seatwarmer packages (Yes, it cost about $2,000 more and those items are not included in my apples-to-apples compairison above).

I didn't think that I would need/like the seatwarmers here in Texas. However, they were nice to warm-up my tight back on the very long drive.

I like the Navigation. It does take a bit to learn the features. The inability to use some features while underway is a PITA. (See Navigation Threads). BTW, The car came with the new 8.0 Disk (Car was built/completed shortly after 11/1). Sorry, no I won't burn a copy and send it to you.

It is too early to tell about MPG. I got roughly 38 on the dry (rainfree) trip home. I got 35 on the tank where it rained (Arkansas and E Texas). On the otherhand I filled it up at a discount station that uses "Up to 10% ethanol." I don't think these were bad for freeway travel with a new "tight" car. The next tank or two on local trips will tell us more about the MPG in a Hybrid environment.

I know that someone will ask, I don't sense any fit and finish differences between the Japan Model and the US model.

More reports as we drive it more....

 

I just looked at the Fitzmall website. They have a bunch of TCHs in-stock. Looks like they have dropped them back to about $150- $200 over invoice. That is a lot better than they were a couple of weeks ago. (( After I ordered mine, they went up a couple of thousand. They are back down now)).

BTW. CarMax still hasn't sold my old TCH.

 

FWIW, I ordered a fully loaded (leather, nav, sunroof, trunk/floor mats) 2009 TCH for $29,000 back in July, a the peak of the gas prices. There are two types of dealers: ones that make money on volume and ones that make money on margin. The former make their money by minimzing carrying costs and pocketing the dealer rebate Toyota gives them to offset their carrying costs. On a TCH which is guaranteed to sell since they are pre-selling them on a 4-8 week waiting list (or were back in July), this means no carrying costs for the dealer, since your purchase proceeds will have settled by the time Toyota invoices them, thus they make the full profit (in this case the rebate Toyota gives the dealer). Rebate isn't the exact term for this but is is conceptually the same thing. Anyways, the trick to getting a good deal like this is to search for vehicles online. You can do this by going to cars.com, edmunds.com, kbb.com, vehix.com, etc and searching for a new vehicle and contacting dealers through their site, or by searching for dealers on toyota.com and contacting them directly via email. Just tell them you are looking to immediately purchase a fully loaded TCH from whomever is willing to give you the best price. 90% of the dealers will say no thanks, but the other 10% (the volume dealers) will start a bidding war where you are the winner. I did this for every Toyota dealer within 500 miles of my location, and netted the above offer from a dealer in Milwaukee, WI (PM me for contact info).

 

a better way to save money on a camry hybrid is have your wife get a job at Toyota.15 yrs ago i was only married to her for 3 yrs and was going to get rid of her and then she got a job at toyota in georgetown so i kept her.

 

duanerw- Isn't there a country music song about that??

 

It looks like supply is starting to catch up with demand.

Now that I have my car, I still find myself checking Fitzmall's prices (I know, I may need therapy). Anyhow, It looks like they have >15 TCHs in-stock. They have dropped prices on most of them to $100- $200 below INVOICE.

I'm still happy. With the lower price of gas, If it sold my 07 TCH today, I'm sure I'd get a couple of thousand less than just a month or two ago.

Sure sounds like a great time to buy a car from Fitzmall (and probably other places) if you can swing it.

 

Wellll.... It's been about 2.5 months since I bought the new TCH. Here is an update:

- Car is fine
- Gas mileage is about the same as the '07
- The navigation is nice. However, the inability to change destinations while moving is a pain.

- Car prices at Fitzmall have dropped a bit. They appear to be about $5-$600 under invoice now.

The most interesting thing is the '07 that I sold to Carmax. They priced it at $3000 over what they paid me for the car. They have dropped the price several times and moved it to 3 of their locations. It is now in San Antonio. It is now offered at only $1000 over what they paid me for the car and it has still not sold.

If I were to sell the '07 to Carmax today, I suspect that I would get $3000 or $4000 less than I did in November.

For once, I timed the market well!

..... Occasionally a blind squirrel gets a nut!

 

Nice job, SCooter! I almost tried that trick on my condo last year, but just didn't have the guts to pull the trigger. Oh well, I sigh as prices continue to fall..

Hey - my fiance just got a '09 TCH locally in NJ for about $200 under invoice. fully loaded, af course (not that it was my choice). We actually used the Fitzmall pricing to leverage the local Prestige Toyota and they came up with the same price! Very happy with the great deal, and now we are a 2-hybrid family. Que yuppie, yo?