Put down deposits at multiple dealers. You could try calling dealerships if they aren't close enough to be convenient. Try to include at least one dealer who appears to have a large lot/inventory. I put down deposits at two dealerships, though only one actually charged the deposit to my CC. I've been waiting since March!

If you're really afraid of missing your color, consider calling a more remote dealer where people may be less eco-friendly. If I had it to do over again, I would have left deposits with a huge dealership 60 minutes from me and I also would have tried smaller places in western Maryland or West Virginia. No offense to WVGasGuy, but I haven't encountered very many environmentalists in West Virginia!

Seriously, I saw an article months ago that looked at Prius registration in Maryland by county. Once you got more than one or two Maryland counties away from Washington D.C., Prius registrations fell to 0-2 per county.

Hang in there--I'm STILL waiting on mine!