I just got a loaded Camry Hybrid at MSRP from Carson City Toyota, and I drove it over to CA. My sales guy -- Ian Bullis -- was able to give me a fully itemized OTD quote with no questions. He also earmarked a specific vehicle for me and provided me with a VIN immediately. All of this was taken care of in a matter of weeks.

The finanace guy was a little pushy, however.

This is a great alternative for CA buyers.

What is it with the finance guys? My salesman was also very helpful but then my finance guy was very pushy (and as a result i ended up NOT financing with Toyota when i otherwise probably would have!). The sale has already been made, there is no reason to be pushy by that point!

</rant>

Often times it's the people you visit after you've decided on purchasing the car that provides the most profit to the dealer. The financing person has to tell you about all the things that can go wrong in the car. The electronics alone will pay for the extended warranty. And don't forget about the undercoating, rustproofing, paint protectant, fabric protectant and radio anti-static guard (just kidding about that last one).

When I was purchasing my 1997 Explorer they kept pushing the extended warranty after I had one of the best experiences ever during the sales process. I finally told them that if I needed it that badly I should probably be looking at a different vehicle. That shut them up. BTW, it now has 155,000 miles on it. The only thing that I've had to replace that isn't wear and tear was an alternator that went under the factory warranty. So I never would have used the extended one.

I dunno.. but I saw right through the finance guys tactics. I did end up using Toyota Finance, however, because I qualified for a $400 new graduate rebate. Also, I plan to purchase an extended warranty from Midwest Superstores Toyota in Kansas.

Lovin' the car so far!

-Ian

Orcrone, thats interesting. My finance guy didnt mention *anything* that could go wrong with the car. Actually, in the whole sales experience they didnt bring up the extended warrantee at all. The only reason I got the info is because I asked for it. I was expecting it to be something they would really push, but they didnt. Weird. Made it easier to decline though

My finance guy was really pushy about financing with Toyota. I also qualified for the $400 recent grad rebate but still decided not to finance with Toyota. The guy was waaaayy too pushy and kept contradicting himself in his attempt to convince me that it was what I wanted. My bank offered me a slightly better rate so the $400 would have been eaten up through the higher interest rate anyway.

He certainly wasn't doing a good job of being a salesman for toyota. Any money toyota made off of me was through my actual salesman, not the finance guy.

GreenGirl,

With me it was the opposite. They were very pushy about the warranty. But when I came to the financing I told them I could get 3.25% for 3 years through my credit union. They're response was "great rate, we can't touch that". That was the end of the finance discussion.

Prior to that was the add-on person; fabric protection, paint protection, undercoating, rust-proofing and something else I can't remember. I politely listened to all the talk about acid-rain and kids eating in the car and then declined. It wasn't high pressure, but I'd rather they just asked me and I could say no. If I went with all their add-ons and extended warranty I'd guess that there would be about $1500 - $2000 in extra profit for the dealer, more than they probably make on most transactions. I figure they still did well since I was paying MSRP.

With my last car they were very pushy about the add-ons. However, when it came to the extended warranty they just asked me if I wanted it. I said no and that was it.