Prii

We've been thinking of buying a second car, 'cos I'm fat and lazy. Well, because sometimes it would be quite handy, and with Summer vacations coming up, it would be very handy.

So, being the eco-warrior types that we are (at least the type of eco-warrior who buys a new car, rather than riding a bike made from bamboo, which isn't all that much of an eco-warrior) we want to buy a Toyota Prius.

So, we read lots of stuff about how to handle car dealers, and the difference between sticker price and invoice price and the other price that I've forgotten the name of, and how to haggle, and stuff like that, and went to the Toyota dealers. "Hello" we said "we'd like to buy a Prius".

"We haven't got any" they said.

It turns out that there's a national drought of Priuses. No one has any. Anywhere. They're all kind of vague about when they're getting any, and what model and color they will be (they come in packages, called 1 through 6, except that 3 and 4 don't exist in California).

Haggling is completely ineffective. If you don't buy their Prius, they don't care, because someone else will. I went to one dealer on Sunday, and they had no Priuses (Prii?), except for a 3 year old second hand one, for $25,000 (when a new one costs £28,000 this didn't seem like a great deal). Because I spoke nicely to the salesman, he rang me on Monday afternoon to say that five Priuses had just arrived. I went there at about 6:00, and there were two left that hadn't been sold, and it looked like one was about to be. They were talking about raising the price above the recommended price (the 'sticker price').

We've paid $1000 deposit at Santa Monica Toyota, to be given first refusal (well, first in front of everyone else) on cars that arrive. On Monday, a boat full of Priuses will leave Japan, and the dealer will find out what models are coming, and they'll arrive in 2-4 weeks. (Except for a few years ago, when a boat full or Priuses crashed into a boat full of BMWs, and they both sank). We can say we want one, and then when they arrive, we'll have 48 hours to show them the money, otherwise they'll sell it to someone else.

Sadly, they don't make them in yellow.