Thanks for the info. I'm looking for a white auto. The salesman said that Whites are a "rare" color and hard to get, he tried to sell me another color, but i figure i might as well get exactly what i want when spending my hard earned money

 

Does your dealer have any scions in stock? maybe he could trade one for the the white one at the dealer close to me. where are you located?

 

^last time i was there they had two, both of them were flint. The closest dealership to me is in Westport CT,.

 

oh really. damn my g/f is looking for a flint mica..

 

Too bad you don't live in VA. I have a white auto with side air bags due into port on 6/20 and it doesn't have a deposit on it.

Hmmm... if you're on good terms with your dealer, have them call me. Since the car hasn't hit the port yet, I can divert it to him, as long as he has something to give back. My number is in my sig line. Seriously... have him call me. I'd be glad to swap to help a SL member out.

 

^thanks for the offer. I'm gonna run this by my dealer and see what he says.

Right now i dont care if i get an 05 or an 06 because i need a car ASAP because my old 95 Altima seems like its gonna go any time now.

 

but you're gonna lose $2000 by buying a 05 rather then a 06. It would be cheaper for you to wait for a 06 and even use taxis/rental cars until it arrives rather then getting a 05. BUYING A 05 NOW WITHOUT ANY INCENTIVES THROWN IN IS THE OPPOSITE OF BEING A SMART CONSUMER (granted there are lots of non smart consumers out there, like someone said people that go and implusively buy a car off the lot without doing any research. Good for them, but doing this ends up costing them a lot of money - for nothing).

 

Personally, I would wait for the 06 too if you can.

I don't know where user1234 gets this $2000 figure from or what factors it is based on but what if this guy plans to keep his car for 9 years like the Altima? Do you really think the fact that his car is an 05 or 06 will matter as much as the mileage and the shape it is in? Those factors and the month it was built is what really matter.

I agree with you that you should not put too much faith in the 2006 availability information that a car salesman tells you when they have 05s on the lot. I'm not saying EVERY car salesman is a liar, because I wasn't when I was a Scion Manager as of a few days ago, but there are some sneaky bastards out there, even in Scion. More reason to buy from your Scion dealerships that support the Scion enthusiast community by creating events and answering questions for us all.

 

The $2000 figure is a rough estimate for this car which is initially sold for $17000 and would lose about 60% of its value in 5 years - so it would be worth around $7000 in 5 years. A $10000 depreciation divided by 5 years, is about $2000/yr. Of course these are estimates, but there is very high probability that the true depreciation would be within a couple hundred dollars from this figure, especially given that it's a Toyota built car which uses well tested and proven parts and components.

 

I beg to differ...
I think the Scion pricing strategy helps in the car keeping it's true value, not some inflated MSRP.

 

To clarify: so what you're arguing is that if a person buys a brand new 05 tC that just came off the truck today and another person gets their 06 tC a month from now, that in 5 years if the two cars are driven the same miles and kept in the same shape, the 06 will be worth $2000 more despite being only a month newer?



In this scenario, the 05 will definitely be worth a couple hundred less, but not even close to $2000.

 

I just looked up kelly blue book for a toyota camry le from 2000 and 2001, with the same mileage and condition - the difference in value is around $1000.

Also I'm not sure what are you basing what you said "the month it was built is what really matter" ?!?!? Used car pricing is always based on the model year - NO PRICING TOOL EVER ASKS ABOUT THE MONTH IT WAS BUILT.

 

Like I said before, I would recommend anyone wait for the 06s if they can.

The Camry is a slightly more expensive car than the tC and I got a $400 price difference between the 00 and 01 trade-in values in fair condition both with 60000 miles. Pricing tool, shmicing tool - Kelley Blue Book does not own a dealership and they do not buy used cars. How much you sell your used vehicle for totally depends who you are selling the car to - not what KBB says. When I had our used car manager appraise vehicles one of the questions we had to ask is what month and year they purchased the vehicle. If I were to buy a used car from a private owner I would absolutely look to see what month it was built, especially if it was the first year the particular vehicle came out.

Obviously there are a lot of factors to consider if you're making a decision like this, but the fact of the matter is, if you need a car, the 05 is not a bad choice. It is hard to find a tC that is the one you like and if is right there and you need car and don't want to wait, go for it. Not waiting to get the car you want is worth something too.

If the dealerships are having trouble moving 05s when their 06s show up, it is in their power to drop the price to get rid of the last 1 or 2 they have left. I would bet the farm that Scion is never going to institute a mandatory 05 price decrease no matter how many times you say people are losing $2000 if they get an 05. These are hot cars and dealerships are having no trouble selling them because they are a great value and they're not overloading the market with them.

Obviously most people do not buy cars based on what they think the car is going to be worth in 5 years. If they did, why would anyone ever buy a vehicle other than Honda or Toyota? Customers buy the car to drive it, and if they can have it, they want the car now.

 

Has anyone heard of the "Supercharger Option" yet to come with the '06 model?

 

I just got a call from the dealer in Hawaii who said that I should have my 06 tc in about two weeks. The car has been shipped and I was given a VIN number. I should be one of the first to have an 06 tc in Hawaii. I'm getting a Flint, automatic with side air curtain air bags.

Steve

 

no.

 

The fact is that different car buyers have different level of knowledge about the car they are buying, and THE MORE INFORMED BUYERS ALWAYS GET THE BETTER DEALS. It is true that there are un-informed buyers out there, and maybe even stupid buyers, so even if you decide to markup your tC's by $1000 you will probably still be able to sell it to some moron that is too stupid to comparison shop. But one of the puposes of online forums is for smart shoppers looking for information which would help them get a better deal.

For example, when I bought my first new car I saw a price which looked really good in the sunday newspaper - a little less then invoice, and lower then what the price was previously. So I was sure it's a great deal, and went and bought the car, but only a few days later, when I happened to read some online forum, I found out there was a big mfr-to-dealer incentive for that month, and that people on the forum paid considerably less than what I paid. So I just wished I had read this before buying the car. Oh well, at least I learned to be more informed about the cars I'm going to buy in the future....

 

Agreed. Some buyers are more informed than others. That's why I posted what I did - to make sure people were not MISinformed by you. I know your intentions were good but you were a little out of line with the if-you-buy-an-05-now-you-are-dumb-because-you're-losing-$2000 stuff.

Fortunately for everyone, the Pure Pricing concept keeps people from paying more than anyone else and feeling stupid afterwards. It's experiences like yours that made Scion want to do it this way.

If any dealership decided to raise the price of their vehicles even $100 (forget $1000), they would definitely get trashed on every message board and people wouldn't fall for it because it didn't line up with the price on Scion's website.

I don't work for a dealership anymore BTW.

 

Just ordered an BSP '06, should arrive in 10 days. (June 14)

 

btw, I just tried another pricing example - my own car a saab 9-3 2003 - KBB gives a trade in value of 16,800 but when I put in the exact same condition, mileage and options for a 2004 (which I guess was available about 7-8 months after I got my car) the tade in value is $20125. You see, cars age and lose their value even if their are not driven, and most consumers do you pricing tools like KBB to determine what is a fair selling price that they ask for their car when they sell it or trade it in. In the saab case, the difference is more then $3000 just for a few months of the car being in existence. Maybe toyota cars age slower then others therefore they depreciate in value slower, but still an estimation of $2000 per year is not far from reality. And despite what you say, the model year is what really counts and what most buyers and sellers base their value on. THEREFORE NO ONE SHOULD BUY A 2005 NOW