lufoxe

I know more than any scion dealer in Miami, let me correct myself by saying most the members here know more. Or at least more than the people I talked to...

/rant
I'm a little worried about being an early adopter for the new xB, I called 4 dealerships (Kendall, Expressway, Headquarter and Maroone) none of them had any idea, about anything or didn't want to say it over the phone. There a post somewhere (I Don't remember where) about a member saying that the people sounded like a commercial... well, as much as I'd hate to admit it, they did (it has more power). None of them said anything about price, when I informed one lady (working at Maroone) that the price was up at scions website I got (and I quote) "That's not southeast Toyota's price" Guess I'm confused about pure pricing, I sense price gouging in the near future on scion xBs. Everyone gave me this blanket response of we will learn more May 8th in a meeting. (the meeting being the scion backstage event). Not very helpful, (and some not very friendly at that).

/rant

scionofPCFL

Did you call in asking for a salesman, a scion salesman, or the scion champion? That makes all the difference in the world.

For instance, when you called Maroone Scion, you should have talked with Jo Dash. When you called Kendall you should have spoken with Jose Lazo.

Call back and ask for those two by name, and I'll bet dollars to doughnuts you'll get better info. Watch out for Jo Dash, he seems to be a bit of a crazy person (but in frickin hillarious sort of way). I haven't met him, but for some reason when I read his emails I get the mental image of Quagmire.

Bigfieroman

While they were very nice about it, I had one dealer tell me mid august and $18,500 estimated base on the xb; this was in late march before the price got out. He called back in early April that they were incorrect about timing and it should be in in mid april. He called back again last week to tell me the price...which had been released 2 weeks before.

Yesterday, I saved him the trouble and told him the fuel mileage...he was the first one at that dealership to find out. ohh well, I am buying the car, not the dealership.

Also, I seriously doubt any price gouging. Toyota would remove their Scion rights faster than you can say "ripoff".

toyotatodd

My dealer said he would have a firm ETA on Monday. The dealer car for test driving and mine should be getting offloaded either today or over the weekend.

I'm in Seattle so it should take a day to three for it to get here.

I'll post on this thread Monday around 5PM Pacific time if I get any info.

My sales person Steve also reads this forum to stay informed.

scionofPCFL

We want the pics of it comming off the truck.

OldYeller

The Backstage event--as best as I could observe from attending, was as much for the benefit of the local dealers as it was for the Scion owners who attended. Even at that, some of the presenters were not totally informed. They were kind of like actors reading their script. As to the pricing, it will be driven by how many accessories they can pack on the vehicle.

scionofPCFL

If you don't want the accy's, then don't buy one with the accy's on it. There are plenty of dealers that don't add anything to them.

TheScionicMan

These guys also have a job to do today. That doesn't always leave a lot of time to study about stuff you can't even sell yet. Once they get the cars, they better be informed then, tho.

rishio

I'm having a great experiece with my dealer. I've never owned a Scion but was interested in the new XB pretty early on. Rich at Kearny Mesa predicted the price, and availability pretty much right on. He also had a good sense of what the gas milage would be and could answer some arcane questions of mine (can i sleep in it) pretty accurately.

I was also pleased that he made it clear what was fact and what was speculation instead of just making stuff up. It was a pretty refreshing dealership experience (unlike backstage ).

I'm currently on the waiting list and he still hasn't blown up at me for constantly emailing him and changing my color preference

xCube

Lufixo, dude I feel your pain. I know my people(hollywood scion) knows what is going on they have and idea, they even have the vin and info of the one there are getting in a week or two. They never fail me. Check them out. I am going back maybe tomorrow to see which trans and color is coming in. I may just capture the very first one.

BozzMan

i sent an email about 10 days ago inquiring about availabilty. so far no response at all.

George

Yeah. They have to have good knowledge about 3 vehicles that they have sold for several years. Tough job, that.

The sad thing is that a lot of salesmen (not all, mind you!) don't ever bother to learn about the vehicles they are selling. It was a bit puzzling when the salesman at Frontier Toyota waxed poetic about the side air bags and removable rear seats in the xB. Too bad he couldn't take a brochure along to read while he was standing on the point.

Arakel

Incorrect. A dealer can sell their vehicles for whatever they like. The manufacturer can't dictate prices, as that would be classified as price fixing.

Arakel

If you seriously think auto sales is easy, you're mistaken. The staff turnover rate is obscene. Furthermore, most autosales staff work with Toyota AND Scion, so you're talking about substantially more than 3 models, with multiple trims, drivetrains and engine sizes.

Again, completely untrue. Most of them never get a chance to learn about them since they don't last long enough in the industry to effectively gain the knowledge. Will you find people who don't know what they're talking about? Yes. And I can almost promise you that they're new, and probably won't last long. You don't last a long time in this industry by not knowing anything about the product.

BozzMan

I thought Scion prices were fixed, no haggle prices? If there is no negotiating the price down I bet Toyota would frown upon dealers marking the price up because of demand. I can tell you I wouldn't spend two seconds at a dealer that marks up the sticker price.

BozzMan

I don't think he implied selling cars is an easy job. Personally I think it would be a very difficult and stressful job. That said, 9 out of 10 salesmen don't really know the cars adequately enough to do a good job of selling them and educating the consumer. This begs the question, What kind of training does a dealer give the salesman before they send him or her out on the lot to sell cars? Is it just paperwork and procedural training or do they teach them about the cars? I understand that most people who buy and sell cars are not "car nuts" like me that do reasearch before buying and read automobile magazines in their spare time.

scionofPCFL

The dealers can sell the Scions for whatever they want. What they can not do is negotiate the price. There are dealers that add Tint and Alarms to every Scion that hits the ground, then charge upwards of $1000 for it. How they sell them in a competitive market w/o negotiating is beyond me, but people do it. I guess more proof that by and large, people are idiots.

Snake2715

Ok,

So I should shop multiple dealers then? Or do i just compare to MSRP?

Help me out here.

scionofPCFL

Just compare MSRP's. Dealers aren't reducing their prices on them because they don't have to, and because there's not really much to reduce. There are some dealers that have been reducing 06 xB's and xA's, but those are also 2006's on the lot past the 1st quarter of 07 with 08's on the way.

IOW, you'll waste a lot of time if you think you're going to save a lot of dough by shopping dealers. You want to compare cars with equal equipment, you don't want addendum/additional dealer profit/adjusted market value stickers. Ask the dealer if they have any ap fees and what they are.

Other than adendum pricing and dealer fees, all the prices are going to be equal.

Bigfieroman

Do you expect the 2008s to get marked up significantly?