the waiting game

By now, Gene should be ensconced in his new Prius; I’ve got my fingers crossed for him. And on that front, I made the call today to my salesman to let him know that I’d decided to wait for the options I want, even if that means I won’t see my own new Prius until February, rather than settling for something less desirable sooner.

I’ll admit that a part of me was hoping that enough other people who’d been contacted had decided to go with the reduced option package, leaving me with a better shot of getting a fully loaded model sooner after all. But the salesman reported that nearly everything has said much the same as me.

My boss’s reaction, though, has been different. She hasn’t yet heard anything one way or the other from her dealer, but she said that if she’s told she’ll have to wait until February, she’ll tell them to cancel the order and she’ll get a Honda Civic hybrid instead. She wants a hybrid primarily for the ease of travel it will provide to and from work, because of the Virginia policy that treats these cars as “special clean fuel vehicles” not subject to HOV restrictions, and for her it’s a more critical, immediate need than for me; my car has problems, but given that my driving consists mainly of very short in-town hops, I can continue to use it for that–and rent for longer trips–while waiting for the Prius.

In fact, given the possibility that the new energy bill will include significant tax credits for hybrid purchasers rather than just the current tax deductions, a part of me would just as soon wait until the new year–and the new policy–to take possession. (Yes, I feel like a hypocrite, considering how little I like the overall energy policy, and truly I’d prefer it not pass, even if it were to mean I’d lose any deduction or credit; but if it’s going to pass anyway, then I wouldn’t mind some personal benefit.)

3 thoughts on “the waiting game

  1. Yes, I’m happily enveloped in an overpowering new car scent, pushing buttons and quietly complying with the admonitions to “turn left, .5 mile”…
    Interesting that the new energy bill might provide a credit. When I bought my Prius in 2000, I took a credit rather than a deduction, based upon my interpretation of the rules. That was 3 years ago, and the IRS hasn’t had anything to say to me about it, so I can only assume it was OK. I think I’ll stick with the deduction this time. If only the IRS would let me write off the ENTIRE cost, the way they do if you buy a big honkin’ Hummer or Land Rover.

  2. Oh, and… the salesman showed me the inventory reports for the Prius: evidently there are only 40 or so with the complete options package slated to be delivered to the mid-Atlantic Toyota dealers. Toyota evidently took into account the sales of the previous model year options to plan their manufacturing. The dealers are understandably upset about this, but hardly more than the potential buyers such as yourself…

  3. When my boss (who lives in Loudoun County) contacted her dealer yesterday, he reassured her that they were getting plenty of cars with the complete option package; he told her that they’d just delivered 20 of them, in fact, and were expecting more in two weeks. He told her that she’s number two on the waiting list at this point, and should have hers well before the end of the calendar year. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

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