New car dealing?

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

It's new car time for Mrs. Moonie. After a painfully drawn out search process she has decided on the Toyota Camry Hybrid.

My problem is that these things are selling like crazy. The dealer cannot keep them in stock. Is there anyway to haggle for a deal in that situation?

About the only opportunity I can see is the "I'll go elsewhere" but of course I'd have the same problem at any dealer and I'm sure they know that.

Any ideas?

Maybe, but not the kind of deal that's good for you. Back in '04, we were on a wait list for a Prius. We had to put down a $500 deposit and agree to pay MSRP. Okeydokey. We were told the waiting list was six months, but six months passed, and no car. We looked at Edmund's, and it said that the cars were selling for above MSRP, so we began to get the feeling that we were expected to offer more money, which we did not want to do. We then went to a Honda dealer to look at the Civic Hybrid, which we liked well enough. The salesman said he had to bump up the price because these things were really moving. I had my Edmund's printout and said, "No, they aren't." He caved immediately, and we were out of there in half an hour with a proper 300 to 400 above dealer invoice car that we've been quite happy with.