Buying a 2015 Toyota Prius 3

ByCordelia

Buying a 2015 Toyota Prius 3

Buying a 2015 Toyota Prius 3

I’m bringing you a very special Teal Thursday today. Yesterday I bought a 2015 Toyota Prius 3 in Sea Glass Pearl. I needed to buy a vehicle to replace my 2004 Pontiac Aztek, which has been on its last legs for probably a year. You may remember that we bought Ray a 2015 Toyota Prius C in Sparkling Sea Metallic in April this year. After driving the Prius C, I fell in love with the Prius lineup. I wanted to share with you how I made buying my new Prius a stress free experience.

Buying a 2015 Toyota Prius 3

When trying to decide what car to buy to replace my SUV, I initially thought I would want the Prius V, which is much larger than the Prius. Ray went with me to test drive cars. After test driving both, I realized the original Prius would be enough space for me. Then the hard part began!

Dave and I emailed 7 different dealerships in the Tampa Bay area, each with a specific set of information listing the vehicle we wanted to trade in, the exact car from their website that we were interested in, and the price we were looking for ‘out the door.’ Out of the dealerships we contacted, only one got back to us the same day with the information we wanted. 3 other dealerships responded within 2 days. The rest of the dealerships didn’t respond the same day. They didn’t read our initial emails and kept asking us questions we’d already answered in that initial email, which disgusted me. A few of the quotes we got were ridiculously high. The places where I test drove vehicles gave us ridiculously high quotes, too. So we finally went with Clearwater Toyota, which is the only place that got back to us the same day. Their quote wasn’t the lowest, but it was definitely reasonable and more in line with what we thought was a fair price.

Clearwater Toyota made the entire process of buying the Prius 3 painless, especially when compared to the experience that we had at the previous dealership. We were able to get in, test drive the specific car that we wanted the ‘out the door’ price on, get an estimate on the trade in vehicle, get the credit financing, everything that needed to be done in about 3 hours. We already knew going in what my (very high) credit score would be, what sort of financing we could bring to the table on our own (so we didn’t have to rely on Toyota’s unless we wanted to), and that I qualified for 0% financing. Dave actually used the financing as a leverage point. We were able to get the car we wanted for the price we wanted with the trade in. It was stress free! I’ve never had a stress free experience buying a car before!

Car dealerships (in general) tend to try and make the car buying process as difficult as possible. They try to obfuscate the numbers, confuse the information, and make it hard to truly comparison shop. If you’re going to do this, you have to compare a car with the exact trim level. You have to be willing to accept that the dealership you end up working with may not have the car in the color you like (my 2nd and 3rd choices for colors were Winter Grey Metallic and Black; Sparkling Sea Metallic and Sea Glass Pearl are the two teals in the Prius family), and most importantly, you have to be willing to walk away during the negotiation process if they’re not willing to meet you on the price you want. Because Ray and I absolutely suck at negotiation, we had Dave negotiate.

Buying a 2015 Toyota Prius 3
I picked out a 3 (trim levels come in 2 to 5) in Sea Glass Pearl with Misty Gray interior (light grey, bleh, would have preferred dark grey, but like I mentioned above, you gotta be flexible if you’re going to negotiate). It’s a hatchback, which gives ample storage for my needs. It comes with a backup camera, Sirius XM, EnTune (which is really neat except it relies on Bing search technology, yuck), hands-free phone, Bluetooth streaming (which Ray loves), etc.

Our household has clearly been assimilated into the Prius cult. All it took was driving one for a while to fall in love. The amazing MPG certainly helps. If your family is techie like ours, you’ll love what the Prius has to offer.

Have you ever had a stress free car buying experience?

Cordelia Frost is the creative force behind Phyrra, a treasure trove for cruelty-free indie and goth makeup enthusiasts. She's the author of the game-changing 'Hooded Eyes Makeup Manual' a must-read for hooded eyes makeup.

Cordelia's world is a kaleidoscope of alternative beauty, gothic fashion, and life-enhancing tips, making every visit to Phyrra a journey into a more colorful and inspired self.

50 Comments

    1. We fell in love with Prius when we bought Ray the Prius C, so I knew I wanted my next car to be a hybrid. We looked at the Chevrolet Volt but we couldn’t get a comparable price to what we paid for the Prius.

  3. Congrats girl! You deserve it. I am actually writing something similar for a post… I just traded i my Escalade for a smaller car, used but still quite new. Writing about my experience and I lvoe reading about yours. 🙂

  4. I’ve had Prius’ as rental cars before and LOVED them! I’m definitely bringing my mom next time we buy a car because she is a negotiation queen. Have fun with your new toy!

  6. Toyota is an awesome car brand. We’ve had a couple and they never let us down. Congratulations by the way.

  7. I’m so dreading the day I have to buy a new car – ours are 2001 and ’02 models, so it’s coming soon, though! Sounds like I need to borrow Dave to help me negotiate a deal!

    1. Thank you Kath! I was flexible because I would have been happy with Black, Winter Grey Metallic (dark grey) or Sea Glass Pearl. But I was happy to get it 🙂

  9. hey you were up in my neck of the woods! Congrats on the new car. I have been wondering- if you don’t mind me asking- who is Dave? I’m just curious. my best friends are polyamorous so that’s where my mind first goes, but I could be completely off lol. anyway no worries if you don’t want to answer, I was just wondering!

  10. one of the best things I’ve ever done is trade my mercedes suv in for a prius. Living in America, we drive all over the place and the Prius technology beats a big gas guzzler. I know you’re going to love the heck out of your new car!

  15. Congrats on your new car!! My husband just got a Prius C last month, and I’ve been eying the Prius since he got it. But I’m still in love with my old car (2004 Scion xB), so I’m still holding out

    1. Thank you! We love them both! The Scion is a super cute car, so I can understand it. I always thought of my aztek like an oogley dog (so oogley it’s cute). It was not a cute car, but it was super useful for me.

  16. I have a 2003 Prius. I bought it from my parents who bought a brand new Prius in 2006. It is my baby and I love it. I am definitely not a fan of the hatchbacks. I just hate looking through the rearview and seeing…..the hatchback, lol. I would love to test some of the newer, non-hatchbacks Prius models though.

    1. I think I got used to the hatchback because of having the Aztek. What I dislike is lookiing back and seeing headrests. So happy to hear you’re a fan!

  17. I’m so glad your experience went so well! And I love your color choice. My friend has a Prius, and he loves it and so do it. So much fun to drive and so quiet. I keep my cars until they die. I have a 24 year old Miata that I only drive in the good weather, and a 10 yr old Infiniti FX 35 that I hope will last another 10 years!

    1. That’s what I did with my Dodge Neon and now my Aztek, keep them until they die. Mostly because the car buying experience has always been so awful for me! Yesterday was a treat.

  18. The last car we bought was a used one, and we started off by going and checking out some dealerships for a nice used car and didn’t find anything we liked, so then went to some people selling some on Craigslist (which suuuucked because we had no car at the time, so we had to bus everywhere and therefore it was insanely stressful and time consuming) and eventually found one we liked. And it was $1800 or something, and Cole negotiated to $1600.. so cheap! We’ve had brakes done and an engine mount replaced twice.. which has cost us maybe $500 or less all up, so thus far our car has been a great deal!

  19. So fun! I love the idea of emailing! When we bought my current car, I called the dealerships. You are right- SO FRUSTRATING. Not to mention, the prices online or listed on the cars are rarely accurate. We were driving 4 hours south to my brother-in-law’s house for the weekend and happened to find the perfect car at a dealership close by. We wound up with an awesome price and ALL the paperwork drawn up ahead of time. We were in, test-drove, and out in about 1 1/2 hours. It was magical XD This car is totally you. Love it!

    1. Yep, the prices online, 99% of the time aren’t accurate. They’ll give you a starting point. Some dealerships include the discount you’ll receive for buying the car (which varies by dealership and manufacturer). Some won’t even list prices online. Your experience was awesome!

  20. New cars are so fun! I love the color! Someone told me recently once you drive a Prius you’ll never want to drive anything else… I just got a car last year but I’m over here like “now I need a test drive” lol

  24. congratulations! It’s a very lovely car. I am glad the car buy process was fairly smooth – buying a new car is supposed to be exciting and not stressful and often times it turns out to be a headache. Enjoy the new car!

    1. Thank you! Every other time I’ve bought a car it’s been a headache. That’s one of the many reasons I didn’t want to get rid of my old one.

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