Some Day My Prius Will Come

Like apparently most of the residents of the San Francisco Bay Area, I put a deposit (two actually) down on a Toyota Prius. I did it for all of the usual reasons - it's good for the environment, gas prices are too high, "a Toyota" is a palindrome, and so on. But I also decided on a Prius because I'm a geek and it's got a bunch of cool gadgets - a display showing graphics on the engine, bluetooth, MP3, GPS, and even a rear camera in the 2006 model (wouldn't it be cool if that could become a webcam?)

I put my first deposit down at a dealership in August. A few days after doing so, the dealer called and said there probably wouldn't be any more 2005 models coming in, so I should expect a 2006. He also spent quite a bit of time (car dealer time is relative - five minutes in this case) explaining why the 2006 was much better (the rear camera, the grey interior, and a yellow smiley face painted on the airbag were all new for 2006). He must have seen right through me on my first visit and known I was a geek and that the rear camera would get me hooked. What's the difference if I wait one month or two, right? So I decided to wait for the '06 model.

He called me two weeks later to tell me an '05 was coming in matching my specs. No. I don't want an '05, I want an '06 - remember all that time we spent in your office when you convinced me that the '06 was better, and worth waiting for? Did our time together mean so little to you? I remember it like it was yesterday. I think I became the first person to turn down a Prius. I want an '06, and I'm going to wait for one.

But I'm not very good at waiting, so I called another dealer in the area - he said he was the largest (he meant ego, I think) dealer in the area and as a result he got a larger allocation of cars with each shipment, so I'd inevitably get my car sooner. Against my better instincts, I gave him a deposit too (refundable, of course). I thought he was a little sleazy when I first met him, and he's done nothing to change my opinion.

Hindsight being what it may, if he's the largest, it means he has more customers, so even if he gets more cars, he has more customers to deliver them to, so size doesn't matter. It's a detractor in fact - more customers means less personal service - he's forgotten who I am several times ("oh, sorry, right, I got you confused with my other 2701 customers").

In the mean time, the first dealer called me back to tell me that an '06 had come in that had everything I wanted except the grey interior. I said I didn't want it, but he wanted me to come take a look at it anyway. He must have thought if I saw the car, sat in it, pretended to drive it even, that I'd take it. Ha, it didn't work - it almost did, but it didn't! I sat in it, made "vroom vroom" sounds (even though a Prius doesn't make "vroom vroom" sounds), played with all of the gadgets, and then decided "nope, it's the wrong color interior - I'm going to be sitting in the car, so that's what I'll see, every day." The dealer was disappointed, and so was I. And I had turned down my second Prius.

For kicks, I called the sleazy dealer (I think I was hoping he would have the car I wanted and I could maybe get the good dealer to get it from him for me). I reintroduced myself to him, and asked how things were going. Grrr! When I first placed my deposit, I was 35th in line, and would receive a car at the end of December. This time, I had moved to 40th, and was looking at a delivery date at the end of January. Whoa! I can see the delivery date changing - maybe Toyota's having issues with production, but my place in line should never increase - line's just aren't supposed to work that way. We had a long discussion about his magic numbers, why my position changed, where his number came from (perhaps a Toyota-branded magic 8-ball?) and my delivery date magically changed to early January and then mid-January - I should've quit while I was ahead!

About two days later they called me back though - my car was in (ha, I've fallen for that before!) We discussed "my car" - it had the wrong exterior and interior colors, but other than that matched exactly what I wanted. Thanks for playing along, good bye Prius number three (this has to be a record by now, no?)

I've decided that I don't want a car from the sleazy dealer, and am not quite sure what to do with my deposit. I'm currently leaning towards selling my place in line there on eBay - my 6 weeks of waiting must be worth something to someone, right? Someone who is just interested in the car and not in forming a relationship with the dealership. Anyone interested?

To bide my time while waiting for my Prius to arrive, I've written a song entitled "Some Day My Prius Will Come" - it's sung to the tune of "Some Day My Prince Will Come":

Some day my Prius will come, some day I'll get my car
And how thrilling that moment will be
When the dealer fin'lly calls me
He'll say your car is near, and I'll jump up and cheer
Though it's in LA, it'll be here one day
Some day when my car gets here