1 Is this a Toyota dealership, or are you getting it used somewhere else? My own limited experience with Toyota dealerships is that they are order-takers more than salesmen, and I'd think this would be doubly true of the Prius.

2 Why don't you try a few of those Web services that promise to find you the lowest price? You can consider it research for your readers and it's free! Examples--edmunds.com, dealers compete you win, etc. You can find them in one place at http://www.epinions.com/2006_Toyota_Prius/display_~latest_prices You already did the legwork to compare with how they do...

3 Not in this particular case. One would think it would be so, but this particular dealership sells only high-end Prii, out of a lot in a "rich" neighborhood, so there probably is a higher profit margin per car. Yup. Toyota dealerships. I think any of these places can get corrupted; we used to have good experiences at Saturn dealers. Then it stopped.

4 car dealers make my skin crawl.

5 Obviously, my answer above is to David Foster. Darrell, I do have a note in to the people at Why Pay Sticker, but in this particular case I want the deal done in a way that my mother will find satisfying. As it is, we're having to put up with the issue of waiting a few months before the car she wants will show up, and I think she'll find it reassuring to deal with a human being at an actual lot. One can only deal so much with a car like a Prius with which the demand is so high, and I'm afraid she'll find an internet-driven experience to be too abstract.

6 It was just for research purposes. To see if they are worth the effort to type the data in their forms. Those sites require a name, phone number, and address--as you know. If by some miracle they did offer you a price WAY below the best you were given, it might be worth something to investigate.

7 That's really a great news. I'm looking forward to some more information on it.