Why buy used when you get the incentive of $6500 by doing the lease buyout. Fly somewhere that has them new and pick one up.

 

You do not mention where you live.

I am in Northern Virginia, and RAV4 Primes are hard to find. When I did finally lease one here, they told me that in the past Maryland dealers got significantly more allocations.

 

This does seem to be the case. The only time I got to test-drive a RAV4 Prime was at Jim Coleman's in Bethesda. However, that was 3+ years ago, and they didn't have one for sale at that time, and didn't know when it would come or how much exactly it would cost, but wanted a $1000 non-returnable deposit for the privilege of waiting.

 

Hello everyone,

I have been salivating over the RAV4 Prime since its debut in the US, and I almost bought one in April of 2021. The market seems to be cooling off a little, the RAV4 Prime sales are trending up, but our local dealerships do not seem to ever have them on the lot and it's not clear what their allocations may be.

If someone has bought a RAV4 Prime second-hand, would they please share their experience and maybe drop a list of do's and don'ts?

Biggest tip:

do not buy a used rav4P for more than you can get a new rav4P for (after all of the current discounts and cash deals).

 

This is a very good example on an advice that very easy to take

 

Toyota has incentives to sell RAV4 Primes in some states and not others in order to achieve fuel efficiency and other objectives. As an example, there are nearly zero new R4P's in Nevada and plenty on new car lots across the border in California. So you just need to travel to a nearby state where dealers will be happy to sell you one.

 

If someone has bought a RAV4 Prime second-hand, would they please share their experience and maybe drop a list of do's and don'ts?

Another don't: unless you plan to go through the hassle and cost of changing out 4 perfectly good wheels and tires, buy an SE and not an XSE. The wheel tire combo on the XSE makes absolutely zero sense on a small 4wd suv in terms of fuel efficiency, electric range, ride quality, unsprung weight, off road capability, and tire reliability. Well, unless you take your rav to the racetrack every weekend ...

 

Would you believe, on my EUV Premium I did change the wheels/tires to something with a better grip, softer rid, and more conventional sidewall size ratio. Good input, thanks!

 

work a deal with any dealership in any state and fly in to drive it home

 

I tried to do that -- bought in CA because of zero allocation of Primes to Idaho. Dealer in Tracy told me they are required to collect state sales tax if the car is to be driven in the state. That might be the only state that plays that game. I trucked it to my door, avoided the tax, air fare, and hotel. Would have been a nice drive, though.

 

Dimitri- if you build a Toyota RAV4 Prime on the site, and then search for dealers, I find there are currently 36 available at dealers within 20 miles of my zip code. When you click on each vehicle, some are in stock, and others are still in transit.

I used this process to find my RAV4 at the dealer in Stafford/Fredericksburg, VA , and there were also several Primes available at other dealers in MD and VA. I bought in Stafford because it was available immediately, and it sold for sticker price (no markups). Got both the $6,500 lease incentive and the military incentive. Paid the lease off after one payment. No hassles from Toyota finance.