Toyota May Incentives Don't Get Big Boost

Toyota saw its year-over-year sales drop more than 40% in April, which led to some speculation that it would greatly boost incentives in May. We checked a number of regions around the country today, though, and May’s incentives don’t appear to be greatly improved over April’s.

There’s up to $1,750 cash back on the 2009 Camry and up to $2,000 on the 2009 Camry Hybrid. There’s $1,750 on the Corolla, but only in New York; it’s $1,250 elsewhere. The 2009 Prius has up to $1,250 cash back, the Matrix and Yaris get $1,000, and there’s only $500 available on the RAV4 and $750 on the Highlander. All deals run through June 1. Here’s our post on April’s incentives, which weren’t noticeably different.

These incentives aren’t necessarily bad, and dealers will still negotiate lower prices than what’s offered along with consumer cash-back deals.

Unfortunately, Toyota makes it difficult to gauge national offers, and you must input your zip code to find out its current incentives. If you find anything higher than we’ve reported above, please let us know in the comments below.

Comments

Confusion Reigns:

According to toyota.com rebates for Long Island NY, there a 4 different rebates for Corolla and you can't figure out which applies to which. You have to look at "Disclaimers and still can't figure out what car they're talking about.

First we get "up to $1000" applied to 1838

Next: "up to $750" applied to 1831, 1832

Next: "up to $1250" applied to 1835, 1836, 1840

Next; "up to $1750" applied to 1833, 1834.

Of course nobody knows what these model numbers are. Toyota doesn't say "Corolla". "Corolla LE", etc. They use these mystery numbers to entice you into a dealer. I even doubt many people would click on the disclaimers section of each rebate to see what the rebate applies to.

You forgot to mention that in the 4 state Chicago Region (In, Ill, Wis, Min) we have ZERO % financing on these vehicles: Yaris, Prius, Corolla, Matrix, Camry, RAV4, and Tundra. I would say that that is a "BIG BOOST" over what was offered in April!

William,
Generally cash back is preferred because there aren't credit qualifications attached. But yes, often 0% is a big savings compared to cash back being offered.

Still, I think most of America remembers the Saved By Zero ads Toyota ran a few months back ;)

similar incentives will mean similar results. People are looking for assurance programs. Hyundai proved it was effective and GM/Ford jumped on board. Toyota needs to come up with something similar.