SilverSurfer
Well-known member
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- #1
Today, I picked up a Solar Octane 24 Tacoma TRD OR longbed with the premium package from Livermore Toyota.
Scenario: My kid‘s 2001 explorer broke down and she needed a replacement vehicle right away. She always liked the Silver Bullet, the 24 TRD OR Tacoma I bought a few months ago, so she bought it from me. That left me without a pickup, and that couldn’t stand so I started a new search.
Bay Area Market
The SF Bay Area Toyota Tacoma market is a mixed bag. Many dealers are offering 2-3k on older stock.Depending on the locale, some still have markup on certain colors/configurations. Of course Pro and TrailHunters are 5-15k over msrp.
I must have called every Bay Area and Sacramento area dealer this week looking for a specific build.
Build:
Color Preference 1: Solar Octane
Color Preference 2: Bronze Oxide.
Trim: TRD OR
Bed: 6’
Package/Features: Upgrade package, 14” display.
Other: Spray On Bed Liner.
There were 3x as many Bronze Oxide examples as Solar Octane. In fact I only found 3 solar octanes in the entire 300 mile radius search area that fit my build preferences.
Dealers: Most wanted to play some sort of game. Come see it and we’ll make you a deal…blah blah. However a few were straight up, Freeman in Santa Rosa, Salina’s, and ultimately, Livermore.
Freeman could have had my business but weren’t as discount aggressive as Salinas or Livermore.
I called Livermore and it turned out they told me that they just took delivery, that day, of a unit that had everything I wanted, however, it also had the $8800.00 premium package. It was over 55k msrp and way more than I wanted to spend. I ended up talking to one of their sales managers, Sal, who was surprisingly great to work with. He informed me he had a SO coming in a the end of November and offered the best discount by far on it and agreed to hold it for me. He also said he could work great pricing on Tundras. The pricing he shared with me was better than anyone I’ve seen in the area.
I decided to wait on the unit coming in at the end of November, but I wanted to go see their Tundras, so I arranged a visit for this morning.
Experience:
I arrived at Livermore Toyota about 10:20am and met Rick, the sales person who Sal asked to greet me and show me whatever interested me. Rick wanted to show me the 55k Tacoma and offered a test drive. I made it clear that it was more than I wanted to spend on a Tacoma and then agreed to drive it.
After seeing it in person, honestly, I was starting to think about it.
It drove perfectly fine and when we returned, Sal met me and I was straight up with him about it being more than I wanted to spend, and he was with me asking for a chance to structure a deal on it. I was skeptical but agreed.
While they worked on the “deal” I went and looked at some Tundras (Yes, I know their issues). When they were ready, Sal surprised me with a much bigger discount than I expected. We talked a bit more. There were no add on’s of any significance, a set of inexpensive metal painted door edge guards. Just to be clear, nobody even came close to their discount.
We made a deal. They cleaned it up and it’s in my driveway now.
Some dealers just suck. This one had one of the most straightforward and pleasant purchasing experiences I’ve ever had.
I highly recommend Livermore Toyota and encourage anyone in the market to give Sal and Rick a shot at your business. If they treat you the same as they treated me, and I’m sure they will, you will not be disappointed.
Scenario: My kid‘s 2001 explorer broke down and she needed a replacement vehicle right away. She always liked the Silver Bullet, the 24 TRD OR Tacoma I bought a few months ago, so she bought it from me. That left me without a pickup, and that couldn’t stand so I started a new search.
Bay Area Market
The SF Bay Area Toyota Tacoma market is a mixed bag. Many dealers are offering 2-3k on older stock.Depending on the locale, some still have markup on certain colors/configurations. Of course Pro and TrailHunters are 5-15k over msrp.
I must have called every Bay Area and Sacramento area dealer this week looking for a specific build.
Build:
Color Preference 1: Solar Octane
Color Preference 2: Bronze Oxide.
Trim: TRD OR
Bed: 6’
Package/Features: Upgrade package, 14” display.
Other: Spray On Bed Liner.
There were 3x as many Bronze Oxide examples as Solar Octane. In fact I only found 3 solar octanes in the entire 300 mile radius search area that fit my build preferences.
Dealers: Most wanted to play some sort of game. Come see it and we’ll make you a deal…blah blah. However a few were straight up, Freeman in Santa Rosa, Salina’s, and ultimately, Livermore.
Freeman could have had my business but weren’t as discount aggressive as Salinas or Livermore.
I called Livermore and it turned out they told me that they just took delivery, that day, of a unit that had everything I wanted, however, it also had the $8800.00 premium package. It was over 55k msrp and way more than I wanted to spend. I ended up talking to one of their sales managers, Sal, who was surprisingly great to work with. He informed me he had a SO coming in a the end of November and offered the best discount by far on it and agreed to hold it for me. He also said he could work great pricing on Tundras. The pricing he shared with me was better than anyone I’ve seen in the area.
I decided to wait on the unit coming in at the end of November, but I wanted to go see their Tundras, so I arranged a visit for this morning.
Experience:
I arrived at Livermore Toyota about 10:20am and met Rick, the sales person who Sal asked to greet me and show me whatever interested me. Rick wanted to show me the 55k Tacoma and offered a test drive. I made it clear that it was more than I wanted to spend on a Tacoma and then agreed to drive it.
After seeing it in person, honestly, I was starting to think about it.
It drove perfectly fine and when we returned, Sal met me and I was straight up with him about it being more than I wanted to spend, and he was with me asking for a chance to structure a deal on it. I was skeptical but agreed.
While they worked on the “deal” I went and looked at some Tundras (Yes, I know their issues). When they were ready, Sal surprised me with a much bigger discount than I expected. We talked a bit more. There were no add on’s of any significance, a set of inexpensive metal painted door edge guards. Just to be clear, nobody even came close to their discount.
We made a deal. They cleaned it up and it’s in my driveway now.
Some dealers just suck. This one had one of the most straightforward and pleasant purchasing experiences I’ve ever had.
I highly recommend Livermore Toyota and encourage anyone in the market to give Sal and Rick a shot at your business. If they treat you the same as they treated me, and I’m sure they will, you will not be disappointed.
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