Temporary VIN Confusion

[magnitude7138]

Hoping some more experienced members here can help me out here.

Put a deposit on a 2025 TRD sport last week. Dealer said it was built on 1/9/25, with a delivery window of 1/22-2/12. They say it’s currently in the “processing” phase. They gave me a VIN number to get insurance set up.

3TMLB5JN8SM04C614

Through research in this forum, I come to find out this is not the final VIN and just a prebuild temporary VIN. I dug into decoding the VIN more and apparently this truck shouldn’t even be built yet since the 04 indicates it will be built in the 4th week of the year. And the M designates it was built in Tijuana and not Guanajuato. Which maybe means faster delivery?


So I’m a little confused about what’s going on here since I’ve never bought a car that wasn’t already on the lot:

1. Is it normal for trucks to be built 3 weeks ahead of schedule?
2. And is the given delivery window realistic given the build date of 1/9? Seems a rather fast turnaround coming out of Mexico to the Northeast of the US.

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[Sagebrush]

I don't know about your questions, but when it rolls out of the factory, it will show up with the real VIN on the dealer's webpage.

 

[magnitude7138]

Don’t see any matching trucks belonging to the dealer on the website, so this means still at the factory?

 

[Sagebrush]

so this means still at the factory?

It means it hasn't been built yet.

 

[turbosix]

lmao you don't need a vin (or a fake bullshit one in your case) for insurance purposes.

every carrier will insure a vehicle you just purchased as long as you let them know in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[magnitude7138]

It means it hasn't been built yet.

Interesting. The dealer claims it was built on 1/9 so I wonder what actually is going on here. the vin code and what you say indicate that it hasn’t been built yet, which from my perspective is what it seems like. Starting to wonder if the delivery dates they gave me were bullshit to get me to put a deposit down

 

[Dirt]

When you go back in and check with the dealer, bet he says the temp numbers represent different things than a "normal" VIN. I've never heard of needing to set up insurance ahead of delivery and the company would have the wrong VIN on file for the rig anyway. Good luck.

 

[magnitude7138]

When you go back in and check with the dealer, bet he says the temp numbers represent different things than a "normal" VIN. I've never heard of needing to set up insurance ahead of delivery and the company would have the wrong VIN on file for the rig anyway. Good luck.

So i called them today to get an update and all of a sudden i get a new story. The truck was apparently built today 1/21 and is due to be done processing today. Delivery timeline is 2/6-2/25. I asked them what happened to built on 1/9 and delivery timeline of 1/22-2/12 and he just kept saying "i'm just telling you what the tracker is telling me, toyota controls all this". Mind you he texted me the original details so i looked at those to confirm but i just let it go.

So they were definitely bullshitting me when i put my deposit down or they gave me the info for another truck by accident, cause looking at the temp vin it made no sense that it would've been build on 1/9. It being built today means it was built one day early than what the temp vin suggests so i feel better about that. I asked him to send a screenshot of the tracker so i didn't think i was getting gaslit next time. And lo and behold the screenshot shows it has a final VIN now. These guys are something else

 

[TacoFreak]

Toyota's statusing of these trucks is weak to start with, and a lot of dealers don't feel like they have any solid information to share with buyers. Mine just told me that and said, wait for it. Your dealer seems to have taken the age old dealer route of when in doubt, lie. That is not a surprise to me.

 

[Pappy]

My truck also has an 04 before the letter on the temp vin. I put the deposit down on Jan 8th, and at that time they said the truck was going into production the next week. I emailed them a few weeks later for an update, and they said the truck went into production on the 23rd. On Feb 1st they sent me an email that the truck was "built" and they were waiting on shipping.

I don't think the dealers are messing with us. They are just going off the information Toyota provides them. Mine is coming out of Guanajuato (6MT) so now I get to wait. I'm guessing an ETA of early April, but that is my guess, not the dealers.

 

[magnitude7138]

I think you’re right about how little the dealers know. It could be they just have no idea until it’s actually built.

i check in with them once a week and I get a screenshot of the tracker so they will do that now at least. Mine was built in Tijuana so much quicker delivery than central Mexico. It’s on the train right now, hopefully will make it to the dealer by the end of the week.

Could be sooner than April if you live somewhere they can just rail it to you, otherwise they’ll have to put it on a boat which could take some time.

 

[Pappy]

Could be sooner than April if you live somewhere they can just rail it to you, otherwise they’ll have to put it on a boat which could take some time.

The April delivery is a wild guess. When I ordered my truck on Jan 8th, there was another 6MT truck in production in Guanajuato. It's now shipped with an ETA of March 11th. I added three weeks to March 11th to get delivery of my truck in April.

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