alkregha
Active member
- Joined
- May 28, 2024
- Threads
- 3
- Messages
- 29
- Reaction score
- 20
- Location
- North Carolina
- Vehicle(s)
- 2024 Tacoma TRD Sport (in production)
- Thread starter
- #1
I wanted to post my ordering story (er..saga) so that folks can learn from my (in)experience. Before I go long-winded:
Executive summary:
- If you put a deposit in, make sure there is a real truck behind it. I got burned on a $1000 deposit for what I thought was a truck in build, but was really just a “request” with no delivery date in sight
-if you live in the southeast, getting outside of the Southeast Toyota distribution region can help you avoid a lot of tedious add ons that they require. In NC, that means going to Virginia or Tennessee.
-Johnson City Toyota in TN seems great. They give a lifetime power train warranty and your first two years service for free. And they don’t play any games.
First some background - My first car was a 2006 Corolla S 5MT that I got in Fall 2005 during college. My dad and I co-purchased it and he dealt with the dealers, and it was a different time. Ever since, that car just won’t die. It’s at 208k gets 36 mpg, and runs like a champ. I’ve always wanted a Toyota pickup because between my dad and my brothers, our family has owned 10 Toyota pickups and they have all been great. 6 have crossed well into 200k territory. 2 are newer and haven’t made it there yet, 1 was sold (for more than originally paid) to upgrade to a Tundra, neither of which has seen 200k yet. And now that I own a house, the utility and functionality of a pickup is crucial.
The only car I ever “negotiated” was a new 4Runner for my wife in early 2021. Her father’s car died, we gave him her 4Runner (2002 limited 4x4 that is still running at over 300k), and had to find something ASAP. We paid exactly what the dealer 4 hours away asked and drove it home. That was just how it worked at that time. We did negotiate for cross bars on the roof racks though
.
With the release of the 2024 Tacoma, I decided I was ready to get my truck. Having had bad experiences at one local dealer (central NC) where they started quoting unnecessary and/or repeat maintenance after bringing cars to them for over 18 years, I picked another major dealer in my area. I went in(May 9th) and told them I wanted to test drive and sit in a few tacomas. Had to wait until they had multiple options on the lot to do so. Test drove an SR5 and a TRD Sport and fell in love with the sport. Admittedly I’ll do far more city and highway driving than off road, so it makes a lot of sense. Decided I wanted the premium package for the ventilated seats, cameras, towing, and sound system. Left without talking any further about a purchase, but did clarify for my excellent salesman that the most important thing to me is not price or features, but dealing with honesty and integrity and not playing games. Went home to put together my wishlist and discuss with my wife, where she pointed out that she would like to test drive as well, since she will use the truck occasionally to tow her horse / horse trailer.
Texted my salesman a list of exactly what I wanted and asked for an appointment to test drive again. Arrive for the test drive on 5/17 and he is busy with a client who arrived late to pickup her new car, so they put me with another salesman. He conducts a decent test drive but already the “salesy-ness” is apparent. I stress to him the same importance of integrity and honesty and the disdain for dealer games. We get back and he goes through the fact that finding what I want might take a bit. I stress that I am not in an immediate hurry as the Corolla WILL NOT die, but want to understand the timeline clearly. But he goes to a back room (dealer games begin) and comes back with a spec sheet that appears to be the exact match, except for the tedious southeast Toyota add ons (cable package, “Toyoguard platinum”, door protection, and all weather mats). He says “to secure it we just need you to put a fully refundable deposit of $1000”. He tells me it will be 4-5 weeks before it arrives. I say ok. He (again) goes to a back room, comes back and says “our policy is that to take a deposit we have to go ahead and agree on the price for when it arrives”. Now I’m starting to get frustrated but the lack of experience and the excitement for my truck keep me going. I review their price, ask for a list of all the fees and adders to get “out the door”, compare to what I see on the Toyota builder, and ask for a $1800 MSRP discount. Goes to back room again… comes back and counters for $300 different. Now I’m annoyed that they countered for $300 on a >$50k truck, but I told them I wasn’t here to fight about price. I agree, we sign the offer sheet and do the deposit. I clarify that my original salesman is still listed as deserving half the sale as he was great. I also ask to be updated weekly on the progress. We leave and I can’t wait for my new truck to arrive.
1 week mark - I text my original salesman, but no major updates.
2 week mark - I text my original salesman for the update. He calls me shortly after and says, more or less, that it is going to take a while because all they’ve done is enter a request for my truck. He notifies me that there isn’t a guarantee that Southeast Toyota will grant the exact truck, and that we may have to talk pricing or features if they send something that isn’t an exact match. Now frustrated, I explain that this is not at all what I was told. I was told they had a match and were waiting on it. That it was coming. That I already negotiated a price. He gets off the phone to get more details. I sit there, boiling over at the thought that I’ve been had, that I’ve been made a fool, and that they’ve taken my $1000 deposit with no real timeline or motivation to get me my truck, and with an agreement that basically locks me at a price… but allows them to adjust it later or renegotiate depending on market conditions or what they actually get.
When my salesman calls me back, he gets a very unsettled version of me. I explain how I’m now feeling, and say that someone needs to make this right. I look on their website, and see that my same truck (but with bedliner and bed step and predator steps) is coming in, and that they should give me that truck at my price, even if they take off the steps. We text back and forth about this for a few days and he says a sales manager will reach out.
3.5-week mark: Radio silence. I reach out to Jim Rouleau based on recommendations from this forum - he is super responsive and helpful, but he didn’t have an exact match and is having trouble discounting my request combination.
4-week mark: no one has reached out or checked back in from original dealer. I do a Toyota build search within 500 miles and find 3 dealerships (1 in NC, 1 in WV, 1 in TN) that have my truck or close enough. I express interest online. All three reach out to me within the hour, and WV truck is spoken for. I work with the other two dealers to get more info, details about deposits and timelines, VINs, etc. I ask both to give me best OTD prices. NC dealer mostly discounts off the southeast Toyota adders. TN dealer doesn’t have any adders - basically just my exact truck. They also have the lifetime power train warranty and free 2 year maintenance plus free all weather mats. So while they don’t give as much of a “discount” as the NC dealer, I’m getting more for less
I lock in a $500 deposit with Johnson City Toyota and officially have a truck that is expected to arrive around the last week of July. Ultimately am getting exactly what I want, for $1k less than I agreed with first dealer, with no tedious add ons and a lifetime power train warranty. Couldn’t be happier. I’ll fly up to get it, and take a nice scenic drive back to work on my break in. Jim Rouleau even checks in a few times as well.
the last step: calling my original dealer. I text my original salesman (the unlucky pawn in most of this) to say I want my deposit refunded and that I was misled and no one reached out to make it right. He gathers some info from me and a sales manager calls shortly after. Ironically, this guy isn’t aware of my full situation and also isn’t really listening as I explain it. But he does (suddenly) want to deal for that truck they had on their website with the extras I didn’t want. He also mentions getting one in a trade with a Florida dealer. Except… he still doesn’t have exact dates on either truck. He asks that I “let him keep the deposit while he works out the details”. I decline, demand my refund, and tell him to call me when he has a real truck. He refunds the money and gives me his contact info.
In the end, I am way happier with where I landed. I apologize for the long rant and extra detail, but hope they recounting my story will help others avoid the same pitfalls. Good luck getting your Tacos! I’ll post some pics photos once mine arrives !
Executive summary:
- If you put a deposit in, make sure there is a real truck behind it. I got burned on a $1000 deposit for what I thought was a truck in build, but was really just a “request” with no delivery date in sight
-if you live in the southeast, getting outside of the Southeast Toyota distribution region can help you avoid a lot of tedious add ons that they require. In NC, that means going to Virginia or Tennessee.
-Johnson City Toyota in TN seems great. They give a lifetime power train warranty and your first two years service for free. And they don’t play any games.
First some background - My first car was a 2006 Corolla S 5MT that I got in Fall 2005 during college. My dad and I co-purchased it and he dealt with the dealers, and it was a different time. Ever since, that car just won’t die. It’s at 208k gets 36 mpg, and runs like a champ. I’ve always wanted a Toyota pickup because between my dad and my brothers, our family has owned 10 Toyota pickups and they have all been great. 6 have crossed well into 200k territory. 2 are newer and haven’t made it there yet, 1 was sold (for more than originally paid) to upgrade to a Tundra, neither of which has seen 200k yet. And now that I own a house, the utility and functionality of a pickup is crucial.
The only car I ever “negotiated” was a new 4Runner for my wife in early 2021. Her father’s car died, we gave him her 4Runner (2002 limited 4x4 that is still running at over 300k), and had to find something ASAP. We paid exactly what the dealer 4 hours away asked and drove it home. That was just how it worked at that time. We did negotiate for cross bars on the roof racks though
.With the release of the 2024 Tacoma, I decided I was ready to get my truck. Having had bad experiences at one local dealer (central NC) where they started quoting unnecessary and/or repeat maintenance after bringing cars to them for over 18 years, I picked another major dealer in my area. I went in(May 9th) and told them I wanted to test drive and sit in a few tacomas. Had to wait until they had multiple options on the lot to do so. Test drove an SR5 and a TRD Sport and fell in love with the sport. Admittedly I’ll do far more city and highway driving than off road, so it makes a lot of sense. Decided I wanted the premium package for the ventilated seats, cameras, towing, and sound system. Left without talking any further about a purchase, but did clarify for my excellent salesman that the most important thing to me is not price or features, but dealing with honesty and integrity and not playing games. Went home to put together my wishlist and discuss with my wife, where she pointed out that she would like to test drive as well, since she will use the truck occasionally to tow her horse / horse trailer.
Texted my salesman a list of exactly what I wanted and asked for an appointment to test drive again. Arrive for the test drive on 5/17 and he is busy with a client who arrived late to pickup her new car, so they put me with another salesman. He conducts a decent test drive but already the “salesy-ness” is apparent. I stress to him the same importance of integrity and honesty and the disdain for dealer games. We get back and he goes through the fact that finding what I want might take a bit. I stress that I am not in an immediate hurry as the Corolla WILL NOT die, but want to understand the timeline clearly. But he goes to a back room (dealer games begin) and comes back with a spec sheet that appears to be the exact match, except for the tedious southeast Toyota add ons (cable package, “Toyoguard platinum”, door protection, and all weather mats). He says “to secure it we just need you to put a fully refundable deposit of $1000”. He tells me it will be 4-5 weeks before it arrives. I say ok. He (again) goes to a back room, comes back and says “our policy is that to take a deposit we have to go ahead and agree on the price for when it arrives”. Now I’m starting to get frustrated but the lack of experience and the excitement for my truck keep me going. I review their price, ask for a list of all the fees and adders to get “out the door”, compare to what I see on the Toyota builder, and ask for a $1800 MSRP discount. Goes to back room again… comes back and counters for $300 different. Now I’m annoyed that they countered for $300 on a >$50k truck, but I told them I wasn’t here to fight about price. I agree, we sign the offer sheet and do the deposit. I clarify that my original salesman is still listed as deserving half the sale as he was great. I also ask to be updated weekly on the progress. We leave and I can’t wait for my new truck to arrive.
1 week mark - I text my original salesman, but no major updates.
2 week mark - I text my original salesman for the update. He calls me shortly after and says, more or less, that it is going to take a while because all they’ve done is enter a request for my truck. He notifies me that there isn’t a guarantee that Southeast Toyota will grant the exact truck, and that we may have to talk pricing or features if they send something that isn’t an exact match. Now frustrated, I explain that this is not at all what I was told. I was told they had a match and were waiting on it. That it was coming. That I already negotiated a price. He gets off the phone to get more details. I sit there, boiling over at the thought that I’ve been had, that I’ve been made a fool, and that they’ve taken my $1000 deposit with no real timeline or motivation to get me my truck, and with an agreement that basically locks me at a price… but allows them to adjust it later or renegotiate depending on market conditions or what they actually get.
When my salesman calls me back, he gets a very unsettled version of me. I explain how I’m now feeling, and say that someone needs to make this right. I look on their website, and see that my same truck (but with bedliner and bed step and predator steps) is coming in, and that they should give me that truck at my price, even if they take off the steps. We text back and forth about this for a few days and he says a sales manager will reach out.
3.5-week mark: Radio silence. I reach out to Jim Rouleau based on recommendations from this forum - he is super responsive and helpful, but he didn’t have an exact match and is having trouble discounting my request combination.
4-week mark: no one has reached out or checked back in from original dealer. I do a Toyota build search within 500 miles and find 3 dealerships (1 in NC, 1 in WV, 1 in TN) that have my truck or close enough. I express interest online. All three reach out to me within the hour, and WV truck is spoken for. I work with the other two dealers to get more info, details about deposits and timelines, VINs, etc. I ask both to give me best OTD prices. NC dealer mostly discounts off the southeast Toyota adders. TN dealer doesn’t have any adders - basically just my exact truck. They also have the lifetime power train warranty and free 2 year maintenance plus free all weather mats. So while they don’t give as much of a “discount” as the NC dealer, I’m getting more for less
I lock in a $500 deposit with Johnson City Toyota and officially have a truck that is expected to arrive around the last week of July. Ultimately am getting exactly what I want, for $1k less than I agreed with first dealer, with no tedious add ons and a lifetime power train warranty. Couldn’t be happier. I’ll fly up to get it, and take a nice scenic drive back to work on my break in. Jim Rouleau even checks in a few times as well.
the last step: calling my original dealer. I text my original salesman (the unlucky pawn in most of this) to say I want my deposit refunded and that I was misled and no one reached out to make it right. He gathers some info from me and a sales manager calls shortly after. Ironically, this guy isn’t aware of my full situation and also isn’t really listening as I explain it. But he does (suddenly) want to deal for that truck they had on their website with the extras I didn’t want. He also mentions getting one in a trade with a Florida dealer. Except… he still doesn’t have exact dates on either truck. He asks that I “let him keep the deposit while he works out the details”. I decline, demand my refund, and tell him to call me when he has a real truck. He refunds the money and gives me his contact info.
In the end, I am way happier with where I landed. I apologize for the long rant and extra detail, but hope they recounting my story will help others avoid the same pitfalls. Good luck getting your Tacos! I’ll post some pics photos once mine arrives !
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