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Hybrid Vehicles Toyota Camry Hybrid Toyota Camry Hybrid: Ordering Process
530 messages, Last post on Nov 10, 2006 at 4:26 AM
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Replying to: ehasz (Jun 18, 2006 3:41 pm) No sales tax in Oregon....
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Replying to: orgal (Jun 18, 2006 8:33 pm) I live in the wrong state! 
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On Wednesday I gave Moses at Reno Toyota a deposit over the phone for a fully loaded Titanium TCH that was due to arrive in the next 1 to 5 days. My wife and I flew into Reno Thursday night at 9:30, we drove by the dealership and saw a truck that had just unloaded a bunch of cars. It was too dark to tell if one of them was our TCH, but we were very excited. So we went back the next morning and as we were approaching the dealership we saw a titanium TCH pull out of the parking lot, I freaked out because my first thought was they sold it to someone else. No, that was my car and the mechanic was taking it for a test run. Whew! We were out of there by noon and are now the proud owners of a TCH. No sales tax for out of state buyers in Nevada and in my home state of New Mexico there's no sales tax on hybrids. Thanks to everyone on this forum for all the good info and ideas!
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Replying to: tomjc (Jun 19, 2006 7:05 am) |
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I am looking for the opinion of an impartial dealer! Here's the story (which I am pretty sure I have covered a bit of previously)... I got a call from one of my "top 2" dealers with deposits, who told me that he had a magnetic gray loaded TCH with Nav, and it should be here in about 3-4 weeks. This was on May 25th. The 4 week mark will be this Thursday, June 22nd. I have called/emailed numerous times asking for a VIN number and a more accurate delivery date, and always got very vague info. When I would press for what "status" it is in (A, F, or G), he would say something like "I think it is in A status, but I am sure it will be in F or G status soon". This confused me - how can you only "THINK" it is in A-status if it has been supposedly allocated your dealer for 2 weeks already??? I was suspicious of the situation, but I figured he was busy, or just didn't have an accurate date yet. Last week, my salesman from the the other "top 2" dealers called - and this guy is the one that I have actually hoped would come through with a car for me because he has been very forthright and trustworthy thus far). He asked asked what the status was of the other dealers I have been working with. He said that they were going to put in an allocation for a TCH with nav, and he wanted to know if I was still looking, since he wanted me to get first shot at it. I also had told him about the Mag Grey one that I had coming from the other dealer, and he said that he had been looking for TCH's with nav in the system and sees NOTHING in the state of Michigan right now. He told me that the only way he knew of that they could have one allocated to them (this "bad" dealer is in Michigan), it would have to be in G status, since they become invisible on the system after this point. He said there may be ways to make a car invisible before this G status, but wasn't sure if it was possible. This didn't really surprise me, but I tried calling and emailing the first salesman for 4 days, until I finally reached him this morning. I told him that I was trying to get a status, since the 4-weeks timeframe was upon us, and he said he had to check with someone else and call me back shortly. Surprise, surprise...he never called me back. Am I justified in being concerned about this dealer? I really want to just tell them to credit me back for my deposit, but I am afraid it is in G status and I might miss out. At the same time I don't want to buy another car from yet another dealer - I have never bought two cars from the same dealer. I always leave dealerships "post-purchase" with a bad taste in my mouth. In the meantime, the "good" dealer requested a Blue Ribbon or Mag Grey with Nav and ended up with a Titanium allocated to them. He has been jumping through hoops to try to work a dealer trade to get either gray or blue. I think we have found a gray one where the buyer really wanted titanium, so I am crossing my fingers hoping that this trade works out. It even benefits other dealer, since they will get the titanium car next week, and the gray one won't come in until the first week of July. Please share your thoughts (kdhspyder and ALL of you!)... Thanks, Jeff |
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Replying to: spiff72 (Jun 19, 2006 7:00 pm) I think all of you (not just you spiff72) need to realize the amonunt of work and worry you're asking these salespeople to do over 1 sale. Granted that's how they make their living. If I were a salesperson and I knew that you wanted a car and you were going to buy from me I would bend over backwards to make the sale, BUT if I knew you were doing this same routein with other sales people and I knew that my TCH when it arrived would sit on the lot for less than a day and sale for MSRP then I would probably give you lip service and sit back and wait on one of my past, loyal customers to ask for the car and it would be theirs. Most of the salespeople I deal with are not all that knowledgable and really don't want to get in the details. A car shows up they sell it or you order it and get it when it comes in. You can't expect them to have and maintain the same daily excitement that you have about getting your car. Also, if all they see on a computer screen is a blank, there is only so many times they want to go back and look at that. You and I may sit in front of a PC all day but most of these guys don't and they have to ask someone to do this for them. Just my thought.
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Replying to: wvgasguy (Jun 20, 2006 3:26 am)
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Replying to: spiff72 (Jun 20, 2006 5:05 am) I guess that's OK to expect as long as you're honest and tell them you're on multiple waiting lists and you consider this deposit as simply a place holder. If this was not a TCH and it was a yellow Sequoia, a deposit for an order would mean, hey I want this so I'll show you I'm serious, please order me this and you intended to take it. what good is this doing either of us? They have your money, probably in the bank and earning interest. They also have your (supposedly) committment that you're going to buy a car from them. Except for this freak hybrid demand situation, if you gave them money then they could trade around or whatever to get you a car, knowing that you gave them moneuy and they truly have a sale. Frankly since most of the dealers won't trade and they are limited as to what they get I'm surprised they even fool with anything other than a waiting list. The only thing the deposit really helps is for the salesperson, not the dealer. It gives the sales person first shot at the sale if you have a deposit. Without it, then when a TCH showed up there would be 15 salesmen scrambling to sell it (possibly with a bigger commision since it's MSRP)knowing it's going to move quickly. The dealer really doesn't car because he knows it's going to sell. My whole point was that this is a big deal to us, like waiting for Santa to arrive. However to them it's just another day and they've got all us idiots out there combing the countryside for a TCH. To the elves making these toys and the truckers and rail people delivering them and the dealers selling them it's still just a car being sold and they do that every day. Most salespeople I have met don't have the enthusiam about this that we do. I've pitted dealer against dealer before to get the best pricing. However if all dealers are going to give me a MSRP price and all I can do is take the color they get then I see no benefit in telling them I have multiple deposits down. They probably feel like they're being used. The salesperson that has the deposit thinks they have a sale and then when you back out someone else may get the sale. Or then again one salesperson has a regualr client (like me) that wants one but he's 6th on the list because a bunch of people said they want the car. I'd just buy at the first one and then call the others to say I'm sorry but I found one already. I said this before, but there is no way Toyota can really know what the true demand for this car is since the waiting lists have people on multiple lists. Not saying you shouldn't do this, just don't see any advantage in telling the dealer from your perspective. This current deposit mania is new to me, I don't remember in the past hearing about people doing this at multiple dealerships. I guess the scarcety and the timing of the tax credis make this issue more critical, if not I'd just pick the dealer I like and wait for the one I wanted.
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Replying to: spiff72 (Jun 19, 2006 7:00 pm) Your read on the situation seems spot on IMO. The vague answers that you've been getting are not typical and seem to me like the first dealership is trying to 'hang on' to you so that you don't slip off to buy elsewhere. It's common in every business but it is frustrating. The 2nd place seems a lot more proactive and what he has told you about seeing vehicles in Toyota's intranet system is also correct. Generally stores won't hide their inventory but if for example a unit is presold then they might do so to avoid all the other stores from calling all the time asking about it. TCH's are not that rare that stores would hide all their unsold incoming units - but I guess anything is possible. A GSM might not want anyone to be calling him so he hides all the special vehicles, Prius', FJ's, TCH's. I believe however that your read is correct and the second store is working harder for your business. It sounds like a good place to do business. Bob
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Replying to: kdhspyder (Jun 20, 2006 8:55 am) |
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