How to negotiate buying a 3rd gen Tacoma at the stealership.

I'm sensing a lock for this thread...

 

Someone will get some use out of this information. If you like to give away money to people for no reason, have at it.

 

Very helpful information.

 

Let the dealer earn what the market will bear. I'm sure you all do that in your businesses, too, right? Or do you give away your work for free, or maybe just charge enough so that you can eat Ramin noodles and fill the tank of your Tacoma? Like it or not, a dealership is a business, and it costs money to build and run one. And profits are the reward for taking risks.. That land on the local Auto Mile isn't free, and neither is that nice showroom, parts and service department. While half of the people on TW would be fine buying direct or going to a dealer 200 miles away in some po-dunk town, a lot of buyers enjoy and need the convenience of having a dealer close-by. Plus, don't forget that dealerships create a ton of jobs, which help build communities. Dealers donate to little leagues, they host fundriasers, etc.

That all said, the OP's advice is good -- don't go in to a dealership with your checkbook open. Be a smart consumer and shop with your knowledge, not emotion.

 

I understand where you're coming from, but dealerships exists for a reason. Toyota can't possibly provide direct to consumer sales/support/parts for the world.

That's where dealers come in.

 

dealer mark up on these would be insane!!!

 

What is stopping Toyota from selling direct to consumers? Toyota is one of the largest auto manufacturers in the world, if they can make the logistics work to get their inventory to the dealers lot, taking it one step further and getting it to the consumer wouldn't be that big of a challenge.

 

Well said.

It is a consumer driven society. I bought a sports car, that local dealers wanted 8K$ over MSRP. I ordered it from factory, bought it from a dealer in CT, and the $700 shipping cost, still saved me almost $9k than buying local.

Similarly, look on the PRO thread. People whining and complaining about markups, but they won't travel to next state to get a deal. Most Americans are lazy, and TW is a total representation of that.

I hate my local Toyota dealers. So instead of bad mouthing them on TW, I put my money where my mouth is, PMd two members here, and I ordered and bought in OREGON for invoice +300$ on my TRD OR. That allowed me to get a great deal on my 17 PRO 6MT.

We consumers have the power. If we don't choose to exercise it wisely, we can't blame the dealers.

Just like blaming gun companies and alcohol companies is silly for murder rates and drunk driving deaths.

 

You must be unfamiliar with dealership and franchise laws....

Look at Tesla in your own state. You don't even have to go far to educate yourself.

 

Yeah, they can absolutely handle the logistics of selling direct. This whole issue is why manufacturers and dealers are in litigation with Tesla constantly. I agree, you should be able to go down to your local Toyota store, see the sticker price, and know that Joe in Florida is paying the same price. I don't have a problem with dealerships near me, they mark it up for profit but that's the way of the world. If I lived in the southeast and saw all the stupid little fees they add, I would feel differently. Direct to consumers via actual Toyota reps should be the standard, but there are specific laws and incentives in our country that force these companies to go this route. Arguing about if the dealership should exist or not is futile - they do - get a good price and go on with your life, otherwise get into politics.

 

I would never want to compare Joe in Florida or Joe in Louisiana prices.

GST and SET Toyota distributorships in the USA are the biggest money makers and total rip offs. The amount of stuff they "add to your Toyota" at port is horrendous thievery. All our relatives that live in those areas, buy out of the region.

 

Keep in mind the purpose of this post was to help keep someone from being taken advantage of when buying a new truck. Then there is always some chicken shit who wants to be sarcastic and stir shit up, before you know it the thread has morphed in to shit storm of usless arguments.

 

Beat me to it.

Why would you want to take away competition, which the dealerships provide. If Toyota corporate sold vehicles directly you would be paying full MSRP ++ as there would be no competition other than going to another manufacturer and buying a vehicle you may not want.

 

MSRP is inflation for the dealer to have room for negotiation. If dealerships didn't exist and you bought from Toyota you would pay the dealer invoice. Competition exists through different manufacturers, ie Tacoma, Colorado, Frontier etc.

 

Here is the difference between buying a new Toyota and a new computer. You have no choice but to buy the Toyota from the dealer, because the dealer is given oligopoly powers by state franchise laws. If you buy a new computer, you could buy it from the manufacturer (think: Apple Store), from an authorized retailer (think: Best Buy), from a non-authorized retailer (Joe's Computer Shack), or any number of online sellers (Amazon, Newegg, etc). For the computer, the sheer number of sellers creates a competitive market with clearly-advertised prices that can be compared apples-to-apples. For the truck, there are fewer retailers (only Toyota dealerships), less competition, and hence less pricing transparency. This is not to say that the markup on the truck is greater than the markup on the computer as a percentage of value. But, people sense that the dealer has greater market power than most other retailers - because they do. Folks are obsessed with getting the best truck deal because they know that the dealer has enough pricing power to abuse the unwitting consumer - which is not really the case with a PC laptop buying experience. So, thanks OP for sharing your numbers.

Note: just because you can shop a Toyota dealer versus a Nissan dealer does not mean it's a free market. It just means you are operating with the constraints of dealer oligopoly.

 

Logistically, the whole buying process would have to change. Meaning, no lots, no inventory, order and wait kind of situation. While that sounds fantastic to most enthusiasts that knows what they want, that's just not how joe public buys a car. They want to walk into a dealer and select from a plethora of options. They want to tire kick, they want to walk down the street and look at a competing car, they want to test drive. They want to see a discount off MSRP.

The direct to consumer model has been tried (saturn?) and it failed badly.

 

• Dealerships are set up to sell new vehicles in order to feed the parts and services department, which in turn feeds Toyota corp. with the need to supply parts. The markup on OEM parts is astronomical.
• Actual new vehicle sales contribute little overall profit to the business as a whole at the dealership level as compared to the profit from parts sales and service fees. The "back of the store" is where most of the profit comes from.
• Now when they can sell used cars, there is real profit there as only the dealer knows what they bought the vehicle for at auction or gave someone as a trade-in value. But in the end hopefully, that used vehicle sale will feed the parts and service train as well.

Thank you to the OP, that detailed information is helpful.

 

Most dealers will cut their own throat to beat another dealer. Playing two dealers against each other is often a good way to get the best price.

 

The only manufacturer I'm aware of that sells direct is Tesla. They only do because they started that way.

Do you really expect Toyota to say "sorry, you can't sell our vehicles, parts, or perform warranty work or other service authorized by us anymore"? Can you imagine the buyout that would need to take place to either purchase every Toyota dealer so corporate can sell directly or settle with them for breaking a franchise?

 

Makes me think of https://youtu.be/uMWmYJOa-BM