Why can't dealers find what I want?

First of all, I'm looking for a simple freakin' truck. I want a 2018 TRD OR, short bed ,4x4 with MT in Quicksand with no tech pkg. I have contacted five New England Toyota dealers and not one of them has even called me back in a week. WTF?? I actually thought it was quite simple.

I, of course, got "what's your second color choice?" and "we have that in automatic". I'm simply going to wait until I get the one I want, but, again, WTF??!!

 

That should be much easier to find than one with Premium and Tech, I would keep trying different dealers or do a search on Cars.com and see if your Dealer will do a trade.

 

Just order one like I did. took a month and I got exactly what I wanted and no one took it for a test drive.. Had 2 miles on it when I picked it up after delivery

 

I'm honestly surprised that you haven't had anyone try to locate one for you. It's might be hard to find, but if you are willing to wait someone could find one for you. I just bought recently and emailed about 5-6 dealers and they all seemed pretty willing to find whatever I was looking for. Sure they want to sell what they have...but a sales a sale.

My BEST tool for my search, and what ultimately found me my car was to search autotrader.com every day multiple times a day for my unicorn. Then be ready to IMMEDIATELY go get it. You aren't the only one looking for a rare bird.

 

You got yours really fast, took almost 4 months to get mine after I ordered mine, but I got what I wanted and it was worth the wait.

 

It just means they don't have one on their lot, and their cousin doesn't have one on their lot either.

They want to sell inventory, not 'order' trucks.

And regardless of the terminology, not many vehicles are 'ordered' anymore anyway (as in you order, we build). Not like getting a Camero with an SS/RS pack, or a GTO with 3 options of carb/cam/gears/transmission configurations either. Nope, they just order up a mix of what sells the most and cross their fingers.

And as the models rise (OR is second only to Pro, right) it's harder to find them with less options. Packages are money makers, and lots of folks dig 'em. So, they get ordered with Tech on a high % of orders.

So, your MT becomes the killer, because a low % of Americans have any interest in that. I bet over half the drivers on the road have never even driven an MT.

It's likely out there. Somewhere. You just have to broaden the search and/or find an actual helpful sales person, not just a 'closer'.

 

Oddly, not one of them said come in and order one. My guess is there's somehow more cash to be made if they find one.

 

Just quicker sell for them. They usually trade a vehicle with dealership, which is what mine tried doing. Id be sitting in a silver one if it weren't for them having trouble trading. When they order one, they usually order it in the spot that one would have taken anyways. Also remember that the dealership doesn't own the cars, the bank does. The faster they can move a car on their lot, the less they need to pay the bank at the end of the month....

 

I was going to PM you, but I can't cause of your settings. I had worked with Tee Hamzy at Torrington Toyota in CT. They had the truck I wanted, so he didn't find it for me, BUT since I had such a search to find it for myself, I brought it up and picked his brain a little. He mentioned some dealers won't trade, and so other dealers won't trade with them. He said he has sent cars to Denver,CO and all over the country, but he expects people to help him out when he needs one. I'd give the guy a call, they dealt under invoice and gave me the same trade offer I had gotten elsewhere, and I think he would at least cast a wide net and see what he can't find for you.

 

MT in all models are rare 5% of all Tacoma's are MT. When I bought my '17 Sport access cab I was told just that from the dealer people them selves . I myself have been with this dealer and owner since I was a young boy.

 

Sorry about my settings. I guess I still have them the same as when I joined.

I'm in Vermont and close to NH. Two of the five are in NH and one is in Maine. Are you suggesting they might have what I want or that I should deal with them directly?

 

I've been wanting either of these all my life.

RZ Rob

 

Search https://www.iseecars.com/ and set an alert to notify you when new listings show up. If none are close by and you cannot wait any longer, try to have one delivered. I told my local dealer that I found one 700 miles away to see if they could get it. They worked out a dealer trade, although I had to pay for shipping since it was beyond their "territory", but I got the truck I wanted and dealt locally.

 

Did the words “I would like to order this exact truck if you can’t find one” ever leave your lips? Many salespersons won’t waste their time to order a vehicle when most people want their new vehicle right NOW! If the answer they receive day after day is no thanks I will keep looking they stop asking if you want them to order it for you. Maybe that is the case here. The faster the paperwork is filled and the ink dried the better it is for their bottom line. People do walk away from an ordered vehicle.

Try asking if they will order one. If they say no then politely say thanks but since you don’t have what I want I will find a dealer who will order my truck.

 

Yeah most common is dealer swap. If a dealer knows they have a unicorn they wont just swap an auto for a mt. I ran into this issue with my 17 off road base with mt. It took multiple tries to get my truck and a couple dealer vehicle's. I had to tell them no several times on color and automatic. At one point i gave in an opted for the tech package. That truck got wrecked at the swaping dealer lot and my dealer wouldnt sell it to me. So they got me a non tech/base truck like I orginally wanted.

 

Call the internet sales department of your preferred dealer. Tell them you want to come in and order a vehicle, that you know exactly what you want. Ask them when it would be convenient for you to come in. Let them know that you can spec it in 5 minutes, and if they can get e price right you'll sign in ten minutes.

They may be concerned that they won't make much on this type of sale, so aren't super interested. But if you let them pick the time, they're going to realize they can make a quick sale when they are normally slow.

 

I don't think they have what you want right now, I'm saying I think that they will actually attempt to find and aquire it for you, rather than just say "tough luck, but look at our red one we have..."

 

I live west of Albany NY, and my Silver, Sport AC came from White River JCT VT.

 

I bet they would be able to get trucks from the Lia Auto group that has quite a few dealers in the Northeast

 

thats just how dealers work, we have 2 pretty big dealers in town and all i want is a 18 BBP 4x4 OR with normal tech without the dumb bed cover comes out to 35k...... nothing else.. no stupid floor mats or exhaust tip.. nothing. what do i get??? "we have a fully optioned one for 43k" or "we have a used 17 fully optioned" "you really want all the options"... just give me what i want..