Special Order Friendly Dealerships

Are there any dealerships in San Diego or in broader Southern California who are adept at handling special orders? I’m looking for an MT Off-Road with no options/accessories except LED headlights, QS or white. A large dealership told me it is a minimum of 6 months to get what I want. I see them out there, many 2000 miles away and about three 400-500 miles away, but none in SoCal.

I’ve contacted Carlsbad, Kearny Mesa and Escondido, and none of them inspire confidence. One had my deposit for 5 weeks, but luckily I insisted on a VIN, and found out it had many unwanted options. They never told me.

 

I don't think you can get the LED headlights without other options, unless you want to pay for the headlights as an add on.
edit: I looked at the Totota website it is an option.

 

Escondido Toyota and ask for Dominic in Customer Retention. He gave me a no hassle great deal on a factory order.

 

There’s no such thing as a factory order. You would be asking the dealership to “call dibs” on a truck that is scheduled to be built that matches the configuration you’re interested in. If it’s an oddball config they might not make many of them, and that’s why the wait is so long.

 

This was my understanding as well, that's why I was surprised at a quick build date, which prompted me to ask for the VIN. I can wait, but need a build date to do so. It is unreasonable for me to make a commitment without Toyota also committing to a date.

Escondido was the dealership that cost me 5 weeks. Perhaps it's a people issue, I'll try Dominic.

 

I wish you could custom order exactly what you wanted ... it's always a trade off choosing trim and package levels, especially in Canada. If I could buy a Quad Cab short box 6 speed manual transmission off road package with TECH and LED headlights, I would be all over it.

 

The question is why are you trying to special order? What are your try to accomplish? Not having certain options or not paying for those options?

 

If you see them other places fly to that location and drive that bitch home

 

The former, not having certain options. They would annoy me every time I used the vehicle. An example is navigation, with the inclusion of Android auto it doesn’t make sense. I enjoy good engineering and dislike poor requirements decisions. Another example is upgraded audio, a car will never be home audio, and my hearing is paying the price for 100,000s of motorcycle miles without earplugs. Not going to go through the whole list, but having something I do not want or will never use is frustrating to look at. I’m an oddball.

I’m leaning in that direction.

 

I found your truck if AZ if you are willing to make the drive pm for info

 

Cabe Toyota in Long Beach. They worked a deal with a dealer in Tennessee to swap a truck on Cabe's lot for a truck still at the factory that was going to Tennessee.

 

Sometimes you have to pay to play. I flew up to Washington to grab my MT because it was the only one without ADM on a transmission thats hard to find anyway.

 

Thanks all. Ended up getting one very close to what I wanted, off-the-lot in AZ. Better pricing as well.

 

AZ usually has better pricing than California for sure. Not sure if you already did this already or your experience with out of state car purchases but a few things to consider:

• Make sure they give you a transit registration - way cheaper. But the registration has to be long enough to hold you over until you get your official California setup. Super important now since California enacted the temp paper plate deal.
• Also California has this weird thing about new cars and considers a vehicle new if it has less than 7,500 miles on it. Long story short, they don't like people traveling out of state to purchase vehicles.
• You're going to have to pay the difference in Arizona vs. California Sales Tax when you register the truck in California.
• California is also going to require VIN verification. Unless you are the few and far between that dont mind going to the DMV you should go to AAA to do it and if you don't have AAA it's worth it for that alone.

 

Which Dealer did you get the truck from?

 

Transit registration, check. Paid no AZ tax, but will pay full CA tax to DMV. I looked into AAA, but from what I can tell they cannot do new vehicle registration. Is VIN verification looking at the title, or a physical inspection?

 

Your dealer should have handled the registration unless you paid for it full in cash. Usually the financing company requires them to be the one to submit the registration to California so you're in the system. Assuming thats the case you wouldn't need AAA to do the registration, just the VIN verification.

VIN verification is physical inspection where they walk out there and check you VIN and ODO to make sure the vehicle looks and is what you say it is. This is a link to the form: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/c...9627-f89e7ce14828/reg31.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=

 

Thanks, good info. Paid in cash so I have to arrange the registration. Closest appointment possibility is 3 weeks away, long lines here I come!

 

You also have to have the truck weighed, before going to DMV.

 

Carson Toyota did mine in 2003 not sure if they are still the same. She did my order but shes at South Coast Toyota now.

Dianne Whitmire
Internet/Fleet Manager
dianne@southcoasttoyota.com
(949) 764-4140