Did you order your Tacoma or buy from dealer stock?

The Toyota system is not really factory "ordering." To "order" something, in this system, means to navigate a complex labyrinth of dealer allocations. Some dealers are better at this than others.

What I did, was to go to the Toyota website and go through all the available options. Then I took the resulting "build sheet" to a local dealer we had bought from before. I gave them a deposit, a month later they notified me that the truck I had specified was being built, and a month after that it was delivered. I'm fairly happy with the process. The only deviation from what I had originally wanted was that the factory added LED headlights, which I ended up getting for free. Not bad.

 

One of the more silly thoughts I have read buy hey... your money.
I have purchased over 20 new vehicles in my life and never given this a 2nd thought and never had a problem.

 

Dont worry about what the people test driving have done to it. I worked at a Stealership and the lot boys are going to do a lot worse. Mustang GTs would disappear on the way to the wash bays for little drives around the neighborhoods. I watched more than once kids spinning the tires and then spinning out and wreaking on the lot. One kid whacked the wall with a customers Silverado. Test drives are the last thing you need to worry about. About the only way to avoid it is pick your truck up at the factory.

 

Ordered mine, got exactly what I wanted, just had to wait.

 

Well technically someone still drives it before you do. They get the truck and fill with fluids and Joey the tech barely graduated from mechanic school goes out for a test drive with it. This means testing everything on and off road . You have to remember this kid probably hasn’t taken his lunch break yet . So he’s going to rush your job . So the point is it really doesn’t matter if you order it or get it off the lot . The only reason to order it if you are looking for something specific to be included on your truck .

 

Trucks coming from Mexico to the East Coast are loaded on specially designed drive-on drive-off ships (vehicle carriers). There's a huge debarkation depot (parking lot and upgrade facility) in Newark, N.J. There's going to be mileage put on the truck, unavoidably, just in loading and unloading.

 

I sort of see your point. I put in a factory request this past weekend. but only because it was the only way to get the config I wanted without any compromise. Been trying to find my match for 6+ months with no luck. I would have much rather have had 2 or 3 on the lot to bargain with. Anytime I found a mtach it was already spoken for.

With that said, I asked to take another test drive on a similar model before they ran my CC for the $500 deposit. The one they brought out for me to test drive had 357 miles on it and they only brought it out because they had a buyer showing up. It already had a SOLD sign on the windshield. The 357 miles seemed like a lot to me. It was a Sport, DCSB, 2WD. Unsure of the packages.

I only added another 5 miles to it at most. But when I pulled back into the lot the buyer was already there waiting with the salesman to test drive it. I felt a little weird getting out and knowing he was buying it. I did drive it gently though because I get what you are saying. Especially these days when most test drives are solo due to Covid.

 

Bought stock from the lot, had 17miles on it. Glad I didn't have to wait on an order.

Confession from a lot attendant (in my younger days, that makes me sound old) - New cars are typically fine, they are hard to drive off the lot, at least in my area. We were prone to getting pulled over for not having a dealer plate, happened to me a few times. We smoked some weed in some new cars, but the used lot is where the action is at, high end, modded type cars get pretty hammered on by everyone.

 

There's weirder things to worry about than that I guess, but I can't seem to think of any at the moment.

 

That's a weird one for sure. Most everything that is spoken for is usually off limits, even to sit in.

 

I purchased mine as an inbound. I placed a deposit and it showed up at the dealership a week later. It had 8 miles on it when I got it. I asked the salesman where the 8 miles came from. He said all the trucks they get usually have about 6 miles on them. The dealership does a two mile loop to test the truck and that is it. I didnt want a brand new truck with 100 flogged miles on it either. I wanted to break the engine is, as much as possible, by me... I was super easy on it the first 1000 miles, changed the oil around 1400, and then have flogged it some.

 

Ah that new car smell!

 

I had 1 mile on mine too when l took delivery!

 

Mine had 7. I got screwed

 

I bought mine stock with 14 miles on it.

 

Ya it was weird. I'd call it a grey area. Technically it wasn't sold. My salesguy was the same person for the potential buyer. When he saw the sold sign on the dash, he even laughed and commented to me that the lot staff has high confidence by putting sold on it already.

Now did he end up buying it? Likely, he looked super excited about it. I wasn't out of the truck for more than 5 seconds and he was in and away on his test drive. Army Green Sport 2WD? Seems anyone who wants an Army Green in anything is excited to find one. (That is what I ordered except on TRD Offroad with Premium, Advanced tech and PED Headlights/Fog.)

 

Interesting.

Yeah. I think they could double the AG output and still not cover the demand. Looks great on the road.

 

I bought mine from stock that was coming into the dealer, had to wait about 3 weeks for it to arrive. It had 4 miles on it when I got in it for the first time.

 

Just a bit of a nitpick, but I sold Toyota forklifts for years. If the car side is anything like the forklift side, there's no "Joey the nitwit" building or testing any part of those vehicles. In the 2 times I spent a week at the Toyota factory in Indiana for training, never once did I see anything on the factory floor that wasn't the utmost clean, professional, and carefully handled.

They test the forklifts hard right out of the gate. They really whomp on them to try and get any failures to show up before they head to the dealerships. But everything is done in a controlled and monitored fashion. I would assume their car factories operate the same way, maybe even more-so.

 

Got mine from my dealer, but they had to do a dealer trade with another lot. Mine ended up with about 75 miles on it once I got it. Not to worried about it, if any issues arise that’s what the warranty is for.