Toyota Smartpath, anyone use it? Will it work to get a MSRP Tacoma?

I like and miss the haggle.

 

and its not just about the haggle if you luck out and get a good personality to deal with... I have walked away from some personalities on car lots. sure am glad we have a few to choose from here.

 

You don’t need smartpath to get a decent deal. Be patient, look around, talk to dealers, etc. I’ve bought 3 Toyotas this year. A camry SE (paid $1250 under MSRP, a Corolla hatch SE (paid $750 under MSRP) and a Tundra 4x4 crewmax (paid $2500 under MSRP). All from different dealers, just worked with the ones who were offering the best deal on that particular vehicle.

 

If Toyota ONLY offered "TSRP" (the Toyota price), you would NEVER overpay. I don't think you understand the concept. Just because you negotiate with the salesperson and get them to drop the price a couple thousand dollars, doesn't mean you got the best deal. Getting a great deal means paying the same amount as the lowest customer, not just less than the schmuck in the cubicle next to you.

And fwiw, most electric car sales and most of Europe are already on the "buyer experience" model. They have every car on site and you order when you are ready to buy. It's called "just in time manufacturing".

The antiquated way the U.S. sells vehicles is the whole point of my post. Dealerships keeping an inventory is both inefficient and wasteful. People don't seem to understand that the dealerships literally buy the vehicles from the manufacturer, then resell them. It's why every dealer pays a different price from each other.

You can test out the vehicle and talk to sales before actually purchasing. Aside from your vehicle blowing up and needing a replacement, nobody MUST buy a vehicle and drive it off the lot the same day. Waiting 2-3 weeks for a vehicle to be built and delivered is easy, and in many cases, allows you greater customization of your purchase.

Tesla Dealership


Lucid Dealership


Polestar Dealership

 

That's not true though. Dealerships don't all pay the same price. They get pricing discounts based on sales performance. If a dealership sells more on a quarterly and yearly basis, they pay less for the vehicles. Basically a bulk discount price. It's the same reason dealerships get allocated a different number of vehicles, especially the limited production models.

If a sales guys tells you, "you're paying what we paid for it", walk away. The dealership doesn't know what they paid until the end of the quarter, or even end of the year.

 

Best deal is ambiguous, feeling like you got a 'fair deal' is considered a win for most. Paying MSRP for people that have bought vehicles (and sold even) feels like a loss. Maybe someone new to the structure of buying vehicles seems like TSRP is fine, but to me it's not. Also until Toyota actually offers you the ability to order, the Tesla, Polestar model won't work for me.

 

You’re conflating the two ideas here. Obviously it’s moot if Toyota doesn’t offer experience center testing with online purchasing.

The point I was trying to make is there are two options, one is exponentially better for the customer than the other.

1) Try to find the exact truck and options you want. Negotiate with dealership over some arbitrary price listing. Buy truck. Never know if you could have saved hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. (Because if you think you got a better deal than the 250,000 other Tacoma buyers for a year, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.)

2) Go to experience center. Configure vehicle you want. Buy vehicle. Pay exactly what everyone else paid. Be happy nobody will post on Tacomaworld.com with a paid invoice $5,000-$10,000 less than you.

The business model that is better for the customer is obvious. And if you think dealerships will gouge customers, it will kill their business in the long run. It all works out.

 

Option 1 all day, and I believe I got a better deal than 75% of Tacoma buyers in the last 2 years absolutely. Everyone posts how they paid MSRP and are happy… I paid less and am happier. Enjoy option 2, I’ll stick to option 1. No harm no foul for you preferring one of buying over how I prefer.

 

1. Call more dealers.

 

I prefer option 2. In fact, I just used it for a 2024 BMW X5. Order to delivery was 28 days. I would like to order a Toyota like that.

 

Honestly, I still enjoy the haggle, but Toyota and/or the dealers have made the shopping experience miserable. I've been thinking supra lately, but am starting to pivot to M2. Need to talk to a dealer or two to see how flexible they are on price, but I like the idea of being able to order exactly what I want and getting it in a month or so

 

When you haggle, is it face to face or phone, email, internet, etc. ???

 

i'm more of an email/phone guy but have no issue doing it in person, i do feel like you lose a little power in person. plus, sitting in a dealership is such a waste of time.

i also get the here is the price crowd. makes it easier for sure.

 

i do wish we could build our own toyotas. seems like every other brand will let you customize to fit your needs and budgets. i despise toyota and their bolt on shit that gets dumped on every truck

 

I used Smart Path to buy my 2023 MT DCSB Off Road 4x4 in June. It was great. No haggle and $100 below MSRP…also got 31k trade in for me 2020 2WD SR5 (only had 20k on the odometer). Because of the trade and test drive, it took about 2 hours total.

I used to be in the autoshow industry and Toyota was my direct client. When I bought my previous 2nd gen, the dealer dropped off the truck at my work, brought paperwork for me to sign and it took about 20 minutes. Most of the upfront financials were done over the phone. Always paid MSRP or a little under.

Smart Path is for real.

 

was it a full $100 saving or are you rounding up?

 

Actually it was $1,000,000...and Toyota is making payments to me. That was a joke. But I'm not sure your questions is a joke or not? In case it's not: I wrote $100...because the dealer offered $100 as a Smart Path incentive. So no one is rounding anything off.

 

Toyota once paid me $1,000 during my frame replacement
That is serious.

 

I talked to the dealership down the road in Chantilly and the sales manager says his team loves the smartpath... for LOTS of different reasons. I'm thinking it cuts back on training people skills into the sales staff, and maybe cuts overhead budget and bonuses paid out as well. I think it streamlines the BS part of the conversation, but from a "dealer add ons" point of view, I think it really helps keep the customer closer to MSRP without the haggling... which may be why some dealerships don't want to use smartpath.

 

My dealer has already worked around the 'MSRP' problem. You can pay MSRP for a 24 Tacoma, but you're going to eat an extra 3500 in value pack vaporware plus MRSP. Expect others to catch on.