Ordering a new truck - what was your experience?

Hey guys,

I had a couple of questions for those of you that ordered your trucks just to get some insight.

So I recently (1/05/13) went to a dealership looking for a very specific truck ('13 TRD O/R 4x4 DCSB with JBL/Entune/Nav in MGM). Of course, they didn't have it, but they said they were due to get that very truck early February. Not in a huge rush (if I'm going to spend $35k on a vehicle, I'm going to get exactly what I want), I did my negotiating and said "I'll take it!" I left the sales rep a $1000 check and signed a little invoice that they printed out, and left with an expected delivery date of early February.

Two weeks go by, and I contact my sales rep (1/17) and ask him if they had a VIN number yet (apparently they didn't cash my $1000 check because the truck hadn't been built yet and there was no VIN), and if they had a better idea on the delivery date. His response was that there was no VIN yet, and that I could expect the truck between 1/31 and 2/8, and my truck was to start being built on 1/20 and finished in 4-5 days. He also said that he'd keep me updated.

Another week goes by (1/25) and now that my truck is supposed to have been finished, I expected a VIN and a delivery date. I email my sales rep and say "Hey, when are you guys going to cash that check? I don't want to dip into those funds on accident and it'd be great to have that taken out. Also, do you know when I will have a date for delivery because I need to finish the sale of my current vehicle." His response was, "We aren't going to cash the check - we'd only do that if you backed out of the deal. The estimated date is 1/29 - 2/4. Your VIN is blah blah blah." I thought it was a bit strange that they weren't going to cash my check, as before he walked away with it he asked me if the funds were currently available, and then came back and said that they would wait to cash it till they have a VIN but he would let me know before they cash it.

So here come the questions:
1.) Did you guys ever get an exact date? I'm within this estimated week time-frame, and I'm a bit shocked that I don't have an exact date. I can buy a $5 product off Amazon and know within 5 minutes when it will be on my door. Yet, here I've made a $35k purchase and I have a week long window.
2.) If you didn't get an exact date, did they at least notify you the day before saying, "Hey, your truck will be here tomorrow at 2:00 pm. Come on in and let's finish the paperwork and get you the keys!" Or was it a call the day that the truck arrived saying, "Hey, it's here. Come on down..."?
3.) Surely I shouldn't have to specifically tell them "Please don't let anyone test drive my truck." Right?
4.) I chose some of the factory addons (tint, clear bra, hood protector, OEM roof rack). Will the truck come with those, or will the dealer have them put on when they get the truck, or am I going to take delivery of the truck stock and set an appointment for those things to be added?

Thanks in advance for reading the novel and helping me out. Impatience gets the best of me most of the time, and waiting for this truck has been killing me!

 

I didn't get a date when I ordered mine. When I ordered it the 13s were just coming out and mine was sitting in Houston in toyotas property waiting to be delivered. The salesman had no idea when they would ship it, but once they did he informed me and we made plans to work it all out so that I wouldn't be sitting up at the dealership all day. I showed up that day and it was sitting in the showroom waiting for me. I signed the paperwork, setup my entune and drive off.

 

So once it was shipped, he gave you a date and you guys arranged a time to finalize all the paperwork? I would think then, since my time frame for receipt begins today, that he would have a good idea of the date of arrival. Interesting...

 

From what I understand Toyota doesn't get in a hurry and dealers just have to deal with it. If they still haven't told you it's on it's way my guess is that Toyota still hasn't shipped it. I would suggest calling you salesman every day to see, because they have to check by VIN to see if its been shipped and most likely they are not paying attention until you call.

 

The dealer I bought mine from went and got one out of state did take them about a week to find it but they did produce it. Granted mine was not that specialized but no one had exactly what I wanted.

 

I ordered almost exactly the same truck (minus a few add-ons). With my dealer he gave me a rough date, but it got changed by a day or two twice. The truck goes from San Antonio to Houston (if you're in the Gulf States), has certain factory options added and then gets shipped to the dealer. As stated above, they are not fast, nor do they give you hourly updates. Mine ended up being about 5 days later than the original estimate, but it was worth it getting a truck with less than 5 miles on it.

 

ordered 2 of my Toyotas

never got any exact date, until the day it rolled off the carrier at the dealership

some people wait 3 months, 4 months.

so, just wait mang....you want it now you have to take one from
a dealer or do a dealer swap.

ordering a vehicle you are waiting on a dozen different things that can delay it


one thing for sure: it will show up, and it will be fresh, and have 4-6 miles on it

 

This wait is just painful. The window I was given a couple of weeks into the wait was 2/1-2/8 and was then moved forward to 1/29-2/4 a week ago. I guess I'm surprised they don't have a bit more efficient way of tracking a $35k piece of inventory...

 

I understand. I had to wait a month and a half for mine! Most likely the dealer gave you that time frame based on how long it usually takes and not on what toyota told them. When I ordered mine the salesman told me he expected it to take a few weeks at most but had no control. The reason nobody can give you a solid date is because toyota is waiting till they get a full load going in your direction. Once they have enough units needing to be delivered in you area it will show up quickly.

 

Think of it on the flip side....Your truck is ONE of THOUSANDS of 35K a piece inventory. It will get there and you will be happy

 

yup

chillbro

your truck is one unit. of 165,289

 

Ordered mines on the 3rd and got it on the 17th. They didn't have what I wanted in stock so I had to wait for it to arrive on the boat. My truck came in with another truck that was also special ordered.

 

Right, but my book off of Amazon is one of hundreds of thousands and i still know where it is.

I'm just bitching because I want my damn truck to get here! Every time my phone rings I think, "This is it! It's here!" But then it's not...

 

I'm in the boat with you. Come Monday it'll be 3 WHOLE WEEKS OMG since I ordered my DCLB TRD Sport. I'll probably hafta commit suicide over the weekend if the wait doesn't kill me first.

 

I ordered mine on 1/5 and they called me the next day to tell me that it was goign to be built on 1/18 and arriving to the dealer 2/8. They called yesterday and told me to go pick the truck, in south FL it takes around 10 days after build to get truck. Just wait a bit.

 

What time did they call? I'm wondering if I don't get a call by 10 or something if I should just assume I'm not getting it this day.

 

I used to work at a dealership and, at least from what I understand from gulf states, its not really an order type process. The factory makes what it makes and then its a mad grab by the dealers to get a truck that comes as close as possible to what the customer ordered, if its not on another dealer's lot.

When I "ordered" my 2011 DCLB 4x4 Sport MGM in Oklahoma, the sales manager (old friend of mine) told me it could take up to 3 months cause OK is the land of 2wd prerunners. They grabbed one off the factory line that was headed to Little Rock, I believe, and I had it in 3 1/2 weeks. I still didn't get all the options I wanted, but it was close enough to not warrant more waiting. On the bright side it was plenty of time for my two tone katskinz to come in.

Short beds are much easier to find.

 

Calm down and don't do anything rash, the Long Bed is worth the wait.

 

They'll put a sold tag on it, the truck won't be used in a test drive for another potential customer. Don't worry about that.

When they get the truck in, they will start on it right away. The installation should take them an additional 20 business days to complete.

You're looking at late Feb to early March when you'll get behind the wheel of your new rig.





j/k

 

They never did cash my deposit check. Gave it back to me when we did the final paper work.

Had a window like they gave you. Let me know when it was shipped, but still had a window... truck had multiple stops to make, weather, etc...

It'll get here...