The truth about "ordering" a truck from the dealer?

UPDATE: was able to order what I wanted from my dealer...skip to page 3 for my order sheet.

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So I want to order from a dealer....pick out trim ...color ....and all the options that are available for that trim.

One dealer (the one that I have purchased from in the past) is telling me that they can specifically order what ever I want ...and it will be built in about 90 days.


Another dealer ( that I'm price shopping with) has told me that "that can't be done" and that they can only put in for "allocation" and try to find one in the area....or get one allocated to them...what ever that means?


So what is really going on here? Anyone?

Link to my 2009 taco mods
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/191570-look-what-site-has-done-my-truck.html

 

I tried to order a Pyrite Mica Double Cab Limited with everything. I was waiting months. I ended up canceling my order and buying a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT instead. They just couldn't produce the limited in the color I wanted with all the bells and whistles.

My son has a 2014 Taco DC and I still want one. I am a Taco and Jeep guy since we bought this first one. I have been modding his along with a couple wranglers we have in our stable.

Best bet is to do a search on line and find one the dealer can go get becuase as the year goes on they start ramping up for the next years production and you end up waiting and waiting.

 

In red sounds about right to me

 

What truck? If you are trying for a 2014, probably not.

A 2015 most likely yes. As stated above, if its a limited, better get your order or else you may not get it.

You can also order the truck closest to the one you want and go after market with the stuff it does not come with.

 

All the dealers have to take your order sheet and compare it to Toyota's planned production specs. They have to claim one of those existing builds that closest matches your order and then when it's built, it's allocated to that dealership. No dealership can order exactly the truck you want, if Toyota isn't scheduled to produce it already. That's why you get phone calls saying "listen, your truck is coming but it has step bars on it. I know you didn't want step bars, so we're giving them to you for free."

Toyota builds the trucks, dealers get the best match they can to what the customer wants, and that's the extent of it AFAIK. I ordered my truck, and this is the explanation given to me since then.

If you're really set on a hard answer, my friend is a purchasing manager for a Toyota dealership, and I can email her and ask exactly how the process works and doesn't work. But again, the above info is from her and to the best of my memory (it was 15 months ago when I took receipt of my truck, my build took 3 months).

 

My last assumption is that any dealer will tell you they can get you exactly what you want, because they'll take your deposit for the order and get your feet in the door and have a bit of a strap around your wallet with a new vehicle sale.

I'd go to the other dealer who gave you the straight truth, as he obviously has the best business ethics IMO.

 

There was a time when you could walk into a dealership and order a vehicle. You would be given a sheet with a list of options and you would just check the boxes on what you wanted. There were no "packages". The dealership would send tat sheet to the manufacturer who would then build your vehicle.

THOSE DAYS ARE GONE FOREVER.

Manufacturers do not have those checklists anymore. Now they have packages that give you a combination of options and make it impossible to have others. Case in point. You can try all you want but you can not order a TRD Off Road package and get da skewp. The ONLY option you have is to have the dealership order a scoop hood, paint it and install it for you and you do not get a credit for the old hood.

Dealerships do not make much money on an ordered car or truck. Their profit is in the hundreds only. Its not worth it for them to work with you. Your best bet is to buy the closest truck to what you want and then mod it. I bought a scoop hood for my TRD OR package because it was easier to replace a hood than add all the OR shit.

 

I get what you are saying, but even for a 2015 if OP orders today? I assume he will something very similar to what he wants.

Seems like if he orders for the coming model year he should be able to get it.

Also OP, what do you want to order?

 

More info...

I bought my 2009 taco from the dealer that is saying he can get me what ever I want.

What I want:

Silver Trail Premium 2015 4 runner
KDSS suspension
Paint film clear bra protection
Stainless exhaust tip

Pretty standard stuff here and TOYOTA has all these options available to build on a Trail Edition 4 Runner on their website...

 

The only company I know of that you can order your exact car is/was BMW. In 2003 my old boss order an M3 with a certain options/builds. He was able to track the car through the entire build process and he was invited to go to Germany and see his car on the assembly line.

But quite the big difference price was between a Taco and an M3....

 

What i found when i bought mine 2 months ago was the latter, that they can put in for it and hopefully get it exactly as you want. What i dont know is if theres a time limit, meaning can you wait as long as you want, if willing, to get your exact specs?

 

Their "Build A.." section isn't totally transparent. You can't build a configuration that doesn't already currently exist on a dealer lot in your sales region. If you type in your zip code, and you want to build the 4Runner you just mentioned above (for ease of conversation) and there isn't a Silver Trail Premium on a lot somewhere with the KDSS, paint protection, and exhaust tip on a dealer lot in your region (which is why you're asked for the zip code you're in) then the "Build A.." won't let you pick those options.

Hopefully that makes sense.

 

Toyota has to approve the "build" configurations that are submitted by the dealer trying to secure the build. My 2013 was ordered in July 2013, and I had issues getting approval because I was right on the tail end of the 2014 MY production changeover. I was an inch away from getting a 2014 even though I didn't order it, because that's what they had. Another member, Treeman1942 (IIRC) said he placed an order this November for a 2015, and his dealer hasn't given him a VIN number (which is supplied by Toyota when they approve an order and match it to a vehicle slated for production) or confirmed that Toyota approved his order.

Knowing what I know, or at least what I think I know..
.. he won't get his truck. He'll get a 2016 or his dealer will try to find another dealership to trade/swap for a 2015 close to what he ordered and they'll figure out if that works for Treeman. Especially if the 2016 is a complete redesign as is being predicted, it'll be a mess for him or his dealer.

 

First post!
The days of ordering a vehicle and checking off each individual box for what you want and don't want are not over. I ordered a 2015 car in April and took delivery of exactly what I ordered in August. Note: that car was not a Toyota.
I just "ordered" a Blue Ribbon Metallic TRD Sport Double Cab 4x4 from my dealer last week...it was NOT built to my specs and will arrive with some stuff I don't want. But it's close enough, because I want it now. It should arrive today or tomorrow...

Matt

 

That's how ordering works.

Welcome to TW Matt!

 

Well, I ordered my Baja, in Dec 2012 and I had to wait two weeks to see if the factory would pick up the 'special' order. The thing that made it 'special' down here was that I wanted a stick, not an auto.
It got picked up by the factory and the dealer had ordered the exact same truck spec, but with an auto.
Well, three months later and I actually saw the confirmation of my build on the dealer computer, my truck arrived adn I went in to pick it up and it was the auto, so I asked WTF, over and the factory had bumped my truck in porduction and would no longer confirm a ship date.
So long story short, I drive the auto and the dealer passed on my truck to a dealer somewhere else about 2 months later.
This explanation actually makes more sense, than the BS the dealer gave me...

 

Words from the dealer who said they could order one....

"If we can't find one in allocation, we will just order you one"

This makes me think that allocation and ordering are 2 different things....

 

They aren't, to my knowledge/experience.

 

I hoping that actually ordering a vehicle can be done. I'm guessing that the second dealer who told me no they can't...just wanted to try and sell me something they already had or could get quickly...

 

So far just everyone's opinion....anyone with FACTS?