What toyota region to buy in?

Ok, so I am looking to buy my Tacoma but I live in the South Eastern Toyota region which like the Gulf States Region is independently owned and not a part of Toyota. My local dealer in New Bern, NC. has Tacomas on lot but all of them have port added options that total quite a bit of money, one of which is the $100 phone charger and cables that really chaps my tail.
My question is, do all of the regions tack on stupid additions like toyoguard, clear bra's, charging cables or do I just need to travel a few hours and buy outside of my region? If buying outside of my region is the best option, what region should I buy from? I am currently deployed and don't mind doing a little traveling to get the best deal.

 

Hey man, I'm from that area too. Work on lejeune. But I live and bought mine in Wilmington. If new bern is anything like Wilmington I'd say buy somewhere else. I don't know what it is but my used 2012 was over priced. And I didn't realize it until I joined TW and saw how much people paid for theirs. All the trucks on the lot in Wilmington are a bit overpriced. I'm from Ohio, and went to visit a couple weeks ago, tacomas seem to cheaper. I don't know how they do it, or what fluctuates the price differences, but I would look elsewhere and see what kind of deal you can get.

 

I have been trying to look on line at the different regions but have noticed that none show any port installed options on the build sheets. My local dealer when you build a vehicle or look at an in stock vehicle on line doesn't show the window sticker with all the other port installed options. Do all regions have these stupid add-ons or is it just South Eastern Toyota? I wanna find that place that won't charge me stupid stuff just to increase their profit margin.

 

Welcome to TW .... and Thank You for your service.

I am in the DFW area in Texas. I did not get offered those types of things. My dealership did ADD extras to my deal INCLUDED in the price like : front tinted windows, nitrogen in tires, and door guards.

The dealership had the extra accessories available like the charging cables, but they were completely separate and they only mentioned them when I asked.

 

There are only 3 regions. GST, SET, and toyota USA. My advice, and what I had to do, was to get out of GST and go to a toyota USA to get a truck. Like u said GST and SET puts so much add on's , that u can't afford the truck anymore. They have a access cab at my local dealer for 39k. GST is also not allocated any manual transmissions, u can get them, but have to dealer trade a allocation. My dealer, Chuck Hutton toyota, is literally one mile out of Mississippi into Tennessee. They know all about this, and supply Mt trucks to people in MS an AR without crap like toy care and chargers. So go north my friend and find a good dealer and the truck u want at a good price. Fwiw Oklahoma is in GST, how is that a gulf state?

 

Doesn't sound like a gulf state to me, pretty land locked! Sounds like a solid plan on heading North out of SET maybe someone can chime in on whether their dealers charge for stupid stuff or maybe someone has a good one near them that is legit.

 

Is there a list somewhere showing the regional states/boundaries?

I ordered our Highlander new in '04, and was so frustrated with the process (you can't have this, you must have that) that I swore I'd never buy a new Toyota again. At the time I did not know it was a SET issue vs a Toyota issue.

I still may never order another new Toyota, but I'd sure like to know the physical boundaries in case I do. I'd absolutely drive to Tenn. to avoid the nonsense I had here.

To the OP, dealer stuff (on the lot) is dealer stuff, and on a dealer basis. Get in the right region first (Toyota USA apparently) then find a dealer who will order as you wish, or at least doesn't bloat every vehicle on the lot.

 

How do you guys live with such ridiculousness?!

 

Usually blame it on liberals and buy more guns!

 

Hahaha

 

Another reason not to buy from Southeast Toyota Region, is if you want to buy the extended service contract you have to get the one offered from them which is a company owed by Southeast Toyota. You cannot buy the Toyota Factory policy unless you go outside the region and then you have to go into the dealership. I do not know if the other regions have the same setup. I originally bought the policy from Southeast Toyota but canceled it and traveled to Wichita KS. I saved about $500.00 even after my expenses to get to KS. However, I did not have to pay for air travel but I did pay for hotel, rental car, meals. At one time you could buy the Toyota policy on the telephone but that ended last year. Somebody might have additional information on this subject.

 

I don't understand this. I bought mine in FL, which is a SE Toyota area. When I went to buy my truck they had a list of port/dealer addons that were already on the truck. When the salesman asked me what I thought about it, I just responded that it was way too expensive and I didn't need any of that stuff. I wasn't interested in it. He folded back the panel on the price sheet with the extras and pointed to the line without them and said "how about this" and I shrugged and said it was better, but still not in the ballpark I wanted to be in. I promised to think about it and come back that weekend.
During the week, I did my homework here and sent him an email breaking down the price and what I wanted to pay OTD. I went in Saturday and they agreed. I'm perfectly happy with my purchase and what I paid for it. Know what you want and what to pay, stick to your guns, and be ready to walk if they don't want to play. Remember, they want YOUR business.

 

OP do yourself a favor and find an excuse to head to VA for the truck you want and don't buy from the South East Toyota cartel - unless of course you don't want a very specific truck and can find someone to deal with you down there. As you noted earlier there are far more than just 3 Toyota regions in the US; gulf states and SET being the worst with New York region being not far behind (they have a weird set up with corporate as well).

When I was shopping for my Taco and 4Runner before that, I looked over a pretty wide stretch of states. I found that with SET, if you can find your truck early enough in the allocation process they will be able to knock off some of the stupid regional items off the bat (though some are mandatory regardless). I finally found a dealer in Virginia (close by fortunately) who had the best price ordered from him. He was kind of a pain to deal with but worth it for the savings IMO. PM me if you want his info.

OA

 

Did you get a good deal at Chuck Hutton? Dealers here in central Arkansas aren't moving much off the MSRP. At least the few I have checked.

 

When I was looking in the Gulf stats region I sent an email to every Toyota dealer in a 150 mile radius asking them for the best price on the exact model I was looking for. I did not care too much about color. I found the truck I actually bought about an hour away in Arkansas and took that price to my local dealer. The local dealer did a swap with the Arkansas dealer for my truck which did not have the Gulf states options and delivered it to me for the price I negotiated in Arkansas.

Just a thought.

 

I live in FL, and got over $3000 off msrp. Plus, no dealer fee, or other B.S. fees.

Out the door price, which includes T,T, &L was less than MSRP.

 

That's a good deal to get less than MSRP OTD

 

I'm in the southeast and I had to ask every dealer for list of installed options, no one listed them online. I was looking for a very basic SR5 DCLB 4x4 and didn't need any of the other stuff. I found 2 or 3 in the entire north side of GA, luckily 2 where the color I wanted and I drove one home. They are out there, but very rare.

Now that I think about it the other one had the phone charger cable option in it and something else.

 

I'm in GST area. My wife actually did my shopping for me, but she contacted 25ish dealerships via email looking for a DCSB SR5 4X4 with tow package only. She got the response and price we were looking for and we drove 180 miles (one way) to pick up the truck. It was a GST dealer. You just have to look a little.