Gulf States Toyota...

I'm not even sure where to begin with this post other than to state that I can't believe that Toyota allows Gulf States Toyota to dictate the product offerings to the extent that they do.

I'm in Houston and have been exhaustively searching a 2020 TRD Sport with the Advanced Technology Package (AT) along with the TRD Premium Sport (PQ) package to no avail. Every dealer only stocks the TRD Premium Sport packages with the "basic" Technology Package, which does not include the panoramic camera.

I was not aware of the whole Gulf States Toyota allotment/distribution deal, but was told by the local "highest volume dealer in a 5 state region and we can get you anything" dump aka Fred Haas that they could in fact special order the vehicle for me and initiated the process of requesting the $500 deposit. At the end of that conversation, the guy said something along the lines of "it'll probably just take 6-8 weeks for us to get a similar vehicle and you'll be ready to roll!" I stopped him there and let him know that "similar" and "exactly what I ordered" are not the same thing, to which point he did admit that there is no such thing as a custom order in our region. I presume they thought that, had I put money down and waited for months, I would just digest whatever bs storyline they had and accept whatever showed up.

It seems that my only option is to order/find the truck at a dealer in New Mexico or Missouri and take several days off of work to deal with driving to get it and doing my trade. It blows my mind that in order for me to buy a truck built three hours away in San Antonio, I will need to spend multiple days, multiple nights of hotel funds plus put 1000 miles on my truck within two days of purchase just for the privilege of buying what I want.

After all that whining, the question I pose is what have others in Texas done in this circumstance? Can anyone recommend a good dealer they've worked with in one of the surrounding states if they did a similar type deal?

 

You don’t have to drive anywhere, if they find one ask to see if they will dealer trade it. Dealers do it all the time.

 

Two of the dealers which have the right option combo allegedly wouldn't accept the trade request. I'm not sure if it is due to distance (Phoenix and Tucson vs Houston) or that they simply don't want a GST-optioned truck lol.

 

Welcome to Toyota.

 

Unfortunately, this has been my experience with GST. They want to sell what's on the lot or what is allocated. I will say that if you can find something you like here they are very competitive and will deal pretty aggressively on it.

 

Have you tried Toyota of Alvin? I only ask because I ended up using them for my order. Access cabs (other than SR/SR5) didn't seem to be very popular in Houston and the only 2017s I could find that I liked at the time were in California, so I had them order a 2018 back in Nov 2017. It took 3 months to get though and I knew GST could potentially decline the order from Toyota of Alvin (the finance guy even commented that GST is pretty strict about what they allow). I don't know if they swapped allocations with another dealership or if they just changed up one of their allocations, but I got exactly what I asked for.

 

Just find the truck you want at whatever dealership it might be and negotiate the delivery charges in your deal. Nobody says you HAVE to go to that dealership. You should be able to take care of everything through phone calls and emails and have them deliver it to you. We used to do that all time when i sold Fords especially with old people or out of state folks. The delivery charges should be less than monies lost from work, hotels, and gas.

 

I worked for Toyota for 16 years before moving to Houston. I was shocked on how bad the customer service is here at toyotas in a place where everyone takes about texas being the “best” at everything. Fred haas is a joke. I was going to trade my truck in and they where only going to give me what I owed left on my truck. I told them how is that when it’s worth way more. Like 6k more on KBB in bad condition. Sales manager said well that’s all I have left to pay so why would they give me more then that?

Try fort bent Toyota. I live in cypress and for parts it was worth the drive. Compared to Fred Haas and Don McGills parts people that don’t know how to look anything up with out a vin.

 

Glad to know I'm not the only one who dislikes Fred Haas. I think a lot of what pissed me off about them is that I had been getting telephone/email harassment from a "Sales Consultant" until I made an appointment to go in and see her, and she immediately passed me off to some dude when I walked in and handed him a print out of our emails with a post-it note attached that said "{Last Name} - claims he is coming in today, refuses to take inventory." I've deduced that she really only exists to work the phone lines and social media as the entire time I was there she was just on her phone texting and calling people. She's called/text me at least 10 times since I gave them the "i'm done here, bye" departure message lol.

I've been talking to Joe Myers (mostly because they are the closest, I'm in Cypress as well) and they've been better so far. Probably going to just go ahead and submit an order within the next few days even though I really hate to go through that process since I have a trade-in. I fully anticipate a last minute hosing attempt on the trade in value when it is time to take delivery regardless of which dealer I go through. I'll save my final Joe Myers review until that time passes lol.

I will never understand why Gulf States has decided that only manual transmission TRD Sports will be allocated with LED headlights/Advanced Tech packages. I can find tons of automatics in California/Colorado/anywhere in Toyota's own territory with all the options. If someone is willing to pay $45,000 for the LED-less configuration, do they really think that customer base would never be interested in LED headlights for another $400?

 

Yup. Arizona isn't in the Gulf States region, so they won't do dealer trades.

Here in Austin, I put in a deposit for a 2020 TRD-OR with manual trans and no packages back in October. The allocation request wasn't even accepted until last week, still waiting to get an official build allocation date, but I've been told "unofficially" that it will be built in the April/May allocation.

 

Seriously considering just buying from out-of-state.

Exact truck I want, in Kentucky:
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/795702858/overview/

 

Here you go bud, dont wait any longer LOL. That Voodo Blue is sick!

https://www.fortwaynetoyota.com/new/Toyota/2020-Toyota-Tacoma-3fc94f1c0a0d0c1430eb8fa95a2544a9.htm

https://www.fortwaynetoyota.com/new/Toyota/2020-Toyota-Tacoma-016070b40a0d0cc70f4d48c6ea665f58.htm

 

Earlier on I was thinking of Cavalry Blue, but I've finally decided on MGM.

Right now, I'm in no rush. It's just a test of patience. And at least I'll have some competing offers to bring up once the truck arrives and we start discussing price.

 

Around here, Round Rock Toyota is the worst! From accessories pricing to new vehicle dealings.

 

Plus one for joe Myers on 290. Bought my 2017 sport manual there for 33k total OTD. It sat on the lot for 2 months. I bought it on Black Friday 2016

However y’all kinda stupid for ordering a truck, losing all the negotiating power when you do that. Far better off finding the truck on a lot and negotiating from there.

 

I don't know, when no dealer has what you want I think it would be kinda stupid to just buy a truck that does not check all of the boxes just because it is on the lot. I guess it just depends what is more motivating, the end price or having the features you want.

 

I've found the truck I want at other dealers (in AZ, TN, KY, GA, CA)... so I imagine I'll still have some negotiating power once my 'special order' is delivered. I haven't signed anything, so at the worst, I'd be out the $500 deposit if I chose to buy from a distant dealer.

 

About two weeks ago I called my sales guy back to see if they had any upcoming allotments for what I wanted, as I had noticed 3-4 popping up within Gulf States starting in January. There was one scheduled to go out of state, but they traded the allotment and let me reserve it. I did get a hard sell pitch that, due to the rarity of the configuration (within Gulf States only..), they can't go below MSRP much if at all.

Knowing there are many available out of state, I just said "ok" and paid the $500, being that I was okay with eating the $500 if it did not shake out the way I wanted it to once it arrived. It definitely took some work and fortitude, but I ended up getting 3000 off the MSRP plus the Toyota cash rebate, which is really about what I hoped for anyway. The "rare" configuration is advanced tech with LED headlights and the premium sport package on TRD Sport (auto)...

 

that's why i said to hell with GST and bought my truck from Arlington, VA (oh and I wanted a 6 MT - add that complication to your equation )

Built right here in SA,TX, shipped to VA, and drove back to TX

 

Sorry, I just saw this. GST is a pain in the ass.

How do you like the truck now that you have it?