Dealer "options" not optional

From a financial standpoint I got screwed when I purchased my Tacoma a few weeks ago....but I also knew that from the beginning and decided to go with the deal. I came close to walking when I discovered that Toyota raped the SR5 when you get the 4 cylinder...i.e. no power seat, no auto rear-view mirror, etc, etc. It all depends on how much you want a new vehicle and your personal finances. Worst deal I ever made on a new vehicle. Two years earlier I purchased a 2019 Highlander Limited for 8K under MSRP and did not pay for the dealer add-ons such as front window tint, etc.

 

so can you confirm the dealer would rather you finance then outright buy so they can make more?

 

The warranty requirement is weird.

I was told by a sales manager that they are actually required to do add-ons at port. The dealers can choose which add ons (this particular one does paint protection film, nitrogen in tires). They said they cannot avoid this unless they have fleet allocation. So toyota actually makes them choose add-ons at port, unless they have a fleet allocation

 

I detailed cars, but whenever someone paid cash, the salespeople seemed to be excited about; I only worked there from the beginning of September 2018 to the end of June 2019, so this was like eight months before COVID turned everything to shit. The dealer I worked for did offer in-house financing for people with the worst credit, but this dealer sells numerous brands and from what I could tell people with decent financed through the respective manufacturers.

In 2019, my friend bought a 2010 Subaru Forester with about 100K miles on it as a present to her daughter for getting good grades in school; She bought this car at the dealer I worked for after I quit. She makes decent money, but she's a single mom with a mortgage, two kids, and a veritable menagerie of animals. She couldn't afford to pay cash for this car and I believe she financed through the dealer. My friend has good credit, but due to the car's age and mileage, she was getting screwed at like 8% APR. I told her in 2020 or 2021 that if she had the cash, she should pay off the car immediately, and she did...

They ended up selling that Forester to Carvana earlier this year because it needed thousands of dollars in engine work; Unfortunately, she seems to have this subconscious attraction to used Subarus with 100K+ miles.

While her daughter was still driving the gray 2010 Forester, she bought a red 2010 Forester with almost 120K miles without consulting me.; This was in October or November of 2021. She literally saw this shitbox by the side of the road and bought it on a whim. The engine seized in the red one like two weeks after she bought it, presumably due to a blown head gasket, and the engine overheated so severely that the radiator melted. My trusted mechanic put a new engine in the red one for $4,300 and daughter currently has that at college. The red Subaru came from a sketchy buy here pay here lot that made her sign a contract saying she couldn't return the car if it broke down. She had the cash to buy this car outright, but her bank had a promotion where she would only pay 3% interest if she paid it off in six months; The red Subaru was like $8K, and she put some money down but financed the rest through her bank, then the engine blew up...

My friend and her son are sharing a 2004 Tacoma while her daughter has the red Subaru. She has this obsession with Subarus that me and her son can't figure out.

 

I'm not sure if they serve Arizona, but Gulf States Toyota, the distributor for Texas and Louisiana, installs OEM accessories (running boards, black out kit, etc) before they go to the dealers. The dealers do not have any control over this.
These accessories appear on the window sticker.
However, many dealers in DFW also add 'options'. Things like window tint, pinstripes, wheel locks, etc. These usually appear on a secondary window sticker.
Why? Because they can

 

One dealer that I dealt with would only sell if financed. I said no.

 

To me, and I'm not the brightest bulb in the shed rofl but isn't his case similar as someone paying $5k-$10k+ over MSRP and getting nothing? At least he's getting a piece of paper. Useless, maybe.

They told me market adjustment, I said sure. Funny thing is that my trade has that same market adjustment. Just saying.