Anyone been turned away by a dealer

I got my Taco and Tundra from out of state (each about 1k miles away) without issue but that was in March of 2017 and May of 2020..

 

I had a local dealer (3 hours away) turn me away, said only local customers, I let Toyota kindly know and then the customer service manager called me next day from said dealer, at that point the truck was already gone.

 

That is very very bogus. What dealership? Was the sales team anti you or something. I can’t imagine even in times like this that happening. After you get your taco secured I’d drop a note to the GM of that place. Customer Service is mandatory in the age of social media. What’s the name of the dealership?

 

It was their e-sales team. They contacted me first through a referral. No clue what is going on. I called Toyota corporate and opened a case.

 

Something to consider....let's say your case with corporate is successful (a long shot I know). How good of a deal and what kind of customer service do you think you will get from a dealership who was pushed into doing business with you and will never see you again after you take delivery?

 

I happened into a dealership in NJ before I bought my Taco locally in NY. They were more than willing to sell me one and if they had one I wanted, I would have bought it. I guess it all depends on the dealer.

 

That's not that uncommon. Dealers in Bergen County NJ sell to people from Rockland County NY pretty regularly. Just a quick drive down Route 17. My guess is in this market dealers can afford to be choosy about who they sell to, and the dealer the OP went to would prefer to sell what limited units they have to people who they may see again for service.

 

I got my Pro out of state but soon after they instituted a local only sales rule They had an incoming 4Runner TRD Pro I also wanted to buy and they wouldn't sell it. Luckily they did honor the MSRP sale of my Taco.

 

Sounds like a “not in my territory so I don’t get the full commission” sales person idiot.

 

I have herd this a couple times in the past. A few years ago when I got my 04 I looked around a couple states. It seemed to vary dealer to dealer, in the end I got it from a different state.. The challenge at the time was the paperwork. I couldn't be charged that state's sales tax because my state charges sales tax on the purchase price of the car when it's titled. That led to me also not getting the MSO till the check cleared and some special paperwork they had to deal with. In 2016 I bought again in that state same BS drive away with the new truck without the MSO and wait till it comes to register it with a copy of bill of sale so this state gets the tax . Both times the sales person was almost better to deal with than the local one. But locally it's a cleaner deal.

That is also why in this state you have to sign and date the title at trade or sell privately. It was practice for a while for someone to buy a used car and then turn around and resell it, in a sense becoming a used car dealer with out a business license, not only that but an open title left the previous owner still the owner for insurance purposes because the signing ended ownership.

 

Othe industries are being selective as well. Product shortages combined with a surplus of buyers means companies are looking at other factors and being selective in who they sell to.

 

I live in Washington and Peterson Toyota in Idaho told me they had no interest in selling to people in Washington. Wanted to sell to those in Idaho so they could have repeat customers and service.

 

Strange, how would they know until you filed out the paper work? Can't believe they would ask where you were from first.

 

Damn, sorry to hear that dude. I got my taco from Lincoln, NE (we live in OK) and had no issues. The bank just needed a little heads up - but it wasn't a problem.

 

Never was turned away by any dealer out of state, but i didn't exactly hit it off with a couple local dealers i tried to buy buy a truck from. Neither didn't have what i wanted on the lot or what other dealers they trade with. I needed to place an order or request to have one built. One even suggested i see a larger regional out of state dealer, and recommended a couple in the boston area. This was just before the covid pandemic bs hit in 2020.

 

Wife and I found a vehicle we wanted in Massachusetts at a carmax lol. Since we live in Maine they told they would have to ship it to the Maine store (for free). There were benefits to this (temp plates, sales tax spread out over payments), however they lost the title for the truck for over 2 months and we ended up buying elsewhere

 

I didn't have any issue buying my truck in boston. We did all the paperwork over the fax. All i had to do was get the wife to drive me 160 miles from here in connecticut, give them my check, and drive the truck back home. Of course i had to spend a 1/2 hr with their office manager, or finance guy listening to him speal how i had to have their 10 year extended warranty, or else i'd be in deep do,do when the truck needed the computers, or the head radio unit replaced.

 

In today's market dealers can do whatever comes into the little greedy mind of theirs. Once market stabilizes they'll go back to normal, begging you to buy from them no matter where you live, with sugar on top.

 

Why were you looking to order a truck from out of state? I can understand if it is already on the lot, but it seems like looking for an allocation with an out of state dealer just complicates the deal.

In Portland, OR, dealers up in WA want the business even though they are at the disadvantage taxes wise (OR is no sales tax vs WA is no income tax). WA and OR have deals in place to simplify the process between the 2 states though.

 

Pricing to an extent. Our local dealer is garbage. We usually buy out of state and make the purchase a road trip experience. I have done this many times, never been an issue due to excellent credit and no trade in to muddy the water. I guess limited inventory complicates things. Dealers couldn’t care less about the tax stuff. They actually called me and already have over 200 cars waiting on allotment fulfillment, they are not taking new allotments until that number goes down. I get the feeling they may make an exception for me, but I’ll pass. If they feel that’s in their best interests I’m not going to strongarm my way into making them honor our original agreement. No hard feelings. Crazy times for sure.