Is this model hard to get?

Allocated I guess would make sense. Because you can go to the website and build whatever you want, and not be able to get it. I started looking in October and it took till January to find what I was looking for.

 

No worries, ya you just cant put in an order with Toyota, they build what they want and dealers can allocate one the way you want it. Nice score!

 

The Toyota Website is kinda messed up as it will not let you build whatever you want, it will only let you build what is currently available in your region.

 

Ran into the same problem. Wanted a specific build: 2020 White Access Cab TRD OR, LED Headlights, Premium Pkg, Technology Pkg. Nothing more, nothing less. Contacted over 14 dealers in the Gulf States Region (which is privatized by the way). Every single dealer said that configuration couldn't be had. I used on-line resources like cars.com, truecar, etc. to search dealers nationwide. After about a week, I found this EXACT build sitting on a dealer's lot just outside of Seattle, WA (not a privatized sales region). Called them and made the deal (far better than any local dealer was willing to make on a closely equipped truck)...flew to Seattle and took delivery of the truck I wanted.

Granted, I had the time to make the trip out and back. $$ saved on the deal, paid for roughly half my travel expenses out and back. Yes, I had to pay approx $400 out-of-pocket in travel expenses, but well worth it to get the vehicle I wanted. I drive mine for a long time. Last truck was a 2004 and it just went to my son. For my $$ and the length of time I own a vehicle, I will not settle for anything less than exactly what I require. YMMV.

 

What did you pay for that?

 

I have discovered this is no longer true. Or at least three dealers near me lied.

 

Don't know where you are, but I think I've seen one located near Portland. Toyota.com has one in stock but unfortunately doesn't show you VIN or which dealer has it. I've also looking for that specific model in So Cal with no luck. As for the locking tailgate, no dealers will have them installed so you'll have to install this yourself or have dealer install it. Good luck.

 

I had to special order mine because the Southeast region didn't off the combo I wanted.

 

I was not able to find the LED headlights in the TRD Offroad with a MT. I decided I'd rather have the MT than the LEDs.

 

Again you cannot special order, your dealer allocated a truck with those specs to them.

 

Very hard to get anywhere except the Pacific Northwest. I finally got mine after a dealer allocation trade and the regional Toyota Rep got involved. It’s not as easy as finding one online unless you live in the Pacific Northwest. Ordered mine 9-5-19 got it 1-13-20. Long wait but got what I wanted LEDs & Tech without a moonroof is tough to get but possible. That’s was my experience.

 

I may not totally understand the system, and for sure don't know the specific language Toyota uses to describe it, but when I bought my 2016, yes, I did special order my truck. My understanding is that the first step in trying to get a truck with a specific set of options is to do exactly as you have said. The dealer can go in and try to get a truck with those options reallocated to them. But if that is not possible, they can add a special allocation request, and I believe Toyota does a run of those when they have finished the allocated production runs for a given model year. My dealer tried for several months to get a reallocation order accepted by Toyota and could not. Finally, they got it through and it was built, but from the time we first started trying to get it ordered to the time I took delivery was almost 6 months.

In my case, it was trying to get a TRDOR DCLB through a Gulf States Toyota dealer. GST at that time did not request any DCLB trucks from Toyota for allocation from the 2016 model year. Their dealers in most cases were not even aware that Toyota was making DCLB Tacomas. So it was impossible for the dealers to get a DCLB truck reallocated to them without going outside of GST, which they can't do. So all they could do is try to get GST to agree to request the special order from Toyota, and apparently it is a very big deal for a GST dealer to get done. I think when the salesman caught wind that I was starting to consider flying to Denver (outside of GST territory) to buy a truck, he was able to convince GST that they were going to lose my sale if they couldn't get me the truck I wanted.

 

Same here, never had one and never wanted one
Love it and use it all the time
Old dogs can learn new tricks

 

Are you sure cant special order? Things may have changed but Carson Toyota ordered mine in 2003. I told her the EXTACT packages/accessories I wanted saw her select it in computer, negotiated OTD price ($500 refundable deposit), and boom couple months later truck arrived with my name on reserved sign in window. Don't settle get what you want best feeling ever! Her name is Dianne Whitmire and saw shes at South Coast Toyota now. Maybe certain dealership will or will not order it.

 

Yes, you can...I've done it before in 2014 with my wife's Toyota Venza. It's called a "special allocation request" in which the dealer has to send the vehicle specifics to the regional distributor and get approval to order a vehicle configuration not normally carried in that particular region. This "special order" vs "special allocation request" may just be a case of semantics.

Gulf State Toyota (GST) dealers all fall under a privately owned distributorship. That distributor dictates vehicle configurations and "port installed" options on every single Toyota vehicle sold within the region. The same is true for the Southeast Region. Other regions may fall into this as well.

I did not want to have to go through all that again (as we did with the wife's vehicle in 2014) so I simply shopped outside of my region and found the truck configuration I wanted in the Seattle area. Pacific Northwest is considered "Nat'l" region...it is not privatized and does not require "port installed" options. Was the only region (at the time) where I could find the configuration I was looking for.

 

Like you said its all based on region and its a process / requires approval. More often than not the dealer just allocates it from another that has the same config. But when people keep talking here about building a truck and ordering that way like you would a Ford or GM its not the same and more than likely wasn't a special allocation request, but the dealer just reallocating what the customer wants to them.

 

Ahh, okay, sorry that clarifies it, when you meant special order I was assuming you were like most here that think they "ordered something specific" like a Ford or GM to be built a certain way, when the process is usually unless like you mentioned special allocation request, simply reallocated with those specs.

 

Makes sense. The dealers in my area (SoCal) said I cannot order it, but can find the vehicle that's either in transit or in other dealer lots nearby.

 

Yep, they can even look at whats about to be built and reallocate it.

 

Found it. Hope it's close to you. https://www.greshamtoyota.com/auto/new-2020-toyota-tacoma-trd-offroad-gresham-or/41364954/