Ordering a truck. Credit check required before order?

i can’t find a Barcelona red truck anywhere near me so I’m considering ordering one. The dealer said I have to do a credit check and deposit before I order. The deposit I get. Never heard of doing a credit check before hand?

 

Well they need to make sure you’re good for payments on a $35-40k truck

 

Are you financing through Toyota?
If not just get a pre-qualify letter from your bank.

 

credit check = standard procedure when buying most anything on credit...

 

I had to put down a $500 deposit and they ran a credit check before the dealership would agree to search for a truck in other dealer’s inventory to trade for and bring in for me.

It didn’t bother me, because if they went through the trouble to bring one in and I didn’t end up buying it then they would have been out the cost to do so. Since I did purchase it, the deposit was credited towards the purchase and a credit check will be done anyway.

 

I paid cash and they still ran a credit check.

 

If you were selling/financing an ~$35k item that depreciates from day one, wouldn't you want to know the capability (at least historically) of your buyer?

 

Understandable, salesmen make money when they move units. Wasting time on buyers that can't complete the purchase wastes time and loses money. Using a credit check to sort out those that can't buy isn't an unreasonable action. But it's also true that dealers need to have vehicles on the lot to sell and shouldn't be afraid of ordering vehicles to put on the lot, If they say they are, it's a thinly disguised sales tactic and says a great deal about their honesty and how you can expect to be treated in the event you have issues.

When I ordered my 2016 Access cab OR in December 2015, I never set foot in the dealership until the truck was delivered. (I did test drive a Tacoma at the closest dealer who refused to order an OR, he said they only ordered Sports, the truck I drove was the only Tacoma on the lot) A few emails back and forth with the larger, better, service oriented dealer was easy and laidback.

I selected the package/options I wanted, the salesman wasn't all concerned about a down payment and didn't say a word about a credit check. He said he would order it configured exactly as I wanted, when it is delivered come drive it, if you don't like it I will put it on the lot.

At first I was kind of surprised by that, but after a while I came to the realization that he was simply being straight with me and didn't feel he needed to trick or pressure people into a sale...that might be why they are the largest dealer in the state.

Where you buy is more important than what you buy.

 

I ordered mine and it took six weeks to get here. No credit check. No down payment

 

Only a down payment because let's be honest, it is pretty much guaranteed that someone will be able to actually pay for it off the lot anyways.

 

They need to do a credit check to know what finance rate of the note. A person with good credit rating is going to get a good rate. They figure if credit is good they can give you the best rate. If they don't give you a good rate, you have the ability to go somewhere else.

People with poor credit are easy targets for unscrupulous salesmen.

 

huh? Not with me they wouldn't.

 

If you gave your name, I bet a credit score was ran.

 

Nice. Where are you located?

 

Ever let them copy your DL before they let you take a test drive?

Your score got run.

 

You want to buy a truck and have the dealer special order you one they don’t have in their inventory but don’t want to have any responsibility if you decide to change your mind?

Most people won’t waste their time on you when it comes to auto, real estate etc sales if they don’t know that you’re good for it.

Also people who usually have good credit don’t mind having their credit checked. The effect is very minimal and your score will go back to where it was soon.

 

Likely a soft inquiry - which are run routinely and have no adverse effects. Hard inquiries should only be run if you are applying for credit, as they affect your credit score. A hard inquiry should NEVER be run without your consent.

 

Were they a smaller dealership? The lower volume dealers usually do not get as many allocation slots as the big ones so they want to make sure when they use a slot its for something they know will be sold.

I can't speak specifically to Toyota regarding how their allocations work. I did internet sales for a Lincoln dealer for a year and had to actually turn down people wanting to order certain configurations for a Navigator because our dealership hadn't met certain numbers with other models. It worked like a graduated system. Sell X amount of "volume units" and you get an extra allocation for a "premium vehicle". We ran all the incentives on the "volume units" purely to move them and get access to order more of the more desirable models that we could sell at a larger margin based off demand.

Kind of a tangent, but that's likely part of why they asked you to do this.

 

The dealership I bought from is one of the largest volume dealers. Easiest purchasing process ever. No pressure, no deposit. Had an allocation for the exact truck I wanted while the other dealers didn't. Makes sense now that you've explained it.

 

each person will have a different situation. I've bought enough from the same dealer that all I need to say is find what I want and put it into allocation. no deposit or credit check needed.