Toyota not doing custom builds? Dealer BS?

Get an SR5 (if they still make those) and build it up

 

What were you getting originally, and what was the change made mid-production? I’m curious to hear the story.

 

Our 4 new Toyotas since '99 model year were all having to find what suits you and what was allocated to different regions was in some cases quite different. For my rare manual heavy duty 4Runner they were all stocked in western states. It looked much the same for the long bed TRD OR I got last month. The dealer claimed their getting it was some sort of allocation trade before it was built. No one within Toyota's 500 mile search had long bed, premium, inverter and mudguards combo but plenty were in the Rockies and west.

 

^ this is true. Out west we have lots of off roads, SDM, longbeds etc and almost no SRs. I search in Texas or Georgia and find the inverse.

 

I had the color changed and asked for the spray-on bed to be deleted. The dealer had just received the allotment so it probably helped. The truck is scheduled to be built next week so if I asked today, most likely I'd be declined.

 

It’s possible that we’re talking about two different things. Or, you may not know which of these it is because the result to you is the same and the dealer has no reason to really explain it in detail if the outcome is what you want. Most of the time the dealer doesn’t know what they’re talking about anyway, or they make some of it up.

There’s a difference between a specific vehicle having certain characteristics changed from what was planned vice Toyota swapping which vehicle is allocated to which dealer. Dealers sometimes trade allocations if there’s a customer request outside of what they’re getting. That could easily account for your paint color change. I don’t know enough about the spray in liner to know how common it is in the various options, but entirely possible that your dealer simply got a hold of a different vehicle that was already planned to have the other options you wanted but would have this different color and no spray liner. Meaning it was a planned configuration. Or maybe the spray liner is handled by the port and not done at the factory, I don’t know.

My understanding is it’s incredibly uncommon for the characteristics of an individual vehicle to be changed once it’s in the queue, but that doesn’t mean yours wasn’t one of those that had some customization approved.

 

I had a reservation on a truck that was pre-production. I requested changes twice, both were declined. First was color change, second was add SDM. I cancelled the reservation when I found a new one, it was just further out. So if you're patient you can eventually find it, probably.

 

Not a lie...I waited almost 3 months for my match...and they were ready to give up and Boom...there it was...

 

You can for sure get a color change approved. We did it for my wife’s RAV4 from black to MGM. We even noticed an identically spaced one on their sister dealers website (in MGM) and I asked if they could trade and they said we will ask for a color change first. They said the color change was approved and they didn’t need to trade. Temp VIN stayed the same as it was and did not change. Sister dealership still got that original MGM allocation too.

 

I didn’t say that it wasn’t possible, just that it was rare for such requests to be approved.

 

The dealer called me when they got their allotment and had my OR premium in blue crush metallic and it was slotted to come with a bed mat, door protectors and gun metal tailgate insert. I asked if they could replace the door protectors and tailgate insert with mud guards and bed scene lighting. The dealer said they could ask. I never got confirmation on the accessories from the dealer. When my truck showed up on the inventory list it had no accessories on the window sticker, just a i-force max TRD Off Road premium package and that's the truck I picked up.

Looking back at it, the process sucked! I don't understand why Toyota won't work with a buyer to get the truck they want with the features the customer wants! But it also worked out in my favor. The accessory price from the bed mat from the factory is $200, I ordered a bed mat thru Toyota's on line parts for $144. I'm still looking for mud guards and I may just skip them, I really didn't need the bed scene lighting and didn't want the door guards or tailgate insert. In the long run I saved some money because Toyota doesn't care what the customer wants.

 

I’d be surprised if any of the accessories you’re talking about are factory options. Much more likely port or dealer options. Meaning, it wasn’t Toyota that was the problem but your dealer. Your dealer certainly could have installed all those options if they wanted to ensure you got everything you wanted.

 

I agree! My dealer isn't anything special, they are just the closest to where I live and got me the truck I wanted. Their loss! They could have taken me for more!

 

This right here. The dealer can’t do anything other than “request” a spec. They don’t even know what “spec” they got until they get the VIN assigned to their dealer. After that they are doing exactly what you said swapping, trading etc. Toyota doesn’t and hasn’t done any special orders or changes. It is not a Porsche or a BMW where you can make specific changes to a VIN you are assigned.

 

With Toyota you are pretty much stuck with deciding on the base you want and the upgrade package you want and then making compromises on all the rest (color, lower cost factory add-ons outside of the package you want, port-installed options (usually show as PIO codes on the sticker), and the worst, dealer added options. The fewer dealer and PIO options, the better, but if they really want to sell the vehicle (and you really want it), they will deal on those.

Spray-in bedliner is not a factory option. Either PIO or dealer.

If you get something in the build phase that is allocated to that dealer, it's likely you can get them to pass on PIO's and dealer-installed options. And you will show up and they will have tried to squeak in a dealer "paint protection" or something on you. And you will likely pay MSRP. I've always gotten a better deal just knowing the above game, making minor compromises, and finding a hungry salesman, or one that is more in to establishing relationships.