Was told dealer can't do factory order for 2022 TRD Pro

Part-time rocket surgeon here.

 

I had a 2017 OR, sold it and moved onto something else. This time around went with Pro, hopefully. "Ordered" in October, not actually sure it will ever arrive. Having followed the truck markets locally for last 20 ish years and knowing there is a low chance I will keep it longer than 3-4 years, I'm pretty confident the Pro won't actually cost much more, if any, to own compared to the OR once it's all said and done. Both would only depreciate a few grand in that time period.

 

how do you figure it won’t cost much more? I paid $36,400 for my OR out the door. I know the PRO runs at least $8-$10k more than that

$10k is a nice chunk of change to turn into something more. Money is a tool

 

Biggest cost to any new vehicle purchase is depreciation. I know I won't keep it past 3-4 years. So my thought is that either OR or Pro will only depreciate around $5k or so looking at history, constant price jumps on new ones, and extremely low Tacoma depreciation (even without Covid).

ex. Pro, buy for 50k, sell for 45k
OR, buy for 40k sell for 35k.

Each truck only "cost" $5k to own as everything else would be roughly the same. Each truck could depreciate more or less, but the Pro isn't going to depreciate that much more to make it depreciate $10k more somehow in that short of time frame. Maybe location determines this, but I'm very confident that won't happen where I live.

And yes I do agree with you about the $10k up front over that 4 years could be used as opportunity to turn it into $2-$3k potentially if one was good at making money work for them. So that's not accounted for in the example.

 

This sounds correct to me. You don't "order a TRD Pro" but you can contact different dealerships and get on their list for a Pro and usually twice a month the dealer gets an allocation list (for all the Toyotas they are getting) and if there's a Pro they then can call you and if you want it you can put a deposit down. That's if the dealership is nice enough to do that, that's why by the time you see one on a dealers website and call it's already sold.

I'd recommend calling around, find a dealer that does not put market adjustments on the Pros and get on their list (you may have to call 10 dealerships and be willing to drive over an hour away). In my area, within a 1.5 hour radius I only found 2 dealers that didn't do market adjustments and I asked to go on both of their waitlists and the first one to get one in the color I wanted I put down a $500 deposit and called the other to cancel my spot. When I put the deposit down, I had them give me the spec sheet, the total price breakdown and then it was signed by a manager.

Most of the time, if you see a Pro online, it's one of two things, it's either too late and someone already did the above and put down a deposit, or that dealership sucks and has a big market adjustment, hence why nobody wanted to reserve it.

 

Couldn’t have said it better

 

Kinda. We can request a certain truck to be made. More often than not, if the dealer is in good standing with Toyota, Toyota will build it. It will however take FOREVER. 6-8 months. If you’re in Ontario I can get you whatever you want ordered from Toyota.

 

This is interesting. Let me ask you something. Are you sure this isn’t just semantics? To me an “order” means the manufacturer builds the car just for you, just the way you want, altering their manufacturing process/cycle/order to do so. Requesting a build and getting it 6-8 months later sounds like waiting for that vehicle to pop up in the preconceived manufacturing plan, and it gets allocated to your dealership. Those are two distinct things.

Also, will Toyota build you a non-standard vehicle? For example an OR with a color that’s not on the OR spec sheet? Or say, build you an OR with a hood scoop, or a Sport with a locking diff, etc? If the answer is yes then that’s a custom order. If not, I think allocation is still the correct term. Another way to say it perhaps is, it sounds like what you’re talking about is advance allocation. Which would explain the long lead time.

Again, semantics, but I’m curious.

 

Sounds like in the U.S. this can not be done for some reason....

 

I have contacted a couple of dealerships already and to be honest, they have been less then helpful and I am being nice. No one has offered to put me on a list. They tell me they do not get many Pros and do not know when they are coming in, would you like to buy something else?

 

There are many dirt bag dealerships out there and many won’t reserve because they want it on the lot so they can charge a $5-10k mark up for having it available immediately. You really have to shop around and prepared to go up to 2 hours away.

I literally called 20 dealers. I had to have a list to cross off the names of ones that did mark ups. Within a 1.5 hr radius I only found 2 dealers that didn’t do mark ups and only one that would put me on a list.

If your area sucks worse than mine, you can try dealers that will ship. Go on FB and join as many TRD Pro groups and you’ll find dealers that advertise no mark up and delivery.

I’ll admit, it’s not easy work, but if you put the time in you’ll be rewarded!

 

That's what I told my brother... He was planning to get 4Runner Pro... I told him to get offroad instead. So after he finished with researching/dealing with the dealers, he got offroad instead of Pro. So far, he likes his 4Runner.

I went by his house and noticed that he got offroad.... I was like "I knew it!"

 

They have no problem selling what they make. The reason they do it is to streamline their manufacturing process. The best a dealer can do is to try to find one or an allocation for one that fits what you want.

 

Whether the vehicle has hit the lot yet or not has no impact on whether the dealership can charge a market adjustment.

 

When I bought my TRD Pro last year I had to drive 4.5 hours away north of Dallas to a dealership that had one. All the local Austin dealers were playing ugly games with either market adjustments or grossly bloating the costs of the Houston Port installed accessories. I test drove two different ones locally, but as soon as it was time to start negotiating the trade of my old 2016 TRD-OR for the Pro it became insulting. So my best advice is to cast a broad net and be willing to drive to a different region to buy what you're looking for.

I lucked out because the dealership I purchased mine from had accidentally ordered two without any port add-ons, which was exactly what I was looking for. The sales guy was under pressure from his boss to sell it to fix his mistake, so I got a pretty amazing deal considering. Granted this was Jan 2021 right before the world fell off the cliff with the processor shortages, etc... I found it using Capital One's Automotive tools which showed actual inventory on partnering dealership lots.

A year in to owning it and I'm very happy with my purchase. It feels much more refined than my first year 2016 did and has a factory PRO upgrades. The only negative I can say is that the gas mileage is worse than my 2016 had, but its probably because this truck is heavier with the mods I've done and my commutes are pretty short.

 

Obviously a dealer can charge a mark up either way if they want. What I am talking to is that in my area dealers that charge $10k mark ups won't let you reserve a Pro, so generally they aren't "presold" and sit on their lots longer.

Dealers that do allow you to put a deposit down ahead of time often don't ever have any on the lot and by the time they post it on their website, it's too late because someone's already reserved it.

 

Can't you go into the dealership and buy one?
Last year, 2021 I went to two different Toyota dealerships on the same day and each dealership had a TRD Pro sitting on their lot for sale.

 

True. Because.......

Tip. Unless they have exactly what you want, already on the lot or in the allocation stream, avoid Gulf States and SE Toyota regions like the plague.

Because they play massive games at the port that the dealer cannot control.

 

I had refundable deposits out in 4 regions before I found my Lime taco. It's an automatic, I still have 4 deposits out on a manual. If and when I find the manual I'll be selling the auto for what I have in her.