Tacoma: Ontario Toyota GPS/Bass Pro Gift Certificate Promo, anyone get it?

[Tiggyboot]

I'm curious if anybody in Ontario has received this yet. If you bought a Tacoma or Tundra during the time frame of early November 04 to Jan 05 you would receive either a Garmin GPS or a gift certificate to spend $500 at Bass Pro Shops. I've been after my dealer constantly to get it, but still haven't recieved it yet. Dealers are playing dumb on this one. I bet they just keep them for themselves. B$stards. They best give it to me or I'll be on them like sh$t to a blanket.

mk

[Avro125]

I didn't get one. The salesman said that there was dealer participation in the promo, and my discount was significantly more that the value of the GPS/gift cert.

I felt I was getting a really good deal, and didn't complain.

[Tiggyboot]

The deal you got has nothing to do with the promotion. If you bought your truck during the time the promotion was on, you should get the GPS or the Bass Pro Gift card, no questions asked. I can't beleive that you wouldn't want it or fight for it.

MK

[Avro125]

Originally Posted by Tiggyboot

The deal you got has nothing to do with the promotion.

Well, it does and it doesn't. Here's the way I understand it (as with most promos of this nature): the cost of whatever is being offered is split between the dealer and the manufacturer. In this case, it’s a GPS that's worth about $500, or a gift cert for the same amount. The dealer would cough up $250, and Toyota Canada would cover the other half.

This was the way it worked back when there were "Free A/C" promos. The dealer would cover about half of the $1300 to install the air conditioning. Of course, what this really meant is that the customer would end up paying about $650 more for the car.

Originally Posted by Tiggyboot

If you bought your truck during the time the promotion was on, you should get the GPS or the Bass Pro Gift card, no questions asked. I can't beleive that you wouldn't want it or fight for it.

Okay, I'll give you that one. I probably should have got the GPS or the card.

As for fighting for it, maybe I should have, but here's that way I look at it:

I think I got a good deal (doesn't everybody? ). I compared prices from various dealerships, and the place where I bought my truck gave me the best deal, by far.

We all know that nothing like this is really "free". The customer ends up paying in some way, shape or form.

Consider the following:

Let's assume that the cost of the truck, taxes in, and without the GPS or card, was $40,000.00 CDN. If I really wanted the promo, I could have kicked up a fuss, but the price would no doubt have to go up, probably by about ½ of the value of the promo (the "dealer participation" part). So, now we're up to $40,250. However, there's tax on that "price" of the vehicle, so it's really $40,287.50.

If the vehicle is being financed, there's an extra $287.50 that is added to the principal of the loan. Now assume 5 years of 5.4% interest (Toyota's rate) on the extra dough. The extra interest is $86.50.

So, the cost of my "free" promo is up to $374.

Since I already have a better GPS than the one they're offering, I'd select the gift card. There's only one Bass Pro Shops in the country, and it's about 400 km away from me. It costs me 12¢/km in gas (highway mileage). 800 km of driving = $96 worth of gas.

After all is said and done, I'd end up paying $472 in order to get and spend a $500 gift card.

Couple the above with the fact that I felt that I got a no-bull$hit price, and I dealt with a no-bull$hit salesman (that was a relief in itself), and, the only reason I was buying the truck was that my van had been written-off in an accident. After a month of dealing with that mess, I was just happy to be back on the road, and I guess I couldn't be bothered raising a stink over a gift certificate to a store in Toronto.

I was (and still am) a happy customer.

[Bramsey]

They offered it to me on the first visit. When I made an offer below MSRP they offered to drop by $250 (dealers portion) if I passed on it. I came back a week later and we got into serious conversations and when I made what I thought was a fair offer on the truck the salesperson came back and asked if the offer included the $500 gift cert or gps and I said if they gave me the truck for what I offered they could keep the GPS or Gift Cert. I wasn't planning on going to Bass Pro and the GPS would have just been a toy I didn't need. No complaints about how it went.

[Tiggyboot]

I already have a Garmin handheld GPS. I got it free with my new snowmobile. It is the most amazing thing you've ever seen. I use it all the time now. It does things you wouldn't beleive are possible. As for the Bass Pro shop Gift card, I am getting it soon. I can't wait to go on a shopping spree!

mk