Ordering Tundra. Is dealer BSing me?

[dbarnett66]

What kind of trailer are you are you getting? Just curious as I will be in the market in the next couple of years and have no clue what I need for a family of four.

[Cliffy1]

Originally Posted by RWD442

Here is what my dealer told me:

1. You cannot order a custom truck from Toyota. Period.
2. Dealers get a vehicle allocation. In other words, Toyota sends the dealer a load of vehicles to sell.
3. When a dealer sees what has been allocated to them, they have a small window in which some of the options can be changed. Color is not one of them.
4. Dealers can swap with other dealers. However, some dealers hide what they have coming to them.

So if a dealer says he has custom ordered a vehicle for you, he could be partially BS'ing.

1. Partially wrong. You can not order a truck with options that are not listed as being available for your model. You can however, order any configuration that is in the "spec book", even if that has never been built.

2. Correct, but only part of the story. As soon as the allocation comes out, we can make changes.

3. Totally incorrect. In fact, color is the easiest thing to change. I have never had a color change request denied as long as it was placed before the cut-off time. We generally have 2 weeks between allocation and the cut-off for change requests. We can change color, equipment and even the model. For instance, if we are allocated an SR5 but want a "grade" model, its easy to do. The only time this isn't easy is when a customer wants a standard cab or a long bed. Those are only built in Texas so we have to make sure the allocated truck is coming from that plant.

Build change requests are not always accepted. Often, I'll do them in stages. I'll change the model first, then the equipment and finally, the color. It takes a few days, but I find they are more likely to be accepted this way.

Build orders are never rejected. They just take a LOT longer.

As mentioned in #1, we can't make any equipment changes that are outside the "spec book" which is an internal book we have on file. Most of what is in the spec book is also in the brochure.

4. Wrong. About a month ago, Toyota made all vehicles visible to all dealers. We can't hide them any more. Just because we can see them at other dealers doesn't mean we can get them though.

[mxsjw]

Cliffy1,

Thanks for the great explanation and one quick question...
Is this how it was back in Feb 2007?
Or is this something they have been working out over the course of the year?

[HOGWILD]

Great Clarification and not many dealers are going to tell you all this i do not think, they like you in a confused state of mind so do not blame the DEALERS!!

[Cliffy1]

Originally Posted by mxsjw

Cliffy1,

Thanks for the great explanation and one quick question...
Is this how it was back in Feb 2007?
Or is this something they have been working out over the course of the year?

No, it wasn't. It wasn't until January of this year (I think that was the date) that they started allowing us to change models on the dealer system.

Also, at the beginning and end of any model year, our acceptance rate on these things plunges to zero.

[mxsjw]

Originally Posted by Cliffy1

No, it wasn't. It wasn't until January of this year (I think that was the date) that they started allowing us to change models on the dealer system.

Also, at the beginning and end of any model year, our acceptance rate on these things plunges to zero.

Ah, then I will update my head with the newest information, I was going by what I knew from the beginning of last year.

Thanks again.

[Cliffy1]

Originally Posted by mxsjw

Ah, then I will update my head with the newest information, I was going by what I knew from the beginning of last year.

Thanks again.

Your answers were not that far off anyway and were absolutely correct for the time when you bought. It wasn't until March of last year that they opened up the vehicle change system for us. We still have preference banks and that's still the easy way to do things.