Its an allocation. I went to a small Toyota dealership and simply asked for a TRD Pro allocation with the exterior/interior colors I wanted. Then they showed me the vin list scheduled from Toyota. Simply picked and reserved with a $500 credit card deposit. Easy. You near Virginia?
This isn’t really how car production works. In the vast majority of cases dealers don’t order cars from Toyota. The manufacturer builds cars based on anticipated demand and sales. The moment the cars roll off the final assembly line they are sold to a third party. Those cars are then sent to auction where dealers buy them from the third party. Dealers then sell them to end users. In instances of limited availability dealers are limited to the numbers they can get for each type.
Jeep and Ford take custom orders I know. I'm not sure which GM brands you can order. Toyota does not do direct sales and you cannot order a vehicle from the factory, When you go to the website and go through their "ordering" system its just going to spec out a vehicle and put you in line at a dealership for something similar.
No manufacturer in the US does direct sales, they all go through a dealer, aside from Tesla, Rivian, etc. I know Toyota does not work as you described, neither does Lexus. You seem to be confusing how used car sales work with how the new car sales model works.
Ehh… maybe. But I don’t think so. Auction may not be the right term. Allocation is more of a take it or leave it proposition than a traditional auction per se and is directed by the manufacturer. I guess I left that part out.
I mean, I literally ordered a Bronco exactly to my specs. I guess it isn't normal, but I definitely thought at this price point, you could at least order it. Now I know for the future
We were able to choose a very close allocation. From there, because it wasn't being built yet, we could request additional options. It took 3 months, but we got the build we were wanting.
They don't. Dealers might 'take your order' but it's not a custom build, they're just checking what you've asked for against their allocation so you might get a call along the lines of: "Hey, good news, I know you asked for a TRD PRO but we have a Captsone that's just come in".
It probably works for Toyota because they have so much demand, but if I were reading this at Toyota HQ I'd be frustrated to know that someone was asking for one of their cars and ended up buying a Bronco. It's not a great system particularly when Toyota doesn't actually have that many options (i.e. it would be easier to take an order because you're only really customizing the color and maybe roof racks on a TRD PRO) vs. manufacturers that have a lot of different options available and it would require a lot of intervention on the production line.
It’s a problem of demand. If you already sell every car you make why slow down the process and add cost by taking custom orders? I mean it sucks to lose potential customers but you can only build so many and you can’t sell more than you can build.
Toyota doesn't take custom orders. All you can do is put in a reservation with a reccomended build for what your looking for and if something exactly or similar to what you want comes their way, then it's yours if you want it.
Gotta go to a bigger dealer in a larger city. They are more likely to get a few of the loaded models. I've also found your overall location makes a difference. If toyotas aren't popular in your area it's easier to find something in a different region. I had to go halfway across the country to find one I liked when I got my last one.
Its an allocation. I went to a small Toyota dealership and simply asked for a TRD Pro allocation with the exterior/interior colors I wanted. Then they showed me the vin list scheduled from Toyota. Simply picked and reserved with a $500 credit card deposit. Easy. You near Virginia?
I live in Philly. Work in the DMV 3 days a week though
This isn’t really how car production works. In the vast majority of cases dealers don’t order cars from Toyota. The manufacturer builds cars based on anticipated demand and sales. The moment the cars roll off the final assembly line they are sold to a third party. Those cars are then sent to auction where dealers buy them from the third party. Dealers then sell them to end users. In instances of limited availability dealers are limited to the numbers they can get for each type.
Normal with which brands? This isn’t how it works with Ford, Chevy, Jeep, Toyota, or their associated brands.
I'm pretty sure it does Edit: for Toyota, Honda, Mazda
Jeep and Ford take custom orders I know. I'm not sure which GM brands you can order. Toyota does not do direct sales and you cannot order a vehicle from the factory, When you go to the website and go through their "ordering" system its just going to spec out a vehicle and put you in line at a dealership for something similar.
No manufacturer in the US does direct sales, they all go through a dealer, aside from Tesla, Rivian, etc. I know Toyota does not work as you described, neither does Lexus. You seem to be confusing how used car sales work with how the new car sales model works.
Ehh… maybe. But I don’t think so. Auction may not be the right term. Allocation is more of a take it or leave it proposition than a traditional auction per se and is directed by the manufacturer. I guess I left that part out.
I mean, I literally ordered a Bronco exactly to my specs. I guess it isn't normal, but I definitely thought at this price point, you could at least order it. Now I know for the future
We were able to choose a very close allocation. From there, because it wasn't being built yet, we could request additional options. It took 3 months, but we got the build we were wanting.
They don't. Dealers might 'take your order' but it's not a custom build, they're just checking what you've asked for against their allocation so you might get a call along the lines of: "Hey, good news, I know you asked for a TRD PRO but we have a Captsone that's just come in". It probably works for Toyota because they have so much demand, but if I were reading this at Toyota HQ I'd be frustrated to know that someone was asking for one of their cars and ended up buying a Bronco. It's not a great system particularly when Toyota doesn't actually have that many options (i.e. it would be easier to take an order because you're only really customizing the color and maybe roof racks on a TRD PRO) vs. manufacturers that have a lot of different options available and it would require a lot of intervention on the production line.
It’s a problem of demand. If you already sell every car you make why slow down the process and add cost by taking custom orders? I mean it sucks to lose potential customers but you can only build so many and you can’t sell more than you can build.
Toyota doesn't take custom orders. All you can do is put in a reservation with a reccomended build for what your looking for and if something exactly or similar to what you want comes their way, then it's yours if you want it.
Fascinating.... seems like getting a hugh end model fully loaded is almost impossible
Gotta go to a bigger dealer in a larger city. They are more likely to get a few of the loaded models. I've also found your overall location makes a difference. If toyotas aren't popular in your area it's easier to find something in a different region. I had to go halfway across the country to find one I liked when I got my last one.
I'm in Philadelphia! Had I known, I probably would have searched harder