Back log on orders

Yes, depending upon where you live, and how specific your needs are, it could take you months more until that exact car is allocated to you. This is especially true if the dealer does not sense that you will try other dealers to see who may have that car in stock, or who could potentially swap it for the car in another dealership, etc.

If I were you, I would suggest that you either open your options as to color, etc, or be prepared to wait a while. Or, you could simply be a little more proactive about it, and call every dealer within a few hour drive of you, and ask them who would be able to get this car for you. Tell them all that you are calling others, and expect some competitiveness on your pricing, and you my be surprised to see that one dealer may have that exact car on their lot, and may be willing to offer it you at a 'deal' price.

 

Inventories are back up. That is BS (August? Ya gotta be kiddin' me!). That dealer is yanking your chain. Tell them to stuff it and buy elsewhere. Just call around, there should be a dealer with what you want. Sandy Beach is boring...get Barcelona red. Forget Solar for MI, you don't need it. We like the nav but many people don't. Leather is a must...at least for us.

 

I drove past a dealership in Knoxville, TN last week that had at least 20 on the lot that I could see from the interstate

 

It depends on what you want and if you are willing to drive several hundreds of miles to get your car or not.

I waited 6 months to the day for mine to arrive at the dealership. Now having said that I ordered a IV with solar roof and would not take another color combo and did not want my dealer to trade for a car from another dealer. I wanted my car delivered with to me with 2 to 6, miles on the odometer. I had to wait but eventually got what i wanted.

Ordered June 2, and delivered to dealer on Dec 2, and to me on Dec 3.

 

We originally "ordered" ours in Aug. We wanted a red V with the Advanced Tech Pkg (2nd choice was Sandy Beach). By Nov we were getting antsy and our salesman was not very good about pushing the dealership. In November, we went to another dealership (also local), and they told us that they could get us exactly what we wanted in 1 to 2 weeks (it was on the boat along with 2 Sandy Beach's). Instead of jumping on it, I gave the first dealership a chance to get us the car. They failed and we committed to the 2nd dealership. By the time we did, the red was gone and we bought a Sandy Beach V w/ATP (which was our 2nd choice). We took delivery Dec 5 and are very happy with the dealership we purchased the car from. We were also able to get $1100 off of MSRP and they threw in the floor mats at no charge. The dealership also got the red one off of the boat but had sold it to someone else before we committed. My understanding from the dealership management was that their allocation was much higher due to their high sales (top 20 in the country). This allowed them to have priority allocation over other dealerships. I should note however that all of the dealerships around here charge doc fees in the $550-600 range, so our total deal was not really all that great.

 

I have a Sandy Beach Metallic (great color), IV with bisque leather interior, navigation system and solar roof, and only waited two weeks in September. I live in Florida

My sisiter in law in MI has a Sandy Beach Metallic III and only waited four weeks in August for the car

Ask for your deposit back and go to a different dealer

 

Had a silver 2009 silver genII prius pkg5
Only had 20K miles.but wanted 2010 so I bought it!!Wow what a difference A year makes ,The dealer had 42 of the 2010'S...I had to wait for my 2009 for 2 months !!!
bought a 2010 pkg 5 wow this thing is nice. Heated seats, leather, Better gas mileage, Just a nicer car all around!!
What I like is your not pumpin gas all the time!!I fill up every couple of weeks."

 

I have seen some posts where customers have waited for 3-4 months...and finally it comes in.

Depends on the allocations at your dealership along with other variables. I would just keep hounding the dealer and tell them if they can't you'll have to start looking elsewhere.

But this is not abnormal, esp: since you have the very popular color and option model.

I would have them check to see if it has shipped and you can also track it once you have the vessel name.

They should be able to tell if produced, and waiting to ship or already shipped and arrival date to the US.

Good Luck

 

Did your dealer explain how the ordering process works for a Toyota?

Every 2 weeks each dealer gets notification of how many of each model will be in their next shipment. They are also told what colors and option packages they are scheduled to get. At that point they can put in a preference for a given color/option combo, either to have one of the ones already allocated switched to or for that color/option combo to be included in the next allocation two weeks later. They don't always get what they request but the chances are much better if they put in the request.

Your dealer should be able to give you a report every two weeks on whether your requested car is included in the next shipment.

If they are not doing this, then either they are not bothering to put in that preference for you or they are not bothering to keep you informed. If they are not putting in a preference, they are expecting you to wait until you sandy beach IV randomly comes in.

You should ask them clearly "did you put in a preference for my car." If they didn't and can't show you that they did, go to another dealer!

I also wanted a very specific car, a red IV, bisque without nav but with port installed remote start. In addition I needed the car at a very specific time. My dealer put in a preference, e-mailed me documentation every step of they way and got me the exact car I wanted when I wanted it.

 

All the dealers I've checked here in Sacramento have 20-30 on the lot. I was just checking one of them online and there are several IVs that are selling well below MSRP, even 2 Sandy Beach IV bisque leather interior w/ Nav & Solar Roof that are selling at $27,988 as advertised (even have the price tag hanging on the rear view mirror in bright neon orange), msrp $31,400, below invoice!! Definitely gonna check it out!!

 

Nam32b,

Unfortunately, I think that unless you can find another dealer who has your exact car (or can find a different one to your liking) before the end of business Thursday, you will lose out on your federal tax credit (I think it ends Dec 31st, but I'm not sure).

Dec 31st is also a good day to get a good deal, because they want to try to make their end-of-the-month AND end-of-the-year quotas. A friend of mine went Prius shopping a couple of years ago on New Year's eve & got all kinds of free extras & a big discount to boot just to make that last sale of the day, month, & year. A recent news piece just said that you can get your best deals of the year on Christmas eve, New Year's eve, & right before Thanksgiving.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)