How Long?

7-10 days to get the car on a ship
12 days for ship to get to port of Benicia, CA
2-3 days to get to port of Long Beach, CA
4-7 days to process at the port

Your are looking at around a month to get your car.

My car was built 23 Feb. I hope to pick it up 26 Mar.
Mine has to be trucked from the port to the dealer
in Tucson which takes a day.

 

Mine was built on Feb 8, shipped on Feb 12, at the dealer on Mar 1, waited on leather installation and picked it up Mar 6. A month from build date is a good rule of thumb.

 

Mine was built on February 12th, shipped same day, arrived at Benicia on the 25th, available at the dealer on March 1, but couldn't pick it up until March 6th (wife was out of town).

 

My car was on the ship March 10. So how long to get to my dealer in:
Luv Toyota
215 East Fairmount Ave.
Lakewood, 14750

 

Here's a stat for those in Northern CA...
Date built: 2/6
In transit to port: 2/12

As of 3/14, still waiting for PIP to be delivered from San Francisco port to Toyota dealership. I should be receiving a call from salesperson any day, I thought I'd have it by now... :couch2:

:high5:Oh what a feeling!:high5:

 

20 days to Panama Canal
4 days to Jacksonville, FL
3 days to Newark
7-10 days to process at the port
and transport to dealer.
Total 34-37 days from Mar 10 is 13 - 16 April

 

My stats

Car was built 2/27
....
....
Car was shipped 3/9 (Dianne is right on! 10-11 days)
...
...
Got an email from Toyota today (3/14) that my PIP is on the ship :cheer2:

Est. port arrival dates - 3/27 (LA)

 

I also ordered clearwater base pip from Desert Toyota in Tucson. My build date was March 6th order #1307. I am guessing the car should be hear mid Aril. :rockon:

 

Mine was built 2/7, shipped 2/12, arrived at port 3/9 and I don't have it yet, 3/14,in the IE. When I called today, the dealer told me April or May. That brought about a trip to the dealer to show them the ship date I received from Toyota. Their comment was "How did you know that?" It made me think they were planning to direct the vehicle to someone else. Don't hold your breath, but keep on top of the dealer.

 

To Kstitt and Godzuki,
Something doesn't seem right. Do either of you know what ship your car was on? The Eminent Ace left Japan on 2/12, arrived in Benicia on 2/25 and Long Beach on 2/28. I don't remember seeing any other ships headed for those ports leaving on 2/12. The cars are supposed to belong to the individual who placed the order, but an unscrupulous dealer might be able to get away with redirecting a car in the short term. Maybe you can contact Erica of the Prius Team to find out what happened.
Good luck.

 

Erica is a busy lady, but she will help if there really is a problem.

First consider the whole system we are dealing with.

The factory is building cars for the whole world including many models that we never see or hear of. They are sourcing parts from both reliable and sometimes not so reliable places. The Tsutsumi factory which builds Prius cars is 42 road miles from the Tahara port which requires trucking all of the cars to the port. Ships carrying several thousand vehicles leave the Tahara port every few days going many different directions and all of this must be coordinated with vehicle assembly. The factory at Tahara builds mostly Lexus cars. Even the slightest glitch can cause noticeable time delays. Then the ships can encounter storms at sea. There are rare cases of damage to cars during shipping which require time to repair. Once in port there is customs, specific accessories to install, general modifications required for the receiving country and arrangements for local shipping. Keep in mind that the receiving ports are handling thousands of cars at a time and may get several shipments of cars in a week. Then the dealers must do clean up and prep when they get the cars.

The Prius and Toyota are just part of the many vehicles in the system. It is amazing that all of this is done as quickly as it is done.

I am one of those who is still waiting for my PiP. Believe me, I understand. Hopefully my ship (Century Highway No.2) will dock at Portland, OR in a few days.

 

Wouldn't it be easier that Toyota let you know your VIN (or last 4 digits) when they send out the "built" or "in transit" email. This way takes out the guess and give customer a sense of connection to the car immediately. VIN is a tangible number and order # is not.

 

Your dealer has the vin. I got that from my dealer for my PiP that will be built on March 27.

 

Allannde,
You raise a valid point about glitches in the system occuring. However, I was going by the dates both of the posters were given with regard to build and shipped dates. Their cars are WAY overdue if they indeed left the port on Feb 12. They have been given this info by Toyota, not the dealers, and while a little behind in disseminating info, Toyota has proven accurate in giving out those dates so far. My car was at the dealer two weeks ago, off what appears to be the same ship.

 

Call your dealer. Demand an update. You should have had your car by now, unless you asked for some unusual options to be added at the port.

 

Some funny goings on between the port and N. Calif. dealers!
Something's not right there.

 

Kstitt,
Did you get your car yet? And did the "arrived at port 3/9" come from the "My Order" sheet on the Plug-in website? Interestingly, my car arrived at the Long Beach port on Feb 28, but as of this posting, nothing shows that on the website. That line is blank.

 

After getting tired of waiting for Benicia to deliver my car, I called the dealer and threw a hissy fit, then called corporate and threw another hissy fit. Corporate contacted the customer service rep at the dealer, the dealer contacted the port, then miracle of miracles, my car showed up the next day.

If enough people complain to corporate customer service about the facilities in Benicia, maybe something will improve.

I saw online that the same facility is assembling the CODA electric vehicles. Maybe their resources are stretched too thin.

T-Mobile G2 ?

 

Guido,

Glad your phone calls paid off for you!
From what I've been seeing here there is definitely a problem with the Benicia port getting the Plug-Ins processed and on to the dealers.