Quality Control Freight Hold

I didn’t know (despite my best efforts to find ANY kind of status) that it was in QC until my sales rep provided the timetable that they have on their end.

 

My 23 le has been on the same hold since March 15th. No additional info at all and the dealer said he knows no further details.

It does seem this is common w other toyota models also. I was reading and a guy had his tacoma on quality hold for a few months extra.

 

Is your car/port held New York or Jacksonville FL?

 

any information on when it started?

 

Between Mar 10- Mar 15... I am holding on to a $30K cheque from a bank and I even made my first payment...lol...

 

Oh that sucks! Interestingly I know the vessel with my Prius also landed on April 10th at Newark. I wonder how long until mine gets released since yours has been stuck hope it releases soon!

btw did the window sticker generate for your car?

 

2/3 - Vehicle Allocated, Paid a deposit the same day. BTW, mine is a LE Cutting Edge.
3/6 - Vessel Arrived
3/8 - Status changed to "In Transit", Sticker generated.
3/10 - 3/15 - Vehicle disappeared from Toyota Inventory, checked with the dealer to find it was placed on QC Hold

Few mins ago the bank had called the dealership requesting the title

If yours is still showing up in the Toyota inventory you should be good.

 

Maybe QC is dealership speak for “somone offered us more”…

 

RIP. Mine hasn’t shown up in the inventory at all since allocation.

 

I would suggest you inspect the car carefully when it's delivered since they might be repairing collision damage. I believe they do not have to inform you if the car was damaged and repaired at the port if the damage is under a certain dollar amount.

 

In my experience (and it has been over 12 years now, so…) pre-printed sales agreements up here (BC, Canada) come with clause saying the new car can have had repairs costing up to 20% of the cars retail value, and the dealership doesn’t have to disclose it. The thing to remember though:

This is not a law; it’s just a contract proposal, cooked up but the auto sales organization, heavily weighted in their favour. And until you sign it as-is, it carries no weight. You’re within your rights to cross out and amend any of the wording, and ask them to sign off on the revision. And they’re free to refuse, or go along with revision. It’s basically two parties trying to come to consensus; make a business agreement.

So anyway, look through the paper they push across the table to you, ignore the verbiage about it being “just a formality”, read through it, and if you encounter such a 20% clause, consider editing it to say something like $500 max.

 

This is nothing new, and it is the same for any Toyota. It takes about one month for the vehicles to be processed at the logistics services at the port, where they have their OEM accessories installed and window stickers prepared. They will show as "vehicle in build phase" during this time. Then it takes another two weeks for transit, which will show as "vehicle may be in transit." They don't ship the cars to the dealers as soon as they arrive at the port. It is a logistically very involved process.

"Quality-control hold" is probably the term used in the dealer's app for the OEM-accessory installation process at the port, which is the standard operating procedure that takes about a month. If the OEM accessories are backordered, it could lengthen this "quality-control hold" process.

Toyota Logistics Services fact sheet—Toyota USA newsroom
Port of Benicia named Toyota's third West Coast port of entry

 

A few weeks back there was a discussion of the RO-RO transports that Toyota uses. Shortly after that there was discussion of the new Prius, which is just an inch or two wider, longer, etc . From Wiki: With an aerodynamic flair, the 2023 Prius and Prius Prime feature a roofline 2 inches lower compared to the prior generation for a more athletic look. The vehicles are 1 inch longer and nearly 1 inch wider in the rear, adding to the aesthetic appeal.

This makes me wonder if some of the new cars were strapped down using the old schematics and then things got too close when they shifted.

There was the discussion two years back about why the shipping containers (intermodal) required some heavy duty supports and ropes for heavy machine shop machinery. A person who shipped a lot of machinery from China to South Africa pointed out that on the open seas a shipping container may be subjected to immense side loading when the ship lists to angles exceeding 45 degrees.

As for the QC... Are the ship inspections ( as in Condition Assessment Programme (CAP) from Lloyd's Register ) by Loyds Register and others performed before the ship is unloaded? Might that be the QC hold that the salesman shared?

 

Nah, you know that Ro–Ros don't use containers, right?

Here is how a Ro–Ro works:

I really like Ro–Ros. I grew up watching them from our terrace, and I used to go to the port to see them up close when I was a kid. They are beautiful ships, looking different than any other type of ship.

Again, I am pretty sure that "quality-control hold" on the dealer app refers to the installation of the OEM accessories at the port—sometimes being delayed by backordered OEM accessories due to supply-chain issues.

 

Only one way to confirm the hypothesis about QC, there is some cars held on this thread. what were the port installed accessories for those? Maybe there is a pattern.

 

I have never seen a Gen 5 Prius/Prius Prime on the inventory showing as "vehicle may be in transit" only two days after the Ro–Ro arrived. Almost all of them showed as "vehicle in build phase" for about a month after the Ro–Ro arrived, and then it changed to "vehicle may be in transit." Typical ETA to the dealer after the Ro–Ro arrival at the port is six weeks. Yours may arrive at the dealer this week.

Not every allocated car shows in the inventory. For example, none of the Longo Toyota vehicles, which are the largest Toyota allocation in the US by far, ever show in the inventory. I think the dealer has the option to block their allocations from showing in the inventory, especially if they are preorders, such as in Longo Toyota's case.

 

Mine has the all-weather floor and cargo mats and body side molding (which I asked the dealership to immediately remove upon receipt). That’s it.

I personally think if it were just waiting on port accessories it would just be sitting in the “Processing” status that follows arrival at port, not QC, but I also don’t know anything about Toyota’s process. But damn, if it’s just waiting on side moldings, I’d be so irritated considering I don’t even want them installed.

 

Thanks. Let’s see what others say. Did you know that when the car is in the vessel you can ask dealership to request Toyota to take off the port installed accessories? Mine told me and I took off everything but the floor liner in mine.

 

I’ve heard it’s hit and miss whether the dealer can stop options from being installed at the port. When they called me on 3/1 (it was on the ship at this time) to notify me of the allocation, I asked if side molding was listed in the options and told them I would like it removed, if possible. I guess we shall see what happens.

 

I don't think the side moulding can be removed once it is attached because it is permanently glued with heat-activated glue. However, you can try requesting that it is never installed as @thnok suggested.