Special Orders vs. Reservations and Timeline to Build?

True special orders, as in an order that gets routed to a Toyota factory and then shipped to the actual orderer, are very rare in the US. When it is done, it apparently takes several months to receive the car, according to sales people that have posted here before.

What actually happens in most cases is that people put down a refundable deposit, stating their model and color preferences, and the dealer calls them when they get an allocation that happens to match or come close. There's no pressure on the dealer to actively seek out or trade around for the car you want, and no guarantee the dealer will actually follow a first come first served policy.

My standard advice is to e-mail as many dealers as possible with a quote and availability request. (edmonds.com and KBB.com will do this in one swoop). This will go to their internet sales managers, who generally can see the coming allocations for their region and have more discretion than the average salesperson. Someone serious about selling you a car will identify a car in the system or on its way, and try to trade with another dealer if the right allocation is not coming to that dealer soon.

Your goal should be to make them identify a specific car, preferably with a VIN and no port installed options (other than ones you want), and give you a definite time frame for delivery. Any deposit should be refundable, especially if the car is not delivered by a particular date. Houston is in the GST region. Most Japan built Toyotas coming to the GST region are shipped to San Francisco and then go by train to a processing center in Sealy, TX. If a car is sold prior to arriving at the processing center, with a request for no add ons, GST will not force them on the customer.

 

True orders do take up to 6 months. But it depends on what you mean by an order. Is it a car that is normally built for your area? If so, then you aren't getting a true order. What you are waiting on is the allocation to your dealer for your specific car. A true order is one that is not normally built for your area. Now, there is a further difference. i can always try and get one from another region that builds your order. An example would be a 2wd 4Runner. Those are not built for the Chicago region. I would have to try and get one from another region that does build them. That can take up to 3-4 months. If what you are asking for isn't built in any region, Toyota generally does not except those types of orders. An example would be V with a solar roof. Not going to happen. An example of a custom order that MIGHT be available is an FJ cruiser with nothing but 17" alloy wheels. I can put in for the order and it will probably be a 6 month wait.

 

Which dealership did you ordered from? I am waiting for Prius IV with SR and I am also in the Houston Area. So far only Fort Bend Toyota asked me for Deposit. Let me know!!

 

I just ordered a Prius last Friday and was informed by Toyota that it will take 3-5 months to get the car.

 

I wanted a Prius II in Blue. Local dealer didn't have one and told me I could put a deposit down and wait 5 months, or I could take a white or beige one when it came in. Told him thanks, but beige isn't blue. Called a dealer in a smaller town about 90 miles from here. They searched around and found one in Iowa. I'll have it next week.

 

When we ordered our 2010 Prius, the lease manager informed us that a special order will take a minimum of 3-4 months.

Should the dealership have an identical unit we want that is already on order (in production), the wait would be significantly less depending on what stage of the pipeline the specific unit is at that time.

Anything already in production can be delivered in 2.5 to 3 months.
Those in transit can obviously be delivered sooner.

Although we initially special ordered the car, we were extremely lucky because someone cancelled their order which was exactly spec'd how we wanted. Total wait was only 3 weeks!

 

Thanks for the information.

I ordered a Sandy Beach V without ATP two months ago. The dealer told me it's coming to NYC next week. But now I changed my mind after reading about the ATP. If I change my order, do you think I need to wait two more months to get one with ATP?

 

Good color choice! The pre-collision and radar cruise control are great, if you don't mind the price.

I'll defer to Jabber et al on your actual question, but your dealer would probably need to start looking through the other allocations in your region. Given the relatively short time frame, it doesn't sound like you had a so-called special order. Was your deposit refundable? I don't know how plentiful the ATP is in your region.

 

Yes, I noticed that you have the same color.

I am in DC area, I have not yet seen any V yet, let alone the ATP. I searched through Edmunds, but couldn't find one within 100-mile rage. So I believe that if I change my order, the dealer will have no trouble selling it when it arrives next week. But they may have to start over. They will let me know the time frame. I don't mind waiting because I plan to drive this car for a long time (15+ years?). I don't want to regret later.

I already paid $500 deposit two months ago. My dealer has it now. If I change my order, they just keep it for a little longer (and collect some interests ).