Question about Prius Orders

I think that's how it works. When I order mine, I was told there's an 05 package 3 coming in next week and if I want it. If not, wait longer for the right one to come in.

 

I ordered an '05 Prius last January for December delivery, then changed it to an '06 for January delivery once I'd learned about the federal tax credit for hybrids. I'm pushing my dealer to deliver my car a.s.a.p. next month. I'm quite flexible about color but the vehicle's gotta have Package #4.

If I remember correctly my salesperson said his dealership's January allotment will be 19 Prii. (This is a big Toyota/Scion dealership.) I'm "in line" for a Oceanside Blue/gray interior car to hold my place. This car won't be built until perhaps the second week of January. The dealer has a few more '06 Prii on order with Package #4: if one of those folks decides to opt out I have the right of first refusal.

Bottom line? The Prius continues to be in very high demand, and getting EXACTLY what you want with regard to color and optional equipment is a crap shoot.

 

It is a crap shoot. They cannot pre-order specific ones like other manufacturers. They can get what they get and hope they have a customer for it- though actually I think they all get it from the Regional pot..

 

Bingo.

 

They are probably going by a statistical analysis of what they have taken delivery on in the past. I placed my order in early october only requirement was pkg 7 (no white, no black) I had several colors that I would like more but was otherwise open. Still told that I will be waiting until jan-march and contact recently indicates later rather than sooner. I suppose your dealer may just be guessing as well but in sales it is better to under promis over deliver so hopefully you will get your car in that timeframe.

 

Somebody else just had this question in a different thread and I posted but real quick:

My salesperson told me that the dealership puts in a request based on their waiting list twice a month. Toyota repsonds about 5 business days later with a list of cars including the color, options and VIN numbers and they take whatever Toyota gives them. It doesn't always match the original request but many times it does. So there is no actual ordering, it is just an allotment but Toyota does know who is waiting for what when they fill the allotment.

My salesperson was reducing his list by about 5 cars each allotment so he knew that the 15th person on the list would take about 3 allotments or 6 weeks (roughly). Not an exact science, just estimates. The person at the top of the list didn't always get a car at each allotment. He told me 45 to 60 days when I put down my deposit and it was a few days under 60 when I drove the car home.

My dealer would only let me pick one color, just like yours. They don't want their waiting list to be bloated with 15 cars that are actually just 4 people who have different color choices.

If I was you I would try to get onto another dealers list, maybe a smaller dealer who doesn't have much of a waiting list. They might not get what they want each allotment but they might get one of the color/options you want.

Jeff

 

Yes, and yes. From the consistent feedback we get, more people are pleasantly surprised by an early delivery than unpleasantly by a late. Many people change minds at last minute, change minds but don't tell dealer, are on several lists and end up buying where they didn't expect, walk into a dealer the very minute someone else just "dropped" their order, all sorts of things. Be prepared (mainly with financing, if that's what you're going to do).

And don't be surprised if they call offering some oddball combination someone else didn't want. That's routine for many dealers.

 

He does not want you to go elsewhere, so he tells you what you want to hear.

 

While most here have posted that you can't order a Prius to specification, I had
a similar experience to you where my dealer said I could do so, with a $500 deposit,
that it would take about 8 weeks (this was in November) before a VIN would be
assigned, and then another 2-3 weeks to get the car. I got the call today giving me
a VIN number. I ordered a Barcelona Red Package #8 with Gray Leather Interior.
I do not know if there is any way to independently verify that the car with the VIN
I was given matches what I ordered, but so far the dealer has followed through.
Perhaps only certain dealers can or will use their allocation for ordering a Prius to
a client's specifications?

 

The way it works is that the dealers have an alotment. They get a list of cars coming into port about 20 days ahead of time. They can then draw upon that list using up their alotment. First one to reserve a car gets it. So if you order a specific color and package the dealer can reserve that car if it is on the group coming into port and if he beats other dealers at that specific car. Typically, as I have been told, those that are not nabbed by a specific dealer are the ones that get the junk added at port and are then distributed or held for "2" to "3" day delivery as you see on the web site.

I have been told that there are certain numbers of each package shipped at a time. For example the first shipment into Jacksonville port in late december had a high number of black cars, mostly package 3.

This is from a dealer friend...and you know how dealers lie!....but it sounds good to me!

 

This is a really frustrating exercise. I remember something similar in 1970 trying to but a Datsun station wagon. The saleman was so snotty that I walked out and down the street to the Ford dealership. After several hours of haggling I drove a big V8 wagon off the lot; it was a good family car for 10 years and gas prices were low.

At Toyota of Seattle I have been talking to the person who gets and distributes the allocations. They got only 8 in the last allocation, none that fitted our requirements. He said that he would be sure to get us what we wanted delivered in January. I asked him how he would do that he said "Don't worry, I'll get it for you." I called him yesterday, he hasn't returned my call yet.

 

Dealerships can also do dealer trades, at the dealership I work for we trade one of our vehicles or our future allotment for a vehicle on another dealer's lot or out of their allotment in order to satisfy our customers

 

Current status of my order does suggest the "order to specification" is not possible directly with Toyota, and that it really means the dealer is going to do whatever they can to get you the car you want, nothing more. Our "order" came in this weekend, with the wrong color interior. The dealer offered to correct this "mistake" by deliverying the next vehicle on the list that matched our requirements, expected to arrive in about 10 days. In the end, if I get the vehicle I want within the promised timeframe, I don't care. But I would have preferred if the dealer was open about the process. I am not sure what would motivate them to do otherwise?

 

I work at a Dealer and We have been able to match orders pretty well. We odered mine on 11/24 and it came in on 12/22. (our first alottment). But one of our customers we are having trouble getting a pkg 8 for. Then we had 2 show up the other day unsold and avail for sale(pkg 1&3) on the showroom. Go figure