Dealer swap. The car's 150 plus miles away. Should I be concerned?

Line up a better deal with a different dealer and see if you can get them to compete with each other for your money... Of course we call them Toyota Stealerships for a reason, so probably won't be too fruitful.

It sounds odd to me that there's a $250 charge for someone else to put 150 miles on the vehicle when dealerships move cars by the truckload, not by hiring individual long-haul drivers for each car. I'd accuse them of being unprofessional and up to some kind of shenanigan with your vehicle and just buy the car from dealer where it's located and refuse their weird little employee road trip racket with your new car.

 

Our 2014 Prius was a dealer swap. It was driven 52 miles from a dealer in Chandler to our dealer in Peoria, both Phoenix suburbs. While our car arrived safely, the car they traded for didn’t. Most of the route was crosstown freeway, but it was hit at a traffic light during part of the trip. Had that happened to our car, I don’t know if I would have accepted it, certainly not without a decent discount. I looked it over to make sure there were no chips, etc.

 

Lol, Tell the stealership you're going to save them $250 and arrange to buy the car from the other dealer...

 

Honestly, you're over thinking it. I know a few people that do these "transfers" and really they aren't some punk kids, just some normal adults doing an hourly job. They might fart in it. That's the worse of it.

 

Dealer drivers are often retirees- I spot them when I'm in for service etc...

 

I would call the Toyota dealers 150 miles away and buy from them.

 

Somebody drove ours 80 miles for a dealer swap. Everything worked out fine.

You're still going to have to inspect the car and look it over very carefully during the handover. There may still be flaws, and it doesn't really matter how they got there. It's still up to you to notice them, enumerate them to the dealer and then work out the details for fixing them.

It's possible that there won't be any, and everything will be perfect.

Good luck!

 

Just tell them 150 is to much.
Oh look we've got this deal for you !
steelerships

edit: how many times did they tell you No Deal to your requests?

 

You can always use this google spreadsheet to find an available Prius Prime.

 

A previous car of mine was swapped from another dealer less then ten miles away, for free. My RAV4 Prime, a couple weeks ago, was swapped from a dealership 350 miles away, for a higher charge than you are being quoted. At first it was going to be driven here, but then the dealership decided to put in on a car carrier instead. Certainly a more expensive route and process than a direct non-stop delivery from the port.

But considering the still high demand and backlog here (none were allocated to this state for the first three years of this model), and that this unit was one of very few that checked all my boxes, I wasn't in position to be too fussy. Take it as offered, or keep waiting endlessly (I started inquiring and keeping contacts two years ago), or compromise on my wish list. As it was, the morning it swapped on to the local dealership's public website (after I had put down earnest money), other customers were calling and asking about it. Some apparently unhappy about a 'waiting line jumper', though this salesguy did go searching for swap candidates in other states where the original high demand had had several years to abate a bit.

 

Another option is to just travel the 150+ miles and pick up the Prius yourself. I recently picked up a 2024 Prius Prime SE from a dealership that was about 150 miles away from me.

I understand this might not be a valid option for you. That said, there are benefits. For example, this option addresses some of your concerns. Additionally, this option also provides a way for you to get used to the car on the drive home.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

 

Is it in the same state? If not, are there unavoidable fees if purchased in the other state and driven back?

E.g. mine was swapped out of Oregon, where one particular state fee (different than sales tax, which OR doesn't have) is not waived for out-of-state buyers. Though admittedly is less than what the local dealer charged as 'dealer swap fee', though does figure into the trade-off considerations. Older discussions have indicated that out-of-state buyers in California cannot avoid CA's state sales tax if the vehicle is driven out of the state on its own wheels. To avoid double sales taxation (i.e. both CA and WA sales tax, both very steep), I'd have to get the vehicle trucked across the border to Oregon or Nevada or Arizona before being set down on its own wheels to be driven the rest of the way home.

 

Hmmm.....
Right now it's a quarter till March.
Frankly, you're already paying top dollar for the G5 so it comes down you not putting the first 160 some odd miles on the car and the dealership not letting YOU going and getting the car.

Are you over-thinking this or being 'anal?'
Perhaps.
Even probably, but it sounds like the dealership is being slightly inflexible as well.
I've had two cars delivered in my checkered past with no issues.
10,000 miles and a few door dings from now it will be of no consequence.
YOUR dealership is going to have you sign a hunk of paper saying that YOU have looked the car over before you sign your life away.
MAKE sure you do this!
Maybe bring a friend or two to help.

The 'additional accessories' bit sounds like something approaching an up-sell - or perhaps they have somebody else that's interested in the car that you've already ordered and they're trying to ease you off the deal.

What's the price delta between the car you ordered (AT MSRP +) and the one that they're trying to unload?
How much would it cost you to walk away from the deal?

I'd have a frank conversation with them letting them know that you're unhappy with the arrangement and that you will remember it in the 'comments' section after you've taken delivery of whichever car you intend to own.

Good Luck!

 

Sounds sketchy to me. Almost like your dealer is trying to hide something from you, like excess dealership handling and delivery charges.

See if you can find out who the other dealer is (maybe going to Autotrader or some other website and seeing if your car is listed by the other dealer.)

Of course, your dealer may have you locked into a deal, or at least tell you they have. Something like that is illegal in a lot of states. Also, your dealer may have an arrangement where they purchase the car from the other dealer, locking you out of being able to deal with them.

If it were me, I'd want to be the one who drove that car the 150 miles home. They say new cars lose $1000 of their value when you drive them off the lot. I'd definitely not want to pay some unknown person money to do that for you. If anybody is going to drill the first fart into the driver's seat of my brand-new car, it had better damned well be me.

 

Only if they gun-deck their PDI....
My last car had 4 miles on it when I bought it.
I logged three of them during the test drive I bought it.
I presumed (correctly, as it turned out) that NO PDI was performed on the vehicle, and thus my pre-delivery inspection was a lot more thorough.

Contrary to popular belief, "new car smell" is NOT the most expensive substance in the world by weight, but it's probably in the top 10.

BTW....
A recent article theorized that the top 5 are:
1. Antimatter (by weight??? HOW?")
2. Californium 252
3. Painite
4. Diamond
5. Tritium

I can attest to #5 being pretty expensive!!!!

 

I received my '24 Prime a week and a half ago via a 300mi dealer swap with no issues. In fact, I was the one that found the car and alerted my local dealer as I've been on their wait list for a year. I would have driven to get it, but I don't have a trade and didn't want to deal with whatever the paperwork was to bring the car in state. The process at the local dealer was no different than if it was on their own lot and I finally got my car!