Dealership Issues - Any advise?

Dealer trades are an interesting business. I got my education in how dealer trades can happen if you are part of any of the Toyota controled sales regions.

When a vehicle is in manufactur or transit, unless it has been earmarked for a specific customer it is allocated to a dealer. Allocated stock can be scooped up by other dealers if they have a need or some kind of confirmed sale. This usually requires assistance from the regional sales management, but an in transit vehicle is pretty much fair game.

Once the vehicle hits port, if it is still not earmarked it will be offloaded from the transport and placed in the lot awaiting the most convenient transfer to the dealer receiving that unit. While in port an allocated but unearmarked unit can be reallocated to a dealer who indicates that they need that vehicle for sale. Once a car leaves port for its allocated dealer it can get much harder to get that car to a different dealer. A couple of years ago lots of dealers were selling off their allocation. Many did not particpate in dealer trades, others would only let go of a vehicle allocated to them if the regional sales management twisted their arm.

In the situation that the OP indicated, it sure seems like the allocated dealer that has the car they want isn't dealing. The vehicle is probably already on the lot and spoken for by another buyer and as such that dealer is not interested in doing a trade. So, they just ignore the phone calls and try to sell the vehicle as fast as they can so they can call up the requesting dealer and say that the car is sold.

The car sales business is still dog-eat-dog and many dealers don't play nice with each other, let alone with their customers.