A dealer in Northern California told me recently that Toyota has begun weeding out duplicate Prius orders, sending letters to folks who've placed orders at more than one dealership and asking them to choose just one. The dealer implied that this should shrink the overall wait for the car, for those of us who are still waiting. He also said that Toyota reps have told him that the company is committed to getting a car to everybody now on a list within the next few months Has anybody else heard this? Any comments from the dealers out there? Thanks
They do something similar at Canadian dealerships. When I purchased mine, they put my name on some sort of provincial database. The salesman indicated that Toyota tracks orders by the database and looks for duplicates so they know what the real demand for cars in each area is. When they find duplicates, they still only order one car for the person, regardless of how many dealerships they've visited. I'd assume they just contact the person who ordered the car and ask them which dealership they want to deal with. Seemed to work for me - Ordered my car in the first week of December and got it the second week in January. Dave.
It won't shorten the average wait as there will still be the same total number of people waiting, but it could benefit some people if a lot pull orders from their dealership. It will help Toyota accurately estimate the demand and help dealers know how many people are really on their list and not duplicates that will get there car elsewhere.
Dave G. "Ordered my car in the first week of December and got it in the second week in January" Jeez, Dave, yer killin' me.
Abe, that is untrue. The letter itself implies to the client that Toyota knows they are on more than 1 dealer's list. That's all it does. Since we as dealers cannot order a car and what we have presold means jackschitt to Toyota, as they do not care how long my list is or how many are on it or what anyone on it wants, I say get on a lot of lists if you want a car asap... and while I personally have told MANY people that they ought to add other dealers to their list too, there are still folks who sit tight on mine, wanting to buy their car thru me regardless of when it comes, so it's all about you and what kind of wait you are willing to have.
