“Quality Confirmation Activity”

That's Toyota Stealership doublespeak for: 1) we sold your car to someone who needed a favor, or 2) we were wrong about our expected next shipment or 3) Nobody is buying ICE Toyotas on our lot and we don't have room for the next shipment until we sell some of them.

As in quality control checks happen on the assembly line, not after a vehicle has been shipped.

Fortunately, in your part of the country people determined to get their new Prius asap have found them at a different stealership not too far away and were able to transfer that purchase.

 

Do you have the VIN?

 

When I got mine, I got some last minute weird stories from the dealership about delays and my car was delayed a few weeks. While the car I received was the same as what was promised, I noticed after I got home that the VIN number was different. They definitely play games.

 

they probably have a random check program to help maintain qc. just a guess though

 

They probably know you are going to reject it because of the headrest

 

That was called a quality hold, IIRC. The guess was that it was to perform a minor recall on the car, but these holds can happen over the import paperwork. Then it can be as bisco says, a random QC check. To made sure nothing went wrong between leaving the factory and arriving, and make sure all the prep work at the port was done right.

 

That would be the very best scenario. What ... are they going to tell the customer, "that sucker has a ton of overspray so we had to rub it out & repaint it by hand" - or reveal some similar defect - like poorly stitched upholstery??
Just be glad that they caught it & are going to take care of it. Only make sure you give it an extra thorough going over when it finally gets here. Sometimes rework is not quite up to snuff. Sometimes that kind of stuff happens to the best of cars.
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One issue with Toyota US these days is, when a car is allocated to the dealer, ir is assigned a manufacturing ID that looks like a VIN and is placed in the VIN spot. Very shortly before the vehicle is manufactured, that is changed to the actual VIN.I saw that happen with my 2025 Camry XLE.In my case, the dealer Stock Number remained the same.

I found it interesting that although the car was assembled in early November, the salesman said Toyota had actually allocated all the parts in August! That is a long lead time!

 

I saw a delivery date estimate long before the car was assembled. I think I offered the deposit in early October with delivery estimate late November. The VIN got assigned early November, just before assembly.. The car was delivered around mid November.

 

This happened to several others on this forum as well. It looks like there are issues in your car that need to be fixed before it can be sold. I don’t remember if any such car failed the quality check and was sent back to the factory on the next Ro–Ro, but that’s probably a possibility.

 

Hopefully didn't sideswipe a bollard somewhere, getting a quicky paint job at some port. Just that happened to us once. The sales contracts up here typically come with a clause saying the "new" car can have have up to 20% of it's suggested retail price, before dealership has to disclose it. In our case apparently the dealership didn't know about the damage either: one full side of the car had been sanded down, filled, primed and repainted. That paint start coming off in a few months.

The sales "contract" presented to you is not a contract till signed by both parties (you and the dealership), and while they'll never explain this, you are free to cross out or amend clauses you find unacceptable. Say revise "20%" to "$500 USD max". Both you and the dealership need to sign-off on any such revisions. If they won't, and that is somewhat telling, you're free to walk away.

 

I’ve seen a video of how these cars are driven off the Ro–Ro, and how closely parked they are inside the Ro–Ro. I am surprised we don’t see damaged cars more frequently.

Perhaps it is time for @daisy555 to cross this car out on sign up for a 2025. LOL

 

That is true in the US too?