How can they?

Just a guess, 'cause something similar happened to us...

Just because they have a waiting list doesn't mean the folks "ahead" of you want delivery "right now". It could be that noone on the list wanted that particular Prius, or the time may not have been right.

 

It depends on the color and options on the car. It may have been ordered by someone that after seeing the car decided not to take it or couldn't finance it. Maybe the color/option package didn't match anyone else waiting and after making some calls to waiting list people the salesman had not found anyone that was eager to take that package. You wanderd in off the street, were eager, and had money or were financeable. He took your money and ran, you took the car and drove. EVerybody is happy.

I got mine a similar way last June where there was a real shortage out here in the SF Bay area.

 

The truth of the matter is that the waiting list thing is a huge joke, especially now when demand just about meets supply, in terms of total numbers accross the nation. The issue which remains is managing where the vehicles go and in what quantities. I think a comonality is that rural dealers tend to have stock on the lot, which they do sell, but it takes them a little longer. On the other hand there are urban dealers which are still "stacked up" selling the units as they come unless a unit is rejected by a buyer on a list.

What still resides from day one that I'm most bothered about is the fact that the car shouldn't be pushed onto the lots in the U.S but they should be pulled by consumer demand. Instead of customers putting their names on a waiting list and hoping that their vehicle shows up, their vehicle order should be transmitted to manufacturing where it is made. No cars would sit on rural lots unsold, no undesired package 1s in brown would float around (of course those who want package 1 could get one and not wait forever for one to just magically show up), no fully loaded units would sit in poorsville waiting for a lucky buyer. There is no logical reason that JIT manufacturing can't also include the final customer.

But yes, the waiting lists still exist because the various regional Toyota management groups haven't really solved this issue. They have been letting it skate by, reducing customer satisfaction with the buying process, creating ever changing and unrealistic buying experiences for many and allowing individual dealers or dealer chains to do just about whatever they want with regard to selling this vehicle.

I've said it before, Toyota might make one of the best cars in the world, but their dealer network leaves a lot to be desired.