Thread

Nutshell version: I didn't have to wait for my tC

Long Version:
So, back in late October I decided that I no longer wanted the 95 white on white cabrio I was driving (don't ask, long story).

As a result I started looking around at a new car. I've owned two SUVs before this, a 97 4Runner and a 03 4Runner and I was pretty sure I didn't want another one. So long as I could find something that could fit all my scuba gear into the back and have enough room in the back for a Golden Retriever to fit in from time to time I'd be good.

I also have a 67 bug that I do all the work on including building the engine for it so I was starting to think about sedans. That thought didn't last long, I wanted something else that was fun.

So, I looked at Mini Cooper S(es), RX8's, a turbo-charged rental car (Neon SRT-4), Mazda 3, VW GTI, and WRX. All these cars were good and would have made a fine ride but:

- Cooper S: Kinda pricey and would barely hold 2 scuba tanks and my rubbermaid bin that holds the other gear.

- RX8: Pricey and fit and finish didn't seem up to snuff. DOubtful it could hold my gear.

- Neon SRT-4: Good bang for the buck, but I didn't care for the interior. A friend of mine has one and it's too loud and too jerky for day to day driving.

- Mazda 3: 5-door, good bang for the buck, built in nav system, but I didn't like the sales folks and the car seemed to be missing a zoom from the zoom zoom.

- GTI: Nice car, nice price but, my wife has a Jetta and it gives her a lot of headaches, didn't want to risk it.

- WRX: Decent price but, see a lot of them on the road, everyone wants to race you and the looks don't do it for me.

So by this time I was beginning to scratch my head and figure out where to comprimise. I really wanted another Toyota as they've never given me a lick of trouble and the fit and finish was excellent.

Just for kicks I went to the Scion website to see if I could handle the xA and I saw the tC. Immediately I clicked on the tC and built my own:
Manual
Silver Streak Mica
Rear Spolier Lip
TRD Exhaust
Fog Lights
Cargo Net
Cargo Liner (for the scuba gear)
Floor Mats
Bazooka Subwoofer
EMX Super 7 Spoke 18" Alloys.

I could not believe the price, so nice and low. This is the car I must have. So, I went to the Toyota Dealership I always go to to see if my friend I bowl with who is also the leasing manager is around (I'm going to finance it, not lease it, but he can set up financing too). Unfortunately he's out of town the receptionist tells me.

So, I go to one of the random sales guys standing outsideand tell him I've got my downpayment, and the title to my trade in, and I'm ready to buy. Told him what i want and he said they have no tC's on the lot. Since I've done a lot of business there and wanted to keep my business there I asked if he'd be willing to call the other dealerships and set up a dealer trade. He declined and was clearly uninterested in helping me. Nor, did he tell me about the wait time on the car.

So, I went home and started calling the other dealerships in the area. The next one I called the sales guy said he didn'tknow if he had any on the lot but that he'd check inventory and call me back in 5 to 15 minutes, I told him I'm ready to buy today to make sure he knew I was serious. An hour went by with no call back.

So, onto the next dealership which on their webpage said they had a silver tC in stock. I called and got the direct sales manager (nice guy) and he said he thinks it's still on the lot. I told him I'm coming down and will be there in 20 minutes with the trade in, the title, and a fat check. Still no idea there's a waiting period for these cars.

I get there and he's waiting at the door for me. He apologizes profusely to me and that the car left the lot last night and the inventory page had not been updated, drat. But, in front of the showroom they had a Black sand perl tC with the 18" rims and 3 people standing around it. Black was not my first choice since I used to detail cars and well, you have to keep up with it to keep it looking nice. But, one look at the car and I was hooked.

I turned to the sales guy and said I want to test drive it NOW so I have dibs over the other guys standing around it (I didn't even lick the door handle). We drive it, I love it, pull into the dealership and the three guys now have a sales guy with them. I turned to my sales guy and said, I want this car, here's how much I'm putting down in cash, and we'll talk about trade in amount and whatever financing is left over. He stuck the SOLD sign on the mirror and in we went.

We went through what additions I wanted to the car, told him the lip spoiler, bazooka sub, fog lights, cargo net, and the cargo liner. Everything else I wanted I just bought straight through the parts dept including the exhaust. (so easy to install)

So, he started to discuss financing vs leasing, told him I'm going to finance whatever is left over from my down payment plus what they give me for the trade. So he has the used car manager look over my trade in and gave me KBB trade-in value and then some for it which was just gravy, So my sales guy plugs in numbers assuming I'm putting 2k down plus trade and financing for 60 months. Told him uh, try again with these numbers, my down payment + trade in for 36 months.

He was kinda shocked at what I was putting down on it but, I wanted the car paid off sooner rather than later. He ran the numbers and the payments came out to less than my monthly utility bill. Perfect.

Figured I was going to have to haggle over the APR for the financing but, since I was putting down so much and my credit score is 700+ AND I've financed 2 other vehicles through TFS I got the lowest rate they were offering.

Went through finance and got the lojack, pre-paid maintance, and the extended warranty since I plan on keeping this car for awhile. And drove off with my new toy with only 25 miles on it.

I come back to the dealer 3 days later to get the accessories installed and only THEN do I find out about the waiting period. I happened to be outside with a few of the sales guys having a smoke while I was waiting for the car and they asked me what I bought. Told them a black tC. Their eyes got kinda big and one of them said "So, YOU'RE the guy." Perplexed, I responded with "huh?"

They explained to me it's a 6 to 8 week waiting period for the car and the one I got into was ordered by a guy who had to move back to China and the car became available for sale about 5 minutes before I walked on the lot.

Whew, talk about right place at the right time. Please don't hate me.

:D

Kurenai

wow, I'm awestruck...I want one but I dont know what dealr will put one on hold for a year. But yeah, had I been in the same place as you I dunno if I would have gotten it, I'm not to good with manual(though I've gotten the gas, clutch, shift) thing down).

PunkInDrublic

A rental car company had an SRT4?

The Mazda 3 is almost as fast, as the tC... at least the 160hp motor. Also it's handling is a bit better, or so I've read.

Thread

No, but I've had the dissatisfaction of having drove many Neons as rental cars in my travels.

I didn't get that feeling driving it, it just felt like it was missing something. It was probably due to gearing. The tC is geared way close and almost beggs for a 6th gear for the freeway but, I'm getting about 31MPG on the highway so it's all good.

tC_Sciontist

awesome, lucky man and congrats

Obey

your story sounds like how i got my tc..i went to a dealership one day just to look, and the guy says we just got in a flint mica tc with side airbags(everything i wanted)..he said that the guy who ordered it didnt want to wait any longer and canceled the order a day before it came in. So the guy brought the car from around back and showed it to my dad and i...we test drove it, then bought it lucky me, sucks for the guy who canceled it, the day before it came in

BuckeyeCase

I guess I'm not the only one that drove off the same day I went in to look. Much better than waiting 3 months, huh?

cuad

congrats dude, that rules. i've been waiting almost 2 weeks and it's killing me. 2 more weeks to go...if i'm lucky...

Makaveli

it can be even lower if you bought your accessories online but it doesnt look like it would be a problem for u

DL_tC

congrats! i waited four months. car is at the dealership now. just need to pick it up when i get back from school for winter break.

yeah, you could have saved money by buying the accessories outside of the dealership. mcgeorgeparts.com sparkstoyota.com

DL_tC

and i think that the cargo net and the bazooka subs conflict.

sublime

I had originally ordered a silver streak and was planning on only waiting about 1-2 weeks, but I had told the guy that flint mica was my first choice. He said that flint mica would be damn near impossible to get in, but the silver streak should be no problem. So a couple days go by and I'm back in Phoenix from school one saturday morning and the guy calls me and says, "Hey Richard, you wanted another color aside from the silver streak right?" I go, "Yeah but the flint mica was just a dream." He says,"Well I just had a customer back out of a sale of a flint mica and I have to check but I how would you like to come pick it up today?" I said, "Hell yeah!" And a few hours later I was cruisin in a flint mica tC hot off the truck. I'm gonna go drive it now.

DJ_Rejected

Pretty cool.

scionbrice

Sounds like my experience, I went to a dealer who had a flint mica Tc. I liked it, so I went to get the title for my trade(but I live 30 min. away) So, someone bought it before I could, my sales rep then worked all weekend(I initially came in on Friday) And, I had a SSM Tc by Tuesday! And, I wanted that color all along! It was great.

BRice

tChick

Same thing happened to me, except I wasn't even looking for a Scion- in fact, I wasn't even trying to look for anything right away. I was looking into getting a white Celica (glad I didn't) and had a free night where I could just hop into the dealer to look for one. This was the first dealer that I ever walked into to look for a car. I didn't see anything I liked and even if there was, I wasn't planning on buying one for weeks to follow from that day. Just as I was about to walk out, a BSP tC caught my eye. I recalled seeing them online and was curious to test drive it at 10 minutes before closing time. Came back, and I made up my mind. I'm glad there wasn't a Celica on the floor or else i'd never be on here...

The reason why it was up for grabs was because the dude who bought it gave false info about himself when he ordered it. The day it arrived (the day I had decided to test drive it), he came in and the dealer realized the info wasn't his. Turned out that he couldn't afford it at all. I'd like to thank him for waiting for my car for me =).

Another fortunate Scion story to add to the rest....;) My Scion had a string of people wanting to test drive it. I was told that there were people scheduled to come in and test drive my car. I would hate to for that to happen to me...get all excited about test driving an available Scion, but to hear that it's sold a minute later....

tokyo81

yea, when i bought my tC i didn't know if there was a waiting period for them. Anyways if any of you guys are looking for a tC. Toyota of Dartmouth in massachusetts have three of them. I think two of them are five speed and one auto.

Bakaduin

When I first decided I wanted a Scion I went to my local dealership on the East Coast of Florida. To my surprise they had 3 tCs sitting on the floor waiting to be sold. One was Black Cherry, which I liked, but it was Automatic so that was out. The other two were both Flint Mica Manual but they were both lame special edition ones! So I left without a tC but hopefully we'll get an indigo ink pearl soon! I'm in no rush luckily!

George

I don't see this transaction as all that unusual. In fact, "Thread" is the salesman's dream. He was anxious to take the car they have in stock even though it wasn't the color he wanted. He had good credit, and was willing to take all those "packs" at the F&I desk and to buy some $$$ dealer tack-ons to boot!

His salesman got some major marks on the break-room scoreboard for that one!

jeffrgunn23

No its not that unusual, but I see it that way because he is happy about his experiance as a lot of Scion customers are. He was very lucky he got the car that day! The way I looked at his post is that he he saw value in everything he bought, and I he felt that he got a good deal. Why are you bringing up that his salesman got some major marks? Just let the guy enjoy his car.

This is where the Scion sales process he;ped the guy too. If he was looking for say a Prius (which is an order only car) and saw one on the lot it would have been marked up at least $2000 over the MSRP.

Makaveli

is that you in the picture?