I have been looking for a Flint Mica or IIP tc for a month now in San Jose and have alraedy put down deposit at Piercy Toyota. I was sitting around on Sunday and decided to call some dealers to see if they had any others i.e Black Sand Pearl in stocks, it being my third choice of color. Palo Alto Scion tells me they have a silver, azure pearl and a black cherry in stock and Tracy Scion tells me they have a IIP that just got off the truck! IIP the salesman said. I told him to hold the car for me and I will be there in an hour with my checkbook because it takes me an hour to get there, its 55 miles from San Jose, CA. I drive there. all excited dreaming abt my new IIP, and when I get there, I find out the new tc they got is Azure! Now I am pi***d. He said on the phone that they also have a BSP, but it says SOLD on the dashboard. Now I am beyond pis**d. He was the shadiest sales guy (so far) and told me the wrong color thinking I will buy whatever they have in stock as I drove all those miles. The manager over there was a very nice person though. I take off and go to Palo Alto Scion. They have 3 tcs in stock but each has tons of options installed. The dealer says, "Thats how they sell around here so we pre order them with options." Bunch of horsesh*t. Then I tell him that I would like to put down a deposit for a new one without any options. He says its $1000 deposit that is non refundable. I said what if I find another one at another dealership and I don't want to buy it from you, he says you can't get the deposit back unless there is an emergency. I already have a refundable deposit at Piercy Toyota and Putnam Scion told me the same thing that the deposit was refundable. The guy kept asking me for my SSN and wanted me to feel out a credit application, even before ordering the car!

I always thought scions were no hassle cars. These dealers just spoil the name for the company. I wish there was a way to report these things to Scion and have them cut down on the number of cars they give to those dealers. So my advice is to stay away from Palo Alto Toyota. They were constantly pushing it on me, and once I took a stand, they were hesitant to work with me. I ended up walking out with the sales guy staring at my back in shock.

I had to let it all out and there is no better place than this forum! sorry abt it but I hope it might help some of us.

And yes, I heard from Putnam that they had a Silver Streak in stock, this was on Sunday.

 

Sorry to hear about that horrible experience. Not sure how far you are willing to travel for a car but I am a salesman in Tacoma, WA and we have a FM 5spd w/ side-airbags that should be herein about 2 weeks. IM me if you are interested.

 

have u tried stevens creek toyota/scion or fremont toyota/scion? i got mine from stevens creek, no hassle, no bs, but they did have a $500 deposit thats non refundable, but i got my car on time with the stuff i wanted/ordered. i heard fremont toyota was a good dealer also.

 

screw the dealerships that have non-refundable deposits. And $1000 deposit is bs. Most places I have come across ask for a $500 "refundable deposit". And dont let any dealer tell you they will definitely have a tC in 2 weeks. Thats another bs line just to get you to leave a deposit. 2 weeks really means a month or more.

 

Scion of Stuart in Florida, $300 refundable deposit. If any dealer wants a nonrefundable deposit go somewhere else. Some dealers think their the only ones on Earth.

 

hell i only had to put down $100 refundable deposit and they waived it for my wife after the credit check! greedy dealers are going to ruin the whole concept.

 

yes go to stevens creek, no hassle there, really good guys, but their busy alot, you might not get your car quick, for the least crowded i would go to Fremont.

 

try SF Toyota/Scion. They have the largest allotment of TC's in the bay area...they were great with me. Ask for Mike La, very helpful salesman. They seemed to have 5 or 6 on site at all times. Good Luck

 

A dealer should never demand a non refundable deposit. Ever. In fact, if you leave a check they shouldn't even cash it. It should be put into a file folder with your name on it and locked in a cabinet.

It's rediculous that they tried to get you to do a credit app. With Toyota, that's something pretty common because you can always try to do a switch. With Scion, is it completely non-compliant with the covenant. The salesman should ask you if you would like to proceed.

You can report these things to Scion if you wish. Go to Scion.com and do the live chat or call the 800 number.

My advice is to just say screw them and go somewhere else.

The best dealer I know in Norcal is Shannon at Santa Cruz (not sure how close that is to you). She posts on here as kikimaja...zip her a PM.

 

From what I have read, you CAN report them to Scion, and I think they will either limit their inventory or pull their permit to sell Scion

Has anyone done this?

 

I'm sorry to hear that you had that happen. Driving all that way to find out he had the color wrong would be enough to ____ anyone off. With that being said, I want to put my two cents in about something else.

I'm not a dealer, so I can't say for sure, but I'd be willing to bet the reason your getting the run-around when it comes to ordering a car is because there are a LOT of people doing exactly what you're doing. If you go to 4 different dealerships and ask each one of them to order a car in for you with a refundable deposit, that means that 3 of them are going to get stuck with a car. Even if they don't all come in at the same time and you cancel your order before they receive the car, I'm sure it still causes them problems. I bet if a dealership honestly feels that you're going to wait on them to get you a car, there will be no hassle. But if they feel your're playing the odds and ordering multiple cars, they're going to make it hard on you.

 

Reno Scion ordered my car, installed the cruise control, helped get an aftermarket alarm/remote start installed and never mentioned a deposit. In fact, I never paid them a dime until all the above was complete. Call Joshua Fullen at 775-85SCION for a good buying experiance. He drives a TC.

 

my $100 deposit was put towards my down payment. and since they let me charge up to $5000 on my credit card, when i picked up the car, i charged the remaining $4900 on the same card.

 

ummm....just curious, but why would you want to max out a credit card instead of regular finance?

 

Rits399,

PM me the color, transmission, and a contact number and I'll see what I can do for you. I can't guarantee anything, but I do know som peeps.

I was just in San Jo at Michael's Muffler at Bascom and Stevens Creek hanging out w/ Ken (NCP31) and doing some very minor mods to my xB.

 

because i paid it off immediately and we got sony points for free junk if we accrue enough and 5000 points helps a lot. thanks for the concern

 

Ah yes...the old credit card bonus points. I wanted to make my mortgage payment every month on my LL Bean Visa Card for the same reason....but they wouldn't let me.

 

Ouch, Sorry to hear about your crappy experience with Palo Alto Toyota.

I had a moderate experience with them when I went to buy my tc from them in Oct. But, I went in armed to the teeth with information on pricing, how the tc's are allocated, why it takes X number of days to move from one place to another, and a realistic guessestimate as to how long it would take to get it in.

I just kind of gradually and gently prodded them with what I knew to see if they would try lying to me.

I also went in and told them I was going to pay it all myself and took some extra precautions so they couldn't run a "secret" credit check on me.

While they didn't exactly lie to me about my car, they also weren't exactly enthusiastic about selling it to me either.

Ed

 

That's really odd about Palo Alto Toyota. They hosted an event for us in Feb 2004.

 

At the Scion dealership I went through (Titus-Will, Tacoma) My "deposit" was a handshake after the credit check, and our agreement was I'd give them money when they gave me a VIN.

All dealers/sales critters work differently. Some are really OK and some are, well, not...

Over the years I've given lots of sales types fair opportunity (and fair warning) while buying. It is amazing how many I've had to just walk out on. (Some of them have followed me out to my current vehicle with the price on the new one seemingly dropping with every step.)

Hope you find exactly the car you want, soon!

Take care,
Tom