destruk

The Scion Website states "An authorized Scion dealer can build your Scion to your exact specifications or may even have one in stock right now." - The dealer here refused to order the car for us built to our exact specifications. First they said it would take two months, but they made it abundantly clear they would rather order a similar car from a dealer within 7 states away and pass on the transport cost of $1600 to me, the customer, and they did everything in their power to dissuade, refuse, argue, or otherwise distract us from actually ordering the car we wanted from the factory. Everything from "It is impossible to get a Scion TC in "Ultramarine Blue" even though the FR-S has that as a standard color and the paint is available, to trying to talk us into effectively purchasing two car stereos rather than swapping out the basic one for the premium model. Originally the car comes with an audio system, and the GPS model is $1099 separately - so they wanted us to take the car they were giving us and put the original stereo in my closet at home, and have them sell us the premium stereo to install in its place. In addition to all this, when the car they are giving us arrives, they will need to work on it in the shop to add the spoiler we want, accessories, stereo we want, foglights, daytime running lights, etc etc etc - basically turning their dealership into a Scion factory to massively upgrade the vehicle they get from another dealership hundreds of miles away.

The website says the price you see is the price you pay - fine - but that is misleading as when they add all the extra dealer fees, transport fees, extra charges, etc etc it brought our final out the door total from the website specified $22,000 to $30,000. With no haggle pureprice pricing, we basically were able to talk the manager into swapping out the radio for the difference in cost (to save $900), but then the transport fee of $1600 from another dealership killed any appreciable savings. I am sure the car will be fine - it's blue streak metallic instead of Ultramarine, but the FIVE (5) HOURS at the dealership just setting up the deal itself, going over the features and pricing and trying to work with them was a pain in the ___ and I won't plan on doing it again. I certainly hope the work is done to factory specifications - they should all be brand new OEM parts, and I am hoping the vehicle is as reliable as we need it to be.

For aftermarket parts, I can get them in Ultramarine for the Scion TC - so at least I can have contrast on some pieces I want without getting a full aftermarket repaint - the paint shops explained it as 'if we repaint the car with non-standard colors after you accept delivery from the factory, everyone will assume it was in an accident and your car will instantly lose $5K in resale value" - even if it's day one when repainted. So I was really hoping for the ultramarine blue as it looks better to me. BMW can custom paint cars any color you like with their "Individual" program for an extra $3K on the purchase price as well as full customization of anything else, so it's disappointing Scion wouldn't do something similar with the standard colors available for their models.

Anyway, I hope to learn a bit more about what I can do with it here after it is done and ready for pick up.

criminaltc

So the dealership was trying to find a way to make a few more buck off of you? I believe that's their job. It's your job to not let them, and to let them know that is not what you are going to do, and that you expect it done this way without additional costs. They'll come back at you with some more crap and then you still say no, and then they'll crumble. They make money on people that don't know what they're doing at a dealership. This all sounds normal to me man. Plus, to have any car bulk transported is a flat fee of usually $500 regardless of region, so if you were to agree to $1600, that's your fault too. It should be free to begin with. It's not your fault they don't have the car you want, so they need to be obtain it, not you. Otherwise it'd be cheaper for you to fly there and drive it back, which doesn't make sense. This rant you made is just how dealerships work man. And the fact that you were there for 5 hours for a brand new car with everything you were trying to do isn't that long at all.

And yes, you repaint a car, it loses any and all value for anyone who knows what they are looking for. You can give me a perfectly repainted car, and I mean perfect, and I will show you how to tell, and if someone sees that and knows what to look for, then don't plan on getting much for the car.

Jon

Thanks for joining, destruk! Glad to have you as a part of our community

Thermos2003

First of all you nee to understand how Scion works.

The cars roll off of the assembly line in Japan. For the tC, (special editions aside), there a single trim level. The only option you really have from the factory is automatic or manual.

The factory makes the cars in the standard colors for the tC. For 2014, they have Absolutely Red, Black, Magnetic Gray, Blue Streak, Cement, Silver and White. That's it. If you want an FR-S color, the factory is not going to custom paint a car just for you. You would have to buy it in another color and have it painted. The factory doesn't take special orders. As for the dealer building to exact specifications, they mean with adding accessories like spoilers and fog lights etc. Not custom paint.

They did try to screw you with shipping costs. If they can't find one right now, they should at least be able to make a request for the color/transmission combo you want. Then they receive it at the dealership and add on your extras. I'm not sure how the upgrade usually works for stereos but if they are giving you the stock and installing the upgrade, you win. You can sell that later on.

Bottom line is extras will cost EXTRA. There is always a destination fee when buying a new car. so the price in the window is always low. If you aren't happy with the dealer find another one. Just buy the car bone stock and do the upgrades yourself, or have someone else install.

Also getting a specific color if they don't have it on the lot can take time. It took me almost a month to find a Manual Cement.

destruk

Thanks - so it was a costly mistake I'll learn from for next time. They were offering me $300 for my 2002 grand am so I told them I'd keep it - and today I fixed it up for $26. The foglights weren't working because of a worn out switch, the power steering fluid was low so that fixed that (Big-O gave me that for free as well as free balancing of the tires), the passenger seat wasn't working but hitting the lever once with a hammer to free it corrected and now it's perfect. I'll be asking for $1200 on craigslist for it as it's in excellent shape now - perfect paint, 120K manual with cruise control. And if it doesn't sell there I will donate it to my niece for her first car, or to the ASPCA/Goodwill. Even in total loss junk heap condition it's worth $400 for parts, so the dealer lowballing us with that offer doesn't build confidence with them either.

So yeah, any service or anything else I'll try the other Scion dealer up north - maybe their people are better.

realslick

Welcome and congrats on your new scion!