Originally Posted by Explicit

Ok I have a question. I ordered my tC on August 8th. The dealer said that they get an allocation on the 15th. He stated that he knows they would get 15 cars. 10 would already be taken leaving 5 that would go to people who put down depostis (like me). So my question is how long will it take to get those 15 cars to come to port? Whats an average amount of days you think?

Originally Posted by asherman

Hmmm.... I'm in the SE area (Miami), amd I ordered and put down a deposit on the 6th with a promise to get a car or my money back within 3 weeks.. The dealer called me today, and told me that he would know whether he'd have the car for me by this Friday, the 20th, but shouldn't he know before if this is all true? Am I getting swung around here by my dealer, or is all this normal?

Originally Posted by cliffy1

We don't get to choose. We are told what is coming to the region and can tell Toyota what our preference is, but that's it. We can also do "locates", meaning we can see what other dealerships are getting and try to arrange a trade with them.

Originally Posted by cliffy1

Twice a month, we get an allocation of cars. Based on the size of the dealership, we are given a certain number of cars. We don't know ahead of time exactly how many we will get each time. The allocations are generally on the 1st and 16th of the month, depending on where weekends fall. Allocations are never cut on Saturday or Sunday.

Prior to the allocation coming out, each dealership can tell Toyota their preferences. Its called a preference bank. We can tell Toyota that as long as we are getting a bunch of cars, there are certain configurations we would prefer. The higher up on the preference list we put a car, the more likely we are to get it. We are NEVER guaranteed to get a car on our preference list.

The morning after the allocation, we are sent a fax of the cars we got. We are told the color, equipment and transmission, as well as the day the car is due into the port. From that list, we assign the sold units to the customers from whom we have orders. Those sold units are locked in stone. Two days later, the new allocation hits our communication system called Dealer Daily. At that point, we can see what other dealerships received, except for the units they put in reserve for sold units.

This is when we start calling other dealerships to make trades. If I have an order for a car that I didn't get, I might be able to find a dealership who did get it and is willing to swap. This is a time consuming process and relies on personal relationships with other inventory managers. Its very hit or miss.

So what can a consumer do to increase his/her chances of getting a car sooner, rather than later? Find a dealership who is willing to discuss this openly with you. If asked by a potential customer, I will show them a list of my orders, along with my list of incoming units. I will also add a car to my preference bank while they sit in my office. Most dealers are not set up to allow this, but some are. If your dealer can't do this, just make sure to follow up with the sales manager just after the 1st or 16th to see how the allocation went. Ordering just prior to the allocations also helps because it keeps everything fresh in mind.

Another thing you can do is have more than one color request. If you must have white, you'll get it eventually. If you tell the dealership you'll take white, black or black cherry, you've nearly tripled your chances of getting the car sooner. To put this into hard numbers, here in the CAT region, there are 17 white manual transmission tCs coming without side air bags. There are 11 in black and 17 in BCP. There are also 32 flint, 36 silver and 18 indigo. Obviously, if you want flint or silver, you have a better shot than if you stick with white.