8 weeks ago I paid a $500 deposit (refundable) to a local dealer for a manual TC. He guaranteed me that it will take 6-8 weeks for my car to arrive. 8 week later, not only is there no TC but he can’t give me an approximate date for its arrival. Meanwhile I just found out that at a dealership 100 miles away there are 3 manual TCs in Stock (don’t know their colors yet but I am not that picky). Here are my questions:
1) Can I get my “refundable” deposit at any time for any reason? Has anyone had any trouble getting the deposit back?
2) Normally when I give my word to someone I like to keep it… however I am returning from one year abroad and I need a car now…given the above circumstances is it proper etiquette to jump ship to the other dealer?

Thanks

 

Don't know about #1... but with #2, there's no way they could be absolutely be sure they'd have it at a certain date - UNLESS it already hit port and was on the truck coming towards you - which would not be 6-8 weeks.

 

I had the same problem. I did get my deposit back after repeated phone calls though. I think the salesman was just upset because he wasn't going to "get the sale".

 

Start calling around to find what you want, as it might be on the ground already. Those 3 you mentioned, they might have equipment you don't want, who knows. Just start calling. When you find it, call the first guy, and get your dough back. 8 weeks is waaaaay too long to wait. do you want something special like Side Air Bags or something?

 

Selling a Scion is not the greatest thing for a salesman, about the only thing it’s good for is getting closer to a quota or cash for hitting a sales goal.

And even with that bit of knowledge, I believe it’s harder to sell a scion over a Toyota because of this issue. It’s hard to have a customer wait while you’re really trying to get a car for them. I had to refund a guys money the day before the car came in >.< Sometimes a color will not even come into the state for 1-2 months. And if there are orders before yours you get to wait. And the problem as a salesman is that you can only look out so far, we don’t see what’s going to be coming in till about 3 weeks (if your lucky) out.

And another thing, if something goes wrong like you loose on of the keys, I have to PAY to sell the car. 70.00 for the commission (with no acc, and at my dealer that sells 300 cars a month other dealers might be diff) 75.00 for a new key. I make nothing off the sale.

 

Get your money back and go somewhere else. There is absolutely no reason this time of year for a 6-8 week wait for tC. In the summer its different but if you placed your oder back in February the dealership youre working with isnt working for you. It hasnt taken me longer than 2 weeks to get any Scion for a customer since September...

...Its a good point that its not lucrative for a salesperson to sell Scions. Its all I sell so I know how that goes. We actually get paid $125.00 flat on all Scions which is kind of nice. But when you look at it compared to what commissions are possible on Toyotas it seems like a waste of time for most salespeople. Sometimes salespeople dont put as much effort into helping out Scion customers for this reason...

 

Most salespeople are short-timers. That, combined with the low commissions are why when shopping for your Scion, it is important to find a dealer with a dedicated Scion Manager, and then work directly with that person. Some dealers (ones that are selling 40+/month) have dedicated Scion teams, and once again, these are the folks you want to be dealing with.

 

^^^^ Im that guy...

 

Same here

 

my dealer was great.. they didn't have a dedicated scion team but they got my car in a week when he said i would be about 3 weeks. i believe that even though they are getting low commision they should still give great service to scion buyers.. because i got such great service i bought a toyota from the same sales person... return customers plus i recommend them to people all the time.. just that one sales person..... you know.. plus while i had my scion, they always called to make sure everything was ok ..

 

did you write a check for the deposit? if you used a credit card, you shouldn't be having any problems because you can alway just dispute the charge and move along your merry way.

 

You, my friend, dealt with a professional, and they are extremely hard to find in most dealerships.

That is the other option for everyone. Find someone that gets a lot of business from referals (i.e. they won't be outside with a cigarette in one hand, coffee in the other, and a set of dark shades). If they ask anything about your credit or whether or not you are doing business today, w/in the first 5 min, find someone else. These are the cats that people like myself (and Toyota to some degree) are trying to get out of the car biz. It's just going to take a lot of time.

 

You can go to any dealer to have service. However, if I were you, I would choose a closer dealer to get the car. If you buy the car there, they will give you less runaround if you have problem with the car. Unless you don't mind to drive 100 miles with the Engine light on.

 

Not true at all. You get the best service at the dealership with the best service, regardless of where you buy the car. True, if you need a favor or anything, you're out, but most of the time where you buy the car is meaningless in regards to service.

No matter where you bought the car, they want your service money. Or they want Toyota's warranty money, either way, they got it covered.

 

Not sure about a 6-8 week wait but a 4-6 week wait is common. Just check out the rants here: https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...=support+group

 

haha, i had the same problem, but i got my money back with no problem.

 

you know they make more money off of service than selling the car...

 

^^^ not a big secret. Why do you think you'll never see a dealership without a service department. We call the entire process "the wheel".

 

They can't keep your deposit. It is illegal as far as I know.

If you are worried about breaking the deal with them, have the dealership locate the car for you (they can trade for the model you want). They get the sale, you get the car 100 miles away,

This is what my dealership did. I wanted a color and no options. I left a deposit, and before I left the dealer he showed me the inventory for MA and NH, and that 3 cars matched my requirements. He explained they might be sold, or the dealer might not want to trade, and that he needed to contact all of them. Didn't think it would take much more than a few days to get one of the 3 cars though. This was on a Saturday near closing time.

He called me Tuesday (I was expecting the car maybe Wed), and informed me things were going to take a little longer, that he got one, and, the car would be there by Friday.

It had some miles on it (from driving/trading), but to me it was alot easier to have them find it than for me to do the leg work and drive 100 miles on my own to get it. After all you are paying them $100-$200 to sell you a car. It took them a week to get me what I wanted.

So, if your dealer is not active enough in their search, call around, then call them back and tell them you found one, and want to know why they aren't. Only if those 3 you found are really "available". It might turn out they are not.

Paul G.

 

That is the truth. I went to Scion of Plano. It sucked. They had a Scion "manager", but he did not seem very dedicated to helping me. When I told him that I needed to "talk to my wife" before I make my car-buying decision, he let me go and never called me back (bad salesman). You should always at least followup on your customer to see how they are doing. Then, out of the blue, a Scion manager (from Richardson) came into my work to buy some music equipment (I'm a manager at Guitar Center). The guy seemed cool. And when I found out that he was a Scion manager, I talked his ear off with questions about the TC. He told me that he had a TC out in the parking lot with a Supercharger, and that I was welcome to drive it. Talk about cool. So I test drove it and decided to check out his dealership. They had a cool team that seemed devoted to their customers. I've been called many times since my purchase to make sure that I'm satisfied with my new vehicle. My experience with the salesmen was great. But I didn't like the finance guys (who does).