Car Buying Help Needed

Parent Cafe
1

I keep my cars forever. My husband has gotten 2 new ones in the time I’ve had this one.

The time has come for the replacement. I have a particular hybrid model in mind with a few nonnegotiables (specific trim level, any color but white, heated side mirrors). Can’t find a dealer anywhere in a reasonable (even unreasonable!) distance that has one.

My question. Do I go to the maker website, do the search/build your own (again, no one local has one) or do I go to the local dealer, give them my specs and let them do the work?

This could be the last new car I ever own, and I want what I want!

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2

This is what we’ve always done.

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3

I had a unique situation on that I had to buy another Volvo because my engine failed for the second time after another 60,000 miles. So…I had to deal with a dealer.

I knew exactly what I wanted, and the color and features I wanted. The color was not negotiable! They didn’t have one on their lot so I asked the salesperson to find out IF they were going to be getting one. My leverage was that if not, I was just going to tell them to put a new engine in my old car.

Well…these salespeople CAN look to see what is in their pipeline for delivery, and what I wanted was actually on the way. So…I put a hold on it contingent on me seeing and driving the car.

I would let the dealer do the work. They can search for the car you want. They can see what’s in their order pipeline. And they can custom order (if you are not in a hurry).

4

It depends on if the manufacturer does customer orders for specific configurations or not. For example, Toyota does not do customer orders; a dealer needs to try to find the desired configuration in the pipeline or trade with a another dealer that has one. Or you can make a wider search for your desired configuration, but that could mean traveling to a distant dealer and driving the car back home.

But some other manufacturers do allow customer orders and will produce the desired configuration and deliver it to the dealer ordering it for the customer.

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5

But this is not a problem for the salespeople at Toyota! Ask me how I know!!

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6

Costco auto program.
Our son bought his hybrid Camry using the program.
You can research through Edmunds.

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7

Not sure what you’re looking for, but a few years ago when we were looking for one of the new Prius hybrids, I was able to figure out what was coming in to the ports and which dealerships they were allocated to and could pre-purchase one

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8

We had used CarsDirect previously, fantastic and way better pricing than any dealership discount.

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9

My friend is waiting for a Toyota Rav4. She said it will take 6-8 weeks for the dealership to get one for them, but they are in line.

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It looks like they give your info to everyone on the planet. I’m trying to avoid a million calls/texts/emails.

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11

Set up a second phone line like a Google Voice number and give that number out so you don’t have to answer it

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12

That’s a shame, it’s been 15-20 years or so but when we bought our Yukon you designed your car online from tires up, just like on the auto site and then they scoured the country for your car - they would deliver to a local dealership who became your home dealership and it was still less expensive (not talking financing) than going directly to the dealership with all their special deals. Sorry about that, I would not want all the calls/texts either.

13

One of my kids recently was car shopping. She had a hard time even finding any Toyota products to test drive. She decided she wanted a Grand Highlander. She searched inventory in my area and her area. Most of the dealerships list what inventory they are expecting. Most of the Rav and Highlanders were already pending. She found one dealer who had something coming in and she negotiated with him but he wasn’t as responsive as she liked. She ended up using the Costco program. A dealer contacted her and said he had a wait list. Somehow he contacted her a week later and had a car coming in that was pretty much what she wanted. While she waited she decided maybe she wanted a different color. The salesperson basically laughed and said you are lucky to find a vehicle available and if she wanted to wait for a different color he didn’t know how long it would be.
I think the days where a dealership searched and tried to trade for a vehicle are in the past unless it’s a car that has good inventory. My friend was able to order a Porsche to her specific wants but it took months. With the internet you can search faster yourself.

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14

My kid had the same experience with Toyota. No RAVs or Camry cars to even try. No regular Highlander’s just grands. But she did drive a Land Cruiser and LOVED it! Go figure.

She went to several Toyota dealerships and was finally able to drive the RAV. She thought it would be her top choice but she hated it.

She is also getting tons of phone calls, and that is annoying to her.

15

Back with another question. I found the exact model I want at a dealer about 100miles (and 2 states) away. I know and am resigned that there is no deal to be had. I’ve always bought locally with the exception of one car from a dealer that was just over the border. Do I go to a local dealer and ask them to get it? DO they even do that? Do I drive a couple hours? How does this work?

16

If you ask them to do a dealer trade, they may charge you to transport the vehicle between the dealerships. That’s an extra charge. if you really want the car and want the best deal you probably need to drive there with someone so they can drive back unless you’re trading in your other car.

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17

My father-in-law wanted a certain car and he couldn’t find it. The local dealer was also looking. My son found one in Las Vegas and my FIL wanted to ask the dealer to try to get it. They weren’t having much luck and my son suggested he just by it from the Las Vegas dealer. The dealership was all set up to handle the sale to a Ca resident. They delivered the car to his house. With in demand cars many dealers don’t want to make a trade.

18

I was just at the Toyota dealer, last week, getting my car serviced. While I was in the lounge I looked at several 4runners and RAV4’s in the showroom.

One of the salesmen came up to me, assuming that I wanted to buy a car, and I told him that I was getting my serviced but that I did have a 19-year-old 4runner and wanted to compare what it had, versus what they currently had.

Anyway, I asked why are all of the 4runners and RAV4’s were lined up in the showroom.

He responded by saying they were waiting for the weekend because, apparently, those styles were very popular at their site. What they did was they put out a call to some of the other dealers and transfer/buy those cars and drive them to their location.

He said they had to sell them as “preowned” but that they had maybe 5-10 miles on the odometers.

He also said because they had to list them as preowned, the service warranties were increased from 60,000 miles to 100,000 miles of warranty coverage. He said a lot of customers don’t want to buy a car that says it’s been preowned and they have to explain it.

I asked him,
“Do you trade vehicles like that all the time? And he said,

“There are certain dealers that attract more sedan customers, and certain dealers that attract more family-type or larger vehicles, such that the local dealers trade-off with each other when they know people are coming in on the weekends, to buy those types of cars.”

He told me that by the weekend all of the 4Runners and RAV’s, in the showroom, would be gone.

I am in San Diego County and the average price on the window sticker for the 4runners was about $63K on about 5 of the 4runners.

So, I think depending on the location, you could get a dealer to trade off but an incentive has to be there for them to trade.

I think we have at least 10 Toyota dealers in San Diego County, maybe more?

Edited to add: I asked about the hybrid Toyota 4runner and then I looked at the mileage and said, “How can this only get 23 miles per gallon as a hybrid?” He said, “Well people want power in their 4runners”. I laughed and thought he was kidding.

He said that people have asked for more power in the 4Runners. So the hybrid engine is directed towards power versus gas consumption. In California, that’s a big no. I told them my 19 year-old 4Runner gets better gas mileage than that.

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I would think nothing of driving a couple of hours away to get a car I wanted. And we have at least twice. If it has a warranty it can usually (I’m almost sure) be serviced with that warranty at any authorized dealer - so hopefully one closer to home for you!

20

Not sure if still true, bur several years ago when we bought 2 new vehicles,we found one we preferred at an out-of-state Subaru dealership. The dealership refused to sell to us, even if we were present at the dealership’s location, because we did not reside in the dealership’s specific territory.

Quick internet search states that now Subaru dealers can make 3 out-of-territory sales per month without incurring financial penalty. Territory equals a 200 mile radius.