New Toyota Shopping Experience

[Ron Evans]

I'm a new member and looking for some input on what I might expect in the near future for the availability of cars and SUV's at Toyota dealerships to aid a prospective car buyer in selecting a vehicle.  I have two dealerships within about an 1 hour drive.  I'm planning to purchase a new car or SUV this year.  Could be a 2023 or 2024.  My interest right now is in one of the following:  A Crown, a Highlander Hybrid or a Lexus ES Hybrid.  My recent visit to one of my local Toyota dealers was disappointing and a call afterwards to the other local dealer was equally so.  The dealer I visited had a total of about 6 cars on the lot, most of which were Camrys and one Crown in the service area was there for service and I could only look at it.    Not sit in or drive.  A call to the other Toyota dealer revealed that he had one preowned Highlander that I could look at, but no Crown or any allocated for delivery.

It seems that the current process for buying a new Toyota is to give the dealership your phone and list of vehicles your interested in and they'll call you when one is delivered and you can jump in your car and drive down to look at it.  You may even get to sit in it or drive it if it hasn't been sold by the time you get there.  The other option is to order a vehicle and then decide months later when it comes in whether it's the vehicle your looking for.

According to one of the the people I talked with at the dealership, this is the way Toyota intends to sell cars after the Pandemic.  If this is the case, I guess I'm going to expand my search a bit.  Anybody have any insight into whether this mode of operation is temporary or that's the way it's going to be?

 

[Toyota Owners Club]

That is a tough one!  it does pay to drive the vehicle you are interested in before ordering even to see if you can fit in it (have read posts before that some people are too tall or legs to long and it just doesn't work)

Since Covid and also more relevant is the Semi-Conductor issue causing lack of vehicles on showroom forecourts.
This and general world-wide economics have lead to the dealerships taking orders for new builds and secondhand cars are now sought after by the car-buying public or independent auto traders.

One possible solution is to find the car you are interested in at a auto rental company local to you and test drive it for the day (although it will cost you it would put your mind at rest that it is the car for you). Obviously if you have a choice of a few then this can get expensive in the long run but if it was just the one model you have narrowed it down to then it is an option?