Prius Team: provide process, once order has been submited

[XMAN LIVE]

Many local sales people are not being very helpful. Please review two threads East Coast Deliveries,Texas Has Cars at Port!.

My sales person in Houston TX says I know more than he does (that is not cool). This wait and see game sucks without being able to see the end of the road. I would think as soon as I gave my order the dealer punches it in the system, checks to see if order can be completed, if not system request to build one and give estimated date. If Toyota can complete order locks in current location, marks car as sold and provides estimated shipping date. Toyota needs to give us more that a black box, with no input or out puts. We have USA Toyota Reps on our forum why can't they say how many cars are going to each region and provide some idea of what has already been built. Toyota has this data, why are they making this not fun! Why can’t I track my order? That would be very fun and exciting. I can track just about anything I order online. What the deal.
Not trying to be ugly, just want a better understanding of what to expect.

[Lafferty]

I'm sure there is another dealer in your area that can give you a more specific ETA. Have you called/e-mailed other dealers?

I know my dealer has told me exactly when my 2010 is scheduled to arrive. It appears that others have also received an ETA from their dealers in various parts of the country.

[a priori]

Perhaps someone from Toyota can give a full (or at least more correct) answer, but I'll give it a go in the meantime.

As I understand it, Toyota doesn't do factory orders. What I mean to say is that your order through your dealer doesn't end up in the hands of a general manager of one of the two Prius plants. I believe Toyota has set the build plan for X weeks or months, based on what they believe will be popular. Once the build is entered into the system, I don't know where the information goes. I don't have any idea whether regions get an information prior to delivery of the cars to the ships in Japan.

I believe your dealer order goes to the region, and the region tries to put a car matching the order into that dealer's allocation. If that can't happen, then either the dealers try to do their own trades or the regions do trades. (At this point I really hit pure speculation, so I'll just stop!)

If all of the above is just confusing, then ignore it and have some chocolate.

[HTMLSpinnr]

Great answers, though I'm disappointed that this was cross-posted in multiple threads. Pick one spot and stick w/ it.

[XMAN LIVE]

Originally Posted by HTMLSpinnr

Great answers, though I'm disappointed that this was cross-posted in multiple threads. Pick one spot and stick w/ it.

I agree my fault, but I wanted to reply to the Prius Team so I may get an official answer, I requested they start a new post but decided to do that for them. My Bad. I am just frustrated. Understand Toyota is try to make orders from what has been built. But it seems like it should be simple to say yes we built one to your specs, and it is in the pipeline or no and here your options for something close. I feel blind. SGT post for news has not been as good as others.

[Jabber]

A Priori, you are pretty close. There are a few more little details, but essentially, you are correct. The regions tell toyota what to build, but that is months in advance of what people order. It is almost hit or miss with orders.

With all that said, we can do a custom order. I'll be optimistic and say you will see your car within 8 months. That is assuming a region somewhere wants the same type of car built. If you ask for a V with SR and AT, you will not get it since no region can build that car. If only the west coast gets III w/ SR, and you live on the east coast.. there is a chance you will get it, but it will take MONTHS. That is really a regional trade instead of a dealer trade.

[1 mad scientist]

Originally Posted by XMAN LIVE

Many local sales people are not being very helpful. Please review two threads East Coast Deliveries,Texas Has Cars at Port!.

My sales person in Houston TX says I know more than he does (that is not cool). This wait and see game sucks without being able to see the end of the road. I would think as soon as I gave my order the dealer punches it in the system, checks to see if order can be completed, if not system request to build one and give estimated date. If Toyota can complete order locks in current location, marks car as sold and provides estimated shipping date. Toyota needs to give us more that a black box, with no input or out puts. We have USA Toyota Reps on our forum why can't they say how many cars are going to each region and provide some idea of what has already been built. Toyota has this data, why are they making this not fun! Why can’t I track my order? That would be very fun and exciting. I can track just about anything I order online. What the deal.
Not trying to be ugly, just want a better understanding of what to expect.

I agree. We are in Eastern Pa. I see a lot of posts for people taking deliveries and getting delivery dates. My dealer says they could not take an order and still do not have regional pricing. We have been on the list with a deposit since last June. I just contacted another dealer and was told they expect first vehicles in 2 weeks. Looks like we picked the wrong dealer to do business with. It certainly looks like Toyota is sending us whatever is left over after the ship stopped on the west coast. Why would they not build vehicles for customers who want them and play the car shuffle game with leftovers?

[DaveinOlyWA]

ya know. i couldnt track mine... wasnt interested in doing so, in fact, my dealer (who only got one 2010 in at the time!!) couldnt even give me my VIN (as if getting it early would have made a difference because when i went done there, i called my insurance company who couldnt find the VIN on their file, like the car is new and you wont!!. i had to have dealer fax them the VIN. but they emailed me once acknowledging my being in priority program. then a few weeks later, emailed me again. said it would be in within a week. then they called 4 days later, left message. i went over a few days after that and got car.

but all in all. my dealer simply didnt seem to know much info in advance. in fact, the first email i received was when they found out they were receiving a 2010 that early

[XMAN LIVE]

Originally Posted by DaveinOlyWA

my dealer simply didnt seem to know much info in advance. in fact, the first email i received was when they found out they were receiving a 2010 that early

I have been hearing some about a priority, order what is that. According to my sales rep he would not even take an order until he could request a build and had pricing codes, that was last Monday May 18th. Other Region had already order their cars. I put money down but was not told about a priority order. Has the window past for this. Or maybe the SGT region did not have this as a option. Information in our region is hard to come bye.

[Jabber]

Priority orders are for the long standing members of the prius community. You wouldn't have qualified for it anyway. And your dealer could have taken an order any time he wanted, he CHOSE not to do it.

Really, your beef is with your dealer and Gulf States Region, not Toyota. This is going to sound mean, and I don't mean it to be. If you want to be able to track every car that comes in, buy a toyota dealership and have fun. Other than that, your dealer can see what is coming in.. and should be able to tell you.