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The Toyota Independent Distributors Story

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by JacquesTutite, Sep 29, 2012.

  1. JacquesTutite

    JacquesTutite Junior Member

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    When I bought my Plug-In Prius from my dealer, I knew the car didn't have a Homelink transmitter for my garage door, but the more expensive advanced version did, built into the rear view mirror.

    I did a search on eBay, and a Florida Toyota dealer, amongst others, was selling the Toyata Homelink mirror for $165. I copied down the part number and showed it to my service manger here in New York, figuring he could get the part from Toyota and install it. The service manager is a family friend, so he took some extra time with me to try to find the part in his parts system, but the number didn't exist.

    "Where did you get this number?" he asked.

    "On eBay, a Florida dealer is selling it".

    A smile came to his face. "That's probably a Southeast number, I probably can't get that part for that price."

    He then looked up the mirror separately in his parts system, and it came up with a different number....and a price of $788!

    And so he began to tell me the story of the two Toyota independent distributors.

    The eBay mirror came from one of two regions where Toyota products are still distributed by an independent, family owned distributor, instead of the Toyota company itself.

    The story is complex, but very interesting, as the Japanese company has stuck to their distributor deal through all these years and hasn't tried to take these companies back. The two U.S. independent distributors offer everything from their own parts and part numbers, to custom versions of Toyota models that they customize in their own shops, right down to the leather they install on the seats.

    Here's where to find the story, hope you find it as interesting as I did!

    Southeast Toyota Distributors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Gulf States Toyota Distributors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
     
    #1 JacquesTutite, Sep 29, 2012
    Cristino and Tracksyde like this.
  2. Electric Charge

    Electric Charge Active Member

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    That is very interesting, thanks for sharing!
     
    #2 Electric Charge, Sep 29, 2012
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    this is common in many industries. have heard some bad things about southeast toyota on these boards.
     
    #3 bisco, Sep 29, 2012
  4. subjective

    subjective Member

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    #4 subjective, Oct 18, 2012
  5. subjective

    subjective Member

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    I have been a Florida Toyota customer since 1987. There are no bargains in SE products but the opposite is true with you must take their rip off products, such as Toyoguard, with almost all Toyota's sold in Florida at very inflated prices and very poor quality!
     
    #5 subjective, Oct 18, 2012
  6. ukr2

    ukr2 Senior Member

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    Why MUST you get ripped off? Call Toyota and tell them of their practices. You'll help yourself and others getting the rip off.
     
    #6 ukr2, Oct 25, 2012
  7. rogerv

    rogerv Senior Member

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    Jacques,
    I've had three of the HomeLink mirrors, the latest one installed by my dealer's independent trim shop at the time they installed the leather. The mirrors come from MITO Corporation in Elkhart, Indiana. Look them up online, and order from them or ask for a referral to a local installer. My first one I ordered through the Toyota dealer and they installed it. The second one came on the car. All were made by MITO. 800-433-6486 www.mitocorp.com They call it "Auto-Dimming Mirror with HomeLink" and I see their ads in car magazines all the time. If you search here on PC, you can read how to DIY, or get a stereo shop to do the install. Good luck.
     
    #7 rogerv, Oct 26, 2012
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  8. subjective

    subjective Member

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    I have, Many times, posted many times, complained to Toyota customer service and wrote a letter to Mr Toyoda. Many people over many years have complained as I have, and Toyota ignores us. They obviously do not care about this issue or they would do something about this very unfair situation. There is no doubt in my mind that Toyota has lost many sales to Honda, Nissan and others due to these disgusting sales practices. The art of flim flam sales of yesterday history are not dead except here you have to accept these unwanted overpriced add on products in order to purchase the car etc. in the SE US. You should have seen the Jig a General Mgr. danced in front of my wife and me stating If we didn't finance a new Prius with SE Toyota and paid cash from our savings acct. or any other financing bank, we would have to pay a fee of $2000. (ALL IN ORDER TO PAY CASH, which we wanted to do!)
     
    #8 subjective, Oct 26, 2012
  9. Adam Leibovitch

    Adam Leibovitch Member

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    ^Thats really stupid to me as well. Just paid off the loan on my 10 day old PiP. Had to take a loan to get the advertised price, but there was no pre-payment penalty, so whatever.
     
    #9 Adam Leibovitch, Oct 26, 2012
  10. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    If you don't feel like paying for shipping, you can also get these mirrors off Amazon (potentially faster as well if you have Prime)
     
    #10 lensovet, Oct 27, 2012
  11. Andyprius # 1

    Andyprius # 1 Guest

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    Most interesting. What crooks. So Toyota nor set are perfect. It's still buyer beware, unfortunately.
     
    #11 Andyprius # 1, Oct 27, 2012
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