Getting Leather Seats in NJ

I'm getting leather seats installed through a Toyota dealer next week - I drop my car off Tuesday night or Wenesday morning and get it back Thursday afternoon.

This dealer uses a 3rd party installer. My price is $995 + tax for front/rear seats + door panels/arm rests/head restraints etc. This is less than another Toyota dealer quoted me just for installation, and another 3rd party car upholstery company.

I don't know who the third party company is who does the work for the Toyota dealer.

I'll post a message when I get my car back and let you all know if I'm satisfied, etc.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hostage46 @ May 26 2006, 03:38 PM) [snapback]261443[/snapback]</div>

Search for the topic "Leather Seats" and you'll get a lot of information from people who actually know what they're talking about.

It's my understanding that you can get leather seats by buying 'package 8', and that dealers near certain ports where the cars come into the US offer leather that is installed at the port. I didn't buy package 8 and I'm not in one of the areas near the ports where Toyota brings in cars.

I read a lot of stuff on PriusChat and learned that many people have upgraded to leather upholstery either buying the Toyota OEM package for leather seats or by bying the seat covers from some other company. Some people install them themselves (not something I could do), some people have the dealer install them, and some have independent installers do them. Many people have recommended finding out who your dealership uses(many use 3rd parties rather do it 'in house') as a way of getting a cheaper price than by going through the dealership.

I had called several auto upholstery places based on the Yellow Pages, and got a ballpark quote from one who said $1000 if I bought the leather seats myself. That scared me, since some people who got 'port installed' leather seats talked about it costing somewhere around $1000-$1200 in total.

I called one Toyota dealer and talked to the service department, and they also estimated $1000 plus the cost of the leather seats, and discouraged me from doing it - they obviously didn't do a lot of this upgrade.

So when I called the dealer where I bought the car and they they directed me to their 'leather seat specialist', who quoted me $995 +tax for the whole thing, including the leather armrests and center console, and they'll give me a loaner car while my work is being done - that sounded like a good enough deal to me that I didn't bother to try to find who their 3rd party installer is.

Hope this helps!

 

I just picked up my car - my grey leather seats are SO BEAUTIFUL! The leather seat manufacturer is Katzkin, and they're smooth grey leather for seats with side airbags (I didn't ask about perforated leather).

I got the job done through Crystal Auto Mall in Green Brook, NJ (908) 968-1000. Amanda in the service department took care of me and did a wonderful job. She was prompt in returning calls and answering questions. (She also did a superb job of telling me how beautiful it looked and asking me if I was happy with it, as if she couldn't see my huge grin and hear my sighing 'OOOOH! AAAAH!")

I dropped it off Tuesday evening and got it back a little after 5 today.

Total cost was $995 + the 6% sales tax in NU - came to $1058 and change. They also gave me a loaner car for the two days; I just had to bring it back in with a full tank.

The cost included front and rear seats, the console cover and the four door armrests.