Driftwood BC 10-25-03 Dallas, TX

Date Ordered: 10-25-03
Dealer Ordered From (Incl. City/State): Sport City Toyota, Dallas, TX
Timeframe given for delivery: months
Color: Driftwood
Option Package: BC (#9)
Your # on Dealer's Waiting List: #10 when ordered; #6 now

 

The dealer says that we are now #5 on the list, but the 4 in front of us also want package #9. They say it will be another 2-3 months (they told me the same thing 2 months ago), but they have only gotten 2 package #9s since October. Both times I have called them since October to check on our order, they have asked if I want to cancel the order.

The salesperson (the Internet/Fleet Manager) that we placed the order with, and had been taking our business to for over a decade, is no longer at the dealership. Evidently, after a couple of decades of selling Toyotas, she got tired of trying to get her customers the vehicles they wanted, instead of those that Toyota wanted them to buy.

My wife has seen one 2004 Prius “in the wildâ€, I have seen none (we have also seen 2 others, but they weren’t “in the wildâ€). As a direct result of the “sighting†our first choice for color is now Tideland.

I have contacted over 500 of the closest Toyota dealers, including those in WV, WY, and WA. I have found what we are looking for at 2 dealers; one that “sold to the highest bidderâ€, and one that wasn’t from this planet (“Prius? Is that that hybrid car?†After a couple of more questions like that, my head was ready to explode.). I am becoming quite familiar with the states. :wink:

I will end on a good note: We did get the key chain last week!

 

We finally got our car April 23 and it has been everything we expected. :mrgreen: It took two days short of six months.

We wouldn't have gotten it then, but it was a special allocation for the Earth Day exhibit (which we didn't find out until it arrived at the dealer). We got a call at the end of March saying it had been allocated. Three weeks later, on a Monday, we got a call saying that the car was in, but we could not pick it up until Friday, since it had been allocated to the dealer with the provision that it had to appear in the Earth Day Exhibit. We did go to see it on Monday, and I noticed that it had a "fleet" sticker on it.

Evidently Toyota keeps some sitting around for special marketing events. The car was made in January, 2004 and the Texas inspection sticker is dated March. Since we didn't get the car until late April, the car spent months sitting somewhere.

Another interesting note is that the Fleet Manager who "delivered" our car to us, had left the company by the time we went to pick up the license plates. As with the Fleet Manager who we "ordered" the car from, he had been with the company for almost 20 years.

All of this makes me wonder if I should go ahead and get my 2007 Prius ordered. :wink: