Is Toyota corporate OK with a dealer doing this??

I saw a Toyota dealer 50 miles away had 6 new Tundra pickups listed on their website. One was a 2021 SR4 4x4 double-cab model, which is basically a stripped down work truck edition. Price was $39k. They showed a couple of others in the mid-40's and the rest in the low 50's.

So I drive down there and pull onto the lot and go to the Tundra section. All the Tundra's are lifted or customized and are used.

A salesman comes running out and compliments my 4Runner and I ask him where all the new Tundras are.

Sorry, we don't have any. All the trucks on the website are ordered months ago and already sold. He claims they can't change their website and any new vehicle that comes in to the dealer, is automatically listed as for sale and available on their website.

Really? Cause that pretty much seems like false advertising and deceptive practices.

Oh, and the cheapest Tundra they had was a 2017 SR5 with 65,000 miles for $49,000... Insane.

 

My experience with various manufacturers is they generally turn a blind eye regarding what dealers do, so long as the dealer moves units. Some dealers are shady as hell, some are fairly honest. They all try to make a buck anywhere they can. It's tough to make any money on new car sales. The real profit centers for most dealerships are parts & service and used car sales.

 

I do not believe the salesman you talked to. The 2 dealerships that we deal with must update their website daily. Tuco S. perspective on how some dealerships act is pretty accurate, IMO. That is until they get caught up in their foolery. It is a shame that consumers have to be "detectives" and check out everything or everyone they want to deal with. But dealerships were sometimes worse years ago, not that I tolerate those deceptive practices, and once I catch on to their crap, I'm gone!

 

I’ve been looking for a rav4 prime to test drive, both my localish dealerships showed some on the web site, after talking with both, neither have one on their lot, but they are considered part of their inventory. Oh and they all sold as well. I don’t consider this to be false advertising, the vehicles are in their inventory until the customer signs those documents.

 

I have to agree that that salesman was full of it. They could at least specify that a vehicle is sold in the details. I hardly believe they have no control of the website. They're just trying to lure people down there.

Like @Spare Parts mentioned, it's not technically false advertising. But, I still think it's shady.

 

whats even better, I continue to get emails from both dealerships, I continue to reply, "Do you have one for me to test drive". I have been told that I can put a deposit down and reserve the next available one.

 

Jeez. I suppose they're struggling with a lack of inventory, but that still seems lame.

Maybe test drive a used one of the same generation if there's any of those?

 

I could "maybe" understand if they were sold same day (as in their system might only push web inventory updates overnight, kind of thing); but beyond that, just feels like a lame attempt to get people in the door by making it look like they have them in stock. I've seen this with some of the shady'ish dealers around me over the years... if you call on one, they'll even tell you to come on in to check it out... knowing full well that it's long gone.

 

What’s even worse is that here in Texas, dealers post vehicles located at other dealers on their website. I went looking at a dealer in Dallas a couple months ago because they had 19 4runners listed on their website, two in pretty-much the configuration I wanted. When I got their, they had two total. One was reserved with a deposit, so we could only look at it, and the other sold immediately (a salesman walked up to get the keys and paperwork from it when we returned from the test drive, lol).

When asked about all the online options, they said “Oh yeah, sorry, the online system shows all options available to us (I guess by dealing with other dealers all over Texas ), and we can’t figure out how to fix that.”

So, it’s made it a true challenge to lay eyes on actual 4Runners lately, even though the online methods would have you believe they’re brimming to the top with them.

It does make me wonder though if the 4Runner I ordered will show up online before I get notice from the dealership that it’s ready.

 

I think the prime is fairly new, I have seen one anywhere yet, new or used.

 

The way I understand it, once a dealership knows they have a particular vehicle coming in, and verifiable by VIN, they list it on the website, and it becomes part of their "inventory". With the explosion in popularity and demand of Toyota truck, oftentimes, the vehicles are "sold" before the delivery truck gets there. These are vehicles that customers have usually put deposits on, but they still show as available on the dealer websites. The vehicles aren't officially "sold" until all paperwork is signed and the customer drives off. Sometimes the buyer will back out of the deal and the truck gets sold to the next customer.

That was my experience about a month ago when I thought about trading my 2020 TRD OR for a 2021 TRD ORP. Dealers can't keep 4Runners, Tacomas, or Tundras in their new inventory more than a couple days.

 

Order and wait, that's what I did. My vehicle didn't even make their website, along with a few others on the lot. Down from the truck, PDI, paperwork and gone. You see them on the lot, but all sold already.
The dealer told me my name was associated with the VIN before the vehicle left the plant.

 

Yeah I ordered my ORP and once the VIN was generated it showed up on my dealers website. I spoke with my sales person and was told that is just the way the ordering systems and website are setup to automatically generate. They assured me mine is secured with my deposit for me. I agree its a flaw in the system. My uncle is looking at Yukon and I am helping him and found GM dealers around here anyway operate similarly. So you are forced to make a phone call to see whats on the ground just to see a color and or interior color and those are pre sold also.

 

i feel ur frustration. however this is a normal tactic that all dealership use. even before all the shortages. they just want to bring you in or have you call the dealership. the good ol click bait. i remember asking the manager why my M3 was still on the website. he flat out told me we just want people to think we have one in stock.

 

Some, not all the dealerships around us will have the vehicle listed on their website, but the part where you want to see pictures of it will not show a picture of the vehicle and it will say "arriving soon" or "in transit", something to that effect. I don't feel that's very deceptive, but years ago a salesman at a dealership called me one day and ask for Mr. Smith, (just a example name), I said you have the wrong number, he explained who he was and that he was calling Mr. Smith to let him know his car came in at the dealership, since he had the wrong number he apologized and commenced to ask if I was interested in a new vehicle! Kind of original, kind of "greasy", but I'm sure eventually he planted the seed in someone's mind and they went to the dealership to look at new cars!

 

Sounds like a classic bait and switch. They get you on the lot with the ads and hope they can sway you into one of the used ones on the lot. Probably works part of the time. Very deceptive.

 

This was my experience also!

 

Insane and/or inflation ... check out wood prices. Me thinks printing currency is going to have undesired affect/effect soon.

 

Just don’t buy a new car or truck right now.

 

Now may be the cheapest we will see new vehicles in our lifetimes, as well as the lowest interest rates.

People really have no grasp of just how bad things will get when we spend $6 Trillion of printed money. I never thought I'd see a 2x4 board go from $2.50 to $12 within a couple of months. Hopefully the chips will hit the market and release a flood of trucks before interest rates hit double digits. That's when you buy.

 

Every Toyota dealer around us is either out of stock or selling trucks at 20% mark up over MSRP.

 

MSRPs will go up. There are still places selling at MSRP, maybe even under.