Well, two weeks into the process & I finally squeezed an update out of the dealership. Funny turn of events how it happened though.
I received an e-mail from the new dealership general manager, but it was sent through my salesperson's e-mail address. Here is a snippet of what he said:
My name is Xxx Xxxxxx, and I am the new General Manager of Xxxxx Xxxxxxxx Toyota. I am currently in the process of re-vamping my entire internet department, due to mismanagement in the past. Please allow me to take this opportunity to address any issues that you might have had in the past, whether it was with pricing, management, selection, or the overall time it might have taken for one of my associates to respond to your request. I am committed to being the Atlanta low price leader for purchasing an automobile especially a new Toyota. I can assure you that if you respond to this email I will either call you back myself, or respond with all of the information you need to make an intelligent decision in a timely fashion.
Now, this completely freaked me out because my personal experience was fantastic. I got my truck for $500 over invoice, and depending on what the rebate/incentive is at delivery, I will probably get the truck below invoice. However, this letter, coupled with the fact that it came from my salesperson's e-mail address, led me to believe that the new GM cleaned house & my order was off the table.
Luckily that is not the case. I spoke with the new GM & he told me that he sent that same e-mail out to anyone who e-mailed the dealership over the last 180 days. A huge mistake if you asked me because now customers who had a good experience are made aware of mismanagement at the dealership. But as long as my truck was still on order, I did not care. After explaining to him that all I wanted was a confirmation number or some type of record that my truck had been ordered, he transferred me to (I assume) the fleet manager.
I was told that my truck was in the "allocation queue". Basically that the order had been placed. They do not issue any kind of confirmation number or tracking number at this phase of the build process. He then told me that once the truck begins the actual manufacture process, it is assigned a temporary VIN. This is used to track the truck until it reaches another step where it is assigned a permanent VIN. At that point, they can give me the permanent VIN & the truck can be tracked using that number.
I then asked about the estimated delivery date. If you recall, they originally told me it would be 4-6 weeks, but I knew that was not possible. The manager asked me when I placed the order. I told him November 5th. He told me I would be able to take delivery before New Years Day. I still find that hard to believe. I would much rather he tell me it will take 12 weeks (as some people here have said their custom build took) and then over deliver when it shows up in 8 weeks.
I figure this is good info for anyone looking to special order a truck & curious about how long the process takes & what to expect from it. if this is helpful to you, fantastic. If not, then why did you read this far?
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