DarkHelmet
New member
We searched high and low, worked the deal for about 36 hours and just made the deposit. Vehicle, just arrived in port from Japan and should take delivery in the next 30 days! w00t!
Here was the process:
1) Started thinking about a new car with a growing family. My 2005 Tacoma is mostly my rescue truck and setup for off-road, not daily driver or family car. We had a 2004 Prius with about 98,000 miles and thinking it was about time to get a new rig. Values on used Prius' shot up in the last couple months so we sold it for just a bit under KBB to a private party for about $2,000 more than we would have got two months ago.
2) Started looking around here for ideas and really liked the looks and features of the dark gray TE rig.... but not the easiest rig to find on a dealer's lot right now.
3) Did a full read on New car buying guide, avoiding dealer scams, new cars, used car buying. Great site!
4) Also purchased the package from FightingChance.com. Another great site. Spoke with the founder of the website about our plan of attack since the TE model made up only about 2.5% of the currently dwindling inventory of 4Runners (and Japanese cars in general) in the US right now.
5) Monday we contacted two dealers in the West with TE's in stock. Dealer "A" with Gray and Dealer "B" with a Blue one. Dealer "A" gave us the usual "best Internet price, we'll beat any other written offers, but you won't do better, yada yada yada..." at $2,010 over invoice. They were about 500 miles away and at least 2 hours drive from any major airport. Dealer "B" had sold the rig but the fleet manager gave me intel on 4 mag gray TE's that were on the next boat from Japan and which dealers were getting them (she said she'd get in trouble for doing it). Called all them too. Dealer "A" with the Gray one called me back, and for reasons I'll never understand he gave me the names of two other dealers in the West that also had Gray TE's similarly equipped. Contacted them.
6) I essentially sent them all the same Request for Quote, setting up what amounted to a reverse auction for the car. Bids came in and best price was $899 over invoice from one of the dealers that Dealer "A" had turned me on to (why would they do that?). We gave all dealers the opportunity to beat that best price received. Unfortunately, while that was going on, best priced dealer took a deposit and sold the vehicle. DOH!
7) Second best price ($530 more) was still an "eager beaver" to make the sale. He even knew that the other dealer may have sold the vehicle we were trying to buy. They are 500 miles away in another state and I'd need to buy a $400 plane ticket and spend $200 in gas to drive it back. He was unable to adjust the sale price of the vehicle on the front end (They're one of those "no haggle" places) but made up for it by offering to deliver us the vehicle in Idaho at no charge and offered an 6yr/100K Toyota Extended Warranty "at cost". We opted for the free delivery and no extended warranty and closed the deal at about $1,500 over invoice. They are also working to try and beat our already low financing rates from our Credit Union so we may save a few more $$ with a better rate.
8) Not the exact deal I had hoped to get, but in market where we needed to work with dealers out of state, and with limited availability of TE's in general I feel that we got the best deal out there for the exact vehicle we wanted without a bunch of options that we didn't want (like NAV, "convenience package, running boards, etc.). We didn't want to wait for several months until the inventory of Japanese vehicles improved.
So.... What next?
Here is our list of planned upgrades to turn this into the ultimate family expedition/camping rig (and daily driver):
- 2"-3" Lift (OME?)
- LT265 75R16 Nitto Trail Grappler M/T Tires on Ultra Gauntlet 17x8 rims (thanks for the inspiration BFLAN - your rig looks SICK on those rims!)
- Spidertrax Wheel Spacers (1.25"?)
- BudBuilt hidden winch mount in factory bumper or ARB Front Bumper
- Warn M8000 w/Amsteel Synthetic Line
- BudBuilt TE sliders
- BudBuilt skid plates
- Toytec Rear LCA Skids (?)
- Vison-X 20" LED Bar on license plate mount
- GOBI Stealth Rack
- Vision-X 42" LED Bar on roof rack
- Roof Top Tent (?)
- Toilet/Shower Enclosure
- Portable Toilet
- Sun Shower/Coleman Shower
- ARB Fridge/Freezer with LoadSpotter
- Dual Battery system w/IBS smart charge
- Xantrex LinkPRO battery monitor
- Solar Charging system with folding solar panel(?)
- Icom VHF Radio w/remote head mounted above rear view mirror.
- Rear storage drawers with Fridge on top mounted to LoadSpotter.
Thanks for all the inspiration on this forum!
DH
Here was the process:
1) Started thinking about a new car with a growing family. My 2005 Tacoma is mostly my rescue truck and setup for off-road, not daily driver or family car. We had a 2004 Prius with about 98,000 miles and thinking it was about time to get a new rig. Values on used Prius' shot up in the last couple months so we sold it for just a bit under KBB to a private party for about $2,000 more than we would have got two months ago.
2) Started looking around here for ideas and really liked the looks and features of the dark gray TE rig.... but not the easiest rig to find on a dealer's lot right now.
3) Did a full read on New car buying guide, avoiding dealer scams, new cars, used car buying. Great site!
4) Also purchased the package from FightingChance.com. Another great site. Spoke with the founder of the website about our plan of attack since the TE model made up only about 2.5% of the currently dwindling inventory of 4Runners (and Japanese cars in general) in the US right now.
5) Monday we contacted two dealers in the West with TE's in stock. Dealer "A" with Gray and Dealer "B" with a Blue one. Dealer "A" gave us the usual "best Internet price, we'll beat any other written offers, but you won't do better, yada yada yada..." at $2,010 over invoice. They were about 500 miles away and at least 2 hours drive from any major airport. Dealer "B" had sold the rig but the fleet manager gave me intel on 4 mag gray TE's that were on the next boat from Japan and which dealers were getting them (she said she'd get in trouble for doing it). Called all them too. Dealer "A" with the Gray one called me back, and for reasons I'll never understand he gave me the names of two other dealers in the West that also had Gray TE's similarly equipped. Contacted them.
6) I essentially sent them all the same Request for Quote, setting up what amounted to a reverse auction for the car. Bids came in and best price was $899 over invoice from one of the dealers that Dealer "A" had turned me on to (why would they do that?). We gave all dealers the opportunity to beat that best price received. Unfortunately, while that was going on, best priced dealer took a deposit and sold the vehicle. DOH!
7) Second best price ($530 more) was still an "eager beaver" to make the sale. He even knew that the other dealer may have sold the vehicle we were trying to buy. They are 500 miles away in another state and I'd need to buy a $400 plane ticket and spend $200 in gas to drive it back. He was unable to adjust the sale price of the vehicle on the front end (They're one of those "no haggle" places) but made up for it by offering to deliver us the vehicle in Idaho at no charge and offered an 6yr/100K Toyota Extended Warranty "at cost". We opted for the free delivery and no extended warranty and closed the deal at about $1,500 over invoice. They are also working to try and beat our already low financing rates from our Credit Union so we may save a few more $$ with a better rate.
8) Not the exact deal I had hoped to get, but in market where we needed to work with dealers out of state, and with limited availability of TE's in general I feel that we got the best deal out there for the exact vehicle we wanted without a bunch of options that we didn't want (like NAV, "convenience package, running boards, etc.). We didn't want to wait for several months until the inventory of Japanese vehicles improved.
So.... What next?
Here is our list of planned upgrades to turn this into the ultimate family expedition/camping rig (and daily driver):
- 2"-3" Lift (OME?)
- LT265 75R16 Nitto Trail Grappler M/T Tires on Ultra Gauntlet 17x8 rims (thanks for the inspiration BFLAN - your rig looks SICK on those rims!)
- Spidertrax Wheel Spacers (1.25"?)
- BudBuilt hidden winch mount in factory bumper or ARB Front Bumper
- Warn M8000 w/Amsteel Synthetic Line
- BudBuilt TE sliders
- BudBuilt skid plates
- Toytec Rear LCA Skids (?)
- Vison-X 20" LED Bar on license plate mount
- GOBI Stealth Rack
- Vision-X 42" LED Bar on roof rack
- Roof Top Tent (?)
- Toilet/Shower Enclosure
- Portable Toilet
- Sun Shower/Coleman Shower
- ARB Fridge/Freezer with LoadSpotter
- Dual Battery system w/IBS smart charge
- Xantrex LinkPRO battery monitor
- Solar Charging system with folding solar panel(?)
- Icom VHF Radio w/remote head mounted above rear view mirror.
- Rear storage drawers with Fridge on top mounted to LoadSpotter.
Thanks for all the inspiration on this forum!
DH
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