Canadian 4Runners - not popular, or too popular?

[invisible4Runner]

I'm on the Canadian east coast (Nova Scotia) and have been trying to find a "upgrade" trim model to buy off a lot - with no luck. Of the 11 dealers I've contacted, many of them have no 4Runners available, and the few that do are mostly Limited or base trims.

Of course the dealers say 4Runners are very in demand and that's why there are none on the lots. One blamed it on small allocation from Toyota Canada.

I assumed there are none on the lots for the opposite reason - they just aren't popular. When you walk into a dealership there is no mention in any of the posted marketing material of the 4Runner - you start to wonder if it's been discontinued already.

Of course if they truly in demand and hard to get in, the dealers won't be willing to work much on price. Whereas if they are less in demand and I can find one on a lot, that might give me leverage.

Which is it? Is there just a very limited supply from Toyota? Or are the dealers blowing smoke, and probably just not ordering them in because they are not popular?

 

[KostyaK]

My experience was that getting any type of a deal was very difficult. The dealers in general seemed to not care, maybe it is a Toyota thing. Of course these things are not 'CR-V' popular but now that I drive a 4runner I notice quite a few of them on the road. There is definitely enough demand in Canada.

 

[GabrielM]

When I've talked to my local dealer, they told me that Toyota Canada doesn't allocate a lot of 4Runner to their dealers and that particular dealer was only ordering Limited as they have a better profit margin and that is what most people are looking at.

When he saw that I had a Trail, he told me he could order one but would take about 3 month to get. And I guess that I won't have much price negotiation when ready to buy.

One trick that a guy from my local club did, is he took all the emails of Quebec's Toyota dealer, sent them an email (with other dealers email visible) of the exact trim/model/options he wanted (A white manual Tacoma Double cab) and got 2-3 answers and was able to negotiate from there over the phone.

 

[nb rob]

I'm on the Canadian east coast (Nova Scotia) and have been trying to find a "upgrade" trim model to buy off a lot - with no luck. Of the 11 dealers I've contacted, many of them have no 4Runners available, and the few that do are mostly Limited or base trims.

Of course the dealers say 4Runners are very in demand and that's why there are none on the lots. One blamed it on small allocation from Toyota Canada.

I assumed there are none on the lots for the opposite reason - they just aren't popular. When you walk into a dealership there is no mention in any of the posted marketing material of the 4Runner - you start to wonder if it's been discontinued already.

Of course if they truly in demand and hard to get in, the dealers won't be willing to work much on price. Whereas if they are less in demand and I can find one on a lot, that might give me leverage.

Which is it? Is there just a very limited supply from Toyota? Or are the dealers blowing smoke, and probably just not ordering them in because they are not popular?

Patterson Toyota has some upgraded sr5's in Woodstock, NB.
give Andrew Ketch a call!

Patterson was the only dealer I spoke with that told me they could get my trail edition in under 90 days. Mine wound up coming to PEI, and then shipped straight to Patterson. About 5-6 weeks, which is as good as it gets around here.

I also scoured NS.

 

[nb rob]

It's worth the wait, by the way, when you see the jealous looks on the faces of highlander drivers every time you leave the house.

 

[JayceeP]

Toyota doesn't need to advertise 4Runners to a market that is a niche. They have supply fairly well matched with demand. Demand is relative- these aren't massed produced rental fleet vehicles.

You will absolutely have a tough time finding a used one that you want. I'd look to Quebec and Ontario... even then the pickings are slim. The dollar is weak right now so no point looking stateside.

I got lucky and picked up a leftover 2012 LE in March of 2013.

 

[invisible4Runner]

It's worth the wait, by the way, when you see the jealous looks on the faces of highlander drivers every time you leave the house.

Many thanks for the reply, I've been enjoying watching your posts over the last few months. I was going to get a TE myself primarily for KDSS, but it will be 98% a pavement princess, so I now think TE might be overkill for my needs.

Any idea of how much pricing room I should push for locally? I know the usual rule seems to be 2-5% over invoice (I have those numbers), but it sounds like that might be too optimistic in this case.

 

[invisible4Runner]

I got lucky and picked up a leftover 2012 LE in March of 2013.

Looks like you got it on Kempt Rd. Did you feel you got a fair price from them? I assume they are the biggest in the region.

 

[JayceeP]

Looks like you got it on Kempt Rd. Did you feel you got a fair price from them? I assume they are the biggest in the region.

I am very happy with the price I paid. I also received some comments from the Canadian members on here that I got a great deal.

Are you buying new or used?

 

[invisible4Runner]

Are you buying new or used?

I would ideally get used, but I find that locally they are barely cheaper than buying new. And at this point there is almost nothing used for sale in NS/PEI/NB. So now I'm focusing on new at this point. But even that isn't a cakewalk!

 

[nb rob]

Many thanks for the reply, I've been enjoying watching your posts over the last few months. I was going to get a TE myself primarily for KDSS, but it will be 98% a pavement princess, so I now think TE might be overkill for my needs.

Any idea of how much pricing room I should push for locally? I know the usual rule seems to be 2-5% over invoice (I have those numbers), but it sounds like that might be too optimistic in this case.

I planned for 2-5% over invoice as well, from my reading on this forum. I also had an interesting trade that helped offset everything. Mr. K also upgraded the tires at no charge to me, which was great. Saved me money, and time.

My price wasn't much lower than the toyota canada "build your 4r", but the trade they offered was 3x what one other dealer offered me, plus tires... I was very pleased.

My initial reaction from the first 2 dealers is that nobody wanted to take my money and order me a 4r. They had no intention whatsoever of completing the sale, which was frustrating. They'd rather sell corollas and tundras all day long I guess.

test drive if you can!

 

[1engineer]

The 4Runners up there are about as popular as they are down here in the states. You have roughly 1/10 the population in Canada that the US has and Canadians buy roughly 1/10 of the 4Runners that Americans buy. If Canadians (or Americans for that matter) wanted more 4Runners then Toyota would gladly offer them. Supply and Demand 101.

I used 1/10 as it is an easy fraction. Canada has around 35M people compared to the US at 316M, not counting all the ones here that are not supposed to be here. That's not 10% but for this exercise it's close.

Up until this year the US has averaged around 4-5K 4Runner sales a month. Last month 4Runner sales pushed up to 8K. Must be the ugly front end... Anyway Canada averages 300-400 4Runner sales a month so that is why I said "roughly" lol. Hope this helps.

 

[NoDak]

well this is all I could find in the system around the 3 dealers that are near NS.
Toyota CA makes it dam hard to even find any vehicles. even the dealers are crap. no inventory lookup what so ever.


.

 

[Intruder]

I'd suspect there's some regional variation too. I see lots of 4Runners out here and in BC, both on the roads and in the dealer lots. The dealership I bought from even had both an SR5 and a Trail to test drive.

 

[invisible4Runner]

The dealership I bought from even had both an SR5 and a Trail to test drive.

:cry2:

 

[JayceeP]

I would ideally get used, but I find that locally they are barely cheaper than buying new. And at this point there is almost nothing used for sale in NS/PEI/NB. So now I'm focusing on new at this point. But even that isn't a cakewalk!

It's true. You will only save a bit. Personally, if I could save $6-$7k on a gently used 4Runner with 20-40,000km I would strongly consider it. You won't have freight and other fees on top of the sticker price like you would with a new one. Freight alone is $1600 I believe.

I saw a 2014 LE in Ontario with like 25,000km for $43k. Maybe get it for $41k. I'd take that vs paying upwards of $50k when you add on freight and fees.

Anyway, I'd be prepared to travel. If you're close to Halifax, you can be in Toronto or Montreal in 2 hours.

 

[Bouts]

Probably a little far to deal with, but here in Montreal:

Spinelli Occasion - Véhicules usagés à vendre - Vaste inventaire d'automobiles, camions et VUS d'occasion à Montréal, QC.

 

[Off_Gridder]

Canada inventory

I had really good luck for pricing negociations by using Best New Car Prices in Canada. Free Dealer Invoice Price. | Unhaggle as a starting point for pricing with dealers here in canada. Always got in touch directly with the fleet managers via e-mail first and they were pretty responsive. Ended up getting a deal I coulden't pass up on a used 2010, but definately cut down on the BS to use the unhaggle and talk to fleet managers.

I have a freind that was a sales person for Toyota, and even with the 3k friends and family discount and 3 weeks of haggling, I was 4k under his "final price" for a ordering a trail from the factory by going the unhaggle / fleet manager route by trying 4 dealers in my city.

 

[Hellamatic]

You guys need to come 4runner shopping in 'Berta. As [MENTION=66300]Intruder[/MENTION] said, I think they must be more popular out here. You don't see tons on the road, but even my small local dealership typically has a few in stock. I bought my TE in Edmonton - they didn't have one in stock, but we're able to bring one up from Calgary in the color I wanted. I had it the next day.

It's probably just because we're way cooler out west.