Is it just me, or do Toyota's logistics SUCK?

[nah2323]

So I order my '11 BP Limited with everything back in early October. My dealer (who is very good) told me when it hit the Newark NJ port back on Oct 21, and the scheduled arrival at Toyota was 10-30 to 11-2. Well that time has passed, and they still don't have an exact date when it will show up.
The car was reserved on dealer daily before it was available to the US market, so there's no chance the car went to someone else, as the vehicle went out of available inventory the second it hit the US dirt.
My beef is, WHY would a $46k car, that's already sold sit in the port for such a long time?

 

[philsey]

Agreed. My situation was the same. My SR5 went into database la-la-land when it left the (Left Coast) POE by rail. It did not resurface again until it got off the train in Chicago and was loaded aboard a car carrier.

To be fair, this is simply a matter of scanning a bar code, no different that UPS does. The difference is that by rail, the truck is not accessable to be scanned for a couple of weeks during transition.

My dealer tried pretty hard to locate mine, and it just simply disappeared whilst on the train.

 

[nah2323]

Luckily for me, the port is only 90 miles away from me. It won't see the train, but what I don't understand is how 20 prius's have been delivered for the lot, and the car already sold is still sitting in port. Bass Ackwards to me. I even told the dealer I would pay the flatbed bill to get it here faster.

 

[westwind77]

My beef is, WHY would a $46k car, that's already sold sit in the port for such a long time?

46k?????

 

[Snooperstyle]

My dealer told me mine was already at the Jacksonville, FL port, and that they would put in a request to move it to the front of the line for delivery. They even said they would send a guy and a flatbed truck to go get it from the port, but then, they proceeded to give me the runaround for nearly three weeks. How on earth does it take three weeks to "expedite" something in this day and age???? If it is already sitting at the port, what all goes on that takes up so much time? Part of it is that the dealer is trying to save money by trucking them on a multi car carrier instead of sending one truck for one vehicle...but I even offered to pay to expedite it!!!!!! I actually began to suspect that they had sold it to another person, and that they knew that another one was "en route" from Japan, but then I checked the VIN on the original truck and it matched the one on the truck they finally got to me. How is it that I can ship a large box ALL of the way around the world in two days, but it takes Toyota three weeks or more to get a vehicle 250 miles up the highway?

 

[SeattleMike]

The one box can be loaded with many others onto an airplane, the 4R needs a boat, and possibly a train, and a truck.

Once in port, you are at the mercy of the union labor force and their schedule.

 

[Ben_Mueller]

Picking one particular vehicle out of thousands handled by the port is likely a more complicated logistics challenge than we can imagine. The challenge is likely amplified that what they are dealing with are vehicles that are not easily moved from one place to another.

 

[LongBallLarry]

46k?????

MSRP + tax?

 

[westwind77]

MSRP + tax?

The highest I have seen has been a hair over 43k (sticker) and most people get a few 'k' off sticker. I hope he did not pay sticker or that his sales tax is really really high!

Onto the topic though, sounds like another dealer could have taken your 4R and yours is waiting for another one that was suppose to be right behind it.

 

[harper7]

The same thing happened to mine when I ordered it last year. It was promised to be in my hands 11/21/09 and was in port in Houston on the 18th and took another 10 days to get here. Believe me I was impatient and pissed too!

This was how the regional manager for Gulf States Toyota explained it to me. I was pissed enough that I went above my dealerships managers head and made alot of calls as 2 other 4runners came in but not mine.
They do minor prep work and stuff on them at port and when it gets done and trucked out, it is out of the dealerships hands as they just get that it's in port/in transit. Also,what you have to understand is there are thousands of autos coming off the ship at port. They can't just say"Jim Bob ,over there ordered his new 4Runner and it's way over there 1200 cars deep,let's offload and prep it first". They have to have some kind of system and cherry picking one out of thousands is'nt it.

I know it's hard to wait but you'll forget all about it with a big smile when they finally call that it is there. Tell them now not to put them dang front plate holes in the bumper and advertising stickers/plate frames on!

 

[Snooperstyle]

The same thing happened to mine when I ordered it last year. It was promised to be in my hands 11/21/09 and was in port in Houston on the 18th and took another 10 days to get here. Believe me I was impatient and pissed too!

This was how the regional manager for Gulf States Toyota explained it to me. I was pissed enough that I went above my dealerships managers head and made alot of calls as 2 other 4runners came in but not mine.
They do minor prep work and stuff on them at port and when it gets done and trucked out, it is out of the dealerships hands as they just get that it's in port/in transit. Also,what you have to understand is there are thousands of autos coming off the ship at port. They can't just say"Jim Bob ,over there ordered his new 4Runner and it's way over there 1200 cars deep,let's offload and prep it first". They have to have some kind of system and cherry picking one out of thousands is'nt it.

I know it's hard to wait but you'll forget all about it with a big smile when they finally call that it is there. Tell them now not to put them dang front plate holes in the bumper and advertising stickers/plate frames on!

Good points. This is a good lesson in under-promising and over-delivering, which obviously these dealers don't practice very often. It is customer satisfaction 101. Instead, they always tell you it is going to be better than it ends up...and then they look like dishonest idiots...hence the rep most of them get...

 

[Rafael]

The same thing happened to mine when I ordered it last year. It was promised to be in my hands 11/21/09 and was in port in Houston on the 18th and took another 10 days to get here. Believe me I was impatient and pissed too!

This was how the regional manager for Gulf States Toyota explained it to me. I was pissed enough that I went above my dealerships managers head and made alot of calls as 2 other 4runners came in but not mine.
They do minor prep work and stuff on them at port and when it gets done and trucked out, it is out of the dealerships hands as they just get that it's in port/in transit. Also,what you have to understand is there are thousands of autos coming off the ship at port. They can't just say"Jim Bob ,over there ordered his new 4Runner and it's way over there 1200 cars deep,let's offload and prep it first". They have to have some kind of system and cherry picking one out of thousands is'nt it.

I know it's hard to wait but you'll forget all about it with a big smile when they finally call that it is there. Tell them now not to put them dang front plate holes in the bumper and advertising stickers/plate frames on!

I agree with your harper7, as simple as it may seem, I was happy to see the T4R I was interested in on the lot without any holes to the front bumper. I requested that they not be drilled just before pulling the trigger. This is my first vehicle that I've had the luxury of not having them. IMO it looks great without them!

 

[cunningham1143]

Lots of factors here:

Pretty much all these dates are estimates as thousands of vehicles are sometimes at port at a time and they are being moved in and out daily.
They do keep them at port at times for installing certain items that are not on when they ship them and inspecting them.
So, yeh they do have some work to do on them and sometimes they get blocked up in these huge lots.
Its also logistics based on when and where the trucks/trains are running to.

Its just best not to get in a rush, times from "port" to "dealer" can vary greatly from unit to unit....