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Thread: Toyota dealer apocalypse

  1. #1
    Abducted by Aliens Borderland's Avatar
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    Toyota dealer apocalypse

    I went to my Toyota dealer today for my free service. I was about halfway across the lot when a young salesman asks me if I wanted to sell my 4R. I said I've only had it a short time and I had no reason to sell it. He then said he had to ask so I went about my business. I gave service my keys and walked around a bit. I then realized they had empty lots. I looked for new pickups, Tundra's or Tacoma's, and there wasn't a single one. I then looked for new 4r's. None of those either. Same for Highlanders. Then a salesman came out and we started to chat. He told me the shortage started 4 months ago. Now they are taking deposits for deliveries 90-120 days out. He said their inventory was reduced by about 70%.

    Apparently there's a semiconductor shortage in the auto industry but I never realized it was this bad. That's a yuge shortage. This is going to drive up the prices of new vehicles for a very long time.
    In the P-F basket of deplorables.

  2. #2
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    There is a shortage of chips, which has caused some assembly lines to shut down. This is partly the reason why $50B of Biden's infrastructure bill would go to domestic semiconductor development.

    When we bought my wife's Highlander 1.5 years ago, the local Toyota dealer had an overflow lot filled with cars. This was in addition to their normal lot, which was also pretty big. Last week I drove by the dealership, and the overflow lot was completely empty.

  3. #3
    Site Supporter farscott's Avatar
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    Part of the lack of dealer stock is the semiconductor shortage, but another part of it is unexpected demand combined with two months of lost production. When COVID hit in the spring of 2020, automotive production, both final assembly and component manufacturing, shut down for about two months. The industry lost about 16% of scheduled production and has been trying to dig out of that hole since the lines restarted. Many parts are impacted as some plastics and steel are hard to get or has skyrocketed in price. Even getting parts made is not a guarantee as parts are sitting on ships in ports on the west coast waiting to be unloaded.

    Add the heightened demand from stimulus cash and the result is supply shortfalls. As I have mentioned before, now is one of the worst times to purchase or lease a vehicle. If you can put off a purchase or lease for about two years, it will save money.

  4. #4
    We just bought a 2017 Ford F150. I had planned to wait until next year, at least, but since we are now travel trailer people, it wasn't reasonable to use my rickety old 2001 woodsbumming rig as my family adventure mobile.

    Then I was going to wait until June or July, but every time I ran an Autotrader search, fewer vehicles meeting my criteria would pop up, then fewer used F150s period, then fewer full size trucks period.

    So when one that met all my specs popped up, we just drove an hour and a half and bought it. We paid a "reasonable" price that we could easily afford, but they clearly weren't in the mood to deal. The lot was super empty. They gave me more than I expected on my old truck without blinking an eye.
    I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.

  5. #5
    Four String Fumbler Joe in PNG's Avatar
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    The Suez thing didn't help much- there's been a pretty big knock on effect on worldwide shipping.
    "You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
    "I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI

  6. #6
    Abducted by Aliens Borderland's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lester Polfus View Post
    We just bought a 2017 Ford F150. I had planned to wait until next year, at least, but since we are now travel trailer people, it wasn't reasonable to use my rickety old 2001 woodsbumming rig as my family adventure mobile.

    Then I was going to wait until June or July, but every time I ran an Autotrader search, fewer vehicles meeting my criteria would pop up, then fewer used F150s period, then fewer full size trucks period.

    So when one that met all my specs popped up, we just drove an hour and a half and bought it. We paid a "reasonable" price that we could easily afford, but they clearly weren't in the mood to deal. The lot was super empty. They gave me more than I expected on my old truck without blinking an eye.
    I sold my 07 Duramax last year because we stopped doing the travel trailer thing. 3 days after I listed it on Craig's List I had a buyer. No negotiation. He drove 3 hours to look at it, paid the asking price with cash and drove away with a smile on his face. Easiest sale I ever made.
    In the P-F basket of deplorables.

  7. #7
    Abducted by Aliens Borderland's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by trailrunner View Post
    There is a shortage of chips, which has caused some assembly lines to shut down. This is partly the reason why $50B of Biden's infrastructure bill would go to domestic semiconductor development.

    When we bought my wife's Highlander 1.5 years ago, the local Toyota dealer had an overflow lot filled with cars. This was in addition to their normal lot, which was also pretty big. Last week I drove by the dealership, and the overflow lot was completely empty.
    That was about the time I bought my 4R. They had about 20 on the lot to choose from. I got an excellent deal, no trade. Those days may be long gone. We were lucky with the timing.
    In the P-F basket of deplorables.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Borderland View Post
    I sold my 07 Duramax last year because we stopped doing the travel trailer thing. 3 days after I listed it on Craig's List I had a buyer. No negotiation. He drove 3 hours to look at it, paid the asking price with cash and drove away with a smile on his face. Easiest sale I ever made.
    Just for grits and shingles, I ran an auto trader search. There used to be two pages of results that met my basic criteria (2017-2020 F150, 4x4, 3.5L EcoBoost, 5.5' bed.) Today's search only had one page, with about a dozen results. Several of those didn't have the tow package I wanted. Only one had the FX4 package, and it was a salvage title.

    Most importantly, none of them were red.

    I'm glad we bought when we did.
    I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.

  9. #9
    Gucci gear, Walmart skill Darth_Uno's Avatar
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    My wife took her TRD 4Runner in for service yesterday (tires and oil) and they had one 4Runner on the whole lot. If the internet/Reddit is to be believed, 2020 Tundras and 4Runners are getting more for cash/trade-in than they sold for.

  10. #10
    Gucci gear, Walmart skill Darth_Uno's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by farscott View Post
    When COVID hit in the spring of 2020, automotive production, both final assembly and component manufacturing, shut down for about two months. The industry lost about 16% of scheduled production and has been trying to dig out of that hole since the lines restarted.
    I'm sure I paid a premium for the Tundra, but when I bought it last fall they gave me more for my '17 Silverado than I paid. At the time, GM was way behind on deliveries. A friend of mine had been waiting months for a GMC Denali.

    I looked it up a few days later and they had my Silverado listed for 5k than they gave me on trade. I assume they sold it for about that much.

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