Toyota special orders - finding largest dealers

Supposedly, getting a Toyota special order completed in a reasonably timely manner happens most easily if you go through a dealer with a very large inventory of cars ordered every month.

  1. Can anyone confirm if this is true?

  1. How do you determine what the largest volume Toyota dealers are in your area? (In my case, living in South Bend, Indiana, any place within 2 or 3 hours of me, which would include Chicago, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne would work.)

  2. Is there a way to see the volume at a dealer for a particular model?

Bud H

Reply to
Bud H
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Yes and no. "Special orders" are do-able if the order is not for an oddball accessory combination that would be difficult to sell.

Dealers get their inventory based on an allocation system which is based on a 90 day sales history.

When the factory allocates cars, the idea is to equalize every dealers' days supply of vehicles. If dealer A has a 30 Camrys in stock and he has a 30 days supply of Camrys, he sells an average of 1 per day. If dealer B also sells an average of 1 Camry per day and has 10 Camrys in stock, he has a 10 day supply.

If all the Camrys being allocated would bring the region up to a 45 day supply, then dealer A would get an additional 15 Camrys and Dealer B would get 35 Camrys.

So, the short answer is that it is not easy to tell how many of a particular model a dealer will be allocated in a particular allocation. The regional office probably runs 2 or 3 allocations per month.

The largest dealers tend to be in metro areas. The largest retail Toyota dealer in the U.S. is Penske Toyota in El Monte, CA

You don't need to go the largest dealer to get your car. You only need to go to one that is large enough to earn a decent allocation of the model you're looking for.

The largest dealers in the Chicago region (of which South Bend is a part) are probably Schaumburg Toyota, Arlington Toyota, and Bredemann Toyota in the northwest suburgs of Chicago. (My un-scientific guess, based on a habit of looking at dealer license plate frames when I'm driving).

Not unless you subscribe to R.L. Polk registrations - be prepared to pay thousands per month!

Reply to
Ray O

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