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Build date to dealer time frame

26K views 21 replies 17 participants last post by  cx5er 
#1 ·
New member, first post. Our dealer gave us a build date on a HL Limited of 5 May and probable arrival on his lot 15 May. To me this sounds very optimistic. I would like to know what others have experienced. This will be our first Toyota!
 
#3 ·
I imagine the short time between an order and a build date shows how many they're making every day. I waited much longer for a Tacoma. That took about two months from order to delivery.


A friend recently bought a Highlander that was on the dealer's lot less than a week after the build date. So delivery is very fast in the continental U.S. since the plant is in southern Indiana.
 
#4 ·
Ours was built sometime in October 2014, shipped to Dealer "A", traded and shipped to Dealer "B", where it sat for a week or 10 days before we took delivery on Nov. 7.

HTH, and best of luck!
Jim / crewzer
 
#6 ·
May or may not be helpful, but when I ordered ours in March, the Highlander was in the Dealer's allotment, but still needed tweaking for the options we wanted. From when the Dealer updated the build in their allotment to when it was at the dealer ready to go was five weeks and one day.
 
#7 ·
It all depends where you live and if the vehicle you are looking for is already made or is the dealership trading another vehicle for yours.

For example, my xle I wanted was already made and enroute to my dealership before I talked to them, so basically the car that was enroute to the dealership just happened to be one I actually wanted so it worked out in favor for me. But I in the the Pacific Northwest and shipping from the manufacture to unloading destination took 3 weeks (I work with a company that unloads vehicles for BNSF, so I was able to trace real time where the vehicle was and eta of when it will arrive), than another 4 days for the trucking company to ship the vehicle from the unloading yard to the dealership I am purchasing from. It took and only took 4 days because I work with the trucking company that hauls the Toyotas from this certain yard to the dealerships. So the trucking company was helping me out and doing it as a favor.

So all in all it really depends where you are located, is the dealership going to trade another vehicle for yours if another dealership already has it or they actually going to order one directly from the manufacturer. Usually from what I experience at work it takes 2-3 months. But than again it all depends on a lot of things.
 
#8 ·
The dealer tried to locate one and after 4 days we were given the 5 May build date. I don't know if this was in his allotment or not. The vehicle isn't an exchange with another dealer.

The wife insisted on shoreline blue with ash interior. It seems that Toyota is building slb exterior with almond and black interiors only. I hope the reason isn't because the colors clash. My preference was black but I have black in my F-350, so I lost!.

We are located in MA.
 
#9 ·
My guess would be May 5 is a slot the dealer already had for that particular config, (or very close) and they changed it.

They can change it all the way up until the factory cuts the VIN number.

I would ask your dealer to tell you how long it typically takes from factory build to delivery. They should know this. My dealer over-estimated by about 2 days. (They don't know how fast the truck driver will drive, and don't want to under estimate)

My experience -- when they say May 5, they will build it on May 5.
 
#15 ·
My dealer told me that they accumulate all of the cars going to my region (southern cal). They then send them by rail to the regional location (mine was Riverside, California). At that point, they accumulate them until there are enough cars to go on a car transport to my local area. So the 2 1/2 weeks it took mine to get from build date made very good sense.
 
#19 ·
Went to the dealer and left deposit on 4/10/2015. Sales guy told me it would take about a month for the vehicle to arrive.

A month later, sales guy keep telling me the computer show that the vehicle is incoming, but don't know the exact arrival date.

I asked him for VIN. He said it's not available yet.

From my past car purchase experience (BMW), I can track the vehicle (with VIN) from being built to delivery to dealer on the website.

What should I do? Should I just be patience? any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
#22 ·
I just picked up the car today. I wasn't expecting to go this fast. Originally, I was told my build date was May 22. So, I wasn't expecting to hear back from my SR until probably second week of June. But lo and behold, two weeks later, he called and told us that the car was already on the lot. I'm guessing someone backed out or they got an extra allocation. I have been checking inventory in some dealerships and it appears that there's still not many sitting on the lot at the moment. I was told that average delivery after build date was three weeks. You should expect yours to be on the lot by first week of July.
 
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