The SECRET Way Toyota RIPS OFF Customers $1,000s | Toyota WAKE UP

Honda, Toyota, and Subaru Are Making A HUGE MISTAKE

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Ray and Zach shine a light on a company that car buyers in the Bible Belt know all too well: Southeast Toyota Distributors. For years, they've been adding needless accessories to their cars at their ports of entry, forcing dealers AND consumers to pay for their greed.

[glennford]

Just stop buying. Problem solved. I was in a dealership yesterday for service. Sales people were sitting around doing nothing. We need more of that.

[Encourageable]

I bought a brand new Corolla for my son in August 2021. Those add-ons are on the window sticker. When my wife and I sat down to talk with the salesman the first thing we told him is that those add-ons were of no value to us. He said OK and he took them off the price. And we were still able to get it down even further. This was right around the time that prices went crazy so maybe our timing was good. This was in Tampa.

[James-ycfc]

Went to a Toyota Dealership yesteday. MSRP for a Tundra SR5 was $52.746. Dealer added equipment and market adjustment included pin striping, step bards, and a Toyota first aid kit. New total nearly $76, 000. I am absolutely APPALLED that my local dealer would treat their community this way. Nearly a $25K markup. I can find more than 3, 000 Tundra Limited (1 trim up) with more bells and whistles for the high 50s elsewhere. People have to be buying these insane markups or they wouldn't do it.

[DaveCLL]

Yes, last week I went to my local Honda dealership to look at a Honda Pilot. They had a few on the lot, so I thought I would see if I could get a decent price on one of them. As noted in this video, there were all loaded with both distributor and dealer add-ons. Despite this I began to negotiate in earnest to get those either deleted or heavily discounted. This was met with a stonewall. I was willing to take their financing, even though I could do better elsewhere. I even put my trade-in into the mix. But no matter what I pitched, they would not budge on the add-ons. After about an hour I decided I was not going to buy their vehicle or any vehicle so ridiculously priced. And I also decided to keep negotiating, just to torture the dealership. For another three hours, I kept hammering. (I'm retired, so I've got a lot of time on my hands.) They even brought in "relief salesmen" as I worked them through their dinner hour. I knew it was not going anywhere, but I wanted to see them dance. So after a 4 1/2 hour workout, I stood up and told them I would have to think about it and walked out. Soon my phone began to ring. The salesman was putting in his best effort to get a sale, but still no movement on the add-ons. To continue the torture, I responded that I was still thinking about it. This pattern repeated for several days before they stopped calling. This coming week, I'm going to see what I can cook up with the American brands. I see that they have a lot of cars on their lots, so I expect I will be driving American in a week or two.

[theflyingbrompton]

As a resident of Texas and in the market for a 4Runner, this is absolutely correct. Also, Gulf States don’t offer the highly sought after KDSS suspension while Mountain States do. But dealers in Colorado have dealer add ons of 5k if you’re an out of state buyer. Local buyers can purchase the same vehicle with no dealer add ons and no port installed accessories. Toyota’s system is broken and they are ripping off their loyal customers.

[aaronvenn]

Always found it hard to believe that these dealerships were spending their time adding features to all these cars. This explains it, thanks.

[Robby]

Use the free market and competition! I work as a New Car manager for Toyota at a dealership that hasn't gone over MSRP since this all began. Sure some accessories get added on, but in our region we don't have the mandatory add-ons.

Consumers have more power now than at anytime in history. This applies to every purchase we make. If you don't like the structure you're getting, then you can find someone who won't take advantage of you from the comfort of your own couch.

Use the power you have with the internet and contact out of state dealers. We have had many customers from Florida, Texas and North Carolina purchase a one way plane ticket and drive the vehicle back. We even pick them up at the airport. Even with that added expense they purchased in a state with a lower doc fee and saved thousands on the vehicle itself.


The only way to change any of this is to reward the dealers doing it the right way and don't purchase from the dealers who aren't. As long as customers are willing to pay the extra charges to get the vehicle... the extra charges will keep coming. It's not shady, it's just business 101 to maximize the amount of profit you make.

[bills]

Thank you for explaining the Toyota Mafia. Manufacturer - Distributor - Dealer shake down. Port installed toyotacare - 2 oil changes and 4 tire rotations for $800. OMG! Toyota looks more like GM every day.

[markgennaro]

Your are correct, however, there is a way around this process. You have to pre order your vehicle before it gets to the distributor and then the add on parts are negotiable. I do this all the time and save money by not buying parts I don't want or need such as nerf bars. You need to establish a relationship with your dealership and be willing to place a deposit on your order. You select your vehicle early in the process. Great video guys.

[petervg]

Normally I buy every 5 years but my current honda is 9 years old. I am going to be like my parents and keep the honda for 15 or 2o years. The prices are just being run up too damn high.

[donjohnson]

The Toyota dealers most everywhere are pulling funky garbage like this.

We’re sitting this market out and when the tide turns, plan on retuning the favor.

Car buying is a contact sport. Treat it as such.

[fixingwhatihave]

Found an Avalon in Florida. Dealer tried to add $3800 in fees. Said they were non-negotiable. Oh yeah, I had to finance through them. No outside financing on used cars. I told them to wait for their sucker, cause it ain't me. By the way they have have the vehicle for over 90 Days.

[ippolitius]

Bought my 4Runner used 200k miles ago. Don’t plan on getting rid of it any time soon. My heel just finally wore through the original driver side floor mat

[joeythedime]

100% Agree - South East Toyota adds way to many things. In Florida, it's impossible to find a 4Runner that doesn't have TOYOGUARD Platinum, plus paint protection, and other port added options. Plus and then add the super high dealer doc fee's. Also, most dealers will try and finance you thru - Southeast Toyota Finance. It's was easier and overall ~$2, 500 cheaper for me to buy, my new 4Runner, from an out-of-state Toyota dealer and pay $500 to ship it to Florida. Buying a Toyota in Florida sucks....

[lucidingo]

Been through this with Gulf States.
Was completed amazed when I realized they could reprint the window sticker and make it look factory installed.
I was so turned off that we've only bought the one Toyota.

[ronhughes]

I wanted to buy a new RAV4 those add-on something I didn't want was going to cost over $2000.00 more. I just walked away.

[jrtaylor]

It was sit there and rot before I would pay those charges, if you're on a tight budget (like me) over time it's always cheaper to maintain what you have. Especially when it's paid for, and it is truly yours 🙂

[Do-UR-Research]

I refused to pay for the Toyogaurd that Southeast Toyota Distributor added to a vehicle that was in transit. Local South Florida dealer claimed they called the distributor and had it removed. I'm not sure they did or just dropped the sell price to match the cost of the Toyogaurd.
Nonetheless, I ended up turning down the deal and buying a vehicle out of state and saved thousands.

[aaronhansen]

NorthCut Toyota in Enid OK. Removed all Port installed items.

They were trust worthy and took them all off the build before the vehicle got to the distributor.

You can negotiate all these off with the right dealer

[outkast]

I worked for Crown Port Services in Baltimore, Maryland over 30 years ago and they were doing the same thing. They even had a body shop to fix damaged new vehicles before they reached the dealer. They had an aftermarket A/c shop and audio packages were installed there too.