The Allocation spreadsheet and how to get a car

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12AOGT6iUNIkQt3L-ODDgSb71_WNgFFou/edit#gid=1778429684

This is much easier to view on desktop. Mobile Google docs sucks butt.

Props to the spreadsheet guy Johny5. It has helped me and many others, and it will continue to help many more.

This is how I got my car, and hopefully it helps you get your car.

  • open the spreadsheet linked at the top of the post

  • Find the sheet with the trim/transmission you prefer.

    • I preferred to narrow by color, since that was my goal. Your goal may be different (prefer low add-ons, prefer local, etc)

  • Filter appropriately by using the "Temporary Filter View" to the left of the zoom percentage

    • Filtering can be done by clicking the 3 lines at the top of each column
    • At the time I purchased my car, I was filtering by Status of Allocation and sorting by newest Date Added. This will pull the most recently allocated cars

If filtering for local dealerships, you can narrow by state or even select a handful of dealerships.

If filtering for minimal add-ons you can filter by MSRP.

If you are smart and don't want to pay dealer markup, you can sort the Dealer Markup column by A to Z to put the discount numbers first, then the 0 markup, then the greater than 0 marked up cars at the bottom.

If you find a car you are interested in, check these things:

  • Status

    • Allocation means they have the order, this is where your chances are best because you are not fighting to get a car off the lot
    • Freight means it's on the boat or at the port
    • Ground means it's only a few days away from the dealership

  • Make sure "IsPresold" is FALSE, this would be a good default filter to have

  • Look at the "Date Added" column, this will tell you when it was added to the spreadsheet. More recently added cars will have a greater chance of being available

How to proceed once a vehicle is identified (what I did):

  • Call the dealership and ask to speak to a sales rep about an allocated car
  • Ask about putting a deposit down on the car. Many will say refundable only, but the one I put down was non-refundable, but I only put 1 deposit down not many. YMMV here. Refundable is preferred.
  • Verify the price will not have markup. I was able to get a price sheet from the dealership, not a Toyota build sheet, but their quote to me for the car with X down
  • If using external financing, do not mention that
  • Put a deposit down over the phone if the dealership is too far away to drive to for something so simple. Get a receipt. My dealership was about 1.5 hours away and I did a credit card over the phone $500 deposit and emailed me a receipt.
  • I had to email drivers license picture as well as insurance card for my car (not GR86 that I didn't have yet, this is probably a state dependent thing)

Now you wait. My car took 2 months from deposit to pickup. That is certainly not what you should expect, and you should plan on longer. Your Mileage WILL Vary here.

I stalked the car with https://toyota-tracker.com to see when it was in the Freight phase and then when it went to the Ground phase. Once it hit the Ground phase, I called the salesman back and started to discuss pickup time/date and financing stuff, what I needed to bring, etc.

I picked up the car on the last day of the month and financed through the dealership with full intentions of refinancing at a credit union. I refinanced at my credit union about a month after picking the car up.

This is not a guaranteed way to get a car, but it's a whole lot better than looking on dealer websites, going to local dealerships to be ripped off $500 because they say they can order it for you, or calling a bunch of dealerships to be treated like an idiot.

Let me know if I missed anything. It would be cool to pin something because I see posts every day of people putting money down at a dealership for an "order" with no timeline given, or 8+ month estimates.