These are my experiences, thoughts, and feelings as a consumer and should not be mistaken for legal advice!

How I found and purchased my vehicle and avoided paying for any illegal predatory aftermarket added dealer merchandise, services, or accessories.

• I accessed State and Federal Consumer Rights Regulations
• Utilized State Attorney General Consumer Rights online complaint forms
• Utilized the Toyota.com vehicle locator search function
• Reddit Rav4 prime allocation spreadsheet updated daily now
• Utilized the State DMV Dealership Investigator Unit

During this entire time I was looking for a vehicles across the Country and I was offered 12 premium package primes in total plus #13 which I purchased. I had previously attempted to buy 2 of those vehicles but the sales fell through due to predatory illegal sales tactics that I just could not support but I did fight. I only paid one deposit during this time to a dealership in order to be on a waiting list. I made it a point to not pay a deposit unless a dealership had a vehicle that was confirmed allocated and available for purchase.

Dealerships Predatory Pitch

The social acquired syndrome or social norms that dealerships have been spoon feeding us for generations are in fact LIES!! I got my vehicle by specifically and intentionally going after the dealerships blatantly violating the laws. My favorite of their lies are

The dealer aftermarket accessories can not be removed and if you don’t want to pay for these then you don’t have to buy the vehicle” and “the $1,000 DOC fee is non negotiable”

TIP: Factory and Port installed accessories are not the same as Dealer aftermarket installed merchandise/accessories. FIO and PIO are added to the vehicle by the Manufacturer and usually at the request of the dealer or regional distributor and are legally reflected in the base MSRP. Dealer aftermarket merchandise is legally prohibited from being added to the Window sticker aka the Monroney Label. Furthermore States Like Oregon, New Jersey, Arizona, and California make it illegal for dealerships to add these charges to a purchase agreement against the consent of the buyer.

Factory Supplied Accessories

FIO and PIO accessories stand for Factory installed and Port installed accessories that will always show up on the VSPEC with PIO or FIO next to it and are included in the vehicle base MSRP. This is what a normal VSPEC should look like.

Below is the image of an unethical fraudulent offer price where the dealership lumps in aftermarket accessories without the consent or knowledge of the buyer by front loading it into the “sale price”. Anything listed after the MSRP (excluding the Delivery processing/handling fee) is supposed to legally be the consumers choice to purchase or remove. Furthermore the dealership added as many FIO and PIO accessories as possible to inflate the sale price of the vehicle. These accessories are also legally supposed to be removable by the consumer but many dealerships play dumb or refuse to remove them. More on how and when to fight this below.

Dealership employees and die hard supporters say “dealerships have the right to advertise these aftermarket accessories, services and merchandise”. Except #1. I have never seen “an advertisement” show up as an amount due on a receipt before and #2. Most State consumer rights laws disagree with this dealership strong held miss belief because it is illegal to charge consumers for goods and services they do not agree to purchase.

There are extra accessories that can be added to a vehicle and shipped out by the manufacturer at the same time as purchasing the vehicle. These accessories however can normally be purchased at significant discount of 20%-40% if purchased separate from the new vehicle. Many unethical dealerships will lie to consumers and insist that they can not remove these accessories from the vehicles even when the vehicle has not yet been built. In truth consumers can legally request for these items to be removed because the consumer is the customer not the dealership.

For example Toyota OEM roof rail is listed as $315.00 on a vehicle spec sheet but on the Toyota parts website it is listed for MSRP of $250 and is currently on sale for $188. So why is that VSPEC price $65 higher than MSRP? The more important question is why is the sale price of $188 not being applied to the exact item added to my vehicle purchase?

TIP: Wait to buy OEM accessories and do not buy them at the same time as the vehicle by adding on items to the new vehicle purchase. OEM Accessories can regularly be purchased at a 15%-40% discount with free shipping and an additional 15%-20% discount from the lowest marked price during Manufacturer online sales and picked up at a participating dealer or even shipped to your home for free on qualifying orders.

Far From the Factory, Adding Final Touches By Ken Belson was published in the New York Times in 2011 and discusses the process of Toyota logistics, otherwise known as port installed accessories processing and installation. It was shared that consumers can request deletion and additions of manufacturer accessories up until 2 days before the vehicle docks in the US. This contradicts what dealership sales managers and employees have told consumers “factory installed accessories can’t be removed from the vehicle purchase”.

Furthermore if a vehicle is placed on a quality control hold prior to arriving in the US port then this means consumers can still request factory accessory deletion. The factory port installed accessories are not installed on vehicles that arrive under a quality control hold. Once the vehicle passes inspection and is released from the quality control hold then the factory installed accessories are added.

I was severely delayed in receiving vital shipping information regarding My 2023 Toyota RAV4 prime, despite me directly asking for this information from my dealership operations manager. I only learned that it had arrived at PDX port on 5/31/23 one day after its arrival. I learned from a different source that the vehicle was placed on a quality control hold on 5/19/23 and had left Japan on 5/17/23, no thanks at all to my dealership.

Knowing that my vehicle was on a quality control hold I knew that the factory installed accessories would not be installed until after the vehicle passed inspection and was released from the hold status. So I insisted that my dealership submit the request to remove the factory accessories that I did not want. The dealership used delay tactics and tried to play ignorant and say that this could not be done. I was not accepting this response and insisted it be removed while on the QC hold at the Toyota logistics facility. Within 24 hours it was removed!

Avoid Confrontation

⚠️ Rule#1. Do not try and educate or debate with a car dealership employee, sales manager, or their Vice President of Sales and distributions for the regional auto group. Guaranteed they know exactly what laws they are breaking and will double down on their lies, hang up on you, ghost your texts and emails, cancel your purchase order and claim that like magic “the vehicle just sold” so that they won’t have to do business with an informed buyer. All of these things have happen to me multiple times as well as to countless others.

Instead of the dealership conducting ethical business practices and upholding consumer informed consent practices and regulations they force uninformed consumers into assuming unnecessary debt. It has been my experience that when confronting unethical dealerships they will do everything in their power to double down and lie even when confronted with a written law that disproves their lies as nothing more than illegal predatory sales tactics. I will go into detail about how to easily fight these immoral and underhanded dealerships.

⚠️Rule #2. Do not refer to these vehicle as “unicorns”. This is a subconscious way of self sabotage. These vehicles are real and available for purchase so there is no reason to sew self doubt. Instead create measurable, realistic, attainable goals. Examples;

• Look at dealership website “meet our staff” and get the name of internet sales manager and contact information.
• Contact 2 large dealerships and inquire about vehicle and any mark ups.
• Report dealerships violating consumer rights
• Be available to monitor allocation days incoming inventory

Lack of Consumer Rights

When I started my car shopping experience in January 2023 I was beyond angry as I experienced local dealerships trying to run rough shot and treat customers badly with bait and switch, credit check scams, or by front loading junk accessories into the purchase agreement. I learned that these issues have existed for decades but were only put under a magnify glass recently thanks to the current presidential administration and the Federal Trade Commission working together to help enact National consumer rights regulations to protect consumers everywhere! I was able to fight against these predatory sales practices in multiple States from the West Coast to the East Coast and I have done it all as a consumer.

Despite the federal and State consumer rights regulations in place I was getting attacked by salesmen and other buyers in forums, groups, and over the phone for advocating for these consumer rights and sharing this information with other buyers. So if any other place of business were treating consumers this badly here is what it might look like.

• For just one moment I want you to imagine you are at a grocery store check out and all you want to buy is a sandwich from the deli and a drink. The cashier says to you “unless you buy $300 in gift cards then I can’t sell this to you”.

• Imagine someone arriving to the hospital ER and the doctors and nurses stop all treatment to say “we are requiring all patients to agree to pay for a colonoscopy today and if you do not agree then you can pick a different hospital”.

• Imagine walking into a restaurant and sitting down and being handed your menu. The server asks “can I take your order?” And you say “I want the BBQ salmon BLT no onions” and the server says “well you really have to buy it with onions and $100 worth of gift cards or I can’t sell you the meal.”

• Now imagine you walk into a car dealership and a salesmen says “Can I help you find the perfect vehicle today?” and you respond “yes I would like this exact vehicle” and they respond “then you need to pay for all of this “optional mandatory additional aftermarket merchandise that could cost $5,000 or $10,000” And you say “no thank you” they respond “well then we can’t sell you the vehicle.”

In healthcare as a nurse there are 10 universal national patient rights and a recently added one is the patients right to refuse treatment! people have the legal right to refuse medical services but car dealerships would have everyone believe that we do not have the right to refuse unwanted added aftermarket dealer merchandise.

The purchase of a new vehicle is considered a major life event and truthfully one that is often fraught with mistrust, lies, deception, manipulation and at best most people may never fully learn the depths at which they may have been taken advantage of. We hope that we aren’t being led astray and that what the salesmen and finance employees tell us is the truth but in my experience the majority of dealerships tell nothing but lies. While the minority of honest dealerships have extensive 1-2 year customer waiting lists. This might just be business for them but for the rest of us this can be our livelihood, the difference between keeping our jobs and homes because we need transportation to get to work to pay for the roofs over our heads. Or we face sacrificing our ethics, morals, and decency and swallow our dignity to allow ourselves to be scammed and lied to by dealerships like Rosevill Toyota, Wilssonville Toyota, Toyota World of Newton NJ, Parkway Toyota of Englewood Cliffs NJ, Royal Moore Toyota, Norm a reeves Toyota of San Diego, Anaheim Toyota, etc..

The salesmen and especially the sales managers already have an entire menu of predatory sales tactics that they are trained to push onto buyers regardless of what the buyer wants. Car dealerships across the US pay a lot of money to politicians to stop consumer rights laws from being enacted. One such consumer rights initiative is for the car buying process to cut out dealerships and move to online purchase platforms that would be transparent and uphold federal and state consumer rights laws. Moving to a transparent and legal form of doing business would completely undermine all of the various predatory sales and scam tactics that dealerships heavily rely on for making profit and this is why they lobby against any new consumer rights laws.

It is more important than ever for consumers to pay attention and support State and Federal anti junk fee, right to repair, and anti automotive subscription fee initiatives! All 3 of these movements are being fought against by the National Automotive Coalition and similar Auto Interest Groups.

Expectations

In the last few years buyers state that they have waited more than one to two years and were never offered a premium package trim level vehicle let alone the color vehicle they wanted. All of the vehicles I was offered were premium package vehicles and originally came with either a dealer adjusted markup or illegal front loaded after market dealer accessories. I was able to practice my negotiating skills and negotiate the adjusted dealer markups down in price or had the illegal after market accessories completely removed from the purchase agreement. I had no idea or expectation that doing these following steps would work but I must caution you this is a slow acting process and can take weeks or months depending on what State and agencies you are working with.

These recommendations are only as reliable as the state regulations and employees hired to uphold the laws. My case filed in Utah went cold after an Attorney General investigator and DMV fraud investigator both admitted to failing to do their jobs. A Utah State Attorney once told me that the city and state employees can pick and choose what laws they want to enforce, which sounds like a sad excuse for inaction and corruption. Overall the best State in my experience has been Oregon! The DMV investigators and the Attorney General investigators have real power and impact to make change.

Where to Start?

You know all of those unethical dealerships that have been openly telling buyers that they are going to require a $7,000 dealer after market merchandise/accessories add on or they won’t sell the vehicle? Well those are the dealerships you now want to focus on and take a closer look at.

🎗TIP: Realize that no manufacturer or business can create a company policy that contradicts, conflicts, or violates written County, City, State, or Federal Regulations.

Example: “Our dealer DOC fee is non negotiable and we have a regional wide policy that we have to process the title, registration, and sales taxes.” if the state regulations say “dealers are not required by the state to collect this fee on part of any government entity”. Then their policy dictating that they are required to perform these tasks is 100% in clear violation of a consumers choice to perform these tasks themself.

#1. Federal & State Automotive Laws

A great place to start for a crash course in dealership predatory sales practices 101 is at the homeworkguy.com. Accessing city, county, state, and federal laws online is usually an easy process. Whenever I run into a dead end I call to get direction in finding and accessing the online resources. Start by calling the state attorney general office or DMV investigators.

The laws I focused in on educating myself about include

• Dealership marketing and advertising – State level
• State Sales and Trades laws
• State consumer Rights laws
• Magnuson moss warranty act – Federal
• Fair Credit Act – Federal and State level
• patriot act as it pertains to cash buyers – Federal
• DMV tittle and registration fees dealer auto regulations- State Regulations
• Documentation conveyance or service (DOC) fees – State regulations
• and lastly consumer rights laws in regards to the illegal front loading of after market dealer accessories aka junk fees such as car alarms, anti stain interior sprays, nitro tire fill, etc.. State and Federal Regulations

I started with my home state laws of Oregon which are some of the strongest and best laws across the Nation for both consumer rights and business rights. I then began to copy and past the laws into a word doc for easier referencing. Next I turned my focus across the nation and I familiarized myself with the states getting the highest numbers of allocation of the vehicle I wanted like VA, MA, CO, NY, NJ, and CA. At the state level I focused on each states attorney general consumer rights and department of motor vehicle fraud investigations departments. At the federal level I focused on the FTC anti junk fee regulations.

Some states are going to be worse than others and have minimal if any consumer rights laws in existence like Georgia.

Here are the Oregon Protected Consumer Rights laws I found imperative to the new car buying process. I gathered all of the laws into one google DOC that can be accessed by anyone.

✨🌟Oregon Car Buyers Consumer Rights 🌟✨

Car Dealership Credit Report Scams and the Patriot Act

This is when you call a dealership and they say “we just need to do a credit check on you to verify funds” and this is not only unnecessary but it is also illegal.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) limits access to your credit information in these types of situations. According to the FCRA, credit reporting agencies may only provide information about you to people who have a valid need: creditors, insurers, employers, landlords and other specified businesses. While consumers must provide identifying information to buy a car for more than $10,000 in cash, they should not allow the dealer to run a credit report if they are not using dealership financing. The dealer must get a consumer’s permission to run his or her credit report.

Industry experts, including attorneys from both the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association (NIADA), say that the Patriot Act does not require dealers to run a credit report on customers who pay cash.

Laws designed to combat money laundering by terrorist organizations do require dealers to check the identification of customers paying more than $10,000 in cash and to report those transactions to the Internal Revenue Service on Form 8300. Paying with a cashier’s check, money order or traveler’s check also qualifies as a cash transaction, according to the IRS. (Oddly, a personal check does not qualify as cash, according to the IRS form’s instructions.

Adjusted Dealer Markup

Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat. This mark up is 100% legal and 100% negotiable. However it is illegal for the dealership to change this price on buyers and must charge the same markup for all customers. This is especially true if the vehicle is advertised without the mark up or with a lower markup. Ex. Call the dealership about a vehicle advertised sale price of $50,000 without an adjusted market value dealer markup and the sales associate says “oh that vehicle actually has a $15,000 added dealer value markup” this is illegal and violates most state marketing and advertising laws and is considered deceptive and fraudulent.

TIP: From all of my research the goal here is to get this price at $3k or less!

Toyota Smart Path

The Toyota online Smart path purchase platform was another vital tool in combating deceptive sales tactics. The system is built in adherence to the federal consumer rights regulations. What this means is that there are built in legal disclosures and safety features that are supposed to protect consumers and stop dealerships from illegally front loading or charging consumers for after market accessories without buyer consent. Any accessories that are advertised or offered by the dealership requires that consumers are provided a) an itemization of charges that can not be lumped into the same pricing format as the Monroney sticker pricing or the final out the door sale price and must be listed separately. This is to guarantee that consumers are not mislead into believing that these items are mandatory or included in the purchase. b) consumers must consent to the charges being added to the purchase agreement and c) are given the legal right to decline these 100% consumers choice aftermarket accessories.

⚠️TIP: This system is not fool proof as dealerships have found ways to circumvent the built in consumer rights safety features and are still front loading the dealer aftermarket merchandise into the sale price and purchase agreement without giving buyers the legal protected right to decline the accessories.⚠️

Doc Fee

This sub category is a major money grab in many states.

This fee is supposed to compensate dealerships who offer customers to complete the DMV registration and title paper work as well as any paper work needed to purchase the vehicle aka “complete the purchase process”.

If you do an internet search for “are doc fee’s negotiable?” The general misconception is “No” but that is a LIE!!! I will give DOC fee laws from 3 different states proving that these fees are negotiable and in some cases even optional but dealerships don’t want you to know this. Oregon Law explains it best. To clarify an integrator is E-filing.

Oregon

For providing this service, dealers may charge a purchaser of a vehicle a fee for the preparation of those documents, not to exceed the amount established by ORS 822.043. This fee is always negotiable; otherwise it could be classified as a tax. A dealer can process the documents without charging a fee. In addition to the document processing fee, dealers may offer consumers the option of electronically filing their title and registration documents using an integrator. Dealers may charge consumers an additional fee for this service. Consumers must knowingly agree to pay the additional fee for this electronic filing service. If a consumer does not agree to pay the additional fee for the electronic filing service, a dealer may still electronically submit title and registration documents at no additional cost to the consumer.

OR. Admin. R. 137-020-0020 (2)(ix);official commentary, (2)(i)

A purchaser of a vehicle may negotiate the amount of the document processing fee with a vehicle dealer, but in no case shall the document processing fee charged by a vehicle dealer exceed: (a) $150, if the vehicle dealer uses an integrator; or (b) $115, if the vehicle dealer does not use an integrator (see ORS 822f.043 »).

ORS 822.043 (4)(a)(b)(5)(6)(7)

New Jersey

New Jersey law states that no dealership can charge fees above and beyond the actual expense incurred to title, register, or complete the sale process. It also makes it illegal for dealerships to charge a flat rate fee without itemization every last expense. Lastly it is illegal to over charge consumers for any part of the DOC fee.

Section 13:45A-26B.3 – Documentary service fee(a) In connection with the sale of a motor vehicle, which includes the assessment of a documentary service fee, automotive dealers shall not: 1. Represent to a consumer that a governmental entity requires the automotive dealer to perform any documentary service; or2. Accept, charge, or obtain from a consumer monies, or any other thing of value, in exchange for the performance of any documentary service without first itemizing the actual documentary service, which is being performed and setting forth in writing, in at least 10-point type, on the sale document the price for each specific documentary service.

N.J. Admin. Code § 13:45A-26B.3New Rule, R.2009 d.170, effective 5/18/2009.
See: 40 N.J.R. 2213(a), 41 N.J.R. 2138(a).

For many years, car dealers in New Jersey have charged “documentary service fees” to prepare title and registration paperwork as part of the process of selling a car to a retail consumer. These fees are charged by dealers for processing documents but are not required by the State, unlike Motor Vehicle Commission fees for the actual title and registration, which are required by the State.

Documentary service fees are defined in a regulation issued by the Department of Law and Public Safety (LPS) and include: the preparation and processing of documents in connection with the transfer of license plates, registration, or title, and the preparation and processing of other documents relating to the sale or lease of a motor vehicle.

Notice: Taxability of Documentary Fees and Other Charges in Connection With the Sale of a Motor Vehicle
Sales and Use Tax

Connecticut

This is a well written law! ❤️

Under the law, dealers must notify prospective buyers that the fee is negotiable and include the fee amount, separately stated, when providing the motor vehicle sale price. The fee may not be added to the selling price at the time the buyer signs the order (CGS § 14-62(b)).

The law also requires dealers to provide a written notice to buyers specifying the following information:

1. the amount of the conveyance fee;
2. the services the dealer provides for the fee; 3. that the fee is negotiable;
4. that the fee is not payable to the state; and
5. that the buyer may choose, if appropriate, to submit the required registration and ownership transfer documentation to the DMV commissioner (if the buyer chooses to do so, the dealer must reduce the conveyance fee proportionally).

Connecticut law allows motor vehicle dealers to charge a reasonable conveyance or processing fee (“conveyance fee”) to process documents and provide services related to a vehicle’s sale, including vehicle registration or title transfer requirements. By law, conveyance fees are negotiable. Dealers must inform buyers of, among other things, the amount

Related Law – Advertisements
By law, motor vehicle advertisements must include a statement that the advertised price excludes any state or local tax, registration fees, or dealer conveyance or processing fee. There must also be a separate, clearly identified listing of the conveyance fee amount.
A violation of this requirement is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, and the motor vehicles commissioner may suspend or revoke the dealer’s license (CGS § 14-62a).
of any conveyance fee, the services provided for the fee, and the fact that it is not payable to the state.

https://www.cga.ct.gov/2018/rpt/pdf/2018-R-0063.pdf

#2. Next I familiarized myself with the allocation timing.

On average there is an allocation release twice a month and some months like February we saw 3 allocations. This is when the dealerships are notified by their regional distributor of what vehicles they are going to receive. The allocation releases to the dealerships on a Wednesday and then they start showing up online either that day but more typically by Friday Morning and would finish by the following Monday morning. I set reminders in my calendar every two weeks from the last known date of allocation.

Realize that the east coast opens earlier than the West coast and the allocation release times are drastically different from Coast to Coast! So while an allocation might release on the East coast it still might not release for many hours or days on the West Coast.

#3. Use the Toyota vehicle inventory locator.

TIP: Be prepared to purchase a vehicle and pay to have it shipped across country!

Using this feature is helpful but not fool proof. This feature helps buyers to locate the vehicle within 500 miles of their zip code. Calling is still the only way to verify if the vehicle is in fact available for purchase or if there are any mark ups.

The bad: A lot of scuzzy dealerships will illegally add mark ups over the phone and not list a price online or will not add the mark up to the online sale price as is required by law. Other dealerships will not update the vehicles to “sale pending” in order to generate higher volume of customer interest or to do bait and switch tactics. Dealerships will also avoid listing pricing in order to change the markup pricing on buyers and create competing offers. Dealerships will also avoid listing an advertised sale price because they legally can not increase the sale price or mark up once it has been advertised. Dealerships who increase the price on buyers that goes above what is advertised, especially if the price is increased based on the buyer paying cash vs financing, then this is illegal and should be reported to the DOJ and or DMV investigators who will force the dealership to sell the vehicle or get a vehicle and sell it at the listed sale price reported.

#4. Use Reddit spread sheet.

So the Reddit list is good to help identify vehicles that maybe did not populate in the Toyota inventory search. The Reddit list is however the least reliable tool because so many other people are also using it and relying on it. What this means is that it can actually hurt peoples chances at getting a vehicle when so many others have access and are also utilizing the same information.

The best chances of getting a highly sought after low inventory vehicle relies on getting the information before it posts to the Reddit list or seeing the Reddit list before others.

Do an internet search for “rav4 prime v2 spreadsheet”

#5. ⛔️🛑⚠️ Go into phone settings and block your phone number.

When calling dealerships they will see your phone number and begin texting and calling regardless if they can or will sell you a vehicle. Within the first few questions a salesmen will ALWAYS try and get your phone number. I avoid this at all cost and insist on using my email address instead. This helps me keep track of who I have talked to and to see everything in writing.

#6. Always get the name of the salesmen you are talking to.

I like to use the dealerships website “About us” section to look up email addresses and contact info for the sales manager or internet sales manager. If calling without this information then I like to take note of the salespersons name. The easiest way to get the first and last name is by asking for a copy of the business card to be emailed to you. I have had sales managers lie to me and say that the salesperson I spoke with does not work there so that they could up charge me in junk fees or mark ups after I was informed by the salesperson that they don’t force dealer add on accessories.

#7. Keep a dealership log

I created a google doc to make a dealership log. Every time I contacted a dealership I made note of who I talked to and all pertinent information like pricing, types of markups, wait lists, are they selling to locals only, etc.. this log became 5 pages long for me.

#8. Target Scuzzy dealerships breaking the laws like front loading after market junk accessories!

These dealerships are usually the largest dealerships for their area and or are easy to find because they usually do not have a buyers waiting list! Dealerships are allowed to advertise and offer aftermarket accessories and services but they can not misrepresent these as being “mandatory” or make the sale of the vehicle contingent upon a consumer agreeing to purchase the aftermarket dealer merchandise as this is known as coercion.

⚠️⛔️ Rule #3. When faced with unwanted after market dealership added accessories simply say “I do not consent to these after market accessories being added to the purchase agreement.” I have only found one dealership that said “no problem we understand that you have the right to refuse those accessories” while the rest will argue and insist that they are apart of the vehicle purchase already, this is a lie!

⛔️⚠️🛑Do not argue simply say “Thank you I will take that into consideration”.

When purchasing a vehicle that has not yet arrived to the dealership and no aftermarket accessories have yet to be added to the vehicle then the buyer has 100% legal right to decline purchasing those dealer aftermarket added accessories/merchandise. The State of Arizona Attorney General Consumer Automotive Buyers Guide even goes as far as instructing their consumers that they have a legal right to decline aftermarket dealer merchandise that has already been installed on a vehicle.

Begin by finding a dealership that has a vehicle that is SIMILAR to what you want to purchase. DO NOT try and use this method with a vehicle already at the dealership because it can take weeks in some States before being assigned an investigator let alone completing the investigation it’s self!

Next see if they have any online prices listed on their website or on the national Toyota data base or Smart Path system. These dealerships typically won’t have a waiting list because people tend to want to avoid their unethical predatory sales tactics. Then call and ask about their purchase process and if there are any mark ups. It is worth mentioning that submitting the online “verify vehicle availability” form can also pay off but calling is really the fastest method.

Dealerships at this point might say “we need to run a credit check to add you to the wait list” or “we need to do a credit check to verify funds”… any dealership wanting to run a credit check for any reason that is unrelated to a buyer  CHOOSING to apply for credit through the dealership violates the Federal Fair Credit Act. In a lot of states dealerships are prohibited from forcing buyers into applying for credit with their dealership in order to purchase a vehicle. 

These scuzzy dealerships are usually breaking multiple laws and are the easiest to file a complaint against. If you have an experience where they do this to you it doesn’t have to be by email or text it can be a verbal telephone or in person experience. If anything is online then take screen shots, save emails and text messages. Even if they verbally tell you over the phone that they are charging $3,000 above the listed sale price and this wasn’t in the smart path or online sale price then having that salespersons name and immediately writing down what was said will help you file a complaint later. If the mark up they are quoting over the phone is not listed on the website in their advertised sale price then they can’t charge it.

Refundable Deposit

Make sure that any money paid for a vehicle “order” is refundable. Make sure that you get this confirmed by text message or email.

Buyers Purchase Order Contract

I did not have one of these for my vehicle purchase. Instead I had an email from the dealership promising my vehicle of choice at MSRP.

This contract is a double edge sword that can either help buyers or burden them into being coerced into purchasing the dealers aftermarket merchandise. On one hand if you can see this contract ahead of time or the “out the door price” then it gives you the full insight into what the dealership plans on charging you and if you agree to those terms then sign it and the deal is considered contractually legal and binding in some States. Other States see this document as a fluid non binding agreement that can be negotiated up until the purchase agreement is drawn up and signed, once the vehicle arrives!

If however the dealership is front loading the aftermarket accessories here and you do not agree to those terms do not sign it. Instead take the contract home or keep a copy of that agreement to submit in the next step.

Do an internet search for “automotive buyers order” + State name.

Brief Intro to a Buyers Order Agreement https://sierralitigation.com/2021/02/09/what-you-need-to-know-about-a-vehicle-purchase-agreement/

#9. Report dealerships to the State DOJ or the DMV investigators.

The report must be filed in the State in which the business is licensed to operate. The dealership is only legally required to adhere to their State and Federal regulations. So if a buyer lived in California and is buying from a New York dealership then the report must be filed with the New York State Attorney General or State DMV investigator.

The DMV business licensing fraud investigators that I have spoken to in 3 different States have all confirmed for me that they can only enforce laws pertaining to the title and registration of the vehicle. All other issues must be submitted to the State Attorney General Consumer Rights Department.

This can all usually be done online for free from the comfort of your home! This part requires an objective report of what laws are being broken and usually I would cite the exact state, federal, or Toyota legal disclosures being violated and broken. This part can take upward of 2 weeks before an investigator is assigned. So this is really best done on vehicles that have not yet been built or arrived to the dealership.

#10. Resolution

After the DOJ investigator does their job then this is my favorite part!! This is when the dealerships show their true self and either reach out with a legally binding guarantee to a) get the vehicle without the illegal after market junk accessories and or b) to sell it at MSRP, c) face legal investigation and possibly fines. Or lastly d.) the dealership will double down on their delusions, deceit, and lies and then it is up to the AG investigators to file the complaint away or decide to take legal action against the dealership. AG will only take legal action if enough people are reporting similar complaints, so it is imperative that as consumers we report these issues!

If the dealerships chooses to continue to lie and deny any wrong doing then this can make the process longer. At this point it is advisable to continue the complaint process but expect 30+ days before any resolution will be made. Some States AG simply work as mediators and if the dealerships do not wish to honor the laws and the AG does not wish to pursue the matter then the only option left is to try and find a consumer rights attorney.

For those who are unaware finding an attorneys is a very difficult process and especially difficult finding attorneys in this field of automotive consumer rights but it can be done especially if you have already purchased the vehicle vs are still in the buying process. It has been my experience that attorneys will not take cases that do not guarantee large pay outs 💔. Worse is that many consumer rights attorneys I have consulted with have been completely oblivious to their State and Federal consumer rights regulations.

One of the complaints I filed was with the Utah DMV fraud investigators and he shared this golden piece of advice with me.

If you had bought the vehicle and signed the contract with the aftermarket added dealer accessories and the price gauging mark up there would be little recourse we could take because the only time to take action is before signing any contracts. Buyers should always be allowed to decline any after market accessories and dealerships should not be coercing buyers into paying for these in order to purchase the vehicle.

Utah DMV Fraud Investigator

Utah’s complaint process was relatively slow and the two investigators admitted to me that they both failed in my cases. My New Jersey case went cold after being sent for legal arbitration.

Think Outside the Box

Strategy can play a huge role in if you get the vehicle you want or not. I worked together with two other women who were on the east coast looking for the same vehicle but in a different color. I would look for their vehicle while looking for mine and they did the same. I ended up helping both of them find their vehicles either directly or indirectly and in turn one of them kept her deposits for me at the dealership that she had already been on a waiting list with for over 11 months.

Don’t put all your hopes and dreams into one dealership. Arguing directly with the dealerships will never result in the outcome you want or deserve.

I paid a deposit on the vehicle I wanted from a dealership illegally coercing consumers into purchasing aftermarket add on dealer merchandise. I filed a complaint against them with the New Jersey State Attorney General Consumer Affairs Office and in retaliation the dealership canceled my purchase deposit. Now had I followed the instructions of the AG investigator email I received and simply filed to have the case brought before a litigator instead of responding directly to the dealership then they would not have had the opportunity to cancel my purchase order before the legal proceedings began.

My Success

I paid below MSRP for my vehicle when all was said and done. Not all dealerships are willing to cooperate with this process and are 100% willing to face being fined or are banking that the State attorney general office will forget about them before any legal action is ever brought against them. This entire system relies on consumers filing reports otherwise it won’t work!

I made a lot of calls to dealerships by utilizing the Toyota Vehicle Inventory Locator and reporting dealerships for violating State and Federal laws. The dealership that I ultimately purchased my vehicle from I reported on February 9th and it took less than 10 days for a legal investigation to open and for legal remedy to be offered to me by the dealership on February 17th. It is worth noting that in my experience this process does not normally work this quickly. The dealership was allocated the vehicle I wanted on May 19th and arrived at the dealership June 28th and I picked it up on July 3rd 2023.

I fought the dealership from multiple fronts by reporting them to the State Attorney General and to the State DMV fraud investigator. The week the vehicle arrived and I was getting ready to pick up the vehicle from the dealership I made my intentions clear that I would exercise my rights to title and register the vehicle myself. the dealership fought me insisting that they had a policy that prohibited me from doing this. So I emailed the dealership and CC the State DMV fraud investigator asking for her opinion on the matter. I immediately received a phone call from the dealership agreeing to my terms.

Next the dealership wanted to hold the MCO/MSO aka new vehicle title hostage for 10 business days to “make sure my cashiers check cleared”. This felt like a stalling tactic and so I asked to see their internal policy that dictated this course of action. I received a response agreeing to release the MCO/MSO/vehicle title as soon as they had it in hand. The MSO/MCO/title was made available for me on July 5th and I picked it up on July 6th.