Sick of Scion Runaround
 

I've been hunting down the FRS in southern California since I decided to get one. I've gone to several dealers around here and much to my chagrin I have found that almost every one has been adding either leather seats, navigation, and rims and have been jacking up the price to over 30k. After explicty asking for a stock from the factory FRS the dealers tell me they have one and then wait for me to get there to tell me they've added "sweet 18" performance rims" which I know are worth $1,400 tops and then adding $4,000 to the sticker. I found one dealer that is willing to sell me an FRS stock but I'm on a waiting list and who knows how long it will take to actually come in. I'm just sick of these shady Scion dealers. I could'nt hold my tongue any longer. I thought Subaru was bad, Scion has been proven to be worse. Just had to vent.

This sounds like a good excuse for a road trip. (Fly out, drive the new car home)

search in norcal

Go to Power Toyota Cerritos at the Cerritos Auto Square.

No mark ups, no BS, No Hassle, No Problems.

John crown Toyota/scion in Ontario was fired and did not add any add ons to my order. Give Fred a call and let him know Nit sent you. (909) 223-3544

picked mine up two days ago at Tustin Scion location. They had 4 left after I picked up their only raven color. act fast my friend. They had it for MSRP but it already had some applique coating, and the Bespoke system, but sold it for what it was worth msrp. Don't opt for the 5Axis since they doubled the price compared with the 5Axis website (2200 ==> 4790 intalled...OUCH!). I declined it and will persue other options and venues. Everything else was great tho. Enjoyable experience.

Tustin had:
blue
argento x3

Thanks guys. I'll follow up with those leads for sure. You can imagine my disappointment after driving 30 miles through LA rush hour traffic with my down payment cash in my pocket only to be confronted this nonsense.

Jeez that sucks, I got my Whiteout FR-S at Big Two Toyota/Scion here in Phoenix for $26k and change in July. I guess I was lucky, I only had to wait 2 weeks for mine to be shipped and they didnt try to add any "crap" to the car except tint. I feel for ya though.

When I was on the look for one, I started looking for some in SoCal because of the same reasons. NorCal has around 5 MSRP-only dealerships but I do not know if they have changed their ways. I made a short list on the NorCal Available Cars thread in the California section.

The car is about a $1300 deal and dealers know demand is through the roof (@ MSRP) so of course they'd want to get a little more. Dealers can easily make 3x,5x and some are shooting for 10x the profit.

To me, it was worth the wait to get an FR-S at MSRP. If you're really motivated, get on a wait list at a NorCal dealer, I know a few. Usually they just say they have a wait list, and sometimes it ends up being a first come first served thing.

money game! IF people will pay it,they will keep doing it!

Picked up mine from there too about two weeks ago, talk to anthony, very good person! i actually made him remove the premium bespoke, only thing added was a perma coating? regardless it was ALMOST msrp, the difference was bellow 500$ from the msrp and mine was the white out as well which is an extra 200$..

i got my frs just 2hrs after it showed up at the dealer, I got lucky and caught them just in time because they wanted to add leather, tint, everything.. i told them I was buying the frs as is and they fought with me for several hours because they wanted to jack the price up with ad ons. needless to say i won and got the frs for just over msrp. they wouldn't let me take it unless they added $1K to the sticker which isn't much compared to what they have been doing. I got mine at Keyes Toyota in Van Nuys Ca.

Just keep hunting and build a relationship with a sales rep to get the upper hand maybe. patience.

I ordered mine in, waited 6 weeks and got it precisely as specified for exactly the same price as the configurator on the website. I might have spent 5 minutes with the finance man.

Come east, OP. It's nice here.

I would call Scion USA and chew their ass about the up-marking bullshit, it's obviously a scam. I reported a dealer for taking a new FR-S, driving it 500 miles and then listing as "used" from their sister Toyota dealer for 3k over sticker.

Car's not for sale anymore :party0030:

edit: also, the idea of a dealership adding wheels to a car like this is WEIRD AS HELL TO ME.

OK, off to drive my baby to work <3

Can't they just order you one? I think it's like a $500 deposit and they'll order you whatever you want...just have to wait for it to be built and shipped over (that's what I'm doing here in Michigan). If they try to add anything on top of it, tell them you won't pay for it.

I ordered mine and my specifications were black and had to be a six speed manual. They just called me last night to say they found one at another dealer it it had the rear aplique, locking lugs, and trunk mat. None of which I cared for nor wanted to spend the money on. But they said it was the only one and it is 200 miles away. They are getting it trailered here when usually they would drive so then I ended up getting it. The extras were only $200 more. But I already plan to drop another 2k for the spoiler, lowering springs, heated seats, and bespoke. I was so specific with them that I didn't even want a car that had holes drilled out for the front plate. So people always say they don't like salesmen because they never leave you alone. In my case its probably the other way around. I'm making sure everything is perfect.

I was getting sick of dealerships in general. I hate being lied to...told "we're the only dealership in the state with one on the lot", or "they're impossible to find anywhere". The biggest one I heard was "there are no leasing options on the FR-S...it's not offered".

Well, I knew all of that was BS...took me a bit to find a dealership that would be HONEST with me.

Related note - anyone in Michigan should consider checking out Spartan Scion/Toyota in Lansing. It was an hour and a half drive for me, but completely worth the trip. They were 100% honest with me when I went to order my FR-S, and had been when I bought my xA a few years back. Great people to work with.

First off, I didn't realize you could get leather/heated seats as an option on the FR-S nor did I know you could get 18" performance wheels (unless they're referring to the Five Axis).

Lastly, this is what pushed me to get the BRZ. The dealership down here was marking up the FR-S and there were no additional options on it like the OP listed :lol: Walked out with a BRZ that costs me less than an FR-S and has more options.

The heated seats and leather seats are all dealership options. Not every dealer does it. I elected to stay with the cloth seats but im from wisconsin and winters are way too cold so for a couple hundred more i had them throw heated seats in the cloth ones. Ill also be getting the 19" S7 Five Axis wheels from the dealer. I too though had to go to two dealers to get what i wanted. The first only had one on the lot and thought of it as their baby and offered no other options. They also treated me like some 20 year old kid off of the street probably looking for a test drive just to have fun. Since I am 23 and all. The second one i went to had like 5 on the lot and one in the show room floor. None of which i wanted but they still went out to find me one i wanted and are giving me all the add ons i want.

yeah, options that aren't part of what the manufacturer offers ive never seen out here.. if the sales guy had said something like "we added some sweet wheels and tint that you didnt ask for" i would have punched his whole family in the d i ck. :paddle:

I had the problems with some dealers in the OC, look in the topics on this forum about shady dealers. I know there are good ones, just keep looking.


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yeah avoid the dealer addons unless you really want them, they make a ton of money on that stuff. Just keep looking till you find what you want. There are plenty of good dealers out there.

There was a bone stock FR-S White when I was first looking at them that I was attempting to buy. Well my funds didn't add up at the time and my dealer sold it. Before hand though, I asked him if he found another, could I get it for their listed price. He found me one and it came with some extras like a spoiler. Same price. I was pretty stoked.

I was just about to start a thread with this exact problem! There are some dealers who offer amazing complementary incentives like Toyota of Poway offers lifetime powertrain warranty, and Hooman Toyota offers free oil changes, free tires, and free loaner car for services for life! the only problem is they don't sell a car for under 30K!!! I get that the demand is high and the profit margin is low but you're telling me that the profit margin is any better on a Corolla or Camry which competes against everything else on the market and gets price cut way way way down? I even asked these dealers what if I order one and pay the full amount before it even arrives. I was told I have to buy it as is (meaning they are gonna shove seats and wheels and stereo down my throat no matter what).

I guess there are dealers who sell the car at MSRP and there are dealers who sell the car for over 30K, but there aren't any that have good incentives at MSRP.... I guess I'll be keeping my Matrix for daily driving and get a moderately modified Miata for 4K

I did the same with the Bespoke- told them no deal with the $845 Bespoke, after they gave me some babble about how they couldn't take it out, and I left the dealership. I told the wife that I'd have an email saying they'ed remove the Bespoke by evening, but I was wrong- it took until the next morning. Mine also had the film on the hood and fenders, a $395 option that cannot really be removed, so I accepted that.

Don't let these guys bully you into options that you don't want.

Wow, I had no problem with my experience. Car had BeSpoke HU, lug locks, etc, etc and they had the sticker price as $26,225. :shrugs:

You guys are in Maryland and NJ, Southern Cali is the birth place of people with more money than brains who are willing to pay top dollar for the coolest trick ride leaving more conscientious buyers (aka broke mofos like me) wishing and dreaming. Anybody else notice how many 350z, BMW 3, MB C, and Porsche Boxters have their usual parking spaces replaced with brand new FR-S/BRZ at the usual weekend boba shop?

Sounds like a lot of people have had some bad experiences. I ordered mine with no issues (Port Moody scion dealer, in Vancouver BC). My sales guy told me when the car was on the boat, and when it landed locally. Had the car ready for me the day after it was released from the dock clean, no holes on the front. Best dealer experience i've ever had bar none. While they couldn't move on MSRP since i was an early order with really high demand, they did throw in a few little things to at least make me feel good lol. Ordered it i think in july, and got it first week of august. I told them i wanted it ASAP, and it worked out!

That sucks for sure. Did you try calling ahead? I like to "let my fingers do the walking." :clap:

Edit: My bad, he clearly told the dealer what he wanted before heading over there. They're shady.

you could probably fly out here to the east coast, check out one of our nice cities like NYC or Philly, drive back and still be on top.

fuck 5k markup.

I went back and re-read the original post. What you are describing is a slightly different issue.

The OP explicitly asked for an OEM car and when he drove over to the dealership, they tried to force him into add-on extras that he does not want. That's shady business practice, plain and simple.

The issue here is not whether a dealer adds stuff to the car. It's their perogative to sell whatever ugly tacked-on hooptie shit that tickles their fancy. We can complain all day to Scion but as long as the dealer is in compliance with Pure Price mandate (that you sell the car for the price you advertise, whatever that may be) then there is nothing they can, will, or really want to do.

The issue here is that they should be upfront about it so customer can make informed decisions. Ultimately it's a matter of choosing where you shop. Put your money where your mouth is. Like @GhostofAkina is doing -- looking elsewhere for a dealer who behaves ethically.

Have you tried emailing the dealers around your area instead?

I wonder if the seat heaters and switches will fit in the FR-S trim, and if the wiring is already there? :D

I am not sure exactly but in the middle where you have that empty square is where the switches go, similar to the BRZ.

Go to New Mexico or Colorado. There are plenty of Scion dealers with FR-S willing to sell to you. What color are you looking for? I will help you out. I know of a dealer in Dallas that has a Whiteout 6 speed manual for MSRP, that still has not sold it yet...

Go to Longo Toyota/Scion and Ask for David. He'll sell it to you at MSRP if available. This place moves high volume so they always have shipments coming in every month.

Got my ultramarine there for $25,100 6-speed

Same thing to me!! It was supposedly the only dealership with a Hot Lava 500 miles in any direction. Bullshit much was that I got it from a broker who found 4 in a 100 mile radius. And then one other dealership said that they were the biggest in town and they got all the cars first and that if they wanted a car, they could get it from other dealerships, too. I just needed to pay the next day and wait...

Exactly. Dealer trades happen every day. I just don't understand why they flat out lie to you...maybe that worked 50 years ago when you couldn't share stories like this so easily. People KNOW the truth now...it's very easy to identify a lie.

Yep, just browsed through a few SoCal dealerships and this one dealership(name will remain anonymous) had the balls to list their FR-S a little bit over 32k...

I got my MT from Marina Del Rey Toyota at MSRP, but they added the Toyota paint protection spray and LoJack. I can't complain though because I bought it the same day it went on the lot without being on any wait lists. I paid $27k, with the paint protector and LoJack being $900 each. I know that they made money off of that but it was better than waiting 3 months with my mechanically unreliable POS.

I just got home from picking up new FR-S in raven black!!! HUGE thanks to @gunmetal5, I hit up Fred and he had my in my new car 24 hours later! No muss, no fuss. They asked $24,900 and didn't push any extras! I was hesitant to post a negative thread but I'm really glad I did. Thanks for the help and suggestions fellas!