Dealer Limit
 

Is there a limit on how many FR-S's a dealership can order or is this guy just trying to get me to move on one?

"Are you still in the market for a Scion FR-S? The one that we do have incoming is already sold and we are only getting about 2 more in by the end of the year. The only thing we can do at this time is keep you on the want list and as soon as it gets here call you & move fast on it."

I think it's more about what scion/toyota is willing to allocate to each dealership, which determines how many they can or can't order. i've gone to two dealerships, the smaller dealership only received three cars in all of june, one of which was a first 86 car. the 2nd dealership i've gone to already received eight cars and are expecting eight more by the end of the year.

I don't think there is a hard limit per Scion dealer. However, I have heard that there is in fact a hard limit per dealer for the Subaru BRZ.

Is it more like a limit on how many get sent to the lot with order but if someone places a custom order say for a specific color, it doesn't count toward that total?

I'm given to understand that the limit applies to dealer inventory and not custom orders. I could be wrong though.

I've been to 3 different dealerships in my area and called 2 others, each of them told me their inventory is very low and sells fast. They only get 2-4 a month based on what they've told me, and some are already pre-sold. However, they can work things out and swap cars with nearby dealerships if the colors/trans match up with other customers

Hmmm. So if i plan on getting one come November, should i be worried?

I'm not sure, you might want to check how long wait lists are for your nearby dealerships. Then again, there will always be a couple that float in without pre-orders, they just sell quickly. I think your best bet, if you're not picky about color, is to let a salesman know, then they can give you a call when they have one in and ready for purchase. I could have bought a firestorm or black when I was searching, but I wanted asphalt so I had to order mine. the black fr-s sold in 2 days, and the firestorm sold in 3.

I think I got lucky with my order though, as I've read some people are waiting months for theirs, I was told I would have mine in a month.

I don't think buyers will lose interest by November, so the conditions may be the same when that time comes.

I want a Hot Lava one. :/ haven't even seen one listed near me yet.

It seemed all of the smaller dealerships i called were only getting a few in and took no deposits on them

I went to a higher volume dealership and they told me the get 2-3 a month for inventory, and can order as many as they want if you put a deposit on one.

Put a deposit in on Sunday, got a call today that it shipped already and should be here in a few weeks.

It really is all realitive. I put a deposite down a month ago to get a manual in white, and it still hasn't been built. My Dad looked around and found a dealer who was just about to take delivery on one and was able to get a deposite down. So my dad has already taken delivery of his and I am still waiting. *sigh*

You really do need to get a deposite down is what I have found. When my dads car arrived at 2pm we went to go take a look at it at 5 and the dealer already had over ten people inquiring about it.

It has also been my experience that smaller dealerships seem to get less of an inventory then the larger sellers in the area. So a hard limit I don't think so, but if your dealer is smaller and don't move a lot of cars they won't see as many.

Just ask to put a deposit down on the color and trans combo you want. The dealer can make sure to get that combo when their next car allocation becomes available. But be prepared to be patient.

Good luck

I believe there are only two routes here in terms of a dealership getting a car you want based on a waitlist/deposit situation based on my personal experience and investigations. firstly, they could order you one from japan, which is a 6 to 9 month turnaround (supposedly, i'm not sure if this is even true). secondly, they take your color/drivetrain preference and will try to trade their inventory with another dealership that has the combo you want.

i placed a $500 deposit at a dealership for 3 weeks, but ultimately i did my own searching since that dealership was only getting one more car in the next month (they were going to trade for one).
i just called and emailed all the dealerships in town, fortunately there were 8 to 9 dealerships available for me to do this. found one with a car coming in that matched my color preferences that was not presold yet. so i took back my deposit from the other dealership and signed a contract for the car just 2 days ago. received my vin number and everything. car is at the port and waiting to be delivered within the next week.

Allocations to the dealerships are based on previous month/quarter sales volume of certain cars, not specifically just in single models. For example if Toyota Distribution or HQ wants Camry or Corolla moved in a certain volume, they need to hit each sales target to order more low-production cars like the Land Cruiser or FRS. So it all depends and all dealers are doing different volume. Naturally high volume and large dealers have more allocations by nature of statistics.

The ones that are selling the FRS, and other cars at HUGE premiums and not moving them are the ones that will NOT get a large number of them...so it works cyclically... And it depends on how the dealership's own managers and how they want to do business. Low volume- high markup, or high volume- low margin. And each location has merits for each method... Rural areas can't move huge number of cars due to smaller population, and therefore you tend to see more markup, and smaller volume to stay in business.