Production Timeline

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Frost

At $10 for Toyota dealers, the MoT charge isn't terrible. Getting off work early to wait an hour in line for me is more of a hassle but I get your point.

Yes it is important to understand that the prices can range for a few hundred dollars to free depending upon the location and dealership. I usually just get it worked into the deal as "free" but even the times I paid it was no more than $20 or so. When you consider that it is just a teeny tiny part of the payment it is worth not having the hassle of doing it yourself. My time is worth more than the faction of a cent it would cost each month.

[TheDonEffect]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

This is where they MOST of their money.
My wife has made a very good living selling these items at an RV dealership for 20 years now.

You would be amazed at the number of people that would rather pay somebody to deal with things like the DMV than do it themselves.
A restaurant has to actually do very little to earn the price of a meal. Paying $45 for them to cook and serve what would be a $5 home cooked meal is no different than paying somebody to do the paperwork for you.

Yeah, for a lot of people, paperwork is intimidating, and frankly it is, and to be fair, most people outside of enthusiasts don't buy cars frequently enough to learn the process. But still, seeing what they charge for doc fees is ridiculous, at least a restaurant has someone waiting on you, cooking, usually clean up after and do the dishes. Not to mention need to shop and prepare the meal. The dealer just prints out the paper, walk you through it, and pack it up and send it, alot of dealers now are electronic so it's even easier.

[Spektyr]

Originally Posted by TheDonEffect

Yeah, for a lot of people, paperwork is intimidating, and frankly it is, and to be fair, most people outside of enthusiasts don't buy cars frequently enough to learn the process. But still, seeing what they charge for doc fees is ridiculous, at least a restaurant has someone waiting on you, cooking, usually clean up after and do the dishes. Not to mention need to shop and prepare the meal. The dealer just prints out the paper, walk you through it, and pack it up and send it, alot of dealers now are electronic so it's even easier.

I'd say the problem is more two-fold.

1. Some customers aren't aware they CAN do the paperwork themselves. They simply assume (and the dealerships don't make an effort to inform them otherwise) that the dealerships have to do it.
2. The customers that are aware they could do it themselves don't understand the amount of work involved or the disparity in pricing between dealerships to know whether they're paying a reasonable amount for the document handling. There's likely also the assumption that there will be government fees involved that make up the bulk of that cost.

I don't think there's anything wrong with someone paying another person to do an incredibly simple task (my career is in IT, after all - that's exactly how I make my money). It's enough that it's something that person would rather pay for than do themselves.

The concern to me is that there's enough transparency involved the buyer knows exactly what they're paying the seller to do.

If you want me to drive a few hours to a datacenter to "reset" your server, and you understand that means essentially that you're paying me mileage and hourly to push the power button and turn it back on (because some idiot shut it down instead of rebooting it) that's fine. But if I'm playing that off like it requires someone with my expertise to go onsite and do some kind of in-person repair... that's not cool. I'm happy to be a button-pusher at my hourly rate, but you could literally hire a monkey to do that.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Spektyr

If you want me to drive a few hours to a datacenter to "reset" your server, and you understand that means essentially that you're paying me mileage and hourly to push the power button and turn it back on (because some idiot shut it down instead of rebooting it) that's fine. But if I'm playing that off like it requires someone with my expertise to go onsite and do some kind of in-person repair... that's not cool. I'm happy to be a button-pusher at my hourly rate, but you could literally hire a monkey to do that.

I mean, they kind of did. It's just a very expensive monkey.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by TheDonEffect

Yeah, for a lot of people, paperwork is intimidating, and frankly it is, and to be fair, most people outside of enthusiasts don't buy cars frequently enough to learn the process. But still, seeing what they charge for doc fees is ridiculous, at least a restaurant has someone waiting on you, cooking, usually clean up after and do the dishes. Not to mention need to shop and prepare the meal. The dealer just prints out the paper, walk you through it, and pack it up and send it, alot of dealers now are electronic so it's even easier.

What do you guys have to do to register a car that would be considered intimidating?

Even here in backwater Oklahoma it's literally this easy:

1. Dealership mails you title.
2. You take title and sales contract to the DMV.
3. You hand dealer title and sales contract to person on the other side of the counter.
4. They tell you what you owe in registration fees and sales tax.
5. You pay said amount.
6. They hand you a license plate and sticker to put on showing your registration is up to date.
7. 10-14 days you receive your new title and registration in the mail.

[timurrrr]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

2. You take title and sales contract to the DMV.
3. You hand dealer title and sales contract to person on the other side of the counter.

It will probably take 3+ hours of time to do this at my local DMV.

[Yoshoobaroo]

Originally Posted by timurrrr

It will probably take 3+ hours of time to do this at my local DMV.

Drive to a different DMV? I always go to one of the quieter ones in my county. It’s a 20min longer trip, but I’m usually out in ~30mins.

[timurrrr]

Originally Posted by Yoshoobaroo

Drive to a different DMV? I always go to one of the quieter ones in my county. It’s a 20min longer trip, but I’m usually out in ~30mins.

I haven't checked recently, but a few years ago pretty much any DMV in my area required a long wait. Although possibly the issue was that I only ever went to DMV for reasons that require me to go to a specific DMV, such as a driving test that I had to schedule based on availability, or to pick up custom license plates.

[Clide]

Hypothetically, if I saw an official document that stated "Prod. Date: Nov 11, 2021" for all four GR86 models (6252-6255), how would you guys interpret that? Production date? Product date?

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by timurrrr

It will probably take 3+ hours of time to do this at my local DMV.

Originally Posted by Yoshoobaroo

Drive to a different DMV? I always go to one of the quieter ones in my county. It’s a 20min longer trip, but I’m usually out in ~30mins.

^This.

I also make sure I'm the first person there in the morning so I don't spend a bunch of time waiting on the people in front of me. Typically takes about 10 minutes once I walk in the door.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

^This.

I also make sure I'm the first person there in the morning so I don't spend a bunch of time waiting on the people in front of me. Typically takes about 10 minutes once I walk in the door.

In Houston there will be a long line waiting outside before dawn. I have waited in it before. Everywhere within reasonable driving distance is the same. I will GLADLY pay the dealer, that is money well spent.

[Spektyr]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

What do you guys have to do to register a car that would be considered intimidating?

Different people are intimidated by different things.

I'll work on energized 120v wiring in my home without a second thought, but if I need to mess with the plumbing (pressurized side)? Hell, I'm probably going to call a plumber even for simple stuff, and at the very least I'm going to spend an hour on YouTube quadruple-checking every step.

To me, electricity is simple. Plumbing is too, but I'm intimidated by the failure outcome of water going everywhere and wrecking the house. Electricity just wrecks me. (And yes, I should worry about the latter way more, but I don't.)

Lots of people have to psych themselves up to go grocery shopping. The DMV is 100% of the hell of a public crowd, plus the 10,000% hell of government offices. The depression and helplessness in those places is palpable. There's always the lady with the 5 feral children arguing with the clerk about something that makes absolutely no sense...

Yeah, there's a lot of different reasons why people might not want to go there and be thrilled to pay someone else to do some paperwork.

I couldn't be happier that my yearly registration can be done online.

I don't have social phobia, but the less time I spend around people, government offices, or the people inside government offices, the happier I am.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by Pete

In Houston there will be a long line waiting outside before dawn. I have waited in it before. Everywhere within reasonable driving distance is the same. I will GLADLY pay the dealer, that is money well spent.

I probably would too, but I don't think it's an option in Oklahoma.

I'll have to check again when I order a BRZ soon.

[boy_racer]

Originally Posted by Clide

Hypothetically, if I saw an official document that stated "Prod. Date: Nov 11, 2021" for all four GR86 models (6252-6255), how would you guys interpret that? Production date? Product date?

Production date.Toyota has already said they will be available from December