Placing a deposit (first time)

[Obsidian]

Hey everyone!

This will be my first post here but I wanted to see if anyone had anything I should keep an eye out for or know before I head to the dealer to put down a deposit on a new Supra (things to ask, deceptive practices, etc). For some context I’m looking for an auto and I’m aware of how long the process can take, but this is my first time putting any money down on a car. One of the dealers I talked to is asking for $1000 deposit, and the other was saying $500. Any advice would be great.

Thanks!

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[kehvin]

Make sure your deposit is refundable if they can’t get the car and if they do get the car, that deposit goes into the price of the car.

 

[SupraTR]

I put down a $1k deposit - i think the $500-$1k is pretty standard and just varies by dealer. I think the main questions to ask are 1) where are you in line; 2) how often do they receive a Supra allocation; 3) do they sell at MSRP or are there dealer markups or required add-ons.

 

[Stvee]

Hey everyone!

This will be my first post here but I wanted to see if anyone had anything I should keep an eye out for or know before I head to the dealer to put down a deposit on a new Supra (things to ask, deceptive practices, etc). For some context I’m looking for an auto and I’m aware of how long the process can take, but this is my first time putting any money down on a car. One of the dealers I talked to is asking for $1000 deposit, and the other was saying $500. Any advice would be great.

Thanks!

You may want to consider not putting down a deposit at all and just checking this website daily. It will show what dealers around you have allocated before they show up on the lots.

https://www.toyota.com/search-inventory/model/supra/

Allocations typically come out around the 1st and 15th on whatever month. But a lot of times it takes a few days after that before the dealers get them.

 

[SupraTR]

You may want to consider not putting down a deposit at all and just checking this website daily. It will show what dealers around you have allocated before they show up on the lots.

https://www.toyota.com/search-inventory/model/supra/

Allocations typically come out around the 1st and 15th on whatever month. But a lot of times it takes a few days after that before the dealers get them.

This is good advice. If I was going to do everything over I would do this instead of putting a deposit down at a local dealer. It's been a 10 month wait for me whereas people willing to travel to a dealer with an unsold allocation are skipping the majority of the wait time.

 

[JTN]

I had three deposits at three different dealers, once my allocation was confirmed the other two dealers refunded me.

Only real advice I have is to get everything in writing. Get the final out the door price in writing and get the refundable deposit in writing. Even if the dealer is your best friend, trust what they say only as far as they're willing to put in writing.

Lastly ask them who their Supra certified technician is and what their usual work schedule is like. That will give you a little insight into how difficult it will be to get the car serviced or get the pre delivery inspection done in a timely manner.

 

[Chris_a90]

you're right about traveling to skip the wait time. I drove 5hrs to Toyota of Oxnard, got a absolute zero 2023 3.0 premium @msrp (waited one day from making the phone call). interest rate is f******* me but , ill refinance eventually. it is what it is .. after all, mk4 has been a dream to own but too hard to find a good used one that's not abused for a good price haha!. mk5 it is!

 

[Obsidian]

Thank you for all the really helpful advice! There are a lot of good points here. I’m wondering now if that is not the best route (looking through the incoming inventory myself) I had hoped to snag a stratosphere blue but it’s not a deal breaker. @Chris_a90 you bring up a good point about interest rates haha. I’m hoping to pay a lot of the car in advance in hopes of a halfway decent rate.

 

[mmspider]

I don`t have a deposit at my local dealership but I have bought a Supra from them before. I think its perfectly fine to have a deposit down if they are not willing to put you on the list without one. Other than that get ready to wait.

 

[V8KillaMKV]

I would definitely look around to see which dealer has one coming in their inventory, then put the deposit down, I did that with my Supra put $500 down back in Nov. 2022, got my baby in Jan. 2023, got lucky they had one in transit. So just look around. Nothing wrong with putting deposit down as long as its refundable. Good luck brother. ?

 

[Chris_a90]

Thank you for all the really helpful advice! There are a lot of good points here. I’m wondering now if that is not the best route (looking through the incoming inventory myself) I had hoped to snag a stratosphere blue but it’s not a deal breaker. @Chris_a90 you bring up a good point about interest rates haha. I’m hoping to pay a lot of the car in advance in hopes of a halfway decent rate.

Good luck my dude! update us when you're in that stratosphere blue supra

 

[Obsidian]

Thanks! I’ll definitely be excited to show it off once I have it. In the meantime I will be practicing my stretches and squats for getting into the Supra ?

 

[J29DB03]

Thanks! I’ll definitely be excited to show it off once I have it. In the meantime I will be practicing my stretches and squats for getting into the Supra ?

Getting in isn’t the problem. That’s just a calculated fall. Getting out is the tricky part.

 

[Jofro6]

Also look into getting your own bank financing not through the dealership. Legally they can't make you take their financing ( My wife is a dealership finance manager). And that means the dealership can't mark up the finance rate on you also. Right now Bank of America seems to have the best rates in the country, but check you local credit union cause some times a town one can beat the 5 majors. BoA was at 5.99% when I looked yesterday for any term up to 60 months as long as you qualify. I got 6.09% from them cause I went 72 months.

And beware the dealer telling you they can check all their banks and see what's best, because that means they will hard pull at every bank. A good finance manager will know what few specific banks they can check based on the info you give them if it's semi accurate

 

[Nezluver66]

Also look into getting your own bank financing not through the dealership. Legally they can't make you take their financing ( My wife is a dealership finance manager). And that means the dealership can't mark up the finance rate on you also. Right now Bank of America seems to have the best rates in the country, but check you local credit union cause some times a town one can beat the 5 majors. BoA was at 5.99% when I looked yesterday for any term up to 60 months as long as you qualify. I got 6.09% from them cause I went 72 months.

And beware the dealer telling you they can check all their banks and see what's best, because that means they will hard pull at every bank. A good finance inmanager will know what few specific banks they can check based on the info you give them if it's semi accurate

Please take this advice. Also watch out for the finance manager trying to get you to get all those different type warranties.

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