SET Experiences

I’m interested as to what other peoples experience has been with South East Toyota dealerships?
Mine has been pretty useless in any kind of ETA or updates.

I see how others are able to find somewhat detailed statuses whether at Factory, Rail, Port or on truck for delivery through other regions.

 

I wasn’t able to check any of the online stuff either. But my truck was about 5 weeks from build to delivery. The build was requested in the system in January and the actual build date was 5/22

 

Florida here. Not happy with them. They have not been transparent and I have caught downright lies in regards to markup and inventory.

Bad enough to make me question the brands professional reputation.

 

well its not toyota usa since you are dealing with SET and they dont have to follow toyota usa rules. this applies to GST region also.

SET is owned by JM Family Enterprises, Inc.

GST is owned by Dan Friedkin


and they are not reachable by www.toyota.com


SET website : https://explore.setbuyatoyota.com/

GST website : https://www.buyatoyota.com/gst/

 

I’m aware and it damages the brand for me regardless. They represent Toyota and if I were heading a corporation, I would be very critical of how the various franchises affect my reputation.

 

well technically they only represent toyota in that they sell toyota vehicles.

once they get the vehicle, everything is managed by either SET/GST. from warranty work (someone clarify that a toyota usa ext warranty is valid for SET/GST, otherwise the ext warranty is only valid for that region SET/GST), they own financing arm for SET/GST (it doesnt go thru toyota financial), etc. the owners of those regions control every aspect from cradle to grave on a new vehicle sold.

i am glad i dont have to deal with SET/GST since the late 80's

 

forgot to add, be glad you are not in hawaii, toyota doesnt even have a presence there. they have to go thru a 3rd party company called Servco and its worse than SET/GST (no first hand knowledge). hell even alaska has a toyota usa presence.

 

Back to the original post regarding Estimated Time of Arrivals (ETA) for the vehicles to arrive at the dealerships.
The ETA system that was used to track that timing went down in April. Toyota has been working to get the information on ETAs using a different source. They are making progress and starting to share that with the dealers, but it is taking time to get that data as accurate as it needs to be.
Combine that with the parts supply issues makes some of the plants behind schedule on the scheduled production.
Hang in there, they are working on getting it fixed .
Unique frustrating times right now......

 

An update if anyone interested... I first tracked my Temp VIN through Toyota's Inventory, which it eventually was only available on Southeast Toyota's Inventory list. Then the perm VIN updated and had been on SET Inventory since late May. I got a build date through someone with access to TIS of June 9th. No updates from dealership except "Mid July".

Through June and July I kept and eye on the Available Date on the Southeast Toyota site as it switched or updated dates between July 5/6th and July 11th. 2 Days ago the ETA updated to the 15th and the following morning the VIN was no longer available through any web query method (SET Inventory page or the api marketplace)

I can only surmise or hope that this at least means its on a truck on its way to the dealership.

 

Just FYI, Mark ups and all things pricing happen at the dealer level. Toyota, GST and SET do not set markups etc.

 

Ok, let me rephrase. I’ve reached out to almost every dealer in Florida and Alabama. They suck.

 

Yep, the market conditions dictate that they can suck. its an industry built on short sighted business practices. In two years they will be begging you to buy something.

 

Oh, believe me. I’m waiting. The two dealers closest to me (military areas) are dead to me.

 

Where are you located and what are you looking for?

 

Pensacola. 1794 Hybrid. $10-20k markups.

Dealers around military bases are the most predatory in my experience…21 years of experience.

 

My recommendation, wait about 90 days on hybrids of any sort. Allocations have been SLOW on all of the hybrids. Also, The sweet spot is for availability is going to be SR5 and limited. Capstones, platinums and 1794s are much lower production volume and have lower availability

 

Southeast Toyota has been a nightmare for me. My case manager has been a little to no help and the dealers are even worse. Should have stayed with GM.

 

What specifically has been a nightmare? Just curious. Asking for a friend lol

 

I'm in broward county (actually down the street from JM Family Headquarters). I'm buying in Texas. A number of dealers around the Austin area where I have family sell at MSRP. Just a heads up. It comes with it's own set of problems, but I'd rather fly and buy than pay over MSRP.

 

Gulf States Toyota isn't much better, but at least you can finda dealer there to sell you a truck at MSRP.

edit: nice tarpon.

 

I talked to a dealer in Bama that has a flat $5k over on Hybrids. When I mentioned if a trade in allows room to negotiate (didn’t tell them what I would be trading) they said the price is set. Lol, they think I’m gonna pay over AND let them profit off my trade!? Go home, you’re drunk.

 

I had one encounter with SET/Port and one dealership. The whole experience was pretty good.

Bought a 2011 CM in 2012 and had an issue with the spay-in bedliner. It was chipping away.

Two local "Ohio" dealerships would barely talk to me since they never heard of a spray in product or SET/GST.
One dealership service manger actually called me a liar and the warranty documentation I had was "obviously" a fake
since Toyota didn't do spray in bed liners.

Got in touch with Hubert Vester Toyota in North Carolina who sent me all the documentation they had on the truck, since they took original delivery
and put me in touch with their contact at the Jacksonville port.

Long story short - The port contacted Ultimate Linings who in turn contacted me. Needless to say, the bed liner got fixed at a "FORD DEALERSHP"
in Milford Ohio and either UL or SET picked up the tab for a rental car while my truck was in the "FORD" shop.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/bed...dra-sprayed-in-bed-liners.70955/#post-1828895

 

That’s an impressive story! lol


Mine just showed up at the dealership yesterday afternoon.

 

Picked mine up this past Saturday. I think the SET spray in bed liner might be different than other regions. It appears to have adhered pretty well to the composite bed and it also does not include the 'TUNDRA' lettering on the front of the bed below the window.

 

This was my same strategy when I got my new Tundra. Ironically, my trade in was also a cavalry blue 2018 Tacoma TRD Pro. The dealership started off trying a $10k markup on the new Pro Tundra. After some discussion about my trade in and what would incentivize me to trade it in to them vs a private sale they eventually dumped the mark-up. Ended up giving me a pretty good value for the Tacoma too IMO, so don’t let them screw you on that.