I recently placed an order on an '06 GS430 this last weekend. I decided to special order my Lexus due to the fact that I wanted a specific color combination and features.

Anyway, my question is, when/how often should I expect to hear from the dealership regarding updates on my vehicles status? The dealer says approx. 4 months total until the car should be here, but they were exceedingly vague in terms of when I'd hear from them next. Shouldn't the dealership receive some sort of communication from Lexus as to the build status, shipping status, etc.? Any insight into this matter would be greatly appreciated.

 

In Europe dealer sees following info: waiting for building order, building order accepted, ship, first major European port and then estimate how long it takes from this port to local stock.

 

Usually I will order the car and fax a copy of the order form to the customer. For about 2-2 1/2 months I am quiet. As time goes by, following up becomes more of a frenzy. Then I will start checking with the inventory manager every 2 weeks to see how it's coming along. The significance of the 2 weeks is that Lexus does their "ordering" every 2 weeks, therefore any cars coming in appear in our computer system. Once the vehicle appears in the computer system, I contact the customer to give them the approximate arrival date and vin #. From then on I will contact customer about every 2- 3 days with continuous updates as the vessel arrives into Long Beach port. As the car comes closer and closer to arrival date, I can pin point the EXACT date the car will arrive at the dealership. Finally, I will contact the customer the day before the car arrives to dealership to arrange delivery. So there you have it.

 

I usually call three times. We are in the dark until the car is allocated which means it is on a vessel arriving into port within three weeks. Sometimes we are pleasantly surprised that it is in port and sometimes we are wondering if it will ever get here. From the dealer point of view the sooner it is in your driveway the better. Once allocated we call to give an arrival date into port. When it goes to Freight status we call again. When it hits Ground we call and arrange for delivery at the dealership to the owner. If you ordered today I would expect to call you in just under 3 months with news. Since the GS430 is already an '06 model there will not be the model year interruption in mid Summer when the factory retools for the new model year. The GS430's and the AWD's with Nav/Lev are in short supply right now so a special order makes a lot of sense and you can customize your car to your needs.

 

I have a question. Are they building the 430 in the Blue Onyx Pearl/Black combination? For March and April, they did not have any in this combination. I have put a deposit at my dealer and they told me that Lexus might not make this combination even though it is in their brochure? I even went to Longo. No one really knows if it is going to be built? Is this correct? Do salespeople not know which combination or orders are coming? They told me that by the end of March they should know April/May allocations? Does anyone know if they are making this combination? I don't know if I want to special order because it does take a long time. I've put my deposit down about a month ago and don't know if I should keep on waiting around for a Blue/Black comboI'm pretty set on this combo. Any insights? Thanks.

 

Bmw2Lexus,

You have disabled your pm option so...can you please give me a call at the dealership to further discuss?

 

Call or Private Message Elizabeth. Here in the East we are getting 100% Blue Onyx/Cashmere leather. Since it is a producable combination it may take a special order if it doesn't show so I would order it either way and if one happens to arrive sooner than the special order then take it. Make sense?

 

After I special ordered my RX330, I went to the dealership every Friday, just to see what inventory came in (I was dead set on MSM/black). I even got so desparate as to call the main inventory stock yard #! My salesman probably called me only when it came into port. I was so anxious to get it, I didn't care if I had to do all the work myself!

Congrats, 'cause it'll be well worth the wait!