My experience with Toyota - Decision made 4 new car

[Somtamnication]

After about a 3 month search, many questions and postings, I decided to buy the new 2014 Vios.

My previous searches led to Honda City, Mitsubishi Attrage and Nissan Almera.

Previous posts explained issue with Honda (50% deposit for farang financing, or 49k deposit for Thai). Nope

Nissan Almera did not want to sell me the new Almera, but insisted on the old model instead. Nope.

Chevy had no promos.

Mazda also insisted on selling the old Mazda 2, not the new one, at discounts. Nope

Test drove the Attrage, a 1.2cc car. Very slow pickup. Top of the line was 589k. They offered 35k discount on deposit. %25 deposit, I would not need a Thai guarantor.

Test drove the Vios. Lower J model. 1.5cc. Slightly faster. 589k. No extras except 500 b free gas, 6 free visits, 1 year free insurance, rubber carpets. NO tint included.

Last Tuesday we started to seriously think about the car. We visited our old Toyota dealer, having bought two trucks from them before. Same salesman. Got some brochures and info from financing.

Thursday test drove the car. Drove well enough. Gave paperwork to financing, chose car color and the J model. Was told if financing approved, we can get car on Friday.

Friday morning, we get a call from the salesman. Pick up the car!

Picked up the Thai village, put them all in the truck and drove to Toyota. Salesman greeted us and we sat down for some paperwork. He showed us the car, we all smiled stupidly and asked when are we done?

He said car is ready.

We get up to go and financing guy arrives with some paperwork, wanted to see real passport, etc. We signed the papers and told him ok, thanks, we go now.

NOPE! They had not done a credit check yet! Arai wa? You did not do the check yesterday? No, waiting on real passport, krap. Give answer in 2 days, krap.

We summoned the salesman. Told him this was incredible. How can two Toyota staff, working in the same buliding, two desks across from each other, NOT talk about when how and if. His answer was..... I am just sales.

At this point, I did not need restraining, but I had to collar my lovely 5f 2 wife. She told him this was not right, you guys have to communicate better, etc etc. She then brought up Mitsubishi and the word "pit". Meaning, canceling the sales.

They huddled together, sales and financing and came back with a temporary car, told us to go have lunch and we will know in one hour.

Sure enough, one hour later, we got a call saying all ok.

PROS:

Good car, 3 years, 100k warranty.

Nice showroom (Phuket, bypass road).

No anti farang discrimination for the downpayments

Free 1 year first class insurance

500baht gas

rubber mats

Got a loaner car while waiting for approval

CONS:

Well, the lack of communication between Toyota departments

Slightly higher payment than I wanted to..7800b per month, 84 months ouch).

No tints

PAPERWORK NEEDED FOR FARANG:

5 copies of:

work permit

passport, visa pages and pic page

Letter from employer showing length of employment and salary

bank book showing 6 months of transactions

Thai guarantor with letter from their employer showing salary, additional funds like service charges and length of employment), 6 months of bank book statements, 5 copies of everything

I already had good credit with Aeon gold mc. So that helped.

8 years with employer, 4 with continuous work permits. That helped.

I could have chosen the next higher level car, the E, with power side windows, and some other nice stuff. I decided against it as it was an expensive upgrade.

Will add a touch screen with rear cam eventually...far cheaper than what they wanted to charge..30k from them. 15k from others.

[stevenl]

Glad you have your car.

But I really don't get you banging on about 'finance discrimination for farang'. First of all it has nothing to do with skin colour but nationality. Secondly, of course there is discrimination, Thais live here permanently, foreigners quite often don't.

[Somtamnication]

I insist on it. But it is for another topic.

The one thing I forgot to mention, and it is a negative is about the finance person who did the paperwork.

When we came back to sign the paperwork, and it was a good amount, I started signing.

All were black and white papers. I had a general idea of what I was signing.

This red and white paper seemed out of place. I almost signed it. I asked the guy what it is for. He turns to the wife (after me having spoken to him in Thai) and explains that is for insurance for when I cannot pay for the car. Loss of job, in hospital, etc. It would have added another 500b to the monthly bill.

I asked him why he did not ask if we were interested in it and not just sneak the paper into the pile. I got that usual stupid grin and no answer. I asked again if it was mandatory and he said no.

Anyways, I am not in the best of health, so I signed it, to protect my wife and only for that reason. Still pissed about it though.

[Ace of Pop]

So Punch the Boss and get Fired. 8K P.M. Car Paid For. Move on Somewhere else. .

[rhodie]

Glad you got your car. Thanks for the giving us a run down on the pitfalls in your other post. Good luck with it.