Buying a Rav4 outside of CA

[mikegerard]

I did it! A white one.

Dianne is sending me the paperwork (should arrive Saturday). Planning for shipping as soon as end of next week and then another 7-10 days to here. So far this is the easiest car purchase ever. And having the car delivered to my house is something you typically don't see when you purchase locally.

If I had a little more free time I would seriously think about trying to drive it home. You could plan out a route where you drive about 110-130 miles and then stop at an RV park (or find a charging station), have a long lunch and maybe a little siesta, then drive another 90 or so, set up for the night at another RV park and then start all over again. It would be slow but very cool.

Now it's time to start reading up about chargers and see what others are buying...

 

[TonyWilliams]

I did it! A white one.

Dianne is sending me the paperwork (should arrive Saturday). Planning for shipping as soon as end of next week and then another 7-10 days to here. So far this is the easiest car purchase ever. And having the car delivered to my house is something you typically don't see when you purchase locally.

If I had a little more free time I would seriously think about trying to drive it home. You could plan out a route where you drive about 110-130 miles and then stop at an RV park (or find a charging station), have a long lunch and maybe a little siesta, then drive another 90 or so, set up for the night at another RV park and then start all over again. It would be slow but very cool.

Now it's time to start reading up about chargers and see what others are buying...

Where are you? Could you update your profile to show your location?

Congrats and welcome to the exclusive club. Those Tesla and LEAF guys will have so many cars out there that it will be too common!!!

 

[Pennsylvania RAV]

They did send a document saying you understand that it needs in event of powertrain failure would need to be serviced at "EV certified dealer" and that they do not recommend "home basing" it outside of U.S. It was one or two sentences on an otherwise length article that required your initials. Interestingly, I initialled everything EXCEPT that clause. Fed-Exed it back to San Diego. They never said anything about it. Shipped me the car. I have a scanned copy showing I did not initial it....for whatever that's worth.

Anyway...I agree with Tony. I think they'd have a heck of a difficult time legally defending any attempt to say it could only be serviced/repaired in CA....don't think they'd have a legal leg to stand on.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Anyway...I agree with Tony. I think they'd have a heck of a difficult time legally defending any attempt to say it could only be serviced/repaired in CA....don't think they'd have a legal leg to stand on.

Which is way different than squealing at the top of their lungs that they, "ain't gunna do it". That's when you get outside consumer protection help. It's just mind boggling to me how many people will believe whatever snippet from a clueless salesman or dealership lackey. If you just understand that the warranty is between YOU and TOYOTA USA, not any dealership. That is where the federal law comes in, and many state and local consumer protection laws.

 

[doug401]

The agreement you signed that said you would take it only to certified centers my be an interesting challenge, if push comes to shove, but it will get warrantied at a Toyota dealer, nonetheless.

I didn't have to sign any document like this...

Strange... I'm quoted as saying this, but I never said it. :| Perhaps the point was that the owner has to get the vehicle to within 100 miles of an authorized dealer for warranty work. I believe that is in the fine print.

On a less environmental friendly note. I realized yesterday that if I disengage the traction control, with sport mode engaged, I can spin those Yokohamas all the way down the street. It looks like the traction control reengages at around 35 mph. They guy in the Dodge Ram Charger truck on my tail was asking for it. :lol: You have to do it just once.

 

[Charlestonleafer]

Could someone send Me Dianne's contact info? She seems to be the most experienced in buying outside of CA. I want to see what the prices are today. I was trying to hold out until December, but don't know if I can wait that long!

 

[doug401]

Could someone send Me Dianne's contact info? She seems to be the most experienced in buying outside of CA. I want to see what the prices are today. I was trying to hold out until December, but don't know if I can wait that long!

Dianne Whitmire
Fleet Director
Carson Toyota
310-522-2317 Office line
949-689-0717 Cell
707-202-3618 E-fax

[email protected]

 

[mkjayakumar]

I am in active dialog with Dianne and would like to have the Lease deal done before the incentives end by Sep-3rd (?). Dianne is a little clueless as to how the Lease will be structured for an out of state (TX) shipment.

I have spoken to two owners in Austin and there is one owner in the DFW area (Sherman) with a forum ID E-Rider and I have sent a couple of PMs with no response yet. Would really love to see the car in flesh before leasing it.

I will post the Lease details here before I sign the papers, to get some feedback and comments

Jay

 

[user 504]

You'll have to pay 6.25% sales tax when you register the vehicle in Texas, but I'm not clear on what figure in the lease contract would be used for that. It will be out of pocket, though.

Even with the current deal expiring on Sep. 3, I think there will be similar deals in perpetuity until Toyota sells all the cars they need to sell.

 

[Kohler Controller]

My Austin dealer just called me to say that the last two 5k services they performed under the 2 year 25k mile Toyota Complete Care were denied by Toyota Corporate and they can no longer perform those services (and charge Toyota) because they are not a certified RAV4EV dealer. This pisses me off. All they are doing is rotating tires and checking the fluids. It's not like they are doing any EV related work.

I'm going to get a copy of the correspondence they received from corporate and try to talk to someone at Toyota about it. This is ridiculous.

 

[TonyWilliams]

My Austin dealer just called me to say that the last two 5k services they performed under the 2 year 25k mile Toyota Complete Care were denied by Toyota Corporate and they can no longer perform those services (and charge Toyota) because they are not a certified RAV4EV dealer. This pisses me off. All they are doing is rotating tires and checking the fluids. It's not like they are doing any EV related work.

I'm going to get a copy of the correspondence they received from corporate and try to talk to someone at Toyota about it. This is ridiculous.

I guess this will be how they put pressure on folks to not export them from the Meca of CARB. I'll bet they would have like to have done closed end leases on all the Rav4 EVs, like Honda did with their compliance car.

Then, they can just crush the problem out of existence at the end of the lease.

The bad news is this service is not law, so assuming they have all their limiting nomenclature in a perfect "can't pierce the bubble" document, you're probably hosed. The warranty claims, however, I think have teeth.

 

[ramineni]

Any body got Rav4 out side California this month.
Any deals going on...

 

[Dianne]

Toyota has eliminated incentives for out of state buyers after Sept 30th, 2013. I guess you can still buy the car, as folks are... but no $14,000 incentive for out of state residents.

 

[miimura]

Toyota has eliminated incentives for out of state buyers after Sept 30th, 2013. I guess you can still buy the car, as folks are... but no $14,000 incentive for out of state residents.

Wouldn't you still come out ahead by renting a private mailbox and registering the car in CA and paying the sales tax to get the incentive? Then you could "move" and later give your real address to TFS. Do you need a CA driver's license to get the incentive?

 

[user 504]

It's reassuring to know that there were so many out of state buyers that this was becoming a problem for Toyota.

It's a shame it won't get Toyota to step up its game.

 

[cwerdna]

Toyota has eliminated incentives for out of state buyers after Sept 30th, 2013. I guess you can still buy the car, as folks are... but no $14,000 incentive for out of state residents.

Ouch!

That really sucks. I guess we'll start to see Rav4 EV sales tank again, until something is done (e.g. reinstatement, better deals for CA folks, price drop, etc.)

 

[reeler]

I wonder how much of the sales in prior months were to out of state buyers?

 

[Randy]

Makes sense to me. They are selling the car for a big time loss and the purpose of building and selling the car is to satisfy the CARB requirements. If they sell one out of state, they can't apply it to the CARB requirements, right? So why sell it at a loss AND not be able to claim it in their CARB count?

 

[springs]

That just figures new to the forum.

I find about about this forum Nov. 11. They stop out of state incentives Oct. 1.

If I had started car shopping a few months ago this would have been easy.

 

[springs]

My Austin dealer just called me to say that the last two 5k services they performed under the 2 year 25k mile Toyota Complete Care were denied by Toyota Corporate and they can no longer perform those services (and charge Toyota) because they are not a certified RAV4EV dealer. This pisses me off. All they are doing is rotating tires and checking the fluids. It's not like they are doing any EV related work.

I'm going to get a copy of the correspondence they received from corporate and try to talk to someone at Toyota about it. This is ridiculous.

Anything ever come of this?