I was allocated a Corolla Cross, and it was originally supposed to arrive in late December. I secured a great interest rate through my credit union, but it’s only valid until January 14th.
My salesman first told me the car would be here by January 7th. This morning, he changed it to ‘for sure by the end of February.’
I live in the Midwest, not far from Huntsville, and I find it hard to believe he has ‘no idea where the truck is.’
Is there any way to track this myself? Aside from my interest rate expiring, I currently have a rear-wheel-drive car and have been relying on others for transportation in the snow. It would be great to know when it might actually arrive. Thanks.
Corolla Cross models built in the U.S. come from a new factory partnered with Mazda, and that facility is struggling with deadlines.
For most domestic Toyota models, the timeline from start to finish is usually 10-14 weeks, but I’ve seen Corolla Cross models take 6-7 months.
Unfortunately, there’s no way for you to track the VIN yourself. Even your salesperson likely doesn’t have real-time tracking info. The best thing you can do is wait until the car arrives and then secure financing. Toyota Financial Services (TFS) might even offer a better rate by then.
@Cam
Appreciate the info. Sounds like there’s nothing I can do but wait. The reason I went with a credit union is that TFS offered me a 12% rate and wouldn’t budge. Just trying to figure out my options.
@Cam
You seem to have some inside knowledge. We’re waiting on a Camry Hybrid being built in Kentucky. Any idea how reliable the Georgetown factory is with timelines?
Robin said: @Cam
You seem to have some inside knowledge. We’re waiting on a Camry Hybrid being built in Kentucky. Any idea how reliable the Georgetown factory is with timelines?
Toyota has its process down pretty well. The Kentucky plant usually stays on schedule. The issues are mostly with the new Mazda partnership.
Robin said: @Cam
You seem to have some inside knowledge. We’re waiting on a Camry Hybrid being built in Kentucky. Any idea how reliable the Georgetown factory is with timelines?
I had one built in July 2022. It was assembled around July 15, and I got it by August 25. The delays were all in transportation—rail and truck, not the factory.
@Cam
I feel this. Reserved a Corolla Cross in September, but it got delayed and eventually canceled for a '23 model. Now I finally have a build date and see others getting their '23s delivered, so I’m hoping mine comes soon.
Do you think the delays and staffing shortages will impact quality?
@Ellery
Toyota will slow production before it lets quality slip. I wouldn’t worry about that. The issue is that Mazda’s production scale is way smaller than Toyota’s, and they’re still adjusting to Toyota’s volume.
You can look up the VIN on different sites, but I think the VIN changes once production is complete. Usually, the dealership gets updates before anyone else.
Someone at the dealership has access to Toyota’s tracking system, which shows where the car is in the production and shipping process. It looks something like this:
Your salesperson should be able to tell you what step your car is at. Once it’s on a train, there’s no tracking until it arrives.
Toyota assigns a temporary pre-production VIN at allocation, which has a letter in the last six digits. The dealer should have this and can give it to you. Some dealers even list incoming allocations in their online inventory.
When the car is built, it gets a permanent VIN, where the last six digits are all numbers. If you register a Toyota owner account with the temporary VIN, it will stop working when the car is built—that’s how you know the real VIN has been assigned.
Once you have the final VIN, you can track it through Toyota’s site. The ‘date of first use’ on the spec sheet will default to December 31 but will update when the car is sold. If it changes before you get the car, that could mean the dealer gave it to someone else.
Many dealers don’t like sharing tracker info because delays happen all the time, and they don’t want to deal with complaints. But your dealer should at least be able to tell you which stage your car is in.
For reference, my car took two months from allocation to delivery, and I’m in St. Louis. In Canada, the wait times tend to be longer, often up to a year.
@Harley
Thanks for the detailed explanation! I had no idea about the temporary VIN or tracking process. I’ll try to get the info from my dealer. Didn’t realize allocation to delivery usually takes about two months—that’s longer than I expected.
