I purchased my Toyota Tacoma!
I was growing discontent with the Highlander I had purchased in May of 2020 since I had always wanted a Tacoma. I started searching the internet for Toyota Tacomas. I decided I wanted a manual transmission since used to drive stick and enjoyed it and hadn’t for a while. I saw there were a couple in Oakland that I wanted to check out. I decided I wanted the Off-Road grade. Originally it was for the CRAWL feature, but it turns out that it’s only on the automatics.
I checked out both of the Tacomas I went up for and was discontent, but saw a Toyota dealership nearby. Originally wanted to talk to them about a new Tacoma. Turns out new Tacomas were waitlisted and due to the chip shortage, dealerships were getting what they were getting from the factory. No custom orders were happening. They did happen to have a Tan 2018 Off-Road. I decided to test drive it and fell in love. I knew I didn’t want one of your standard colors: white, black, or silver. I also didn’t want boring gray, or red, blue or Army Green. Originally with the new model I “built” online, I wanted Lunar Rock. Turns out it was really a greenish-gray I’d seen around town and turns out it wasn’t that great. There were few more colors depending on the year you purchase, but wanted something that fit the off-road concept, so Quicksand Tan it was. The only other color that appealed to me was the Calvary Blue, which is a more subtle tone. If I had bought that, I’d be wondering about the Tan because of it’s earthly color.
The real story is not about buying the truck, but trying to put a down a reservation fee for a new one. For some reason, when the salesman has the cashiers, both my cards got declined, yet I had money in them. When I attempted to access my apps, I was unable to. One bank is because I hadn’t logged into the app on the phone and the other had me locked out. Then getting on the phone with the bank to see what was wrong, the wait kept going and going and extending. Automated message kept saying 15 minutes even after 15 minutes. Felt awkward and embarrassed and frustrated because I knew I had money in my account. What makes it even worse is that I needed gas to get home, so I would need to use one of my cards. I finally got a hold of both banks and was told there was nothing wrong and no blocks on my cards. I tried and was able to get gas. I don’t really know what happened, whether human error of the cashiers, or system error of my bank, but I’m glad I didn’t get the reservation down because the color wasn’t the same in person as it was online.
Thankfully I brought everything I needed so if I did find the one I wanted, I could purchase it. I was able to drive my Tacoma home that night! They even agreed to delivered my highlander the next day as part of the sale.
So what did I end up with? A Quicksand Tan 2018 Toyota Tacoma Off-Road with 4WD and a Manual Transmission.
