Bought a new 2017 Camry LE which stays in the lot for 10 months

wenhl07

Hi everyone, recently I bought a new 2017 Camry LE from a local dealer in California with OTD price $19,500. It has a 114 mileage and the manufacture date is Oct, 2016. Is that normal for a Camry to stay in the lot for so long time (10 months)?

tonyg2016

no. check tires for flatspotting, battery for low charge. price a little high for CA

Blake

Hello @wenhl07 I would agree with TonyG about checking the tires and battery. I would not say it is unheard of, but it is a little unusual for a car to sit at a dealer that long. Sometimes car sit at the plant if there is an excess supply, which could add a month or two to the vehicles age. That being said, this means it sat at the dealer for 8 months which is quite a while.

What color is this vehicle? It may be an odd color that resulted in the vehicle sitting at the dealer for such a long time. I would not really worry about it though. This vehicle is a Toyota and still has all of its warranty left.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

isellhondas

wenhl07 said:

Hi everyone, recently I bought a new 2017 Camry LE from a local dealer in California with OTD price $19,500. It has a 114 mileage and the manufacture date is Oct, 2016. Is that normal for a Camry to stay in the lot for so long time (10 months)?

Sometimes cars can sit at the port for a couple of months and it's not that uncommon for a store to have a car sitting for several months. Stores try to sell the oldest inventory first but sometimes a lazy salesperson will sell the first car he sees instead of taking the time to move six cars to unbury the car that really needs to be sold first.

Some colors are poor sellers and this can be a reason too. I've never seen any flat spotted tires or batteries that need anything more than a jump start. Sometimes tree sap and other things can contribute to what is called "lot rot". I wouldn't be too worried! Lastly, someone will ALWAYS tell you that you paid too much.

explorerx4

@wenhl07,
How is the car running?
I have bought new vehicles that were manufactured 15 and 18 months before prior to purchase.
Did it have a high MSRP compared to other LE models?

wenhl07

tonyg2016 said:

no. check tires for flatspotting, battery for low charge. price a little high for CA

Thanks for the advice.
I checked the tire with a penny and they are all good.
As for the battery, I tested it by leaving the radios and lights on without engine running for 20min. That is the way to test a used car but I am not sure if it works in a "new" car - even though currently it works, sitting for several months might still have done sth bad to it. Suppose the average life for a battery is 4 years, does that mean my battery only have 3 years 2 months before it dies?

wenhl07

Blake said:

Hello @wenhl07 I would agree with TonyG about checking the tires and battery. I would not say it is unheard of, but it is a little unusual for a car to sit at a dealer that long. Sometimes car sit at the plant if there is an excess supply, which could add a month or two to the vehicles age. That being said, this means it sat at the dealer for 8 months which is quite a while.

What color is this vehicle? It may be an odd color that resulted in the vehicle sitting at the dealer for such a long time. I would not really worry about it though. This vehicle is a Toyota and still has all of its warranty left.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Mine is black. I think it is kind of a "demo" car (though it has only mileage of 114) since I found a youtube video made and uploaded by the dealer in Nov 2016, with the same VIN in the description introducing Camry 2017 new features. The length of test route is only 2 miles and I assume there has been around 50 test drives but none of the previous drivers bought this car.

wenhl07

isellhondas said:

wenhl07 said:

Hi everyone, recently I bought a new 2017 Camry LE from a local dealer in California with OTD price $19,500. It has a 114 mileage and the manufacture date is Oct, 2016. Is that normal for a Camry to stay in the lot for so long time (10 months)?

Sometimes cars can sit at the port for a couple of months and it's not that uncommon for a store to have a car sitting for several months. Stores try to sell the oldest inventory first but sometimes a lazy salesperson will sell the first car he sees instead of taking the time to move six cars to unbury the car that really needs to be sold first.

Some colors are poor sellers and this can be a reason too. I've never seen any flat spotted tires or batteries that need anything more than a jump start. Sometimes tree sap and other things can contribute to what is called "lot rot". I wouldn't be too worried! Lastly, someone will ALWAYS tell you that you paid too much.

Thanks for the answer.
The car looks good when we test drive it. I think they've probably done some washing before we arrive. We also tested another Camry SE but it has dirt stains all over the car - the dealer promise to wash it if we buy, though I think it is not safe to buy an unwashed car (scratches might be hidden under the stains), so we just move on.

wenhl07

explorerx4 said:

@wenhl07,
How is the car running?
I have bought new vehicles that were manufactured 15 and 18 months before prior to purchase.
Did it have a high MSRP compared to other LE models?

So far so good. When haggling we just focus on the OTD (out-of-door) price and it is the lowest one we got after 2 days search. We think that if we wait longer the price might be lower, but the risk might increase. The dealer might set traps to make up whatever price we bargain down.

Blake

Hello @wenhl07 That is a little odd, black is usually not a hard color to sell. That being said, I would not be worried about it that much. The Toyota Camry is a great and reliable car and you still have all of your warranty.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

isellhondas

If you live in a hot climate black is a nearly impossible color to sell!