Toyota USA, SERVCO, and Hawaii

Posted this in the new members forum, but not as a new thread. I'm curious as to what other local Tacoma owners think...........Wondering how many Hawaii owners have already noticed this: According to Toyota USA, Hawaii is a foreign country, at least treated that way. Though I can register for an account, it will not accept my VIN so I can ..."have access to important vehicle updates, service history, and more" as advertised on the Toyota USA site. Here was their response:

Thank you for taking time to contact Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

We appreciate your interest in our Toyota Owners Online site and your desire to use it for your Hawaii Toyota vehicle!

As Toyota Motor Sales is the Toyota distributor for the mainland United States and Alaska, information and features available on our site are specific to the vehicles and products we manufacture. Our Toyota Owners Online site was developed specifically to provide our customer’s easy access to information specific to their vehicles. Although most U.S. customers reside in the United States, we know some of our customers export their vehicles to other countries. For this reason, it is possible for anyone to make a Toyota Owners Online account, regardless of where they live. However, non-U.S. VIN (vehicle identification number) cannot be registered in the system and are not supported.

You may request to have your account archived, if you would like. However, you are welcome to access the tools and materials available to you on the site. Please note, Owner’s Manuals, warranty and maintenance guidebooks, and other resources available on the Toyota Owners Online site are specific to Toyota vehicles built to U.S. specifications.

For information on the various programs and website support options available for the Hawaii, we recommend contact with Toyota distributor in Hawaii for further assistance with your inquiry. Regrettably, we do not have any information on the services available to Toyota customers in other regions of the world.

Servco Pacific, Inc.
2850-A Pukoloa Street
Honolulu, HI 96819
888-272-5515

We apologize for any disappointment you may feel with the lack of Toyota support for your area and appreciate you taking the time to gather information about the options available to you through Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.

Please be aware that vehicles in Hawaii may be slightly different from vehicles offered in the continental U.S. and Alaska.

Sincerely,

Edith K.
Toyota Customer Experience Center


I find that Servco Pacific offers nothing similar to the features available on the mainland/Alaska only site. I suppose this is another example of the "Paradise Tax" but it is a bit annoying to be put in the same category as say, Belize or Haiti in their eyes. Anyone have any insight into this?

 

see here


https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fyi-hawaiians-toyota-usa-and-servco.363542/

 

Yup, typical. No Entune, No Toyota Care extended warranty, High prices on parts, at least they dont have additional dealer markup on their new cars....But hard to negotiate an awesome deal. Its like take it or leave it.

 

Well, interesting thread there @Vigo. I suppose I didn't quite get that connection. I know all the dealerships seem like family related, Cutter, etc so it is like when you buy it's like one big conglomerate that doesn't allow competition. Where else you going to go? Not like anyone is going to get any good deals, take it or leave it philosophy. I've lived here 20 years. From what I've experienced from the Mapunapuna dealership they seem like a good bunch of folks though. I've always fixed my own vehicles all my life, clutch, transmission rebuilds, engine swaps, electronics etc but at the moment they have my '16 w a puzzling stalling issue, good that it's under warranty, they thought they had it fixed Monday after a week + but it died on them on the road test. We shall see how it comes out.
Gotta wonder though, why is HI Toyota joined at the hips w Japan, and not w Toyota USA? It just seems rather awkward.

 

I agree, the folks i have dealt with from sales, service and parts all have been helpful when i needed to to go to them at both Toyota and Lexus. Its just the price you get, it what you get, even if you try to go to a different Servco dealer, they already have your info on file. I think the no additional markup is fair, especially since i tend to buy the first model year, i just hate when they mark up cars thousands of dollars and call it market adjustment!

 

Generally I avoid first model years of new generations, but felt I couldn't pass this one up. Yes, it's showing me all its Menehune. Perhaps you've been lucky and missed out on the known 2016 Tacoma quirks that we read about here on TW.

 

I wish we were more closer at the hips with Japan.... would love to get one of those landcruiser 70s .......

 

So far, so good. I had the rear diff recall but everything else is working fine. All the other first year models we purchased were manufactured in Japan and the Toyotas and Lexus were good cars. The Honda was made in Japan also but we had a bunch of things break on it. Luckily we bought the Honda care warranty for it because it paid for itself.

 

Well, my truck was built in Texas. Real strange that I am told by Toyota USA that I have a non-US VIN, and my Truck has been shipped outside of the US, and was not built to US specifications? Who knows, maybe that's just a form letter that they keep around to send to people inquiring from UAE, or Botswana, but HI is the US. Our Trucks are built on the same line that trucks going to Wisconsin or South Dakota are, what about my VIN makes them know it is a "non-US VIN?" Is it the sequence number, or is there another indicator on there. I have not found out how to decode this VIN like I have others.
I suppose if I were to send this vehicle to the mainland, this would still be a non-supported vehicle in their eyes, even if it were registered and being driven in Nevada or West Virginia.

 

Yup, the trucks are exactly the same as in any other of the 49states, maybe less the entune app, but you are correct, my Toyota and Lexus isn’t recognized buy Toyota USA, which sucks. The Lexus even has some other features like remote door opening and starting if you subscribe, but it’s not available on the Hawaii cars. I don’t even have one of those SOS buttons in the Lexus with looks like standard on every other Lexus vehicle. I guess the price of living in Hawaii.

 

"Paradise Tax."

FML

 

ENTUNE is trash. I have a lower-48 third gen and I never use it.

 

Would it make sense to buy in mainland and ship to Hawaii ?

 

You cou

You could try and see what price you could negotiate on the mainland. Only benefit would be getting the entune. The highest price at Servco is MSRP, so unless you can get the truck down alot and consider shipping and the higher tax in some places on the mainland, you still may be better off buying here and have to worry about damage during shipping.

 

Yes. You can get near invoice and shipping is less than financed difference. You'll also have a stronger ability to negotiate on trade value, if that's also in the equation.

 

How much usually is shipping from mainland ?

I bought a new car for x mas. Bought it in Boston and had it shipped to Ca

 

You'll have to price out shipping, but it's generally around $1,000 from California iirc. If it gets damaged during shipping (rare), the company pays for repairs.

 

Yes, when you have (had) a Governor tightly linked by family to the auto monopoly on the island, then it's no wonder that things such as this get passed in favor of her family's businesses, you think? Seems elsewhere this would be recognized as a severe conflict of interest, but here it's just par for the course. To hell with the people, let's make it our ideal place to have total control over where you can purchase vehicles, how much you pay, and what you can get. Paradise tax.

 

Big island is worse......called dealer for auto trans oil for my '03 and was $10.00+, called Waipahu and was $5 something!!! Oh, forgot, Young Brothers, another monopoly, $5 shipping.......

 

Just got off the phone with an Oregon Toyota dealer saying how he can't sell me a new Toyota unless I have a mainland address! So this is interfering with inter-state trade and constitutes a monopoly. I fired off a complaint to the DOJ. Anyone else wants to follow suit (check out the mainland built out options compared to Servco and weep!) here is the web address: https://www.justice.gov/contact-us. Use the drop down "antitrust"