[Motch6]

Several people agreed we needed to start a NEW thread, and maybe PIN this one!?!...


I just got off the phone with the bZ4X people at Corporate... this phone call sounded very positive they were still working on things and trying to help the customer however they want to be helped... Whether it was a buy back, or other compensation while they wait.

Since i do NOT have ownership of mine yet, my main purpose for the call was dealing with the TAX CREDIT if it goes past 9/30. The lady I spoke to said she had heard this same concern from at least one other customer. She says, they have weekly meetings with management and they are asking what they are hearing from customers! I said PERFECT, this is my whole purpose of my call, I need you to hear my concern is about losing HALF of the tax credit come October! What will Toyota do about it? Since they are offering $5k to current owners, will they do something similar, at least for those of us that have ours waiting at port? She said it is documented and will be brought in the meeting!


So, I think ALL of you that want the same thing, call that number regardless of you taking ownership of one... ALL OF US that are waiting need to call! The more numbers the more they put this on the plate of things to do when things get fixed.

Also, she mentioned that they have heard people want to know about extending the Connected Services stuff as well. So, that will be discussed in future communications from Toyota!

call: 1-800-331-4331 opt. 3 and then opt. 1 I believe.

By the way, my rep offered to call me back in a week with UPDATES.

 

[osiris11]

I made the call (and yes, its option 3, then 1) and after being on musical hold for over 23 minutes, I finally was able to speak with a rep.

I voiced the concern about the tax credit expiring (along with the bank interest rates increasing since I had placed my order back on June 6th when Toyota was offering 2.49%).

She said there has been a lot of calls about the tax credit and the bZ4x. There is a special number to call to get the latest info (888-270-9371). The bZ4x specialist consists of 4 people, dedicated to knowing the most info about that model. However, Toyota does not currently have a remedy yet and cannot give me a date to what that will be. It could be two weeks to six months.

She suggests speaking to the dealer once you get a call that the car is available. The dealer has the discretion to factor in the federal tax credit to lower the price.
Corporate sets the MSRP.

I did get a case number for the call, which I think is important to have to show that my concern is on record.

The more people voice their concerns, the better. I encourage all those waiting for their bZ4x to actively engage Toyota by getting their opinions officially document in their systems.

 

[rfrancis073]

Thanks for the posts both here and r/BZ4X @ Reddit - @Motch6

On the phone in queue now. Will report back later....

 

[rfrancis073]

Update: Spoke to a great member of the BZ4X team for about 20 minutes. Have a case number and she said that my concerns would be taken to management, whether I have the BZ already or not. I asked if she needed the VIN number of the BZ4X and she said that one was already associated with my name. She couldn't give the number but she confirmed it to the the one I'm allocated by me reading the last 4 digits of the VIN to her. I was surprised at this and feel that helps this case in some small way. I assume the dealership has placed my name on it at some point.

She also said I made her day telling her of my enthusiasm for the BZ to the point that I tracked the ship from Japan to NY Harbor including photos of it passing through the Panama Canal and entering the Port of New York (webcam screenshots). She said that story would be shared with management and I might get a call back for details (photos) on that basis alone, lol.

Can also confirm that there is a special phone number for BZ4X once you create your case with them. It's a dedicated team of BZ4X associates just for this entire process.

Thanks for posting again Motch. We will see what happens!!!

Happy weekend everyone!

 

[Motch6]

I made the call (and yes, its option 3, then 1) and after being on musical hold for over 23 minutes, I finally was able to speak with a rep.

I voiced the concern about the tax credit expiring (along with the bank interest rates increasing since I had placed my order back on June 6th when Toyota was offering 2.49%).

She said there has been a lot of calls about the tax credit and the bZ4x. There is a special number to call to get the latest info (888-270-9371). The bZ4x specialist consists of 4 people, dedicated to knowing the most info about that model. However, Toyota does not currently have a remedy yet and cannot give me a date to what that will be. It could be two weeks to six months.

She suggests speaking to the dealer once you get a call that the car is available. The dealer has the discretion to factor in the federal tax credit to lower the price.
Corporate sets the MSRP.

I did get a case number for the call, which I think is important to have to show that my concern is on record.

The more people voice their concerns, the better. I encourage all those waiting for their bZ4x to actively engage Toyota by getting their opinions officially document in their systems.

This is a little different info than what i received, especially about the dealership. I already asked my dealership about the Tax Credit, they said they had no control over it and there would be no way to get their money back from Corporate if they offered something off for me. Also, since the tax credit is controlled by the Federal Goverment they have no control over that either! Which i agree with. They won't get any money back, so they would have to just give me a partial credit at their own cost...

Although, this doesn't mean that Corporate might still do something after the 9/30 date... my rep did mention that was on the plate too, that they could adjust the MSRP on the cars after the date! (ha, we shall see)... If that happens then i have to fight the Dealership to honor that! (i'm already at MSRP, so i would think they would. I don't have any markup on mine!!)

 

[qs933]

I’m in Hawaii and I tried calling the 800-331-4331 number. It immediately routes you to Servco’s customer service (the Hawaii distributor).

I spoke with someone there and explained my situation. The rep was apologetic, but she said they consider this a “sales and inventory” issue vs. a recall issue. Therefore, any questions would need to be addressed by sales.

Hopefully, if Toyota USA does something like offer a rebate to offset the reduced credit, or something similar, Servco will follow. Servco already was providing a one-time credit for the lack of the “free public charging” benefit that Toyota USA is offering, so there is hope.

I wouldn’t expect a dealer or distributor to voluntarily eat the $3,750 without some sort of help at the Toyota corporate level. Servco‘s retail dealerships don’t add an additional markup, so that’s a non-issue.

 

[rfrancis073]

A quick case question: I’ve read that you can call or check online your case info and by checking every so often, the case won’t automatically close. Is this true? Also, can you check online vs calling? Thanks in advance!

 

[thiru420]

A quick case question: I’ve read that you can call or check online your case info and by checking every so often, the case won’t automatically close. Is this true? Also, can you check online vs calling? Thanks in advance!

From what I remember your case automatically closes if there is no activity BUT you can reopen the case with follow up query to keep it active....this was early days when I created one of the earliest BZ4X case...I will try to log in and let you know more

 

[osiris11]

So it would appear that most EVs will not qualify under the new fed tax credit. Interesting article

What EVs Qualify For the New Tax Credit? See the Winners and Losers

The new EV tax credit introduces many requirements in 2023. These are the EVs likely to qualify for the new tax credit, and those who won't.

joinyaa.com

 

[FelineFreddie]

So, according to the linked article text, not a single EV currently or soon to be available is a guaranteed “shoe-in” for the full $7500 tax credit.

It poses the questions… If no one qualifies for a tax credit due to stiff restrictions, is it really a credit at all? Also, since the initial restrictions are practically impossible to meet in the short term, why not issue $50K credits… $100k credits? Of course, I’m joking about the amounts, but if the criteria is going to be so darn restrictive, why not just do away with them altogether?

The Electric Vehicle segment/buyer is going to catch a lot of flak about getting these supposedly big tax credits, when in fact, relatively few will actually see them over the next couple of years.

This is obviously NOT the way to encourage shoppers to consider EVs over ICE vehicles, IMO.

 

[kingrikk]

This is obviously NOT the way to encourage shoppers to consider EVs over ICE vehicles, IMO.

Maybe they no longer need to. Maybe gas prices did that. Maybe the increased number of models did that.

In the UK they stopped our government rebate earlier in the year. There are still rebates on infrastructure (such as chargers) and for business users, but for personal users, the cars are now full price.

 

[qs933]

This is obviously NOT the way to encourage shoppers to consider EVs over ICE vehicles, IMO.

This should put pressure on manufacturers to source their batteries differently and to move manufacturing to the US. I also agree that there’s risk — if it basically causes most/all manufacturers to be disqualified, then there's no competitive disadvantage for not qualifying.

It looks like the only way the bZ4X will qualify for the full $7,500 is if it's delivered before October 1, 2022. If I can't get mine delivered before then, and if Toyota doesn't do something to offset it, I'll likely move on to something else. And, you're right -- something else may be a non-EV if there's no incentive to getting one.

 

[cherrrhc]

Hi, I'm a UK member. i have a bZ Vision on order and have been following these US centric threads. What's your situation and opinion on what's going to happen re the car re-work. I was told by UK Customer Relations yesterday that they are working on a communication, similar to US, for UK customers.

 

[ElectricAvenue]

Hi, I'm a UK member. i have a bZ Vision on order and have been following these US centric threads. What's your situation and opinion on what's going to happen re the car re-work. I was told by UK Customer Relations yesterday that they are working on a communication, similar to US, for UK customers.

Welcome to the forum @cherrrhc! Right now production has stopped while Toyota tries to deal with this recall issue. It's really hard to say when they get things on track again. When did you place your order?

BZ4x/Solterra production shut down 1st week September.

Not looking good….11.5 Continuous weeks down from June 17th Until September 7th. https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/37824467.html Toyota Motor Corporation Motomachi Plant Production line #1 September 1 (Thu), 2 (Fri), 5 (Mon), 6 (Tue) MIRAI, Crown, bZ4X, SUBARU Solterra

www.bzforums.com

 

[cherrrhc]

I'm in the UK and pre-ordered mine way back in 12 march 2022. I got notified it started build on 13 may and left the factory on the 16th. My original date to handover was mid July that slipped to now but got overtaken by the recall. My dealer has not received it, so I don't know where it is in the UK. I have written to Toyota UK and they have promised a response.

 

[Motch6]

I'm in the UK and pre-ordered mine way back in 12 march 2022. I got notified it started build on 13 may and left the factory on the 16th. My original date to handover was mid July that slipped to now but got overtaken by the recall. My dealer has not received it, so I don't know where it is in the UK. I have written to Toyota UK and they have promised a response.

Its probably sitting at your port, just like our ones here in the US. Unless the UK has some other holding place for them. Do you know if yours needs some PORT installed items? (mud-flaps, side moldings, locking lug bolts, clear film)? Typically those items are installed at port (at least here in the US).

 

[rfrancis073]

I'm in the UK and pre-ordered mine way back in 12 march 2022. I got notified it started build on 13 may and left the factory on the 16th. My original date to handover was mid July that slipped to now but got overtaken by the recall. My dealer has not received it, so I don't know where it is in the UK. I have written to Toyota UK and they have promised a response.

Have you checked the BZ4X forum at ToyotaOwnersClub? It is European based and I believe I've seen information on where they are storing the BZ units that have been received.

I'm assuming that you got the build and ship date from the Europe tracking provided (we don't get that in the US - have to contact dealer)?

Edit: Threads over there suggested that they were all in Derby waiting to be repaired. I think Derby has a Toyota facility.

 

[kingrikk]

Yeah, it’ll either be at Burnaston, which is the plant near Derby that makes Corollas, or possibly still stuck in Portbury near Bristol.