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Old 12-20-2021, 06:28 AM   #41
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The car we wanted existed in only maybe 4-5 dealers in the entire state of Texas. The covid scarcity was in full force. Yes, it is worse now, but it was already difficult in the summer of 2020. The same for our RV. Massive RV lots had maybe 3 used units. We paid double what I was expecting and were happy to get what we got.
The car I wanted wasn’t available at all within 500 miles. There were some like it “at sea” but a month out, I put a deposit on one, and the dealer assured me it was mine. They’d worked out a dealer trade, and already written a check to the other dealer, which they’d cashed. Two weeks later, about two weeks from the date I was supposed to get the car - my dealer calls and says the owner of the other dealership sold my car to a buddy of his. He was told by his sales manager we’d already paid for the car and he said “I don’t care, I sold it to my buddy.”

I kept watching inventory at other dealers and passed on two other cars “at sea” that I could have put a deposit on, because I’d been told I had a lock on my car.

So I ended up buying my third choice, another model entirely, at over MSRP. It was that, or no car for at least a month. Now is the worst time to buy a car that I’ve ever seen…
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Old 12-20-2021, 06:36 AM   #42
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The car I wanted wasn’t available at all within 500 miles. There were some like it “at sea” but a month out, I put a deposit on one, and the dealer assured me it was mine. They’d worked out a dealer trade, and already written a check to the other dealer, which they’d cashed. Two weeks later, about two weeks from the date I was supposed to get the car - my dealer calls and says the owner of the other dealership sold my car to a buddy of his. He was told by his sales manager we’d already paid for the car and he said “I don’t care, I sold it to my buddy.”

I kept watching inventory at other dealers and passed on two other cars “at sea” that I could have put a deposit on, because I’d been told I had a lock on my car.

So I ended up buying my third choice, another model entirely. Now is the worst time to buy a car that I’ve ever seen…
Well that's what they told you (bold text by me)...That's possible but my "guess" is that they sold it to some who paid a lot more... May have been your dealer or the other dealership, but someone made more money... And that's all they care about.
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Old 12-20-2021, 06:39 AM   #43
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Well that's what they told you (bold text by me)...That's possible but my "guess" is that they sold it to some who paid a lot more... May have been your dealer or the other dealership, but someone made more money... And that's all they care about.
Maybe but I doubt it. I had the VIN number, searched daily to track the car, and it appeared in the inventory of the other dealer, about 150 miles away. It was never assigned to my dealer as far as I can tell, but you may know more about how it all works.
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Old 12-20-2021, 06:45 AM   #44
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My first car purchase involved putting down a payment and arranging to pick it up 2 days later after gathering my finances.

I arrive 2 days later and the car was "accidentally sold... but we have this nice Griswold-Mobile over here..."

Walked out of there and bought at a much better place. My deposit was held on to exactly 29 days, 1 day short of the expiration of that state's law.

I will never believe a word that a dealer spews concerning this situation. It is all BS.
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Old 12-20-2021, 07:30 AM   #45
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^^^^^
I've heard about these delay/cancellation tactics on a couple of the car forums I have been visiting for years... The story seems to change to fit the situation;


Examples and (my translations)

Accidentally sold, (someone paid more)
Reallocated (whatever that means)
Held up at the factory (someone screwed up the paper work)
Damaged in shipment (that does happen but if it is minor, they'll fix it without telling you)
Supply chain disruptions (sounds legitimate at this time, to me anyway)

OTOH, sometimes delays are as advertised (stuff happens) but it seems "most" people eventually get what they ordered... For me, I just buy what's off the lot... If I can't find something close enough to what I want at one dealership, there's another down the road. On-line dealership inventories has made that process so much easier.


YM(and opinion)MV
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Old 12-20-2021, 07:35 AM   #46
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What you did even a year ago, much less further back, doesn’t apply at the moment unless you buy a make/model that’s very unpopular (aren’t many) - there are waiting lists for more models than not. Dealers don’t have as many cars, and demand is high, so they’re adding “market adjustment” charges and/or loading them up with every dealer option they can think of. I’ve been buying cars for 45 years, paid (much) less than MSRP every time - but you can’t do that today in 90%+ of situations.

Though there’s no haggling on Teslas, they’ve jacked up prices on most models by $10K or more in the past year and waiting lists are many months out. I looked into buying a Model Y in Nov, prices are up $10K and deliveries are out to Jun to Oct depending on model. So that’s useless for now…
This. I think it's entertaining when someone brags about "getting a great deal" on a new car. No, you might think you did...but they still are making money. You may have gotten a FAIR deal, but no one is pulling one over on a new car dealer.

We are not in the market for a car, but we aren't seeing many reasons to buy a brand new car. When things aren't crazy, there are decent deals on used cars that can save folks thousands of dollars. Of course, some of us don't have to worry about saving a few thousand dollars or just prefer new...but we just don't see that there is too much of an advantage to paying a premium for brand new.
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Old 12-20-2021, 07:47 AM   #47
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Well that's what they told you (bold text by me)...That's possible but my "guess" is that they sold it to some who paid a lot more... May have been your dealer or the other dealership, but someone made more money... And that's all they care about.
That's exactly what I was thinking as I read that. With this shortage, we're seeing again the dealers prioritizing a little extra profit today, over longer term positive potentially life long relationships with customers in the future.
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Old 12-20-2021, 08:00 AM   #48
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That's exactly what I was thinking as I read that. With this shortage we're seeing again the dealers prioritizing a little extra profit today, over longer term positive life long relationships with customers.
Dealers and salesmen seldom have a reason to look past the day your check clears. Car salesmen generally are gypsies, moving between dealers (and industries) freely. Even ownership of car stores changes fairly often.
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Old 12-20-2021, 08:06 AM   #49
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That's exactly what I was thinking as I read that. With this shortage we're seeing again the dealers prioritizing a little extra profit today, over longer term positive life long relationships with customers.
Yeah that didn't seem to stop the hardware stores from selling OSB for $70 a sheet
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Old 12-20-2021, 08:32 AM   #50
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Dealers and salesmen seldom have a reason to look past the day your check clears. Car salesmen generally are gypsies, moving between dealers (and industries) freely. Even ownership of car stores changes fairly often.
We had a local Ford dealer that had been around for years just change ownership. It's now a proper name like PETER GIBBONS FORD (not the actual name). Much of their advertising has been along the lines of "PETER WILL GET YOU THE BEST DEAL EVER!" I was curious as to who this character is and for the life of me, I couldn't make a definite determination that it's even an actual person. They also have one of the worst logos I have ever seen...the stickers they put on the back of the car are VERY LARGE and just the initials PGF...probably a good 10"x8".
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Old 12-20-2021, 08:40 AM   #51
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We had a local Ford dealer that had been around for years just change ownership. It's now a proper name like PETER GIBBONS FORD (not the actual name). Much of their advertising has been along the lines of "PETER WILL GET YOU THE BEST DEAL EVER!" I was curious as to who this character is and for the life of me, I couldn't make a definite determination that it's even an actual person. They also have one of the worst logos I have ever seen...the stickers they put on the back of the car are VERY LARGE and just the initials PGF...probably a good 10"x8".
Hey, Pete's website says they're pet friendly. Next time you want to buy a car, bring your rottweiler along.
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Old 12-20-2021, 08:42 AM   #52
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Hey, Pete's website says they're pet friendly. Next time you want to buy a car, bring your rottweiler along.
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Old 12-20-2021, 08:56 AM   #53
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They also have one of the worst logos I have ever seen...the stickers they put on the back of the car are VERY LARGE and just the initials PGF...probably a good 10"x8".
As part of the deal, have it in writing that the dealer won't install any stickers or advertising. If it is already on, they can take it off.

There's no law that says you need to carry that crap around for them.
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Old 12-20-2021, 09:04 AM   #54
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As part of the deal, have it in writing that the dealer won't install any stickers or advertising. If it is already on, they can take it off.

There's no law that says you need to carry that crap around for them.
I have never had a decal on a car. Either I made sure it was of the vinyl type that is very easy to remove or it's in the purchase contract to have it removed and any damage fixed.
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Old 12-20-2021, 10:57 AM   #55
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I love other retail. I walk into a bid-box. I get helped by someone who is either competent, or part of the Making Pot Smoking Great Again talent agency. I pay full sticker. They don't take my trade in. They tell me a 4 hour window of delivery,, I don't tell them. they make me pay upfront for everything. Full sticker price and little service.

Eliminate the whole 'get the best deal'. Full Price, Full Sticker, every time. That's what I want. Hey, I got money to burn....
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Old 12-20-2021, 11:02 AM   #56
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One bit of positive news on this....

Slowly those individual dealers .....are selling out to the Big Dealer Chains. (I know intimately about this....I've contributed to it). So now, slowly - in metro markets, the same family or entity will control almost all, or ALL of the retail activity for a given car brand. So then there's no more "I'm going to the other guy to get a better deal" - because they other guy is the dealer's brother, or himself. The Big Chains? They earn more profit per car than the invidudual rooftop dealer. Look at Lithia, AutoNation - their profits per car - way more.
This allows the big guys to add higher fees, increase labor rates. (Of course, their margins won't be close to the local jewelry store....or many other retailers)

But still, there will be less people controlling bigger chunks of the retail chain. This semiconductor shortage has given them a nice taste of monopoly pricing. Net Profits at dealerships are a record high. In a decade it'll be even higher - the only thing that'll be reduced is the jobs that pay $40k-$75K plus benefits.

So eventually, the whole model will be like Tesla..... Full Price, is a Fair Price. So be patient, soon it'll be like that.
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Old 12-20-2021, 07:26 PM   #57
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A lot of businesses have learned that keeping supply below demand is extremely profitable.

I believe it will be a permanent part of retailing for many types of things.
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Old 12-20-2021, 08:22 PM   #58
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Yeah baby! Capitalism at the finest.

Supply chains, covid closures, ships anchored out at sea. Poor poor pitiful me.

That's why King Crab and Lobster are high and gas is $5/gal.

Oh yeah, prices are going up!
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Old 12-21-2021, 08:18 AM   #59
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So eventually, the whole model will be like Tesla..... Full Price, is a Fair Price. So be patient, soon it'll be like that.
I don't believe this at all, but it would be way better to not have to put up with all the BS people do today, which is why Carmax, Carvana etc. are so popular.
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Old 12-21-2021, 08:29 AM   #60
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One of our dealerships claims that 40 percent of their new car retail business is internet based.
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