People put down deposits for every electric truck in development, leaving dealers in the lurch when they eventually cancel all but one
People put down deposits for every electric truck in development, leaving dealers in the lurch when they eventually cancel all but one
When an electric truck customer doesn't show up to pick up their order, dealer are left with a car that might be hard to sell to someone else.
People put down deposits for every electric truck in development, leaving dealers in the lurch when they eventually cancel all but one::When an electric truck customer doesn't show up to pick up their order, dealer are left with a car that might be hard to sell to someone else.
Given that dealers don't have stock sitting around and are marking up both new and used right now... boo hoo?
Tell me they're not just turning around and selling that to the next person in the list. Really hard to have any sympathy for car dealers after how they've treated consumers.
They're complaining about when people with preorders don't pick up their order - which means those people basically gave the dealer a free $500~1000 with the only string attached being that the dealer now has one more vehicle on their lot to sell.
I've put down a few preorders and across the board the story I get is the same: once I fully place my order (customize and lock it in), I can't get my deposit back. So the only ones really losing, IMO, are those who assume a preorder means a guaranteed sale. That was never the deal they struck, and it seems they've forgotten the wiggle room they built into the deal to manage the pitfalls of losing that 'guaranteed' sale.
Particularly when it comes to these trucks, both Ford and Chevy promised "$40k" for theirs and that definitely moved massive numbers of deposits. Both jumped to an entry level price of around $70k, and that's if they even let a consumer buy the lower trims. If that keeps happening to other models, like the promised $30k Equinox EV, they really can't get mad when people back out once more details are known, or get cold feet when they realize the market's not in a good spot for them. Personally, I'm not finalizing any purchase or locking in my deposit if I can't get hands-on time first. If that's not workable for dealerships, then good riddance. They have one job, and that's to educate me and let me test drive.
Are down deposits not refundable?
I cannot wrap my head around people who spend 5k just to preorder a car.
Same here where I am from, the deposit is around $1500 but it’s refundable even after the car arrives to the dealership’s lot.
They're refundable if you actually buy it. It's like a down payment. They only lose the money if they decide to cancel the order. That helps reduce the risk that the business will pay for an expensive car only to no longer have a buyer for it.
When these trucks are like $90k new, spending a few thousand to hedge your bets on which one will arrive first is nothing. It's like paying for faster delivery. Electric vehicles are in insane demand and sellers cannot keep up. Though honestly, I'm not sure dealerships are gonna have issues as a result.
Dealer markups the last few years have pushed significant market share to fixed price sales like tesla, polestar, and rivian. I ended up with a polestar after I couldn't find a Ford Mach E, hyundai ioniq5 or VW ID4 without markup. Are we supposed to feel sorry for them when they have inventories building up?
And that it's their fault for gouging and thinking people won't shop around? They've done it to themselves with greed.
They haven't, it's the manufacturers
Yeah, same. I never dreamed that a Tesla would be the cheaper option (summer 2022 at peak prices) compared to a Mach e, ev6, or ioniq5, but my dealerships all had 15k markups, and each car has features I wanted gated behind higher trims, so they were all like 60k+ after markups (don’t remember specifics since it was over a year ago)
Thankfully I got a ridiculous trade in check from my ID.4, so I was able to afford a huge downpayment on the model 3, although thanks to the price drops, I’m underwater again… good thing gap insurance is only $8 a month through my insurance
It's because of how the manufacturers have set up the system. I posted a video above explaining how manufacturers control everything
Time for a market adjustment- downward.
Yeah, I don’t feel bad for the Automobile Cartel.
Bummer
Won't someone think of the
leechesdealer networks?Give this a watch (it's 9 minutes and super interesting) and see if that changes your perspective:
This is fantastic news
I thought testa doesn’t use dealers?
The article is not just about Tesla.
Tesla (and Rivian) don't
What happened to the invisible hand of the market? Make up your mind, capitalists.
Fortnine (I think) did a great video on dealerships. Basically, the manufacturers are fucking the dealers, and also that's why 90% of motorbikes are black.
I'll try find the video. You'll feel for the dealers who are basically stuck doing what the manufacturer wants.
I think it's this one:
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=meHYBhcpdvQ
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.