What You Need To Know About Special Ordering A New Car
Special ordering a new car is supposed to mean that you get exactly what you want, usually within a couple of months. If you look back at the history of car manufacturing, you can read about several instances of people ordering very specific cars directly from the factory. Today it's not that simple. Here's what you should know.
You should know that you probably won't be able to order a new vehicle during the last two or three months of the production year (those months usually fall between April and August). Although it does depend on the model and manufacturer of the vehicle, most production years usually end in the last few months of summer. Don't plan to special order a new car during this time.
With some manufacturers there's no point in doing a special order. A lot of companies make cars overseas, and because these cars have to travel across the ocean, there's more than just the standard two-months to complete the special order - there's also the two-month shipping time. Because of the amount of time it takes, overseas manufactures don't really like to do special orders. If it's even possible to order a car, it's often strongly discouraged.
Special ordering might not be the best choice if you are going to get one or two options that are part of a package. Some auto manufacturers will only let you buy certain features as part of an option group. For instance, Toyota and Honda are well-known for selling specific options only if the entire option group is purchased e.g. you can buy a sunroof only if you purchase the entire "sunroof package."
It doesn't always make financial sense to special order a vehicle either. You should special order if there is a certain feature that you just have to have, but if you order something out of the ordinary it may negatively affect your resale value. When you want to resell your car, it may be difficult to find a buyer if your car is too unique. Most people buy vehicles similar all the other cars out there, so it might be difficult to find a buyer who wants one that is very different.
Finally, before you special order a new car, consider buying a car off the lot. Although you may have to compromise on things like features or color, you will probably get a better deal. Most of the time, buying a car from the lot is the best deal. Dealers pay interest on all the cars on their lot, so they want to sell those cars quickly as possible. If they don't, their inventory costs them quite a bit of money in finance charges. So dealers will discount what they have now before they discount something two months out.
Basically, car dealers are much more concerned with selling inventory they currently have on the lot before inventory they will get two months down the road. The days of ordering a car direct from the factory, in exactly the way you would like it, are slowly fading away.
Author Jason Lancaster, an auto industry veteran, developed AccurateAutoAdvice.com. You'll find accurate advice on
ordering a new car and
how much a new car should cost at his site.
Categories
