Buying a new car today is different than it was just a couple years ago. The pandemic and global supply chain issues have created a sea change in how the automotive business works. If you have wandered to your local dealership lately you can see this with your own eyes. There aren’t vast fields of new cars to choose from and haggle over any more. If your dealership has any new cars on the lot at all, they want it all for them.

This means that if you want a specific model and color, especially something new and hot you need to order your vehicle and wait for it. This is not a new concept as it was once how it was done decades ago. Our parents often talked of “ordering” their new vehicle and waiting for it to be built. To many of us who have bought cars in the last 30-40 year however it’s a foreign concept by in large. Until now.

Ordering your new car is the way you get past the forced marriage of taking a model, color or trim you are not really after and paying whatever the dealership wants for it. Ordering your new car is how you get exactly what you want and have the best chance at some level of price control in today’s market.

The catch? You have to wait anywhere from 2-3 months to up to a year or more depending on what the vehicle is and what brand it comes from. The prospect can by kind of scary for many. It does take a special kind of patience, faith and ground work that is opposite to how most of us have known a car purchase to be, but can be very rewarding in the end. You can do it, and here are a few key steps to making it happen right.

1. Research and choose your vehicle

Some people know exactly what they want, others need to shop around and find enough validation through research, test drives, and hands on knowledge. Wherever you are in the spectrum, being confident and solid in your choice is the foundation for having the willingness and perserverance to wait and bank on the process.

1. Be honest with yourself and true to what you want/need.
2. Seek out third-party review of vehicles.
3. Research consumer data.
4. Get quotes for insurance and other add-ons you will want.

2. Research and choose a good dealership

Getting married to the right dealership could likely be the most important choice you make. Car dealerships are traditionally at worst a three-ring circus that is hated by consumers, are full of opportunities for failure in a long order process, and at best a place you should never really trust.

For most car buyers however, they are a necessary evil, so choosing one who has a best possible track record of success, a good consumer record for service and reliability, and ability to perform for an order is vital.

1. Check consumer ratings for quality of service, performance and satisfaction.
2. Ask about ability to perform order with factors like allocation and sales volume.
3. Ask about fees, markups, and mandatory packages.
4. Talk to a minimum of three dealerships before making a choice.

3. Get your formal order in

Placing your order with the dealership is the action step that makes it official and gets the ball rolling. Many orders start with an online “reservation” through the manufacturer website, but it’s not a hard order until you and the dealership come to an official agreement and make it so.

A buyers order at a dealership is not a binding contract, which means that you in most cases you can opt out of it at any time for any reason. Most dealerships will be happy to get your car to resell to another. There is often a good faith deposit asked for by dealerships anywhere from $100 to 1000 or more. Sometimes nothing at all. In almost all cases this is refundable if you have to opt out of your order.

At time of placing order, details about financing, trade-in, and actual purchase framework are not necessarily discussed or written into stone. These details won’t really be relevant to your deal until the time the vehicle arrives. This is because there is no way to know what will happen between now and then. Interest rates, offers, your credit, your trade-in status – all of these things could change by the time the vehicle arrive. In most cases, your dealership won’t be interested in discussing these things.

Right now it’s all about getting your place in line and getting your name on a future vehicle.

1. Agree on a price, point of sale fees, and mandatory “packages”.
2. Ask about policies on cancellation, financing, and time to complete purchase.
3. Get your order agreement in writing.
4. Verify status of order with manufacturer where possible.

4. Get your ducks in a row

There will be a couple months to a year in waiting for your new vehicle to arrive, at which point you need to be ready to perform on your purchase. When the vehicle arrives is when you apply for financing, it’s when you need your down payment, your trade in or your funds if you are paying in full.

Use this time wisely to take action steps to assure that when your vehicle arrives, you have the best chance at following through on the purchase having waited so long.

1. Ensure your creditworthiness, take action to improve or protect.
2. Research trade-in values, get hard quotes just before new vehicle arrives.
3. Sell or prepare your trade-in vehicle(s).
4. Save money.

5. Stay on top of your order

In the time you are waiting for your vehicle to arrive after your order has been place, do not assume everything is going to happen smoothly and forget about it until you get a call from your dealer that your vehicle has arrived.

A lot can change in the industry, global supply chain, manufacturing and in economic conditions in the time between your order and when your vehicle arrives. Dealership sales staff as a rule has a very high turnover rate and keeping track of who is in charge of your order can be a challenge. It behooves you to stay in the process and stay connected with what is happening with your order.

1. Trust but verify
2. Keep consistent contact with your dealership representative(s).
3. Watch the news, forums, and social media groups for what other others are experiencing.
4. Be patient and keep your eyes on the ball.

If all goes well your vehicle arrives at the dealership and it’s exactly what you expected, the dealership honors their end of the bargain and your drive off a happy customer. Getting to this point takes multiple leaps of faith into a process few people have tried, with dealerships few people trust, and in a market that almost a hunger games scenario.

Not everyone has a success story however as sometimes dealerships can cause disaster for you due to mismanagement or dishonest practices. Supply constraints and failures on the manufacturer side can cause orders to be delayed an even sometimes canceled if they cannot build enough of the cars. Life can change, causing you to not be in a financial position to fulfill the purchase when the vehicle finally arrives.

In all scenarios good or bad, nothing ventured nothing gained. It’s worth the effort if you can wait for a new vehicle to put your foot forward and ask for what you want. In the end, it’s a risk free proposition as a buyers order is not a binding contract.

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