I intend on ordering a 2008 GS350 within days (a dealer told me they will take orders starting this Tuesday or Thursday) and need some advice. Don't want to walk in the dealership totally ignorant:

1. When ordering a car, will a deposit be required and if so, how much is typical?
2. Will the order be a binding contract (i.e. car comes in and is damaged or much longer to arrive then anticipated. Am I committed?).

I'm sure there are other concerns but my mind is blank at the moment.

If you ordered your car, what was the process? I'm accustommed to buying a car off the lot. Never had "ordered" a car so I'm a bit hesitant. But it seems that is what I have to do to get the color combo I want (SMG and Ash w/ Nav & no ML). FWIW, I'm in SoCal. Thanks.

 

Here's what I did last week when ordering my 2008 GS:

I put down a deposit of $2500. I could have negotiated it down, since another dealer asked for $500, but did not since it has been easy to deal the dealer I bought from. It is fully refundable for any reason including, I don't like the car delivered or changed my mind. I also used a credit card for extra protection.

The will spec the car from their allocation and earmark it for me. The deal is finalized when it arrives. Although price lists were not out yet, when I ordered, we agreed on a price based on the new invoice (in writing). I provided the specs and color that I wanted. Now, I had played around with some combos that might have been a bit strange (ACC, no ML, etc). In the end, I just chose the fully loaded version for my region and added the sunshade. They were reasonable, so I didn't mind the way the car was spec'd. If for whatever reason the deal fell through, they would not be stuck with a strange configuration.

Now there is a chance that they may play games when the car comes in, but I don't see much incentive for them to. It's the third year for the GS in the model run and they haven't been flying off the shelves. And for 50 large, there are a lot of options to chose from that I would equally happy with in the end. The only reason I ordered was to get it over with. I was tired of shopping. I have no deadline to buy a car, except it would be nice to have one.

The previous two times I ordered a car, I did it with a purchase contract and deposit. On the contract, I wrote, subject to satisfactory test drive. There was no way to do a contract on this order as we don't know final price!

Hope this helps.

 

Typically, you are not bound to buy the car that you order. Some dealers may pressure you to give up the deposit, but they typically don't. Remember that everything is negotiable. Just get it in writing. If the dealer tells you the deposit is fully refundable for any reason, get it in writing from them.

There's all kinds of reasons why you may not like the car that arrives. What if they changed the 08 styling such that it's not appealing to you? What if the car that comes in has a scratch on the door and the dealer tells you that they will pay to have the door repainted? Would you still want that car for the same terms previously negotiated? Or, would you expect a discount because the door had to be repainted?

The key again is to get it in writing that the deposit is fully refundable if you're not satisfied with the car for any reason.