I went to a dealer in Tulsa, OK today to get the scoop on my chances of getting a pre order. The salesman was clueless and told me the dealership had made 14 pre orders and that was all they were getting this year. I talked to him awhile and asked him about the convertibles that are supposed to be coming out in January. He went to ask his manager and then came back with a pre-order form. He told me that the manager said if I put $1000 non-refundable down, they would order my car and I would have it by February or March. I thought pre ordering was off for now. I tried to determine if they were actually talking about making an order so that I would get an order number within a short period of time or if they were just talking about holding the order form until orders start again. It was obvious this guy really didn't know. Does anyone have a feeling about what they are offering? I might consider it if I am actually pre ordering, but I am reticent to give a non-refundable deposit they are just going to hold it for months with no guarantee I'll get a car by March.

 

No AOL. I'm on work ISP. Email is rjames@cwlaw.com. I am interested in Touring Black or Silverstone (haven't made up my mind) with Orange leather. I'm going to call tomorrow and talk to the manager. The price quoted was MSRP at Jackie Cooper in Tulsa. The salesman was nice but clueless. He told me the manager said Riverside Nissan in Tulsa was charging $5000 over MSRP. I thought I would check with Nelson in Broken Arrow. I find it hard to believe that there won't be several cars available without pre orders by March of 2003, but I may not know what I'm talking about.

 

My dealer sold 21 pre orders for 2 stores and they told me that they will only get 6 general stock z's for BOTH stores sometime in Jan.. Good Luck!

 

never put a non refundable deposit down.

 

...and what if there are zero dealers around that will sell you the car unless you do?

 

Maybe netviper should've said "avoid putting down a non-refundable deposit".

You could also try outside your area or out of state, I suppose. Although I don't know how easy that would be for California residents. I always wondered about that with the smog certs and all. (You need X number of miles on the car if it wasn't purchased within California. This is to avoid purchasing brand new out of state vehicles and denying the state it's taxes .)

 

Non-refund deposit does not always mean non-refundable, I was able to get back me $1000 deposit with no problem (but I did not have a pre-order). I ordered my car at the end of June, to get one of the first Z's the dealer gets in stock that most matches what I ordered. They said, I would most likely get the car in December or January.

So you are not pre-ordering the car from the dealer, all you are doing is booking a car for delivery that matches your specs as much as possible.

My dealer told me it was a good idea to book it now for delivery later because if I went into the dealer in december, if there is a strong demand for the car, then I would have to wait a few months for the car to come.

 

There's no reason why the deposit should not be refundable. I mean, we're talking about a car that people have been ordering since early, early this year! I'd suggest using that argument in a conversation with the dearl if that's a sticking point. The dealer is going to have NO problem selling this car immediately. Its not like they're ordering something in that's going to sit on the lot for ages and cost them money.

My question is there's a lot of people that put money down on the car a long while ago. You're entitled to claim interest on that amount since its a deposit right? I know its not much, but I'm curious.

 

On the deposit form I signed, it says that I waive my right to claim interest on the deposit. It's a refundable deposit though.

YMMV

 

Not only the deposit receipt, but a complete contract for the exact price you paid for the features you ordered.

 

I ordered my Z on June 27 after the pre-order program ended. I signed a contract at MSRP that included the exact model and options I wanted. When the dealer's remaining allotment came in around July 15th, he placed a dealership order with one of the cars configured exactly the way I had ordered. This is the proper way it should be done.