Urgent! Should I pay for the car before I have received it?

[LEM]

Here is the story:

 

My dealer found a car with the specs that I want. It's going to be built very soon and delivered to a different dealer, but he can get it for me.

 

Now he wants me to do all the paperwork today. That would mean to pay for it.

Is that the normal procedure for these cases?

 

I'm just worried to have a problem when the car is delivered and it has already been paid.

I wonder why he didn't want me to make a deposit instead for reserving the car.

 

I need to go today so I would appreciate any quick answers!

 

Thanks.

 

[kuzzi]

I'd play it safe and wait until you've at least seen the car in person before signing any paperwork. For my order, I just gave them a $1000 deposit and a credit application, they never cashed that deposit since I was going to pay even more cash when the vehicle came in. If they wanted anything more, I would have walked away.

 

I would think a deposit is the minimum they would need to get it from the other dealership. There's another thread about how someone ordered from a different dealership and it turned out to be a mess.

[kuzzi]

Delivery Disaster

 

http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/6634-fusion-hybrid-delivery-disaster/

[LEM]

Thanks for your quick replies, guys. I called the dealership after reading them explaining the situation and he understood and agreed on accepting a deposit instead.

I'll let you know how everything goes.

[dalesky]

Here is the story:

 

My dealer found a car with the specs that I want. It's going to be built very soon and delivered to a different dealer, but he can get it for me.

 

Now he wants me to do all the paperwork today. That would mean to pay for it.

Is that the normal procedure for these cases?

 

I'm just worried to have a problem when the car is delivered and it has already been paid.

I wonder why he didn't want me to make a deposit instead for reserving the car.

 

I need to go today so I would appreciate any quick answers!

 

Thanks.

 

No way! don't pay for something you haven't seen or approve of in person

[hybridbear]

Thanks for your quick replies, guys. I called the dealership after reading them explaining the situation and he understood and agreed on accepting a deposit instead.

I'll let you know how everything goes.

I agree with other comments. I wouldn't give them more than $500 or $1000 and make sure it's refundable if something goes wrong. Our dealer took a $500 deposit on our credit card and then that $500 was counted as part of our cash down once the car was delivered. We liked that because we got rewards cash back on that $500. I almost asked the dealer if we could put the rest of our cash down on the credit card to at the time of delivery but didn't think they would say yes since it was another few thousand dollars.

[acdii]

I did that on my current 2010 FFH, it was used from another state. According to the sellers it had the full package, leather etc. Turned out not to have leather, and the seat heaters were after market. My dealer stepped up though and had leather installed, but the installer, either the ones who put in the seat heaters, or the leather, busted both side panels, so they hang loose now.

 

So NO, dont do it, deposit only.

[LEM]

Thanks again, guys. I'm glad I didn't do all the paperwork.

I made the $500 deposit today and everything went ok. The car should be delivered in 2-3 weeks.

[Sleddog]

I know I was glad I didn't pay the full bill on "Delivery Disaster" FFH. I'm glad the dealer saw it your way and accepted the deposit. BTW. The Fusion from the Delivery Disaster thread has disappeared from the dealer's lot. I was by the there yesterday and my sales guy said it left the lot yesterday to where he did not know. Interesting..

Edited May 25, 2013 by Sleddog

[LASooner]

Speaking as someone whose car has showed up but is sitting in the service lot waiting for a fix, I would be burning the dealership down if I had paid for it ahead of time. And I'd hate to see how unmotivated they'd be if they already had my money. It's been 3 weeks, and at least a new lie every couple days, and it's still waiting on a magical part, that's so rare that it's in every fusion sitting on their lot, and every fusion being produced in Mexico.

[LEM]

LASooner,

 

So sorry to hear that... I understand how frustrating it can be. I hope it can be resolved soon.

[corncobs]

LASooner,

 

So sorry to hear that... I understand how frustrating it can be. I hope it can be resolved soon.

Ditto!!

[fusionTX]

I agree with other comments. I wouldn't give them more than $500 or $1000 and make sure it's refundable if something goes wrong. Our dealer took a $500 deposit on our credit card and then that $500 was counted as part of our cash down once the car was delivered. We liked that because we got rewards cash back on that $500. I almost asked the dealer if we could put the rest of our cash down on the credit card to at the time of delivery but didn't think they would say yes since it was another few thousand dollars.

My dealer only let me put 3000 on credit card :(

[rico567]

My dealer only let me put 3000 on credit card :(

Last time I tried that, it was only $1000. And they will eat $90 of your card charge anyway, because they're the ones paying the credit card fee. You can buy something big with a card if you can do it in chunks, like eating an elephant, "one bite at a time." Guy I know built his house on his rewards card that way, by charging a few thou a pop at Lowe's, and doing it quite a few times.

[hybridbear]

My dealer only let me put 3000 on credit card :(

Assuming they did this without charging you a fee, right?

 

Last time I tried that, it was only $1000. And they will eat $90 of your card charge anyway, because they're the ones paying the credit card fee. You can buy something big with a card if you can do it in chunks, like eating an elephant, "one bite at a time." Guy I know built his house on his rewards card that way, by charging a few thou a pop at Lowe's, and doing it quite a few times.

The fact that they're paying so much in the fee is why I didn't ask them to accept another couple thousand on the credit card becsause I assumed they'd say no. When my parents ordered their Energi I tried to get them to do the same thing to get rewards but they insisted on giving the dealer a check for the $500 deposit. They're slow to accept the credit card rewards. My wife and I run all of our purchases through our credit cards to get rewards and we keep track of our purchases in Excel so that when the bill comes the money is sitting in the checkbook waiting for that bill to pay. The bank might show $5000 in the checking account but our Excel spreadsheet says that only $2000 of that is available to spend. The other $3000 is money already spent on credit cards jut awaiting payment of the bill. By doing this we get about $25 every month in credit card rewards plus $1.50-$2 in interest from our credit union on our checking account balance. That's a lot of savings in a year.

[fusionTX]

Assuming they did this without charging you a fee, right?

 

No fee. They didn't make a lot of money off of me. My salesperson showed me a spreadsheet with all her sales, and I was by far the lowest profit, something like $200. I think the next lowest was in the 500s, several in the thousands.

[hybridbear]

No fee. They didn't make a lot of money off of me. My salesperson showed me a spreadsheet with all her sales, and I was by far the lowest profit, something like $200. I think the next lowest was in the 500s, several in the thousands.

Interesting! Did you buy your car for less than invoice price?

[fusionTX]

Interesting! Did you buy your car for less than invoice price?

Mine was ordered as X Plan, but my negotiated price with the dealership was about 350 under the X Plan price, and the dealership honored it. The invoice from Ford actually reflected the mid year price increases.