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Any experience purchasing a car that's still in transit?

blizbbblizbb Member Posts: 10
edited December 2013 in Toyota

Is it possible/legal in Minnesota to purchase or "sign out" on a new vehicle before it has arrived at the dealer?

The reason I'm looking at doing this is to get a manufacturer incentive before it expires, but my car of choice is still in transit.

The sales rep at the dealership getting the car has assured me we can simply complete the contract before the manufacturer incentive expires (before the car shows up) to get me the $ off. The car has been allocated to the dealer and has been in transit since 12/21, was originally scheduled to show up 12/26-12/30, but now been pushed to 1/3-1/8. The Toyota-offered $500 off expires 1/2.

There is another dealer who has one on the lot (40 min away) but it's $190 more and they won't budge on price.

Worth the runaround/worry??

??????

Comments

  • bpeeblesbpeebles Member Posts: 4,085

    I once 'orderd' a vehicle which was still on the ship "in transit"..... The dealer took my down-payment and assured me that it would be delivered to his lot in a few weeks. He gave me a shipping-number too.

    After several weeks, I discovered a website where I could input that shipping-number to 'track' the vehicle. I noted that it was destined to a dealership in New Jersey (I am in Vermont)

    I confronted my dealer with this information and he conceded that the website is correct and gave me my down-payment back. I went to a different dealership an hour away to buy a vehicle.

    =====

    Now that I have told you the above story... I would suggest to you that $190 is not a big deal. Choose the dealership which treats you right. Remember, you can get maintenance-work done at any dealership in North America regardless of where you 'make the deal'.

  • eliaselias Member Posts: 2,209

    i doubt it's related to state of residence. one can put a deposit down for any vehicle in transit. I did it in 2005 for a GTO while it was on the slow boat from Australia. putting a deposit on a car does not complete the sale nor is the deposit a contract - either dealer or customer can back out for any reason at any time before sale is final, and any deposit must be returned in that case.

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