Hi. If a person factory orders a vehicle via a dealer, how can he/she be sure that it actually was ordered and came directly from the factory, as opposed to a sneaky dealer just finding the car on a lot somewhere and waiting 8 weeks to tell you "your car has arrived"?

 

Check the odometer. It's not full-proof, but I don't see why a car would have more than 5 miles on the odometer if it's brand new. My car came with 2 miles. It wasn't a factory order, but it came right off the truck.

 

Also use edmunds.com to watch inventories (with a little editing, you can tailor the search to exactly which model you want and what search radius). I started looking for a fathom blue Advance FWD in August and through their site was able to see what cars were in the area (in my case, covering all of California). From there you can find the VIN number for each car; I tracked when a new car appeared and saw a few which moved between dealers.

Mine finally appeared in our dealer's inventory about three weeks before we got the call to pick it up. It had 5 miles on it.

http://www.edmunds.com/inventory/srp...hom+Blue+Pearl

 

Why would they do that? They need to move them off the lot as fast as they can, they wouldn't hold onto it just to do it. Car dealers' inventories cost them money every day they sit on the lot...it's in their best interests to move them as quickly as possible.

Ours came off the lot with four miles on it plus what we put on it during the test drive. I don't know how long it had been there.

 

Mine had 16 on it at delivery. I suspect it went on a test drive or two even though it was earmarked for me. Around here they have been sold before they are built.

 

thanks for the input guys.

I did mention factory ordering to the sales person. He seemed resistant. But that's ok, I can always just watch for new vehicle arrivals, or even find a sales person/dealer that is fine with placing an order.

 

I don't think there is such a thing as a factory order per se. What happens is they find one that is coming down the pipe (set up for production, awaiting shipment, etc.) and, essentially, put your name on it. Sales people want to sell you an in stock unit today. Anything other than that is second best at best. Try to remember that the job of salesperson was created in order to give otherwise unemployable people something to do with their time.

 

When a dealer orders a car its "sold" to them as soon as its passed inspection (out the back door of the factory). So from that moment forward the dealership owns it, is responsible for it, and has capitol / margin tied up in the order. They are scared of the buyer backing out and then they own a car that might be difficult to "move".

If you really want to order a car and have it built for you... there are several things you can do:

1. Just ask the sales person to order it direct. Be prepared for a 100% payment or maybe a larger than normal down payment.
2. Simply ask the salesperson to do a search for you at dealerships in their network. *if* they can't find a suitable match then tell them you don't mind waiting for yours to be built.

The goal is for the dealer to see you are serious and that this is the way they are going to make the sale.

 

With Honda/Acura, I've found there isn't much need to do a factory order, since there are generally few build combinations. If you really want one that's fresh of the assembly line, you can talk to the dealer about the incoming inventory. I suspect there's a good chance you'll be able to get what you want without buying a car that's been sitting in the elements for a while.

As for our RDX, we bought it a couple of days after it came off the truck. It still had the plastic on it when we first saw it. I think it only had 1 mile before the PDI.

 

Why do you care if it was from factory or another dealer if it is fresh and has no miles? I just don't want a car that has been sitting on lot for months, so checking build date and odometer is all I care about. My TLX was built in 9/15 and had 15 miles and all plastic on it. Her RDX also was built in 9/15 and only had 40 miles because they drove it from across town.

I also did not think you could order from factory per se as they can only divert a car being built, not have one specifically built unless you are willing to wait a long time.

 

Exactly!