Only on some makes and some models. Try doing this with a Japanese car or your average Volkswagen and you’d get nowhere. This apparently used to be more of a thing when American cars ruled the industry — custom orders could be quite profitable — until the Japanese makes came along with severely limited optional equipment as a quality and cost saving measure.
The dealers lost a lot of sales to sleep on it. They discovered if you put someone into a car that was close (wrong color, not quite the same options) they would happily drive it home and not return it. If you ordered the exact car someone wanted they will often call you the next day saying they changed their mind, cancel the order.
The comment I was replying to said "American OEMs" and you could do this fairly recently with both Ford and GM
I tried to do it with Toyota and got absolutely nowhere. I talked to dealer after dealer, and they all told me that they couldn't customize a vehicle order. I also couldn't do it on Toyota.com - after I configured a vehicle, all it did was refer me to a dealer who told me that they can't customize anything.
Re:Carmakers feel chip crisis easing
by themaninthedark on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @10:22AM
(#31654771)
That is odd because Japanese dealerships carry very little inventory and make to order.
You go to the dealer and test drive, sit down and go over packages and finance then a couple weeks later your car shows up and they either deliver it to your house or you go and pickup.
I can't believe people go to a dealer and are willing to drop $30k+ on a new vehicle that isn't to their exact spec just to drive away that day with something new. There usually aren't too many options on cars -- color, wheel design, a few packages. If I'm spending that much money on something, I'd want exactly what I want. I've even flown to a dealer a few hundred miles away to buy the exact car I want and drove it home.
If I drive a car for ten years and I save over $1k for getting a "meh" color instead of the color I want, that's over $100/year that I save. I am 100% willing to be paid $100 each year in exchange for driving a gray car.
I suppose I've also never spent over $30k on a car...
You've been able to do this in the US forever; you just might have needed to pay closer to (or even at) sticker (now I'm sure it's higher than sticker).