In my experience, this usually happens with high-demand cars that are hard for the dealer to get or brands with a limited area presence.

VW has 2 dealers in my region. Want a TDI Jetta with a manual transmission? Let the games begin -- they get 3 a month and the sales manager won't let it out the door for a good price.

Toyota used to have supply constraints for certain Camry models (some trims were made in Japan exclusively a few years ago). Want one of those? Good luck -- my dad had the guy demand a deposit to be on a waiting list, or take a lousy deal on one of the other trims.

Another thing that happens is that dealers need to trade with other dealers for specific cars. Sometimes these deals fall through, and the dealer who promised you a car is actually being honest -- he doesn't have it for reasons out of his control.

Yep this tactic doesn't work well for anyone that wants manual transmission cars in the USA. Most places get so few of them its hard to get deals on those specific types of cars.

I would not have believed this if I hadn't helped a friend shop for a car recently. It was surreal to both of us that his only hard requirement was a manual transmission and, despite visiting every dealership we could find, few had them at all.

Interesting note: Be very careful about believing a dealer's website or phone description of a car as a "manual." We ran into multiple dealerships that misidentified paddle shift or "manumatic"/"tiptronic" cars as manuals.

He ended up with an RX-8, but that's an entirely different set of stories... :)

Same experience here with TDI VWs. Even "friends and family" don't get good deals....you're just lucky to ge the car you want.

> don't get good deals....you're just lucky to ge the car you want.

If the supply of a certain good is constrained, then obviously the value goes up. Simply being able to purchase one is a good price by definition.

That's OK, there are dihonest people everywhere.

The only correct response to such a situation is: "I will tell everyone I know about your tactics, and go with the dealer that was shooting straight."

Then execute on exactly that plan.

Tell them via email you need the VIN

VINs can be decoded to exact colors/features for most makes/models.

Due to the earlier step, you should have more than one place to buy it from?

In other words, go to another dealer.

A common workaround for this is to ask for a VIN.

I've recommended this procedure to several (a dozen?) people and never encountered this. My steps mention a concise and exact list. If they flub this up, they're pretty damned incompetent.

Also, an interesting aside, there's a limited inventory in any given geographic region, so if you match your desire list up with a given VIN, they're usually quoting you on the same inventory item.

What cars were they getting though?

As others have said, this doesn't work for all cars. For less mainstream / luxur-ish cars, there won't be too many dealerships in 100 mi radius that carry what you want. At best you'd get a response that MSRP is this and that, please come in and we'll talk about discounts.

IANAL, but aren't quotes binding? If the dealer gives you a quote for a specific vehicle, that's binding, isn't it?

IANAL either, but it's unlikely that a salesman responding to an email with a price would be binding. It's more likely an "invitation to treat"[1]. Even if it was, technically speaking, binding, it would have to be the deal of a lifetime to be worth taking the case to court.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat

Easy enough nowadays to just get a picture of the window sticker.