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Comment by StavrosK | Hacker News Reader

I thought all cars were like this? When I bought my car (a Mercedes) I told them the options I wanted, paid for it, waited two months while they built it, and they gave it to me.

I could have bought showroom cars (or pre-built cars) at a discount, but none had the options I wanted.

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When I bought a new car I did this. The salesman warned me that the weird combination of options I wanted was not popular. I bought it anyway.

When it came time to sell the car, the salesman was right :-) When you buy an unpopular mix, you pay twice - once for the options, and again when you have to sell the car at a discount because of those options.

The cars on the lot tend to be the most popular option combinations, meaning the most sellable cars at the most profit. The dealers aren't fools.

Over here, we don't have packages at all, as far as I know. You can either get one of the cars the dealership built for you, or you can make your own, but the pre-built cars aren't based on any package, they're just what that specific dealership picked.

Porsche's difference is that they don't lock things down to options packages (bundles, i.e. Mercedes' Premium Package I/II/III). If you want the digital instrument cluster on your new E-class, you get the fragrance system along with it in Premium Package II even if you're ordering a custom build. The limitations are really noticeable when you start looking at wheel options with most manufacturers.

Porsche just throws a massive options sheet at you and lets you go to town. You get the exact car you want on a granular level. On the other hand, that's also a disadvantage. If you have deviated stitching everywhere else and tick off the "Steering Column Casing in Leather" option instead of "Steering Column Casing in Leather with Stitching in Deviated Thread" the steering column, Porsche will accept the order but won't substitute the stitching for you. You get exactly what you order, good or bad. And there have been some pretty ugly combinations ordered in the past. Want a Miami Blue exterior, matching wheels in the same, a bright red leather with acid green stitching, wood trim, a carbon fiber shifter, etc.? You can order it. You really, really shouldn't. But you can. You'll also pay for it. The average customer will order something like $10-15k in options, and more Porsche buyers special order compared to other brands. Porsche dealers tend to have less inventory on hand as a result as well.

I did this. Paid $1000 at order time. waited 3 months (taking bus while waiting). car came in on a Sunday. went to get it on Monday. the dealer had sold it to someone else. no recourse.

that was bwm of hawthorne

Wow, that's scummy. Over here you have bought the car and it's yours, they can't just sell it to someone else.

Good deal for $1k. :-)

I think I had prepaid around $1.5k or so actually.

At least you know you chose a good set of options. It just flew right off the lot.

Did they at least have the decency to refund your $1000?

Legally, they'd have to refund him for the $1000...

of course they refunded the $1k. They didn't pay for the 3 months of going without a car in West Los Angeles nor the 3 more months of having to wait if I ordered again.

I really wish the laws were such that I could more easily get the car directly from the factory like Tesla, no middleman. I know with BMW you can actually order a car, pick it up in Germany at the factory , drive it around Europe and they'll then ship it to the USA for you. No idea how much extra it would cost and not sure I want to drive in Europe vs taking public transit but at least I'd get my car

https://www.bmwusa.com/european-delivery.html

> No idea how much extra it would cost

I thought the "European delivery" scheme's attraction was that it is cheaper than buying the same car in the US - because you are driving it around Europe, it's imported as an used car.

Correct. Also it doesn’t count against the dealer’s allocation, so the dealer is more than happy to help you order precisely what you want.

We picked up our 328 wagon in Munich, great experience.

I did exactly that. It actually costs about 5% less. And driving the German Autobahn or some twisty mountain roads in The Swiss Alps is an unique experience.

Did you not sign a purchase contract when you paid your deposit? I know I did when I ordered my car - it stipulated that the car will be ready for collection up to 30 days after delivery to dealership, and the dealership can't sell it in that time.

Some other premium brands will also do custom orders, at least for certain vehicles in certain places. But most mainstream brands only want to sell what's on the lot today. Try placing a custom order for a Honda CR-V in a USA dealership and they'll probably laugh at you.

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