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Comment by waterfowl | Hacker News Reader

I just wish you could option out a car online and click and pay by card(or bank transfer for financing etc) like you do with a computer. Ideally deliver it to your house, but picking it up at a port or a freight rail place or something is also a palatable option.

The notion that if I want car x, in color y, with trim z, I have to shop around and "find one that exists in those options" is not something that should be on me as a consumer.

I'm sure dealerships will custom order a car for you, but that sounds like a pain in the ass and I'm sure they charge you more for the privilege of buying the 20-50k product you actually want.

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I have custom ordered a car through a dealership (not a Tesla). I'm pretty sure any dealership will do it. It's pretty standard. And they didn't charge me any more than I would have paid for something off the lot (I was able to negotiate the price the same way). However, it is definitely a pain. I had to wait months and months for the car to show up. I'm not sure if there's a good way around that, but ever since then, I've been much more inclined to just buy whatever is available that's closest to what I want, even if it's not exactly right. I do wish there were a better solution for this.

However, it is definitely a pain. I had to wait months and months for the car to show up. I'm not sure if there's a good way around that

What, are you saying I won't be able to upgrade to one-day shipping for $2.99?

You okay getting a Versa?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1001359341

http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/buy-nissan-versa-note-t...

Doesn't appear to be eligible for Prime :(

If I recall correctly, most dealerships won't actually charge you that much more to custom-order a car, because the car won't be sitting on their lot for very long compared to the cars they have to keep in stock and hope they sell.

If its custom, limited run, or high demand, you'll pay at least MSRP, depending on how many other people you're competing against for a small pool of vehicles.

You're referring to the dealership's working line of credit, which is just interest they pay monthly from time of vehicle delivery to sale. For most vehicles, this amount is negligible (unless its been sitting on the lot for months). You could theoretically get a deal on a car they can't move, but the long-term resale value will likely be lower because its an undesired model/color/etc.

> You're referring to the dealership's working line of credit

And also the cost of the space taken by the car.

In the majority of markets where dealerships operate, the real estate turnover cost per vehicle is negligible, unless you're talking a major metro (Chicago, LA, NY, SF) or somewhere odd like Key West (there's a small Nissan dealership there with limited inventory.

I've heard that they'll often do it if you phrase it as "Best price on X gets the deal".

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