It seems like a given: You start shopping for a new car by visiting the car maker’s website; you configure your new car, pick the paint, the packages, the wheels, the extras—because you need a panoramic sunroof, right? Then then you go to the dealer to order your new car, put down a deposit and … things start to go sideways.
It can be frustrating, but if you know the right questions to ask, the key terms that will help you navigate the process and how to move on when a dealer won’t help you, your dream car will a be a reality. Here’s what you need to know about ordering a new car.
This story is 100% human-researched and written based on actual first-person knowledge, extensive experience, and expertise on the subject of cars and trucks.
First Things First: Can You Really Order a New Car?
Yes, of course you can order a new car—sort of. Every car maker insists their dealers are empowered to place an order for a car. But, there are caveats, limitations and not every car dealer will place an order for you.
Luxury, high-end and speciality cars are the the easiest to custom order, explains LeeAnn Shattuck, a car buying consultant. In fact, many of the cars they sell are built to a customer’s specifications. Brands such as Porsche and BMW will place a custom order and assign the customer a VIN (vehicle identification number) and a tracking number so, as with a $10 pack of batteries you ordered from Amazon, you can watch as it’s packed, shipped and delivered. Mini sends cute email updates as your new car goes through the process, LeeAnn notes.
Large-volume popular brand car makers such as Toyota and Honda have a far more complicated process, LeeAnn explains. It starts with allocation, or the total number of each model allowed to each dealer. If you’re shopping for a specific car and the dealer doesn’t have any allocation for that model, they may not be able to order it.
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What Is Dealer Allocation? It’s Like Halloween Candy
Think of allocation as the way you control your kids’ Halloween candy haul: they come home from trick-or-treating with a full bag of candy: You immediately sort through it and determine what they can have and when. Some of the candy is must have, like those full-size Hershey bars; other pieces are meh, and then, there are Necco Wafers.
Of course you allow your kids to have a few of their favorites right away, then you store the rest as incentive: Eat a good dinner and that chocolate bar is yours. Argue about the broccoli on your plate and it’s Necco Wafers for you. Of course, your kids know which pieces of candy are on the shelf waiting for them after they’ve done their homework, cleaned their room or walked the dog. They will work toward getting the candy they most want and try to trade the candy they don’t.
Car dealers work much the same way: they are allotted a certain amount of the hottest models and are incentivized to earn more allocation throughout the year by selling less popular models or meeting other goals.
Ordering a new car from a dealer’s allocation can come with other benefits, too. “Manufacturers may offer special incentives, rebates, or interest rates on in-stock units to help move current inventory,” said Steve Phillipos, president of Chevrolet of Homewood in Homewood, IL. “That can create a better deal for the customer.”
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What If a Dealer Says They Can’t Order a New Car For You?
“Allocation” was a new term for Brittany who found herself waiting for more than 8 months after ordering a Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum. Every so often she called to find out when her car would be delivered but always got the same answer: It hasn’t come in yet. After asking a few more questions she learned that the dealer had only gotten a few Highlander Hybrid Platinum models in but they’d gone to customers ahead of her on the wait list.
Wait list??? That was news. “When will mine be in?” she asked. We’ll have to wait until we get one from our allocation, the salesman told her, blaming supply chain and chip shortage issues for slow delivery. Waiting for her new car started to sound more like a crapshoot than a sure thing.
Sometimes getting the new car you want may be difficult due to, yes, supply chain issues, shortages or if a car has paused production—even though it’s still advertised on a car maker’s site, which can happen. If you’re hearing these excuses, call around to other dealers, advises LeeAnn. If it’s clear the first dealer isn’t being truthful, you can get your deposit back and buy the car from another dealer, of course. But if there truly is an issue holding up your order, you’ll hear this from other dealers too.
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Can’t a Dealer Find Your Car at Another Dealer?
If you’ve ever shopped at Nordstrom then you know the drill: They don’t have your size in an item so they offer to locate it at another store and send it to you. This has become a reasonable and expected practice for most retail stores—but not for car dealers.
Dealers can call around and try to locate a car for you, but success can be limited, says LeeAnn. Typically a dealer will have to trade for that car and this means they’ll need to swap a car of equal value. If a dealer can do this for a customer there shouldn’t be any additional charge over the price of the car.
A car dealer can also ‘shop’ their own allocation, says Daniel Tworkowski, general sales manager of Classic Toyota in Waukegan, IL. They can look at their allocation every two weeks and make a request for a specific car, though if that model isn’t part of their allocation, they won’t be able to secure it for a customer.
If you’re shopping for a specific can and not having any luck with allocation or placing an order, then widen your shopping zone, LeeAnn advises.
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To Get What You Want, Look Far and Wide
After waiting for nearly a year for her new car, Brittany did what LeeAnn advises: Look all over the country for your car. Of course, start with dealerships close to home, maybe several hours away. You may find that car just across the state line or at a dealer near your mom’s house.
Using an automotive retailer site like Cars.com, you can search nationwide for exactly what you want. In Brittany’s case she shifted her search to a Kia Sorento Hybrid and found it at a dealership 1,500 miles away. But the dealer was happy process her paperwork, the payment and put it on a transport truck to her home in Texas. A week later she had her new car, and while it was a $1,500 premium over the MSRP, it was still several thousand dollars less than the Highlander Hybrid.
When Placing a New Car Order, Get the Agreement In Writing
One of the biggest mistakes car buyers make—I did this once, and so did Brittany—is to not get your new car purchase agreement in writing. This includes the car make and model, the trim, the MSRP (if available, which it may not yet be on a new model), any extras and your deposit. Once you have this in writing you should be assigned a VIN number for the car you’re purchasing.
This makes several things very clear: That your new car is indeed being built, that the price is clear and when it comes in, that it belongs to you, LeeAnn says. And, even if the car your ordered is delivered, without a VIN assigned to you, a shady dealer can sell it to a customer willing to pay more.
Meagan suspected this is what happened when she ordered a new Ford Bronco. It was a hot item at the time and even though she placed an order, it was cancelled. So, she went to another dealer and placed her order.
Finding That Needle In a Haystack Is About to Get Easier
Realizing that they have a problem Toyota is rolling out a system to better match what customers want with what they build and with the cars already on dealers lots.
Toyota calls this SCAFT, or supply chain and future transformation fulfillment. It’s essentially a search engine that scours dealers unsold cars, trucks and SUVs, as well as what’s slated for production, and tries to match up a customer’s order with is on lots or in the pipeline.
Customers can configure the car they want and then their dealer can use the SCAFT system to find the car. If it’s something that is waiting to be built, says Toyota’s Aaron Fowles, the customer may have to wait a few months or longer to get the car. And of course, supply chain, production or other issues may have an impact, too. But even with all those factors, its likely that Brittany would have gotten her Toyota Highlander Hybrid, and had a much better experience waiting for it had her dealer used a system with this, and been more transparent about the process.
