I am so use to going into a dealership, picking a vehicle, test driving, then buying. This ordering is a little unsettling. You have lots of choices, lots of add on, lots of discussions both pro and con. Yet you have nothing tangible to see.. All of this is somewhat bewildering. Is this now becoming the norm? Have most of you been buying this way in the past? Is this the future of car buying or just an anomaly? After making my selection and reserving now I am second guessing myself based on what everyone is saying. Well I guess only time will tell!
First Time Ordering a Vehicle
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Maverick Reservation Tracker: Add Yours Here!
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Unless a non-refundable deposit is involved, there's no more risk than had you not ordered it at all. When it arrives, look at it, test drive it, decide whether or not to buy it. The only real difference when you go to the lot is it has the options and features you picked, instead of the features the dealer picked.
Kind of like going in a restaurant with a huge menu offering, difficult to make your dinner choice. And it's unusual for that restaurant to let you test-sample the food choices on your order before you actually order.
Is it normal to order a vehicle without the benefit of a test-sit or test-drive? Based on historical practice, no. We're all used to a dealership having numerous models at different trim levels in-stock on their lots. Ordering a Maverick (or an F150 Lightning) is a leap of faith now, as other have mentioned reserving one and not putting any non-refundable deposit down doesn't commit you to actually buying it if you change your mind.
By past auto industry standards this is definitely not the norm. At present very skewed supply/demand dynamics (more demand), chip shortage affecting supply, inflation cost creep, long wait times for taking delivery, etc. And with Maverick the newness factor and FOMO also factor in.
Is this the future of car buying? I think probably so but in a modified form. I've never understood the auto industry manufacturing/dealer supply chain dynamic. My personal view is that dealerships having xxx units in stock on their real estate (sometimes a very large real estate footprint for those large dealers with hundred of vehicles on multiple lots) will become a thing of the past. I think all auto makers would much rather see a maker/dealer model where a dealer showroom has representative examples of each model a manufacturer offers where you can test-sit/test drive them, but if you want a variant with different trim/options, you order it like you do for the Maverick and wait. I'm not sure existing dealers or the UAW would necessarily like this, especially not the UAW, as Ford or GM or whoever could greatly optimize their assembly which would inevitably lead to smaller numbers of workers required.
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Slow down and breath…..this ordering process has been around virtually ever since cars were built and sold. It’s the only way to get exactly what you desire (color, engine,trans,specific options), much like custom building your home. It always is exaggerated when a new model debuts that garners so much positive attention as has the Maverick. I had a couple clients wait upwards of 9 months for their order Chevy Citations to arrive back in 1980. It’s usually well worth the wait, it forces you to do more research and not make a split second emotional
buy decision.
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