Abandoning your ordered car, who does it?

I know someone who abandoned their SF90 upon arrival at dealer as their financial advisor told them it was a mistake to purchase (same person had already taken deliver of 296 GTB and GTS). Dealer blacklisted them (from placing new orders going forward).

SF90 was a good flip/resale spec and dealer had no issue selling it quickly. Timing was ideal as it was right when XX was announced so someone who wanted an XX snapped it up to meet requirement of having series model in garage for eligibility.

 

Given the delay between order and delivery, it seems more sensible to cancel before arrival, and ideally before the final spec (which is only a few months before delivery). Then it's a matter of relationship and "balance of power" between the customer and the dealer.
Currently, it seems many dealers have re-open the orders for the 296, although it was claimed to be sold out months ago. So, either the sold-out story was pure BS (and the orders were just temporarily closed to clear the backlog), or the newly available orders were assigned to customers who eventually declined.

 

Agree if you cancel before the order goes into production, shouldn’t be a problem. But all depends on the dealer I suppose. I canceled my 296 GTS order but took delivery of my SF90S.


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So are you saying you have had personal experience with ordering a car, the car was built, you cancelled the order and didnt take delivery of the car and you were still able to order future cars with that dealer? Unless you are a VIP customer you will almost certainly be blacklisted and not be able to order new cars with that dealer. Same holds true if you flip a car during the right of first refusal period.

 

I swear there must be some bizarro, alternate reality, reverse plane, black hole Ferrari dealer somewhere where according to claims made on this site:

1. you can change the exhaust, suspension and tune the ECU and it'll still be warrantied
2. the dealer will actually install/do those things listed above for you
3. the dealer makes warranty decisions instead of the manufacturer
4. you can back out of orders and just pick something else at a later date
5. you can flip your ordered car privately for profit in a month
6. you can just walk in off the street and order a brand new car no matter who you are

 

Yes. I have seen it happen. The dealer easily sold the car to someone on the long waiting list. The customer was, and still is, a regular.

 

There are always exceptions but that is not the rule. If it is a regular customer, that has a long buying history and there was a valid reason why they backed out, of course the dealer will accommodate them. If you are a first time, or even occasionally buyer, and order an odd ball spec and back out, you can bet the dealer won’t be ordering another car for them.

 

You didn’t know they have a dealer in bizzaro world? Not sure it’s listed in the locate dealer section but it’s out there. (Literally out there).

 

Is that the scenario in question here though?

In the scenario you describe, I can imagine the customer having a conversation with the dealer: "You know what, I changed my mind. Can you get me out of it?" Dealer: "No problem. You're a great customer. I've got a long wait list, you ordered a good spec, it will be easy to move."

The scenario that kicked off this thread was a claim that there's a dealer somewhere with five or six new 296s on their lot because customers backed out. And they're reluctant to advertise them because they're afraid of the optics that would create.

I don't know if that claim is accurate. But if so, it's hard to imagine that the conversations with those five or six clients went so smoothly.

Maybe they were all top customers, maybe they had good reasons, I don't know. I have no personal knowledge of any of this. Just the intuition that a dealer probably wouldn't be happy to end up carrying these five or six new 296s.

 

The dealer is afraid of heat from FNA for flipping…. Years ago, dealers would just offer the customer whatever profit to just not even take delivery and they’d keep the car and sell for profit even after giving the owner over MSRP… it never happened with extreme regularity but FNA really cracked down on dealers to make sure they NEVER do it… so it would look pretty fishy that a single dealer ends up with 6 cars for sale.

Although, I’m sure they know what they have in inventory anyway, so advertising them or not, probably doesn’t make a difference as far as FNA knowing they have them.


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You can only blackball so many potential buyers. If you do that they just buy McLarens or Lambos. What good does that do to Ferrari?

There are only so many people out there who don't mind spending $400K on a toy they use once a week.

The dealer is not going to take their money? Baloney.

Will there be pain? Sure. But money talks.

 

I think the 296 is unique. Lots of positives but the drivetrain is risky. I'm wondering if the hybrid were just an expensive option how many would delete it. I'm guessing... a lot. And that is the problem.

Also I think we are entering some unstable economic times. That doesn't help.

 

The OP's messages are painful to decipher. Probably not a native English speaker though, and considering how badly I butcher any other language I should cut him some slack

 

I had a friend cancel a high MSRP SF90 coupe just before delivery. He wrote a letter that the car was too flashy, he was worried about crime in his local area, etc (partially true). My understanding is that it didn't hit his profile negatively, but I sure wouldn't bet on it....

Although to the factory, the car was still "sold" and became the dealers problem to clear. And SF90's were still going for about sticker then, so I suppose everyone came out ok.

 

Like everything --- it "depends". There's no cast-in-concrete rule. In some cases if you are in good standing and they have a list of people, they just flip the car and give you your money back. And unlike an ordered car, they can sell it out of their territory.

If they have to discount it because its an oddball spec, you're losing your deposit. But there's no way they can force you to buy it. They just make it painful.

 

I won’t even try another language!!

 

What is your native language? You are doing great and I always admire people who speak multi languages. English is hard enough. lol.

 

Ha! Appreciate that. I will say, I gather that you probably are not here in the US? The general experience with Ferrari orders in other countries can differ substantially depending on location.