Car buying question....

[nile455]

I haven't bought a new car in ages, and I am shopping around. My question is about packages the car companies offer. Can you pick and choose individual options or do you need to buy an entire package it comes in? For example, let's say all I want is heated front seats. Will a company let me special order a car with just that feature or will I need to get the whole $3,000 luxury package that includes all the bells and whistles that I don't want?

 

[golfgal]

I don't know about ordering a car to your specifications, maybe, but I do know that you can pretty much anything aftermarket (have it installed at the dealership) but often you are just better off buying the package because adding heated seats might be close to that package price anyway.

 

[nile455]

Thanks for the response. Anyone else have experience with dealers and their flexibility on ordering specific options?

 

[msmayor]

I don't think its so much flexibility on the dealer's part...it has more to do with the timing and ability of the factory to fill a "special order".

Cars are often built today with the most popular options and delivered to dealer's lots for immediate sale. A good dealer will call around to find a car with the exact options you want or look at their incoming inventory to see if they can match you up with one already built (that's how I got mine...they reviewed their incoming delivery to find one in the color I wanted with the options most important to me.)

If you are adamant about only wanting certain options, two things come to mind. First, you are most likely going to wait a while for delivery. It will have to be ordered, and the factory will have to fit your special build on to their production line. Second, you will lose a fair amount of bargaining power on price. They will be far less likely to offer you a deal because you're not taking a car they are trying to move OFF their lot and make room for new stock.

The short answer is yes, you can certainly ask to have a special build done...but don't expect much effort or price break from the dealer. He doesn't want orders...he wants immediate sales.

Don't be surprised either if you are asked for a large deposit with some non-refundable provisions, either. You special order a car and then change your mind, the dealer could be stuck with a hard-to-sell car because it doesn't have enough bells and whistles.

 

[John VN]

The last 2 cars we bought were special ordered because the options were not available without even more stuff just like you mentioned. We had to wait but they were built to our order. Funny thing is that the following year's model had just what we ordered available as standard at lower pricing.

Go figure.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Check either or both www.edmunds.com and/or www.kbb.com. Find the car you want and then look at how the options are set up. If an option can be purchased, it will be listed, and how it can be purchased.

www.autos.aol.com is good too, especially in listing every available incentive. Example....

http://autos.aol.com/cars-Ford-Taurus-2011/incentives/

I have ordered every car I have ever purchased or leased, and that is a lot of cars.

 

[arminnie]

Depends on the manufacturer. Honda makes about 4 versions and that's it. No real choices, although you could add some aftermarket stuff.

Most American manufacturer's will order exactly what you want. I spent about 40 minutes with my sales person going through every option and saying yes or no. I'd done my homework before I went. He didn't try to pressure me into anything.

Now if you buy it off the lot - you get what they decided to put on it.

 

[Pakey]

I recently got a new car and I had the option of taking one that was available with pre-set options or waiting to see if the dealer could find one located elsewhere that had the specific options I was looking for. I got a call a few days later telling me that one had been located; was I interested? Mine is a BMW if that matters.

 

[bicker]

Most things are this way now. Customization is mind-blowingly costly. It is often far less costly to give five features for the price of three, rather than providing some random selection of three of the five features. And that's reflected in the prices we pay.

You see this in clothing: You could have a dress custom made, fitted to the millimeter perhaps, with just the specific adornments you like, patterned so as to appeal best to your own personal sensibilities. Or you could buy a dress that is fitted to one of a discrete number of sizes, representing a spectrum of sizes, but not necessarily any one of them being perfect for your body; styled based on some generalized understanding of what will appeal to a great extent to a wide variety of people. The latter will substantially less expensive than the former.

Another good example of this is subscription television. C-Band service actually allows you to select individual channels or big packages, as you wish. The math is jarring, for most people expecting this to be a nirvana for their wallet: Generally, you pay as much for six or seven individually-selected channels as you would pay if you just took a fifty channel package that included those selected channels.

As mentioned before, there are loads of after-market opportunities to add-on features individually, but that detachment from the package often either costs more, causes more work on the purchaser's part, and/or represents a warranty concern. However, it can be done, depending on the specific desire. For example, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the price for installing just heated front seats is a large percentage of the price of the entire winter package, even though it is a small percentage of the material and labor costs associated with the full package.

 

[megsters]

Depends on the manufacturer. Honda makes about 4 versions and that's it. No real choices, although you could add some aftermarket stuff.

Most American manufacturer's will order exactly what you want. I spent about 40 minutes with my sales person going through every option and saying yes or no. I'd done my homework before I went. He didn't try to pressure me into anything.

Now if you buy it off the lot - you get what they decided to put on it.

This is my experience exactly. I went car shopping with the boyfriend in August, and it was down to a Ford Edge or a Honda CR-V. Honda has their trim levels, and you can decide from there. Ford, you can pick and choose, and wait 6-8 weeks for your car to arrive.

So, I think it comes down to the maker of the car. Good luck!

 

[nile455]

This is my experience exactly. I went car shopping with the boyfriend in August, and it was down to a Ford Edge or a Honda CR-V. Honda has their trim levels, and you can decide from there. Ford, you can pick and choose, and wait 6-8 weeks for your car to arrive.

So, I think it comes down to the maker of the car. Good luck!

Interesting. Did you ask Honda if you could pick and choose and they said it was not possible?

 

[megsters]

Interesting. Did you ask Honda if you could pick and choose and they said it was not possible?

We did ask, because we were interested in getting the navi system on the CR-V, but didn't want leather, because we have antsy dogs who have ripped leather in the past. But, the built in navigation system only comes in the EX-L, which also comes with leather. We asked if we could pick and choose, and it wasn't an option. You pick from their trim levels they already have established.

 

[tvguy]

This is my experience exactly. I went car shopping with the boyfriend in August, and it was down to a Ford Edge or a Honda CR-V. Honda has their trim levels, and you can decide from there. Ford, you can pick and choose, and wait 6-8 weeks for your car to arrive.

So, I think it comes down to the maker of the car. Good luck!

Import brands tend to make you buy a bundle, instead of individual options, but Ford, GM and Chrysler have started to follow that trend.

My daughter has a 2007 Taurus. Options were SE or SEL trim, sunroof, leather, CD Changer, column or floor shifter transmission, fold down rear seat, and a choice of wheels. That's it.
Power windows, power locks, cruise control, tilt wheel, and AM/FM CD player are all standard.

 

[KathyTX]

I guess Im just not that picky... I figure out what equipment/trim I really want, and find something really close. I've never felt the need to spec out a car to the "T" and order it. I've also been able to take advantage of some real discounts by being flexible this way.

The SUV I have now is just what I wanted, EXCEPT it has a DVD player that I don't care about and that we've never used. Although I wouldn't choose to pay for the player, it was part of an equipment package of things on my truck that would have cost more to add on a la carte. And I'd much rather have factory installed equipment than dealer add ons.

 

[tvguy]

I guess Im just not that picky... I figure out what equipment/trim I really want, and find something really close. I've never felt the need to spec out a car to the "T" and order it. I've also been able to take advantage of some real discounts by being flexible this way.

The SUV I have now is just what I wanted, EXCEPT it has a DVD player that I don't care about and that we've never used. Although I wouldn't choose to pay for the player, it was part of an equipment package of things on my truck that would have cost more to add on a la carte. And I'd much rather have factory installed equipment than dealer add ons.

My wife's SUV has $9,000 in options we didn't want. She wanted green, and the optional center console which has rear seat a/c vents and 2 head phone jacks so passengers can listen to the radio/cd/cassette independently from the driver.
Among the extra stuff we got by buying off the lot, 4 wheel drive, trailer towing package, fancy wheels, ABS, a $1,000 stereo, side air bags, automatic temperature control, radio and temperature controls on the steering wheel, running boards, deep tinted rear glass, and back up sensor.
The stereo is nice, I sure hope I never need the ABS or side airbags, and the rest I could live without out. Had it 10 years, never had it in 4 wheel drive.

 

[DaisyLynn]

When I was car shopping last fall, I had decided on a Mazda CX-7...but I wanted Bluetooth and the base model did not have it. If I recall correctly, I could have added just that - but it would have cost more than just getting the next model up. They had one on the lot, but it was silver and I wanted black cherry (rolling my eyes at myself). So, I ordered it. This was in October, my car arrived in January. I knew I was going to have to wait and I really didn't mind it at all. I love my car!

So basically, yes I could have added just that option, but it was going to cost more than upgrading to the next model. Hope that helps!