This may not make anyone feel any better about getting your car sold out from underneath you but...
When a sold order (SRE) is processed it has the name, address and phone number of the purchaser. If the car is then delivered to anyone but that person, GM looks at closely and not in a favorable light.
The dealer that does it risks the possibility of having their sold order privileges taken away for quite some time.
This is done to prevent dealers from submitting phony sold orders to get hot cars built quicker as opposed to stock units.
Again, if this is happening to you or someone you know, GM is watching and I'm sure there will be penalties down the line for offending dealers.
That being said, I want to mention that whatever dealers do with their business is their choice and I m not passing judgement on any of them. If they charge over MSRP, bump up the price after having a written agreement or whatever the "game du jour" is, that's up to them, right or wrong.
However, I will tell you (with backup by some members here) that I would not be sleeping well knowing I was doing that to our customers. When we ordered these cars and agreed to MSRP, THAT'S THE DEAL and it will not change. If I order a car for you and then you wait 7 months for it thinking it's one price, and then when it arrives, how could I possibly look you in the eye and say that's no longer the deal? I wouldn't want it done to me or my family and that won't happen here at Bast Chevrolet (at least while I'm in charge).
While we have only taken a total of about 25 orders since day one, every single one of these customers know that if they change their mind before the car gets preferenced, they can have their deposit back. They can also rest easy knowing that what we agreed to is exactly what they will be getting and perhaps then some. I just think, that as a car enthusiast myself, doing what's going on to customers doesn't fit with the way I do business. Never has and never will.
I also can't apologize for the way other dealers do their thing. I can only say that it doesn't fly at Bast Chevrolet.
