With vehicles in short supply at the dealership, more shoppers are ordering cars from the factory.
In return for a wait of a few weeks — or months — you get exactly what you want. In the current market, you’re likely to save money as well.
While Americans have long been accustomed to finding a car and driving off the same day, “build-to-order” is common practice in Europe, and it’s the method embraced by electric carmakers such as Tesla, Lucid and Rivian. Now that supply chain delays have created bidding wars for vehicles that land on dealer lots, build-to-order is having a moment in the U.S.
Ford now allows buyers to order some popular models online and have them delivered to a dealership. The company says it took 74,000 new vehicle retail orders in November — an increase of 64,000 over the previous November.
Most dealerships are eager to take special orders as well.
“That seems to be the hot move right now,” says Matt Jones, director of corporate marketing for automotive shopping site TrueCar. “Folks want to get exactly what they want as opposed to buying what’s available.”
Is build-to-order cheaper? It can be
Ordering a car from the factory might also help you avoid markups from the dealer, says Ron Montoya, senior consumer advice editor and content strategist for car research site Edmunds.
