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People put down deposits for every electric truck in development, leaving dealers in the lurch when they eventually cancel all but one (www.businessinsider.com)

submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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People put down deposits for every electric truck in development, leaving dealers in the lurch when they eventually cancel all but one::When an electric truck customer doesn't show up to pick up their order, dealer are left with a car that might be hard to sell to someone else.

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[–] deleted@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are down deposits not refundable?

I cannot wrap my head around people who spend 5k just to preorder a car.

Same here where I am from, the deposit is around $1500 but it’s refundable even after the car arrives to the dealership’s lot.

[–] CoderKat@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

They're refundable if you actually buy it. It's like a down payment. They only lose the money if they decide to cancel the order. That helps reduce the risk that the business will pay for an expensive car only to no longer have a buyer for it.

When these trucks are like $90k new, spending a few thousand to hedge your bets on which one will arrive first is nothing. It's like paying for faster delivery. Electric vehicles are in insane demand and sellers cannot keep up. Though honestly, I'm not sure dealerships are gonna have issues as a result.

[–] Devccoon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Around here (western-ish USA), EVs are mostly $50k+ SUVs and aren't super high in demand, and dealers are dropping pretty big discounts. But it's just starting to put them into affordable territory for me (at least, where I've set my expectations) and upcoming models are promising to compete comfortably within my budget so I'm hoping preorders are a decent means to get lined up for what may end up being some very highly in demand new models in a price tier that's not seen much competition.

I'm hoping it prevents a painfully long wait if these prove to be the go-to new standard everyone's lining up for once they're getting previews/reviews. If not, shouldn't be too painful to get my deposit back if I go another route. I'm hopeful this lets me keep my options open, even if it's keeping some of my money tied up for now. It syncs up well enough with my strategy of waiting and I can keep an eye out on the market to see if something better comes along in the meantime.