Vettesic

Started looking fo a new GS. A few dealers are requiring out of state buyers to wire transfer a huge “non-refundable down payment”. Note: My plan was to test drive Vette before final sale. When I asked if a cc deposit will hold car I was declined! Has anyone purchased a Vette or any car this way?

Patman

Sounds fishy to me, a reputable dealer will accept CC payments as deposits!

village idiot

I bought mine over state lines. I put mine on a card.
In fact, I put as much as I could on a card ($5k). Free airline miles,wahoo!

JDMilw

I live in Oregon and bought my GS 350 miles away in Idaho.

I gave a $2k down payment over the phone with my cc. I wasn't going to be able to travel to the car for a few days due to my son having surgery. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to get that car. It was exactly what I wanted!

I can't say if it was a non-refundable deposit. The issue never came up.

Had there been some major flaw or "surprise" I may have been screwed on the deposit. But all went extremely smooth and I drove it away!

Perf n Restore

I am from NY also...
Do yourself a favor. Contact Mike Furman, you will find him on this forum. He is simply the best. cc deposit.
He sells more Corvettes than any one Corvette salesman.
I have purchase from Furman and expecting my 2018 to be built as I write this.

MZeigler

We ordered my wife's 2016 2LT MM7 from Regester Chevrolet in Thompsontown,Pa., in the spring of 2016, No deposit required , I still offered to send one and was told , that is not how we do business here, if your word is no good ,neither is your money.

Great folks to deal with.

Mike

Grimlock13

Bought from Macmulkin in NH, it was a lot car though and I'm out of state. I offered deposit and they said not needed.

Not 100% that is true for ordered cars though.

Inferno24

Bought mine from MacMulkin in NH also. I live in New Jersey. I offered them my credit card to hold car and they stated it was not necessary. They held the car for just over 2 weeks with nothing down. By the way, the whole process was one of the best new car buying experiences I ever had.

tommydorsey

+1 for MacMulkin, I went up there from Jersey as well.

DWS44

I've bought several vehicles out of state, both new and used, all in-stock offerings. Heck, I've bought more out of state than I have local in recent years.

In the few cases where a deposit was requested to hold the car, my CC was accepted w/o question. One thing I've learned in dealing with car purchases via long-distance...there are some dealerships, especially smaller ones, who have no clue, or are obviously completely uninterested, in selling cars in the manner. I'd be willing the bet the dealer the OP was trying to work with falls into the latter category.

VistaVette

Ordered my '17 in July of '16, put a $1,000 deposit on my credit card. I called a dealer in AZ when my local dealer didn't have any allocation. The sales guy took my order over the phone immediately, took the cc dp and my car was delivered 60 days later.

With so many dealers and so many cars available there is no reason to deal with a dealer who makes demands like that.

Greg00Coupe

I'd run away ASAP. Back in 12 I bought a 13 GS from the big dealer in Columbus. A few months later I asked to get on the C7 list. They asked for a $2K deposit. Wait a minute I just bought a new Corvette from you and you want $2K???? To put my name on a stinkin long list?

Found a dealer 15 minutes away Dave Gill offering a discount on a car that hasn't even been produced and NO DEPOSIT! This was May of 13, production started in September and I had the car first week of October.

Patman

If I lived in the US I would have definitely ordered my 2018 from Mike without a doubt! There is a reason why he's sold more Corvettes than anyone else on the planet! He loves the cars and he loves the people that drive them!

Kevin A Jones

I found my 2017 GS out of state and called the dealership on a Saturday morning and after finalizing the price pending my flying up on the following Saturday to inspect the care they put it on a courtesy hold without requiring a deposit.

Having said the above, I see nothing wrong with a dealer requiring a deposit.

Vettesic

To be fair to dealer, the wire transfer deposit was not required to just hold the car. It was part of the sale requirement...all upfront. However, i just did not feel good about the non refundable clause. I’ve moved on and did research some of the other above mentioned forum dealers members have suggested.

GoatHead

I just bought my GS from Matt at Van Bortel. $1000 deposit by CC over the phone. Great guy and good prices.

fourmat

just find a different dealer there are many good reputable dealers to choose from. Requiring a large non refundable deposit is not the norm Several good dealers have been mentioned here use 1 of them

stillcrazy

Don't buy it, I ordered a C/7 from one dealer ,found a much better dealer elsewhere got my full deposit back ,no questions. However every state is different. Some states allow that b/s others like Calif. demand a full refund.

yeller z06

In many states, a non-refundable deposit is neither legal nor enforceable.

Kevin A Jones

Perhaps the b/s is that you didn't make the effort to find your best deal prior to putting your original dealer through the effort and expense of ordering your new C7. Lucky you are in Cal.

Imagine the chaos if anyone was allowed to order a new C7 on a whim or out of emotion without a deposit binding them to the order.
I expect it wouldn't be long until dealers really started to scrutinize whom they would or would not order C7s for.