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Comment by alkonaut | Hacker News Reader

In a similar discussion a few months ago I learned that US car buyers have to buy pre-configured cars from lots, choosing from very few options. Meanwhile EU car buyers buy the same models having at least ten times the number of options, colors etc (which obviously makes it impossible for dealers to keep cars in stock, but also means delivery is several weeks to a few months). Recommend trying to configure a new Jetta on VW UK and VW US respectively if you are curious about the difference.

What I'd want as an American car buyer is not only configure and buy a car online but also have all the options available from the manufacturer (i.e. proper made to order cars).

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Just so you know, thats not an absolute truth. I live in Texas and I've owned 3 cars, only one was one from the lot (a Ford Mustang), because they had the exact combo I wanted. My Jeep came from a dealer a few hours away that my dealer swapped for so that I wouldn't have to wait for a factory build. My current car was built to order by the factory. My wife's super picky and her last two cars where built to order.

The difference between dealers here and say.. in Germany (where most of my family still ives) are that the dealers in the US just have waaay more inventory on the lot, so you don't necessarily have to wait 3 months for a build.

1. I suspect that Americans are much more impulsive. Most people I know aren't going to wait weeks or months for a car built to order, when they can have something 80% right and drive home today.

2. I also suspect that American car dealers developed in an environment where neither space nor capital was constrained, and so it was perfectly ok to hold 100+ cars in inventory at a time at every dealership. Factories love it too, because once the car goes to the dealership, it's off the manufacturer's books -- the dealer owns it.

3. Synergistically with 1 and 2, American car salesmen are strongly incentivized to sell you something off their lot, or at worst to sell you a car that they can borrow from the dealer one town over.

Not true.

I just purchased a 2016 Tacoma truck late last year. I placed the order probably 6-8 weeks before it was available. I didn't pay until I picked it up.

I was able to get the exact options I wanted without a hassle.

It is true that the dealership may order pre-configured cars or the manufacturer will allot certain builds, but if you have time and patience, you can usually get what you want.

That said, there are times where you can't get things "ala carte", which may be what you heard (or the fact that dealers have preconfigured allocations).

You don't have to but most do. I ordered my 2003 350z when it first came out and it took several months to arrive. However, you often have less room to negotiate and will probably pay sticker. It does give you the opportunity to remove the bogus "undercoating" and "fabric protection" which inevitably add another $1000 to the cost.

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