Originally Posted By: Silverado12
Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: leeharvey418
If the factory pick-up is a standard part of Corvette sales (and I'm pretty sure that it is) then I'm failing to see how this really qualifies as a 'special order' under the Illinois law.
As long as the car has a standard combination of options or packages, I'd say that it's an off-the-rack item.
Correct, there was nothing like a "paint-to-order" or custom interior. He said he just picked the colors, options, etc. And yes, factory pickup is a line item on the order form.
If this helps, my wife special ordered a 2012 Equinox from the local Chevy dealer (Heritage Chevrolet in Chester, VA) and they told her that if she backed out, they wouldn't have an issue selling it anyway, and didn't take a deposit. If the Vette is just a standard color and options, I wouldn't think it would qualify as a custom order either.
That was the choice of the particular dealer your wife dealt with, and there is a lot less risk in ordering a Equinox compared to a Corvette. Much more of the dealer's money is tied up in a Corvette compared to an Equinox, and it is a much harder car to sell. Equinox buyers in general will be less picky about specific options than a Corvette buyer will. Even a Corvette with pretty "typical" options is a hard sell because people shopping for Corvettes don't come in everyday, and when they do, they want to pick and choose what the car has on it, as OP's friend did. Any car that the dealer would not have ordered for stock is a special order, regardless of how common it may be. No Corvette is really common unless you are talking about a Chevy dealer in Dubai or something.
We have 11 Equinoxes in stock...0 Corvettes. The dealer would rather have money tied up in SUVs, Silverados, or even an SS or Camaro ZL1 than a Corvette.
If dealers put in special orders for every Corvette without a deposit, or with a fully refundable deposit, they would end up with a whole lot of money tied up in very hard to sell cars. No dealer I know of is willing to take that kind of risk on a car like this. A Silverado or Equinox would be a different matter depending on what the dealer normally stocks.
I think OP's friend needs to suck it up and take the offer of half of the deposit back while it's on the table. The idea of taking it to the media when the dealer did nothing wrong is pretty low. This guy really needs to reevaluate his decision making and impulses.