Sport vs Rubicon if No Rock Crawling

[ShadowsPapa]

Because people cancel orders. Much more likely to buy right then and there. A friend who sold cars said if a prospective buyer leaves the dealership there is a near certainty they wont return

I agree and have heard the same from dealers. This forum is full of unique people - we can't look around in here and say "gee, what's up out there" because we are the exception. In fact look at the members who say this is the first time they ORDER.
Most buyers honestly buy off the lot. It's the way the majority of buyers operate.
To suggest that Jeep people here are representative of the general truck or car buying public would be a mistake.

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[eaglerugby04]

My closest dealer has 8 (3 Sport S, 3 Overlands, and 2 Rubicons). The next 2 closest dealers have 5 (3 Rubicons, 2 Sport S) and 12 (4 Overlands, 5 Rubicons and 3 Sport S). One of them has a Rubicon LE in Billet Silver that is nice, but it is "sale priced" at $6,556 CAD ($4,965 USD) more than a fully-loaded Rubicon on the build site. So naturally they can f-right off.

I never understand why dealers carry so much inventory; one in each trim should be sufficient for demos, then sit down with a build sheet and help the buyer order what they want. With the build-and-price tools on manufacturers websites, how many people these days walk onto a lot and drive off with something already sitting there? I know it happens, but a new vehicle is a major purchase and I'd prefer to get EXACTLY what I want rather than settle for one on a lot that might not have everything I'd want.

I know it takes a while to get it when you order from the factory, but if FCA was focused on building orders rather than inventory for dealers, it would speed up the process. You'd think it would mean less overhead for dealers as well, therefore more profit.

A lot of it comes down to dealers loving to prey on emotions. They want to get people to make quick decisions and buy something that isn't fully what they want. Then they come back in a few years because they are not happy! Great model, lol.

This above is all speculation, but this is the first car I ordered and such a better experience overall even with the wait. But I think part of the proof of my theory is that two dealers were not interested in ordering and I was willing to pay MSRP at the time.

 

[Gatorized]

I'm in this boat as well...I haven't ordered yet, but I keep going back and forth between Sport S w/Max Tow (no Sport in Canada) and Rubicon on the build site.

PLUS, now I can add the 8.4" display and trail cam on the build sheet, which I would want but cannot get with the Sport S. Also considering painted fenders and hardtop, neither of which is available on the Sport S, so that would put me at least in an Overland; but then I wouldn't get the wider track and 4.10s, nor the ability to get the Mopar steel bumper that I am also considering. And to top it off, I could get the manual transmission (can't get that with the Max Tow).

Hmm...seems I've made my decision!

I was looking at overland until I realized I could get the 4.10 wide track with the manual in the rubicon.

 

[PyrPatriot]

A lot of it comes down to dealers loving to prey on emotions. They want to get people to make quick decisions and buy something that isn't fully what they want. Then they come back in a few years because they are not happy! Great model, lol.

This above is all speculation, but this is the first car I ordered and such a better experience overall even with the wait. But I think part of the proof of my theory is that two dealers were not interested in ordering and I was willing to pay MSRP at the time.

Yah, if I am getting a car I won't want to wait 2 months. I'll drive around and find one with enough of the features I want, all the features I need, and accept having to pay for the features I could care less about.

 

[jurfie]

Yah, if I am getting a car I won't want to wait 2 months. I'll drive around and find one with enough of the features I want, all the features I need, and accept having to pay for the features I could care less about.

To each their own. Personally, whenever I need to make a major purchase (car, TV, laptop, appliances, power tools, gear, etc.) I research the heck out of it until I'm sure I am getting exactly what I want - even if that means I'll end up paying more.

 

[PyrPatriot]

To each their own. Personally, whenever I need to make a major purchase (car, TV, laptop, appliances, power tools, gear, etc.) I research the heck out of it until I'm sure I am getting exactly what I want - even if that means I'll end up paying more.

I am not saying to not research the product. I certainly did. And I looked around to see what JTs dealers in a 250mi radius had in stock before even contacting them via email for more information or scheduling a test drive. That took a couple weeks at most, for me to ultimately get my truck. Not months. What I meant by not waiting is not waiting months to get a car because it lacked a "nice-to-have" feature or meant I had to pay more for a "don't want/need it" feature. If I were to have done everything everyone here says they did in their purchase, build, negotiate, have dealers compete against one another, I would have saved $3000 (less features, like Alpine radio, cold weather, etc.) or more (I paid about invoice, didn't even think about negotiating more, nor could I have with the small bargaining power I had). Yes, that is real money and can mean $50-70/mo+ in payments. It is the cost of not waiting, a convenience fee, if you will, for me.

 

[xpcdoojk]

I am a research to a medium level guy, and I am 60 and I have only purchased one car off the lot and that was my Nissan Frontier SE 4WD 8 years ago. I was driving a MINI Cooper S 2003, and I got a promotion that was going to require me to take customers and employees to lunch, etc. My DW hated getting in and out of the MINI so I knew it was not a practical car for my role, so, I bought the Nissan. It was a good vehicle truly no issues, but not a vehicle I had any passion for. I am a passion guy, hence the MINI, and every other car I have ever owned. I am not a Jeep guy, but I know a ton of Jeep people. I have bought one American vehicle and that was when I was 17 and it was awful... The Jeep Gladiator Rubicon is my first American branded (my Nissan was built in Tennessee) vehicle since 1977. I am hoping I didn’t make a mistake.

That said, buying the vehicle from the factory is generally the cheapest way. Although my MINI was selling for over MSRP when I bought it... I negotiated it $500 below MSRP but it was a battle royale to accomplish that. We bought a Volvo XC40 to replace my wife’s 1999 RX300, which she adored, and if I bought it from a dealer as I wanted it was going to take 6 months (again new launch vehicle), we ordered it and did a factory delivery in Gothenburg Sweden and got it in about 8 weeks, they paid for our flights and a couple of nights in a hotel and gave us about a$4000 discount for a car that the dealers were taking maybe a $1000 off MSRP. We had a fantastic trip to Sweden and Norway in midwinter and got to see the Northern Lights in Tromso Norway. We took delivery mid March.

So, getting exactly what you want in my limited experience of about 8 cars is that you actually save money. What you lose is time. Six to 12 weeks waiting.

Although, the waiting makes the having more awesome.

JC

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