Dealer addons (aka pure pricing? what's that?)
 

So, I just got off the phone with the dealership which had me '#1 on the waiting list' for the first production FR-S delivered. After they realized just how popular it was going to be, the manager (Greg) wants to add lowering kits and upgraded stereos to the cars before they leave the lot.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not interested in these mods (I prefer doing things myself), and I had a verbal agreement with a salesman there about a specific car, which is due to arrive at the port on Monday. At this point, I'm not sure what recourse I have. Any suggestions or insights on how I should handle this? Awaiting a call back from the manager in 30 minutes or so.

personally i would tell them to fuck off... lol some dealers put nitrogen in the tires and charge 600 bucks for it too...

Tell him you have a deposit down, it's the car you ordered and you do not want the mods done to the car, and if he pushes back, then tell him you will gladly take them at no additional charge.

I am seriously considering something along those lines. I do not appreciate being treated like a walking wallet. I'm willing to walk in and pay cash for the car, but I am also more than willing to just take my money and walk away. This is a luxury item for me, and I felt pretty angry that they're trying to gouge me like this.

Don't pay for what you don't want. Tell them you plan to make your own mods after the warranty has expired, but you won't know what you want to do until you've driven the cart in it's stock format for a while, finally threaten to contact scion corporate, and follow through if that doesn't work.

Good luck and keep us posted....if he pushes back really hard and your pissed, tell him we will add him to the dealer blacklist.

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely explore those options and keep this thread updated.

Just say NO! There are plenty of other Scion deals out there, over 900 scion dealers in the USA!

He still hasn't called me, so I called and left a voice mail. Hopefully he returns my call, as I am extremely concerned about this turn of events.

Yep, tell them that you don't want those add ons and that was not part of the agreement and am not willing to pay for them. If they give you crap, leave and do this:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvpIKt74vCs"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvpIKt74vCs[/ame]

if they add $2000 worth of accessories to a manual FR-S they're still adhering to the pure pricing if they sell it to you for $26,930. now, if they say they can knock off $1000 off those accessories and sell it for $25,930 then they're treating just a like a normal car deal and not a scion deal.

just walk away even though they know you want the car and find a dealer that will sell it for MSRP. there's dealers out there, you just have to call and ask them. with our deposit form the selling price is MSRP not MSRP plus market value adjustments.

If they try the bait and switch, call Scion HQ, tell them you ordered the car, put the deposit down for the car only and now they want to add all the options and charge you for them when you didn't want them. tell them the dealership number, the sales person you talked to the general managers name and your order. This will stop them in their tracks, a friend of mine bought a TC plain Jane and the dealership tried it that crap... they got into a lot of trouble and ended up catering to him extensively for it, something about losing there Scion dealership lic.

The problem is, knowing how dumb and shady they are, they will probably treat that particular car like crap and rip the accessories off or rev the shit out of the engine. I wouldn't even want to deal with them after that. I'd look for some other more trustworthy dealer even if you have to go out of your way or wait a while.

Well, the manager had the dealer call me back and explain that there was 'a misunderstanding', and that the car I was specifically interested in should arrive at the dealership, unmodified, as originally expected.

I remain hopeful and optimistic, because whether it was a misunderstanding or not I was hoping that they would do what they could to treat their customer (me!) well. I do appreciate the cautious guarantee that the car should be what I initially was told that it would be. I chose this dealer as they had excellent customer service reviews overall, so I was a bit shocked to have to go through this, but perhaps it was a pure misunderstanding.

Thanks again for the words of wisdom and advice. Once I have the keys in my hand I'll post a few pics. :)