Reservation to customer order/deposit conversion detailed for dealers

Billyk24

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With the significant and sad drop of the markets and our/your retirement funds. can one delay delivery for four/five months in an attempt to see if our financial picture has improved?
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And ok, yeah, I'm starving for new details here, but look closely at the second image where it shows an example of what a customer will see. It says "John -- It's Time To Power Up Your New Mustang Mach-E Select" and then to the right, that's an image of a First Edition. OK fine, example screen, blah blah blah... Under the First Edition photo, it says in green text, "New enhancements available." WHAT ARE THE NEW ENHANCEMENTS!? ?
Ignoring the photo because it's a placeholder. My guess is 'new enhancements' is sales speak for the opportunity to 'add optional equipment'.
 

Sweetwater

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You should be able to get your down payment back if you purchased a vehicle. ... If you left a down payment but told the dealership you wanted it back upon purchasing the vehicle, your down payment will be returned if it was not applied toward the vehicle's purchase price when you obtained financing. In both a car lease and a loan, the down payment is only refundable if you don't sign any paperwork. Once you sign all the documents, the deal is done and you can't get your money back. But, if a lender requires you to make a security deposit, know that you could get that money back.Nov 19, 2018

is a car downpayment refundable
 

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You should be able to get your down payment back if you purchased a vehicle. ... If you left a down payment but told the dealership you wanted it back upon purchasing the vehicle, your down payment will be returned if it was not applied toward the vehicle's purchase price when you obtained financing. In both a car lease and a loan, the down payment is only refundable if you don't sign any paperwork. Once you sign all the documents, the deal is done and you can't get your money back. But, if a lender requires you to make a security deposit, know that you could get that money back.Nov 19, 2018

is a car downpayment refundable
I wouldn’t take the first definition of a general term that pops up on a Google search as gospel. Deposits can be designated as fully refundable, non-refundable, or somewhere in the middle as refundable under specific conditions. For example, the Tesla Model 3 initially had a fully refundable $1,000 deposit for wait list, which later switched to a non-refundable $2,500 deposit once an order was placed.
In this case, all we know is that Ford has stated that our $500 deposit is fully refundable. There has been some indication that, when placing the order, the deposit will be with the dealer and whether that’s refundable or not will be up to the dealer.
Bottom line is: understand whether it’s refundable or not before making the deposit; don’t assume that it’s refundable just because Google found a reference stating it generally is.
 
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hybrid2bev

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You should be able to get your down payment back if you purchased a vehicle. ... If you left a down payment but told the dealership you wanted it back upon purchasing the vehicle, your down payment will be returned if it was not applied toward the vehicle's purchase price when you obtained financing. In both a car lease and a loan, the down payment is only refundable if you don't sign any paperwork. Once you sign all the documents, the deal is done and you can't get your money back. But, if a lender requires you to make a security deposit, know that you could get that money back.Nov 19, 2018

is a car downpayment refundable
That statement seems to be conflating deposits and downpayments. Downpayments are applied to the financing contract. In the US, order deposits are held funds between you and the dealer. (Or Ford in case of reservations.) Your reservation deposit will be returned from Ford once your order is placed or reservation is cancelled. If you make an additional deposit with the dealer at the time of order that may be refundable if you do not finalize the purchase or do not have the dealer apply your deposit towards the financing. If your deposit is applied towards your financing then, no you can't get your downpayment back.

I think of it like this:
You should be able to get your DEPOSIT back if you purchased a vehicle. ... If you left a DEPOSIT but told the dealership you wanted it back upon purchasing the vehicle, your DEPOSIT will be returned if it was not applied toward the vehicle's purchase price (as a downpayment) when you obtained financing. In both a car lease and a loan, the DEPOSIT is only refundable if you don't sign any paperwork. Once you sign all the documents, the deal is done and you can't get your money back. But, if a lender requires you to make a security deposit, know that you could get that money back.Nov 19, 2018
 


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Downpayment ???
Deposit ???
What should we do at the time when we sit down with the dealer ?
Will the dealer demand Downpayment or Deposit ?
 
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hybrid2bev

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Downpayment ???
Deposit ???
What should we do at the time when we sit down with the dealer ?
Will the dealer demand Downpayment or Deposit ?
Speaking for the US based process only.... Let's exclude the $500 deposit you already gave to place a reservation. That'll be refunded when you convert to an actual order or cancel your reservation.

Shorter answer:
Deposit = money held by the dealer that is between you and the dealer
Downpayment = money applied towards a finance contract

The dealer may require a deposit at the time of order. A downpayment may or may not be required, it depends if your finance source is asking for a downpayment or not. Or if you chose to make a downpayment to reduce your monthly payments.


Longer answer:
What should we do at the time when we sit down with the dealer ? That depends on where you are in the process.

So....
If you are entering an actual order (either online or with a dealer) it's a deposit. These are funds held to show you are a serious buyer.

Later when you are at the dealer taking delivery of the vehicle and giving them money for towards the financing, that's a downpayment (applied towards your finance contract). The dealer may take the deposit you gave at the time of order and apply it towards the financing (converting your deposit into a downpayment). Or they may refund the deposit back to you if you are not financing (paying cash) or you are not making a downpayment towards financing.

Hope that helps.
 

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With the significant and sad drop of the markets and our/your retirement funds. can one delay delivery for four/five months in an attempt to see if our financial picture has improved?
If you got an early reservation number you could just cancel it and make another today. ;)
 

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Downpayment ???
Deposit ???
What should we do at the time when we sit down with the dealer ?
Will the dealer demand Downpayment or Deposit ?
Agree, very convoluted process. Not a frictionless experience.
 

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Based on the images and the description, I take it as the deposit is the same as the $500 reservation deposit.
 

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Later when you are at the dealer taking delivery of the vehicle and giving them money for towards the financing, that's a downpayment (applied towards your finance contract). The dealer may take the deposit you gave at the time of order and apply it towards the financing (converting your deposit into a downpayment). Or they may refund the deposit back to you if you are not financing (paying cash) or you are not making a downpayment towards financing.

Hope that helps.
The question I still have is that since there's a good chance we won't have seen the car, driven the car or sat in the car prior to delivery, will we be able to get our deposit back if we decide, upon delivery, that we don't want the car.
 
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hybrid2bev

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The question I still have is that since there's a good chance we won't have seen the car, driven the car or sat in the car prior to delivery, will we be able to get our deposit back if we decide, upon delivery, that we don't want the car.
The dealer demo units should arrive in September/October (before even the First Edition) so you should have a chance to test drive before delivery.

I’m assuming that deposits are refundable if you refuse delivery. We’ll find out more in April once the dealer training is updated. Or at least we should find out in May at order time if the deposit is refundable.
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