[st_cruzin]

Search for Santa Cruz in the last week or 24 hours and I suspect you will see as I have, dealers offering Santa Cruz Limited or other hard to get models while pressuring people with little callouts like "Only two left in stock!" What I want to know is:

• Are these dealers really getting vehicles to sell to walk-in customers before I get my pre-order?
• Or are these dealers playing an illegal bait and switch game?
• Does Hyundai care at all about the impression this gives customers about the brand?

I suspect it is corrupt internet advertising. I see it all the time. Carvana tried to imply they could get me a used Santa Cruz for around $15k before they were even rolling out of Alabama. They just manipulate my search query and bait me into come look at their vehicle stock without any regard to whether they actually had what I was looking for.

Am I they only one who gets really angry that our consumer protection laws don't seem to do any good any more?

 

[ToadVine]

Am I they only one who gets really angry that our consumer protection laws don't seem to do any good any more?

We have far, far worse problems with unenforced laws than just consumer protection.

 

[CaseyH]

Search for Santa Cruz in the last week or 24 hours and I suspect you will see as I have, dealers offering Santa Cruz Limited or other hard to get models while pressuring people with little callouts like "Only two left in stock!" What I want to know is:

• Are these dealers really getting vehicles to sell to walk-in customers before I get my pre-order?
• Or are these dealers playing an illegal bait and switch game?
• Does Hyundai care at all about the impression this gives customers about the brand?

I suspect it is corrupt internet advertising. I see it all the time. Carvana tried to imply they could get me a used Santa Cruz for around $15k before they were even rolling out of Alabama. They just manipulate my search query and bait me into come look at their vehicle stock without any regard to whether they actually had what I was looking for.

Am I they only one who gets really angry that our consumer protection laws don't seem to do any good any more?

You don’t have a “pre-order”. You bought a $100 Hyundai gift card and they promised to pass your info and preferred spec to a dealer. More discussions on this here -> Hyundai "Reservation" Program - Class Action?

 

[FLman]

The dealer I have been in contact with has one coming in and it is exactly what I want. They won't take a deposit. They want me to do all the paperwork and buy it before it even comes in.

 

[Chuck]

The dealer I have been in contact with has one coming in and it is exactly what I want. They won't take a deposit. They want me to do all the paperwork and buy it before it even comes in.

The one thing they won't tell you is that until you take delivery (you as the customer physically drive the car off the lot) the deal is not consummated and you can back out - though it may take some fighting.

 

[JMII]

• Does Hyundai care at all about the impression this gives customers about the brand?

In the big picture they do, but they can't bite the hand that feeds them. Hyundai sells cars to dealers, who then sell to the consumer (you). This kind of sales model is broken in our modern world. The dealer is nothing but a middle man who adds fees in exchange for a service. Problem is these days that service is terrible, expensive but adds almost no value.

GM has the same problem with C8s being sold for crazy markups... and guess what? They don't care: GM Isn’t All That Concerned About Corvette Markups
After asking if there was anything GM or Chevy could do (or would want to do) to encourage dealers not to charge tens of thousands of dollars over MSRP, Johnson responded by saying:
“Well, it’s supply and demand. We supply them, the dealers meet the demand.”

Sadly most laws on the books tend to protect these dealers, for example Tesla can't even sell cars in Texas: Tesla has to ship Texas-made cars to other states before it can sell them to Texans because of state laws
Texas state laws ban car companies from directly selling to customers. Instead, the companies must sell their vehicles to independently owned car dealerships, which then sell to customers.

However as a consumer you are free to take your business elsewhere and find a dealer that provides you with better service and pricing.