How can a dealer do this?

Today's Google News e-mail on PIP showed this local (L. A.) dealer with 3 PIP's for sale listing VIN's. I thought all PIP's went to those on waiting list & if not wanted by origional buyer, went to next on list. How does Penske Toyota Scion of Downey have 3 for sale now?

link to webpage:
New, Used, Certified Toyota Prius Plug In at Penske Toyota Scion of Downey, CA

If I was waiting for a April or May delivery, I would be pi$$ed.

The car could only go to the "next person on the list" if it was canceled before it arrived at a dealership (not saying this is how it works, but logically speaking). If the car was delivered to a dealership and the person who pre-ordered it decided at that time not to buy it, then it would be a car the dealership could sell. At least this was my understanding (which is why there are people on this forum who added their names to a waiting list at their preferred dealership to pick up an orphaned PiP).

^^^
If the above is the case, it sounds like orphans that we often see and hear about on mynissanleaf.com. I spoke to a Nissan dealer about this too, in the past.

My dealer said that the car was supposed to be only for me and if I didn't pick it up for whatever reason, they were supposed to return it to Toyota. I.e they weren't supposed to sell it to someone else.

Thats interesting.. not sure why they would do that though, unless transportation costs were negligible (I dont see how they can be).. but I guess anything is possible with a large corporation.

The cars that are not purchased get reassigned to the pool of cars that can be allocated. They are not necessarily physically returned, but the dealers can get them from Toyota.

You guys sure about this. I'm still not sure if I want the car and I can tell my dealer is chomping at the bits for me to not pick up the car so that he can sell it for probably more to someone else. My car is still on the boat, about to reach port in a day or two.

Could also be that the dealership had employees pre-order for themselves (wink, wink) and then cancel on arrival to make them available to others (at a mark-up I presume).

OMG .....do not tell me that this is posible today days!!!

They don't have the cars for sale. Our website keeps adding the PHEVs as they hit Ground because they are pulled from an inventory website that's populated from the dealer system and the same goes for me: my SOLD PHEV cars have to be deleted daily... it's an automatic feed. I have the same problem.

I'm surprised so many of you computer type guys don't realize this inventory upload is automatic. And, shame on you for thinking the worst. :: shaking head ::

Actually, I know the opposite... the manager at the dealer I worked with had ordered one for his own personal use, and gave it up to a good customer who had missed the pre-order window. He's going to end up waiting until regular inventory comes in to get his...

But that said, I should note that many years ago, I got screwed by a Mercedes dealer. I'd pre-ordered a car in demand and was given about a 6-month time-frame. And when the time approached, I was told it was going to be about another 3 months. But doing some sleuthing, I figured out that they'd gotten my car in, and sold it to someone else at a premium, while making me wait for another similar car to come in for the MSRP we'd agreed to. Of course all this was before electronic tracking. And if it were today, I would have demanded to get the VIN as soon as I was assigned the factory slot. Lesson learned.

Based on the VINs listed, it looks like those 3 Prii's have been at that dealership for quite some time. What isn't clear is if they came with extras like floor mats, door guard, leather, etc. If we assume no extras, the markup is around $500 on the Base model, and $1000 to $1400 on the two Advanced models...

Except they are using MSRP, which by definition can't include markup. Just checked that link, and only the two advanced trim models are listed today. I'm wondering if they are playing games, and those are actually customers' cars awaiting delivery, and they are just using them in ads to draw people into the dealership. Somebody shows up, ad in hand, and the salesman says with a straight face, "Sorry, already sold." Dealership complies with the law perhaps, on the surface, but wouldn't fly under an investigation by authorities. Just sayin'........

Not sure if you all saw this post or not- it seems like Dianne is saying that it is a computer inventory issue that automatically adds . . . (see her post above).

You’re right, the PIP ( Super Prius ) is a dream, but if you deiced not to take it they can sell it to the next person that's interested, and they also could try and get a better price for themselves.

Dianne if a customer opts out of his or her purchase can't you sell that car to the next customer that’s wants one? I know someone on here found one this way.

A VIN is no guarantee. Nissan assigned me a VIN and then later took it back. (That was screw-up #3 out of 4, before I finally gave up on them. Screw-up #2 was when they claimed to have "lost" my car, with no further explanation.)

In the case of Nissan, dealers were allowed to sell orphan cars to anyone they liked. I believe my dealer stayed with MSRP, but that was up to the dealer, and what the market would bear.

Wow those cars on that link aren't cheap are they?

I'm surprised they're still listed. I would have thought they'd be sold within a couple hours. I wonder if the dealer is holding out for the best offer.