What's the best way to get inline for ordering now that preorder is over?

THE PROBLEM IS THE MATH END OF THIS.

If 2,100 cars were confirmed on Preorder (I think that # is actually too low, in reality, but it was Erica's so I will very respectfully go with it)... and there are 15,000 total cars being built in the USA in the calendar year 2012, with cars arriving in late March / early April to start with, that leaves 12,900 cars to be distributed to 14 different states.

What we have no idea of is the ratio or cars and models each state gets. How many of those 12,900 cars will get to CA versus the other 13 states that will sell these too. How many dealerships will divvy up how many cars. Will I get 10 extra cars this summer? 2? 20? Who knows?

I've refused to take names and numbers at all. What's the point. I'll just post the afterwards cars right here in the PlugIn threads section and the dealer/pricing threads and folks will find me! Last time we went thru this in 2004, it was a crazy time trying to determine who still wanted a car. This time, whoever wants will be looking, and find me.

 

Pure electric vehicles such as the Leaf qualify for one of the unlimited number of White stickers. The PiP and the Volt are the only candidates in the near future for the 40,000 Green stickers.

 

I would expect the ford c-max and fusion energi will qualify at the end of the year. I didn't know about the whte versus green stickers. That means there should be green stickers available much longer.

 

At the rate they are releasing cars that qualify for the green stickers, they won't run out before they expire in 3 years.

Why doubt the 2100 preorders, there's no reason, except that there was so much hype, I thought all 15k were going to be sold out within the first 5 minutes...haha...

 

I guess I am only surprised to see 2100 # because I have order #'s that range from as low as 00039 to as high as 03937.

That would mean that almost 4000 or possibly more, in the USA pre-ordered with the intention of confirming. It could have been more. My last order confirmed 12/12.

That would mean that half of the pre-orders didn't confirm or cancelled later. That is why I am surprised to see the 2100 #. But, as I said, the 2100 number comes from a very trusted source. Obviously!

 

It is possible that there was a small percentage of preorder numbers dropped and then reordered because of the variation that existed in the system of dealers. Some dealers knew exactly what to do, while others acted cluelessly.

So how many of those who started out by ordering to clueless dealership ended up having to drop their original order (and number) so they could find a dealer with better business acumen? 1? 10? 100?

 

A lot of the folks I talked to jumping ship from elsewhere brought their # with them.

I had a few cancelled who re-ordered a different color combination or package downgrade or upgrade.

I just find it hard to grasp nearly 2,000 just not moving forward. But, again, that # is from a very credible source!

 

I agree. That's a huge number of drop outs. But it's still possible that those people never intended to buy in the first place, and they were simply playing with the system to see how it worked.

I'd be more interested to know how many have gone through the process of ordering, confirming and sending a deposit, and then decide against making the final commitment to buying the car. I guess we won't know what that number is until those people don't show up to take delivery.

 

As the time nears, and we get closer to the production line being opened, the reality sets in.

It's one of those glass half full vs half empty moments.

Can I sit in this traffic for another 3 years? Can I be late to one more meeting, customer appt, or social event or concert and blame traffic?

What can I accomplish other than reading lots of audio books or making phone calls while I am sitting in the car many many minutes longer than I used to be? How productive am I in traffic as opposed to being at my desk? Or, how much better would it be if I were HOME instead of sitting in southbound traffic?

Last time, I got the car I would have gotten anyway for fuel cost reasons, and then forked over $8 for a yellow sticker. This time, it's a uniquely different decision. In my case, I already made it, and have been moving towards it for months...

Dianne