Orphan offer - is it worth it?

[futuresmartgirl]

My dealer had offered me an orphan - "the car comes equipped with our “street smart” package which includes ext. serv. 60 months/75,000 miles, wheel and tire protection 60 mon., Lojack, and IBEX interior protection. The car has Red Metallic Panels and the comfort package and is priced at $20,740." I was only interested in a cabrio with the comfort package and an alarm. Are these other options worth the extra money?

[jwight]

Somewhere here is a thread on a trade in offer on a fairly new smart. Needless to say, the trade-in $$ were a lot lower than the purchase price. It looks like you're being offered the standard "loaded" orphan (smart centers are not permitted to sell reserved cars at over MSRP) so the things you mention are dealer profit makers. Your call, but compare the MSRP of the car as delivered vs. the offer from the dealer - if it's worth the extra bucks to have the car in your driveway now, go for it. If not, wait for your reserved car to come in.

PS - clever they've named their option package.

[futuresmartgirl]

Thanks, That was my feeling. My DDE is Dec 08-Feb 09. I think I will wait. That gives me time to save some money for the downpayment.

[SuperGeek]

Dealer markup has always been high anywhere -- standard is around 1500 for warranty, 1,000 lojack, tire protection 100-400 (depends on what the coverage is). I don't know about IBEX, but overall I don't think they're charging twice what another dealer would.

If you're only a few months away, wait... otherwise you're spending $3k to get a car that much sooner. Is it worth an extra $1k/mo ? Probably not... so yes, waiting is better. You'll probably end up getting the warranty though... 24 months isn't that great and is geared towards people willing to service their cars themselves in 25 months. I got the 60 month warranty.

Definitely save for that down payment... a grand will help your financing terms. And pay down credit cards a month before if possible, to raise your credit score. Mine went up 150 points in a month by doing just that.

[RedDogInCan]

The extra options aren't worth a cent if you don't want them. Add the extra interest costs from the higher price and you just keep on paying.

Its a bit of a scam really. The dealer gets you into an orphan loaded up with extras, which then orphans another car that they can use to repeat the process.

[gotta have a SMART]

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[angel]

future: Supply & Demand. If you want it bad enough then it'll be worth it. If you don't mind waiting then it's probably worth passing to the next person.