How much are people getting reamed on orphans?

[ZZAAA]

I have a reservation, but I'm thinking of looking for an orphan.

(test drove one via City CarShare -loved it)

Are dealers putting a lot of worthless aftermarket crap on the orphans or charging over MSRP?


Thanks

[angel]

Search is your friend. Some are adding more than others. There's a list here somewhere. I don't know what City CarShare is so I'm guessing you ain't near Dallas, TX.

[Dave777]

Some are. Some aren't. Check at your local dealer.

BTW, IMHO, it's only "getting reamed" if it's involuntary. I haven't heard of anyone being forced to buy an orphan. If no one buys items they consider overpriced, the price will drop.

[Smart pizzaguy]

I bought my orphan for MSRP, not a penny more from Jacksonville, Florida. Some dealers are adding 5K of options, just depends on your local(or sometimes not so local) dealer. I would also agree that it's not getting reamed if people are willing to pay. Don't like the price, keep on searching, or wait the 18-24 months.

[ZZAAA]

Originally Posted by Dave777

Some are. Some aren't. Check at your local dealer.

BTW, IMHO, it's only "getting reamed" if it's involuntary. I haven't heard of anyone being forced to buy an orphan. If no one buys items they consider overpriced, the price will drop.

well, if a person wants one of these cars, they are likely either to get reamed for time or money. Unless they get lucky.

[Dave777]

There are lots of products on the market that have a waiting list to buy. That is not "getting reamed." It's supply and demand.

If you don't like the price of an orphan you find, don't buy it.

[fun42]

We paid MSRP at the Kansas City - Merriam smart center.

No dealer added extras. We also have a reservation that won't arrive until the end of the year. So we put our name on the orphan list, they called at 10am, we went and looked at it, arranged financing through smart and left with the smart at 1pm. Couldn't have been a better transaction. We will also keep our reserved smart.

[SubSlr88]

I paid MSRP plus and extra few bucks for window tint all-around and a paint and fabric protectant. Here in FL the window tint is a MUST-HAVE and the paint protection will save the finish from love-bugs so prevalent certain times of the year here.
Was it worth it? Oh, yeah - my DDE is almost a year away - so getting an orphan relieved me searching around for a smart to buy. I wasted a lot of time on eBay and Craig's list looking. And the price for my orphan was way lower than any of those.
And the price the dealer charged was fair for those products - no gouging or loading up with useless crap.
SmartCenter Clearwater is a great dealer with superb sales folks willing to help you out.

[Gar Blume]

But we went ahead with it. They added LoJack, colored rims, tint (which we need in the deep south), mats (which we would have done anyway), and some type of protectant to our Passion coupe. We got a call 1 week after getting on the orphan list the same day we reserved. I traded a Ford Excursion I was driving daily and getting 10 mpg. I figure that I'll make up the difference by the time our reservation car comes in in gas savings. And it is too much fun to drive!

[buellwinkle]

The dealer by me likes to paint orphans and charge $4,300 for the new color. The other thing they do is put navs in an mark them up or paint the wheels black for $1,599. Are there any dealers in So Cal that sell orphans at MSRP? I don't mind getting some extras, just would like to pick my extras.