Having gotten really annoyed at how high the price of gas has gone up the last couple of weeks, I started seriously thinking about hunting for an orphan. I applied for an auto loan online and got the blank check in the mail on Thursday. At the start of my lunch break yesterday, I made calls to the 5 closest Smart Centers:
Laguna Niguel
West Covina
Riverside
Beverly Hills
Universal
I ended up leaving a voice mail message at Laguna Niguel letting them know that I was a current reservation holder but wanted to inquire about orphan availability. At this point I have not received a call back.
Spoke to a nice person at West Covina (I don't remember his name). A few days earlier I had talked to Laguna Niguel and found out that they are not my "home" dealer. West Covina has confirmed that I am indeed in their territory. I was actually added to West Covina's orphan list last weekend after sending an e-mail from their website. Found out I am #82 on their list which now stood at 85. I was told that when they have an orphan available, they go down the list until they get a taker. But if you turn one down, you don't lose your place in line. Sounds like they are doing it in a fair manner.
I ended up initially leaving a message at Riverside. John called me back pretty quickly, but I managed to miss the call on my cell phone. I called him back soon after and had a very nice conversation with him. They currently have over 100 people on their orphan list. But he thinks that I won't actually have that much longer to wait, seeing as they are getting ready to deliver April reservers (I'm a 1263, reserved last May). So May shouldn't be that far behind. As I stated in another post, I almost wish Riverside was my "home" dealer just on his enthusiasm alone. He said I should stop by if I'm in their neighborhood. I most certainly will.
Spoke to another nice person at Beverly Hills (I again forgot to note his name!). He said they had over 60 people on their orphan list. But his opinion was the same as John in Riverside, that I really shouldn't have that much longer to wait.
At Universal I ended up talking to the gal that answered the phone. Sales was busy but she could probably provide some information. Fortunately, she could tell me what the situation was with orphans. As has already been posted previously, they are requiring a $2,000 refundable deposit to get on their orphan list. I did not ask how many were currently on the list. I'm not totally against that idea, but if I have to put down an extra deposit, I would just prefer to do it at the dealer that my reservation will come to.
So the moral to this story is, I am much more likely to actually get the car I reserved before I would snag an orphan (nobody said that they would sell to a walk-in). West Covina is the only orphan list I am currently on, and I don't plan to get on any others at this point. I can only hope that I tempted fate by getting the blank check ready. It will expire in 45 days (end of April). Wonder what the chances are that I could get my car by then?? Not likely, but the only thing I will be out is an extra hard inquiry on my credit report. Which isn't going to hurt me in the least, as my score is already really high...
Sheryl
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