[radm]

I just got the VIN this week, the car hasn't been even made and it now shows on Autotrader and the dealer website.

Is that normal?

[Draper]

100% normal. It’s a marketing tactic to get sales leads. Anyone who calls about the car will be told it’s not available.

[chicagofan00]

Yep, happens all the time. Nothing to worry about….unless of course you have a super shady dealership and they are willing to sell any car to the highest bidder regardless if it is already marked for a customer.

[Mrproper86]

I ordered mine , and it does not show anywhere on autotrader or on the dealer website. The only way I can see a preview(3d rendering) of it when I typed the vin into the mybmw app. I do know mine is sold as customer sold.

[Chapter2099]

As already been said, super common.

My father’s 2024 Z06 allocation remained on the local Chevy dealer site until he came in and signed the paperwork on delivery day, despite having a deposit on the car for a while.

If you check out CarGurus, a majority of the Z06s on there are already claimed but still “for sale.” It’s a great way to drum up interest from the public, especially when they list them at MSRP and conveniently leave out the dealer markup until you call.

I know the same is done for a lot of high demand makes/models. Nissan dealers love to do this with their GTRs.

[drexplode]

They have to create a stock number and check it in the system. I’m sure car manager checked the box to advertise. The VIR has your name on it, it’s yours until it’s not.

[Habber]

I’m sure it’s totally fine but never forget that car isn’t yours until you sign the papers.

Dealer can 100% sell it to someone else and you’ll have little to stand on.

[Berzerker]

Originally Posted by Habber

I’m sure it’s totally fine but never forget that car isn’t yours until you sign the papers.

Dealer can 100% sell it to someone else and you’ll have little to stand on.

They can but no BMW dealer is going to do this unless they want hell unleashed on them by an angry deposit-giver or customer-registered-build person.

[patriotsfan]

Extremely common for *some* dealers.

For BMW specifically (and for new cars) I stopped using third party sites and looked at their configurator "similar to" builds. Those would actually reflect available status (and is how I found that my now G82 was actually available).

[radm]

Thank you all!

The dealer said they put a hold on the car now and it should be down in 48 hours - it remains to be seen if only from external websites like Autotrader or also from the dealership website.

[radm]

BTW, the car is gone both from Autotrader and the dealer website now.

[Ibiza]

This started during the pandemic of BMW displaying cars intransit on delerships websites even for P1 vehicles to ‘inflate’ the number of cars in stock when the lots were bare. My recent PCD ‘24 X5 M60 showed for 2 months on the selling dealerships website despite being in SC (1st displayed around status 150 as I recall). I would have been a pissed off as a customer calling up inquiring about this vehicle to be told that it’s not even in the state of the dealership😂I do not understand why BMW NA is displaying P1 vehicles on the ordering dealerships website, as the website is using a BMW API to pull the stock.

[eg80sc]

Originally Posted by Ibiza

This started during the pandemic of BMW displaying cars intransit on delerships websites even for P1 vehicles to ‘inflate’ the number of cars in stock when the lots were bare. My recent PCD ‘24 X5 M60 showed for 2 months on the selling dealerships website despite being in SC (1st displayed around status 150 as I recall). I would have been a pissed off as a customer calling up inquiring about this vehicle to be told that it’s not even in the state of the dealership😂I do not understand why BMW NA is displaying P1 vehicles on the ordering dealerships website, as the website is using a BMW API to pull the stock.

It uploads automatically to third party because of the plug-ins they use. It’s like this for almost all dealerships until they mark the car sold.

Everyone who have done allocation orders with almost any brand will have seen their come up at their dealer’s website at some point

You guys are also forgetting dealerships don’t pay cash for their cars, there are processes that they need to go through for their floor plan.