What does "Priority Order" actually mean in the States? (And where are the Plug-in Limiteds?)

4186 Views 15 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Captain Blight, May 30, 2022

Captain Blight

Discussion Starter · Dec 17, 2021

Does a "Priority Order" for a Hyundai vehicle actually mean anything in the States? My increasing impression is that it is just a list for each dealer to check against their assigned allocation each month. It doesn't seem that the factory pays any attention when deciding what to build and where to ship. The dealers don't seem to have any visibility into the order queue.

In Canada the dealer can tell a customer where they are in the queue. The factory sends buyers an e-mail saying "Hi there. We're building your car in the next few weeks and here is the VIN. You should receive your car around this date."

If this is correct, then the implication for buyers in the States is that a "Priority Order" should be placed with a dealer with a high sales volume, since that dealer will get a larger allocation and improve the chances of lucking into the desired vehicle. It also implies that there is no benefit to wait patiently with a smaller dealer and no penalty to shift an order to a larger dealer unless that dealer has somebody ahead of you waiting for the exact same car.

Any experience-based information would be greatly appreciated.

Also, does anybody have any sense of what's happening with the Tucson Plug-in model mix? The HyundaiUSA web site shows 117 Plug-ins within a 250 mile radius of Annapolis (including vehicles in transit). Of those 117 cars, only 9 are Limiteds, only 11 are white, and zero are white Limiteds.

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

ses310

· #2 · Dec 17, 2021

Our experience buying a Tucson HEV in the US is that the proactive dealers can look at the vehicles that are in transit on ships and can get them allocated to them if they can get a deposit and commitment from a customer and the vehicles aren't already promised to other customers. At least that's what we did. The higher volume dealers may have an upper hand in this as they probably would get more vehicles allocated to them anyway. Not sure what the real story is, though, or what actually placing an order prior to manufacture would get you.

Captain Blight

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 17, 2021

ses310 said:
Our experience buying a Tucson HEV in the US is that the proactive dealers can look at the vehicles that are in transit on ships and can get them allocated to them if they can get a deposit and commitment from a customer and the vehicles aren't already promised to other customers. At least that's what we did. The higher volume dealers may have an upper hand in this as they probably would get more vehicles allocated to them anyway. Not sure what the real story is, though, or what actually placing an order prior to manufacture would get you.

I placed an "order" and deposit for a Plug-in Limited with a (smaller) dealer at the beginning of October, but I'm starting to think that it's all performative. A further possible complication is that I'm buying from out-of-state, so I don't represent any service revenue stream.

MLS

· #4 · Dec 17, 2021

Captain Blight said:
Does a "Priority Order" for a Hyundai vehicle actually mean anything in the States? My increasing impression is that it is just a list for each dealer to check against their assigned allocation each month. It doesn't seem that the factory pays any attention when deciding what to build and where to ship. The dealers don't seem to have any visibility into the order queue.

In Canada the dealer can tell a customer where they are in the queue. The factory sends buyers an e-mail saying "Hi there. We're building your car in the next few weeks and here is the VIN. You should receive your car around this date."

If this is correct, then the implication for buyers in the States is that a "Priority Order" should be placed with a dealer with a high sales volume, since that dealer will get a larger allocation and improve the chances of lucking into the desired vehicle. It also implies that there is no benefit to wait patiently with a smaller dealer and no penalty to shift an order to a larger dealer unless that dealer has somebody ahead of you waiting for the exact same car.

Any experience-based information would be greatly appreciated.

Also, does anybody have any sense of what's happening with the Tucson Plug-in model mix? The HyundaiUSA web site shows 117 Plug-ins within a 250 mile radius of Annapolis (including vehicles in transit). Of those 117 cars, only 9 are Limiteds, only 11 are white, and zero are white Limiteds.

Takes a lot of work and a lot of luck! I started shopping mid October for a PHEV Limited in silver with gray interior. I live in CT where dealers charge a $700 “doc fee”. In nearby NY, the state mandated max is $175. I also didn’t want to pay a market adjustment. Lots of phone calls later, I selected 2 dealers who would take a refundable deposit on a future allocation. No one knew yet what they had in their pipeline. One dealer came thru and delivered the car mid November. Just keep calling!!!

Captain Blight

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 17, 2021

MLS said:
Takes a lot of work and a lot of luck! I started shopping mid October for a PHEV Limited in silver with gray interior. I live in CT where dealers charge a $700 “doc fee”. In nearby NY, the state mandated max is $175. I also didn’t want to pay a market adjustment. Lots of phone calls later, I selected 2 dealers who would take a refundable deposit on a future allocation. No one knew yet what they had in their pipeline. One dealer came thru and delivered the car mid November. Just keep calling!!!

What is the "etiquette" of putting down a deposit with two dealers? Do you tell the dealers what you are doing? Do the dealers consider this to be "unfair" in any way?

MLS

· #6 · Jan 27, 2022

Captain Blight said:
What is the "etiquette" of putting down a deposit with two dealers? Do you tell the dealers what you are doing? Do the dealers consider this to be "unfair" in any way?

No I didn’t tell the dealers. In this market they are selling all they get, mostly even before it arrives. In that case I was not too worried about etiquette or what they consider unfair. For the PHEV’s, the dealers are not able to select what they get. The limited number of cars are allocated by Hyundai and the dealers take what they get. I’ve been driving Hyundai’s since 2004. I have always shopped for price and given the local dealer an opportunity to match my best offer. In the past they always did. However, in these topsy-turvey times that didn’t work.

Jayligh

· #7 · Jan 30, 2022

I'm in NC and i placed a priority order for Tucson phev with a dealer in Maryland a month ago no luck yet. Anyone else in similar situation.

Captain Blight

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 30, 2022

Jayligh said:
I'm in NC and i placed a priority order for Tucson phev with a dealer in Maryland a month ago no luck yet. Anyone else in similar situation.

I'm the OP. I placed my "priority order" in early October. That and a dime will get me a small cup of coffee. The "order" really is just a checklist for the dealer to use when looking at each allocation, and even then they may sell the car to somebody else. Some dealers try to BS you about "factory orders", but that's only in Canada.

Here are a couple of other threads you may want to look at.

www.tucson-forum.com

How dealers decide who to sell a car to

I found this over on an Ioniq forum. Those of us shopping out of state for a PHEV are pretty well screwed (no service, probably no trade-in). It doesn't make the "Market Adjustment" or "Out Of State Buyer Surcharge" any less painful, but it does explain them. From the Ioniq forum: I had a...

www.tucson-forum.com

www.tucson-forum.com

www.tucson-forum.com

Heads Up For Folks Using The Inventory Search On The...

I'm searching the East Coast for a specific model and configuration using the HyundaiUSA web site inventory search. I happened to run the identical search using Chrome and Firefox. Chrome returned two vehicles. Firefox returned those two plus a third vehicle that appears to be a new listing...

www.tucson-forum.com

www.tucson-forum.com

Unless you happen to be extremely lucky with your dealer's allocation, you are going to have to monitor new allocations on the HyundaiUSA web site or using Hieb's tool, work the phones, sacrifice small furry animals, or possibly use Authority Auto. (I haven't checked out Authority Auto yet. In such a constrained market I'm not sure how much they can do.)

Good luck!

I'm in Durham. Where in NC are you?

See less See more

Jayligh

· #9 · Jan 30, 2022

Wow. I'm in Raleigh. I've worked the phones and it seemed this dealer in Towson MD is the only one doing this "priority order" it's only been a month but I'll be damned to let this go on for 3+ months while they're sitting on 1500 of my money and going to charge an additional 2500 market adjustment this is stupid. I guess I'll call a few more dealers and if no luck I'll start chasing another vehicle eligible for the tax credit and take the one i can get first 🤷🏾‍♂️

Reactions: 1

Jayligh

· #10 · Feb 20, 2022

3

Vehicle Speedometer Car Gear shift Steering part

Wheel Land vehicle Car Tire Vehicle

Automotive parking light Car Vehicle Wheel Tire

got one!! Love love love it

See less See more

Reactions: 2

Captain Blight

Discussion Starter · #11 · Feb 20, 2022

Schweet!! Congratulations.

If the stars align, I hope to pick mine up (in Connecticut) in a few weeks.

Grfxguy

· #12 · Apr 30, 2022

ses310 said:
Our experience buying a Tucson HEV in the US is that the proactive dealers can look at the vehicles that are in transit on ships and can get them allocated to them if they can get a deposit and commitment from a customer and the vehicles aren't already promised to other customers. At least that's what we did. The higher volume dealers may have an upper hand in this as they probably would get more vehicles allocated to them anyway. Not sure what the real story is, though, or what actually placing an order prior to manufacture would get you.

I was told basically the same thing by my dealer in Phoenix, AZ. I put a refundable deposit on a credit card that wouldn't be run until they had my car on their next allotment. Within two weeks, i got a call from my salesperson that they did have a Tucson Hybrid matching my request on their allotment, and I gave them permission to run my card. had VIN later that day. Vehicle should be here around May 23, roughly two months after I started working with this dealer, and about three months after starting my search.

BK 22

· #13 · May 4, 2022

Captain Blight said:
What is the "etiquette" of putting down a deposit with two dealers? Do you tell the dealers what you are doing? Do the dealers consider this to be "unfair" in any way?

I tried to put another deposit at a second dealer across town. He asked about the deposit we placed at the first dealer. The dealers obviously are able to see what allocations are out there and who’s getting them ( not to mention they see who has a deposit on other dealers vehicles. The second dealer declined to take a deposit from me ( didn’t like being second banana, I guess ). Sounds like when I was dating two girls at the same time, till the first one found out about the other😳🙄!

Dibblee

· #14 · May 30, 2022

I have been trying to find one in Southern California since October. Dealer took a deposit and it never arrived. That same dealership changed names and became a "new" dealership in April and Hyundai sent them a PHEV. The stars aligned and my new Limited PHEV in Shimmering Silver arrived yesterday. I'm in love!

Wheel Tire Car Vehicle Land vehicle

See less See more

Reactions: 2

Grfxguy

· #15 · May 30, 2022

Congrats on your new ride. Looks great. I'll be getting my silver SEL HEV this week, but only had on deposit from a dealer's incoming allotment a bit over two months. Best of luck.

Reactions: 1

Captain Blight

Discussion Starter · #16 · May 30, 2022

Dibblee said:
I have been trying to find one in Southern California since October. Dealer took a deposit and it never arrived. That same dealership changed names and became a "new" dealership in April and Hyundai sent them a PHEV. The stars aligned and my new Limited PHEV in Shimmering Silver arrived yesterday. I'm in love! View attachment 1218

Schweet!!

Reactions: 1

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.