And as of July they got reinstated, the dealership owners even hired on rick to repair their poor image and customer service. Since there have been several orders with a high degree of satisfaction. Here is a link to the post....

Back to the topic at hand, Personally I won't get on a list or put any money down until I can drive the car, after that I will start the search for the exact one I want, and if it comes down to it order it then. Being the first on the block means nothing to me, owning a car that I can enjoy driving for many years to come does.

+1

I've been waiting to get my hands on this car for more than two years now. I'm as close to knowing what colors and options and accessories I want as I can get without official info. BUT....I'm not putting money down for something I've never seen in person. Just the principle of the matter. Refundable..fine, nonrefundable....no chance in hell.

I agree with your philosophy of refundable only. That being said, mine is in NY, regardless of what is written on that sales sheet. It's the same BS as "I need a deposit to take to my manager to show you're serious..." You know darn well it's a mental ploy to suck you into the actual purchase and you can get the money back at any time.

doing this they know you'll be back, it's just so you don't go to another dealer and buy one. this way they have first dibs on your purchase.

GM will build as many Camaros as they can sell. For that reason I won't do a deal till I have the ability to see the order sheet and pick and choose all of the goodies I want. If I have to wait a few more months I am fine with that. I will likely wait till Dec 09 anyway for the HUD to be availible.

What if you lose your job or something and can no longer afford to buy it?

Also, I don't see any signatures on that sheet. :no:

Even if there were signatures, what if the guy that signed didn't work for that dealership anymore when the time came to buy? What if the dealership changed ownership?

End of story: don't ever put money down on a car before you can actually buy it.

I have been in contact with my out of state dealer, and he offered to place an order like the one in this thread.

I told my dealer, I WILL be ordering a 2010 SS. However, I will not be "putting my money where my mouth is" until GM puts thier money where thier mouth is, and releases pricing!!!

Non refundable deposit on a car we don't know how much will cost? No thank you. I've waited 6 years so far, I can wait another couple months...

1) Your first question is, in my case, a little irrelevant as we have a family business that I have worked at for 20 years that I know the financial strength of; however, in most cases, absolutely valid point.

2) That is kind of weird because I did sign it; but that was after he brought it back and asked me to; copy I have must have been made prior to.

3) Very valid point regarding what if the salesman isn't there anymore; never considered that. I have no concerns whatsoever with Paddock not being there in 6 months or changing hands in that time.

4)FWIW, while not my experiences, my uncle has put deposits down twice on vehicles that were in "pre-production" stages; once when the Miata first came out (ya I know, Ya-friggin-hoo) and second when the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 was scheduled to be released. In both cases, there were no issues what-so-ever. I do fully understand the concern however.


All that being said, there are a few things I am going to do on Tuesday after reviewing everyone's input (thank you).

1) Have them redo both the sales order and deposit receipt. No one here would have picked up on this, but I need to get them to spell my last name right- on both the sales order and the deposit receipt. Totally missed that they left a character out of my last name. In addition, obviously I need a copy of the same thing they have, not one without my signature.

2) On the sales order, I will have them put "spot #7" or something to that effect; a verbal agreement is only as good as the paper it's written on.

3) For the person asking about, do I just get the first red V8, the sales order does say Red Jewel (which will be a "cost-increase" color) and does state V8 6 spd transmission. I am pretty confident that combination won't be the first through the door on any standard allotment, that couldn't be factory ordered, if that ends up being the case. The sales sheet does state F/O because we all assumed that will be the case; as we are assuming that Chevy actually allows Paddock to specifically order the cars for their first allocation. However, I did state that I wanted an RS/SS, or is it SS/RS, and that is not on the sheet. It too will be.

*edit- Never dawned on me that BOTH the manual and automatic are 6 speeds- need to rectify that also to say manual.

For those initially thinking I'm going to get somehow screwed going back, there is, I believe, a 3 business day transaction cancellation in NY ( I know for sure there is one, but I'm not positive it's 3 day, might be 2), so there is no possibility of that.

Thank you all for your input. I think we've all learned a little from this experience.

What if their 7th car or whatever your place was isnt a Jewel red V8 Camaro 6 spd manual? Are you to take or leave a V6 if thats what it turns out to be in that place in line? If not do they refund your $500?

God bless you for putting your money where your mouth is, but Id have a hard time putting $500 on a spot in line. Looks like youre paying MSRP plus that $500? Good luck to you

Rick is indeed a gentleman, but Maxie Price is what it is. $695 doc fees?!?! They need to get serious about repairing their image, and charging 10x the standard doc fee isn't the way to get started. Try to nail them down on a price for a ZR1 and watch them squirm. There are too many other good dealers out there to waste time on dealerships like this. I tried to work w/ them in March for my vette, and they were the worst of all that I talked with. I also briefly worked w/ Rick prior to the ordering process when he was at his previous dealership. He couldn't match the best prices, but he seemed an honorable person. My hangup w/ Maxie is that they have demonstrated that they will undercut their customers and their own sales force, whoever that might be, when there is a buck to be made. I will be amazed if they end up on Jason's list.

No, it's absolutely a $500 deposit towards purchase of the car. Deposit can not be misconstrued with fee.

As far as #7, as I tried to state, because the nature of what will happen with the initial allocation of the Camaro is still unknown, #7 is a bit ambiguous I'll admit. There are two possible scenarios:

1) Paddock is allowed to custom order beginning with their initial allocation.
In that case, the 9th car (because they are keeping the first 2) will be
ordered to my specifications.

2) Paddock is not allowed to custom order immediately.
In that case, again, after Paddock chooses (2), I will be the 7th person
to have the option of saying yes/no to the available vehicles. If (5) of
the 7 above me take an available model, I hold what is now the
#2 spot for right of refusal on incomming availability. I can continue to
pass and hold my spot until one that fits my profile comes in. I can also
simply decide to wait on a factory order; however in that case, I can
not back out on the order once placed, and decide instead that I want an
"available" model, unless one comes in, by accident, that exactly
matches my build.

Unfortunately, nothing is simple when little is definitely known. Again, for whatever reason, I have faith in Paddock. You can be sure though that I'll be spewing a whole bunch of hostile here if I find out otherwise. No one wants bad PR- especially someone who is constantly competing for the #1 volume Chevy passenger car dealership in the US.

I know this all very well, as I am on that forum everyday, but you missed something that went with the name of the dealer, Rick Daniel. He was just hired there a few months ago to restore their good name. He is an excellent gentleman to do business with and will not do you wrong. He did great things for Les Stanford Chevrolet in Michigan.