Shopping For a New Car? Beware the New Model Inventory Flim Flam

Many dealers list newly-released models as “In stock” when, in fact, they are not.

Buying a new vehicle is always frustrating. During the shortages of the past five years, automakers struggled to keep new inventory on the lot. During this period, we noticed that many bad habits became the defacto way of doing business. Among these bad behaviors is dealerships listing new vehicles on their website as “In stock,” when in fact the vehicles are not at the dealership. 

New Vehicle Flim Flam - The Stock ID Number Means Nothing
One way dealers and retailers try to give you the impression that the vehicle you are seeing online is “in stock” is by listing a stock ID number. They may even show the actual vehicle identification number (VIN). Surely, this means they actually have the vehicle on the premises for sale, right? Wrong. Dealers we surveyed this week routinely listed identifying numbers on their websites even though they didn’t actually have the vehicle on hand for sale. 

New Dealer Vehicle Flim Flam - “Available to Test Drive”
Another flim flam related to the new vehicle inventory flim flam is the “Available to drive” trick. Dealers and retailers will sometimes have a single vehicle of a new or popular model they are not selling but are keeping on hand to show to shoppers. While there is certainly nothing wrong with that - it makes perfect sense - it’s the way they pretend they have inventory that rubs this frequent new car buyer the wrong way. On the phone today, when we called to ask about a newly-released model, dealer sales personnel were expert in dodging our questions about on-site and in-stock inventory available for sale. One such dealer told us to “Come on over, we have one here you can drive right now.” When I asked if it was for sale, or if any were on hand for sale, the dealer replied, “Were you looking to come by today?” I pressed further and asked a third time if any were in stock for sale and was told, “No, we just have a demonstration unit for test drives.”

Model Year Matters- Be Very Specific
A final way dealers try to hide the truth about inventory is by answering that they have “New Acme Thrusters here for sale right now” when you ask if they have any 2025 Thruster on the lot. They mean they have last year’s model sitting on the lot, not the new model year. Be very specific. Get the year, trim, color, and VIN number of the vehicle that is in stock, along with the salesperson’s name, before you drive to the lot. 

Good Luck Finding the Base Trim
A number of years back, I visited an EV retail location after it was announced that a popular model had just been made available at the low price of just $35K. At that price, I was a likely buyer of that vehicle. Seeing the reporting on many automotive websites, I drove to the dealership. However, when I arrived, I learned the news was all false. In this case, I was not at a dealer but rather a direct sales retail location for an EV brand that prides itself on cutting out the middle man. So I was speaking to employees of that manufacturer. “We have never seen that $35K version and have no news on any coming to the retail location,” the employee told me of the car maker.

Save Time and Do the “Legwork” Work At Home By Phone
Although the vehicle shortage is now far in the rearview mirror, we strongly suggest that before you head to a new car dealer or new EV retailer, take the time to work through the maddening dealer-speak and determine if the vehicle is truly in stock or not. If you want to order a vehicle, feel free to do so, but buying a vehicle in such demand that there is no inventory is rarely a wise financial move. 
 

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John Goreham is an experienced New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work at our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading. 

Top-of-page image courtesy of a major automaker's public-facing sales page. The brand has been obscured so as not to give the impression this manufacturer has done anything improper.