The dealerships here in upstate NY suck.
Here's "their" word regarding 09 Challenger ordering inquiries:

Clifton Park DodgeWorld (Clifton Park, NY) is only ordering '09 R/T's.
'08 SRT8's are "auction only starting at $59,990.00"

Albany Dodge (Albany, NY) has six '08's coming in - but they can only state colors on four of them. Hmmm....
They are also pricing them at $60,000.00+. They have no pricing info on '09's so they are not ordering them yet. Sure.

Saratoga Chrysler Jeep (Saratoga, NY) has no info on arrival dates for '08's or ordering '09's.
Asked if they'll sell '09's between invoice and MSRP, they say ((we) will sell the cars based on what is going on with the market. If things stay the way they are now, you will "probably" see a discount." That's pretty vague and non-commital.

Advantage Dodge (Latham, NY) states: The original order that is coming out this year is going to be vehicles that are already selling over the MSRP. Next years models that are coming out will be able to be ordered soon and would be more negotiable on price. Apparently they haven't tried to order an '09 yet - or are going to set the stage for price manipulation into the next model year. }:O(

Metro Dodge (Colonie, NY) hasn't replied to any inquiries yet. None. How promising?


Has anyone had ANY success getting a dealership to commit to MSRP or less in their area yet?

 

Local dealerships? Nope.

Most are, like you said, refusing to commit or even order cars yet because Chrysler hasn't released pricing for them.

I went out of state for mine. With Bob Frederick (from RedLetterDodge.com). Guaranteed MSRP (whatever that may be when pricing is released) and those of us who went with Bob had our cars ordered in the system literally within minutes of the order system being opened (no exaggeration). Bob is your best bet for MSRP + amazing service. I've never received better service from a dealer nor felt more confident about my order and the dealership than dealing with Bob.

In fact, I had $1000 deposits at two different dealerships for an '08 SRT8. I had originally only put in my '09 order with Bob as a "back up" in case my '08s fell through. Due to 'lackluster' communication from the dealers that was short of refusing to return my phone calls I pulled both deposits yesterday afternoon after speaking with Bob only once on the phone and I'm now sitting on an '09 SRT8 order through Bob - confident I will get my car. Bob instilled that much confidence and trust within me that the next day I pulled those deposits, I didn't even care if I would've gotten an '08 -- the service from Bob was the best I've seen. So now I get to save money (they wanted minimum $5k over MSRP on my '08) and get a manual transmission and get a true limited slip differential. Sure I have to wait more, but I have peace of mind now versus feeling I have to check up on my local dealers and pester them to make sure things are on track.

I've about lost all confidence and trust in my local dealerships for some of the precise reasons that you've demonstrated in your post with your own local dealers.

 

Thanks for that info.
Where is Bob Frederick's dealership located, and how can someone get in touch with him?

 

His info is posted on redletterdodge.com in some comment-reply in one of his initial articles. But for reference:

330-726-2777 X203
Bob Frederick II

Located in Boardman, Ohio

I've got nothing to gain whether or not you end up ordering from Bob aside from the satisfaction of making sure one more person doesn't have to deal with crappy shady dealers like I did. The one dealer I dealt with wouldn't return any of my phone calls for a MONTH on my '08 -- basically as soon as I put my $1000 deposit down he thought I was a done deal. The salesman and management refused to tell me the Order Status code on my car saying that Chrysler wouldn't tell them. This was after the salesman told me he had no idea what a status code was and what BG, C, D, D1, etc. meant.

Horrendous.

 

I've seen his posts on RLD, but never saw where he was located or how to contact him. I guess I was too lazy (or hurried) to look through all of the posts and threads on the blog to find that info.
Confidence in a dealer is priceless. All good info to know.
Much appreciated, Bud. I'll give him a call tomorrow.
Thanks!

 

You know something I haven't found on the internet is a dealer rater. A site where you can give a star rating to car dealerships. So that the stealerships get low scores and the honest ones have something to show for it.

 

IF YOU WANT THE BEST DEAL YOU NEED TO CONTACT STEVE KOWSLOWSKY AT 909 884-8255
THATS MOSS BROS DODGE IN SAN BERNARDINO CALIF
HE REALLY TAKES GREAT CARE OF HIS CUSTOMERS AND HAS THE BEST DEALS ----

 

MY dads dealer is a small town dealer I will check with him tommoro .He offered to oreder me one at cost no msrp but generally sells under msrp .I will post more info tommoro after speaking to him .

 

Venthos, I saw on the Dodge Challenger registry that you're located in Novi Michigan, I used to live there, what dealerships did you have money down on? I know that in that area there are some really shady Dealerships.

 

Please read my post here:

https://dodgechallenger.com/forums/m_33529/tm.htm

I will be happy to help if you would like me too.

Neal