Is it normal/common for a mini dealership to list a car on their website as for sale even if it's a car that was custom ordered with deposit?

Is this some sort of bait tactic to get people into the store or an automated unavoidable thing?

Seems shady to me. Anyone seen this before?

 

In the US, MINI dealers' websites are all powered by one platform provided by MINI North America. That's how miniusa.com is able to provide inventory search across all dealer sites.

I suspect that a side effect of this is that any car that is delivered a MINI Dealer is put into their inventory automatically.

However, I may be wrong -- it certainly could be they list everything, even cars that are custom ordered, just to get people to come in and talk to them. I'm picking up an F55 from Mini of Peabody tomorrow; even though they have my deposit (rarely has an AmEx charge hit my account faster it is still listed on their site.

Besides… a buyer can back out of the deal any time up until they sign, even on a custom order. It's in the dealer's interest to have potential backup buyers.

Shady? I guess it depends how you look at it.

 

Yep same with every car manufacturer, not just MINI. My custom ordered Wrangler showed up as inventory for sale on the dealer site but had my name on the window sticker as custom built for.

When we got our Clubman there was a digital blue on their website we wanted to look at but it was a custom order for someone else. No reason to be alarmed, dealers won't sell your car if you ordered.

 

Reality is car is not sold to paid for...
As a buyer, you the the "right of first refusal"...folks sometimes reject a car due to excessive "orange peel" in the paint, or a sudden change in images, or even cold feet...
Just like a house having a sign up that says "under contract", it is likely sold...but crap happens at the last minute