Camaro, Challenger lead list of hot cars

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Psst! Want to buy a hot car?No, not one that's stolen. Hot cars are the highly desirable, hard-to-get cars that everybody has heard about -- and wants to be the first on the block to own.So what are the hottest cars now?The Dodge Challenger is a super-hot muscle car now en route to dealer showrooms, where it won't last long. BMW's all-new 1 Series, and Jaguar's sexy XF sedan also are getting lots of buzz -- and plenty of orders, too.Honda's Fit might give buyers fits trying to find one. Mini Coopers are perpetually hot, thanks to limited production and high demand.Chevrolet's reborn Camaro is expected to go like hot cakes -- deposits already are being placed and are waiting lists forming. Ditto for next fall's blazing hot Corvette ZR1.So what should a buyer do if he or she wants any of these or other hot cars?First, take a deep breath -- and think."You should decide if you really, really want to do this, and how much you might be willing to sacrifice" if you decide not to take the car and risk losing any deposit you've put down, said Jack Nerad, Kelley Blue Book's editorial director. "Actually, I think waiting is a pretty good game to play in this situation."Waiting is a good option because sooner or later -- sometimes within weeks or months after a blazing introduction, even the hottest cars cool off.The Chrysler PT Cruiser, Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky once were hot cars but are in decent supply now and can be purchased fairly easily.As for that deposit check, there are as many ways to handle that as there are car dealers."These deposits are a gray area of the whole auto buying process. Because each dealer is an independent business person, each dealer group will handle this in a different way," Nerad said."Part of this depends on the relationship you have with the dealer. If you have a good one, I think you can negotiate a bit on getting your deposit money back. You feel better putting a deposit down knowing that if you changed your mind, it was refundable."Regardless, Nerad said. "The issue of the deposit is something that you should get clear in writing upfront as opposed to the old gentleman's agreement. To say later, 'Well, the dealer told me' or to say 'I just assumed l could give me my money back' -- that's just not going to fly."A buyer also should prepare to pay over the sticker price, although that is not always the case."We know that on a car that's super hot, some dealers will ask over sticker, but we don't. We sell cars at the manufacturer's suggested retail price for really hot cars," said Alex de Francisco, general sales manager at A&L Motor Sales in Monroeville, Pa. Other dealers have similar policies, but you need to ask about that first.But when a markup over the sticker price is charged, prices can get lofty.For Dodge's new Challenger (which already costs about $37,000 to $38,000), "I've heard ... that $20,000 over sticker has been offered and bandied about," Nerad said.What is sure to drive up the price is a bidding war with somebody else who wants the car."We hear about it frequently. Here's a salesperson, for instance, who tells you the hot vehicle is coming, and you go to your dealer and put down, say, $1,500, thinking you've made a firm order. The customer goes in and the next thing you know, the car goes to somebody else," Nerad said."What happened is that somebody walked into the showroom, saw it, and offered a premium of $5,000 instead of the $2,500 you paid down. But you might still have a live order, and you'll get the next one or the next one after that when things cool down," he added.Even if a buyer is lucky enough to get the car of his or her dreams, compromise still may be the order of the day. It's hard to get a hot car with your first choice of options -- or even color."Most often, the dealer will order the cars in a particular way, or they will be told by the factory, 'This is the way you will get them' and you have to live with that," Nerad said.E-mail Don Hammonds can be reached at dhammonds(at)post-gazette.com or(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)