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“Oh, we’ve never had anyone specify that before…”

Everyone looking to spec their new car in the way that they want it, will have heard a sales exec whisper those words through pursed lips.

The retail car industry is one huge paradox, on one hand you have manufacturers offering personalization services like BMW’s Individual Programme or Porsche’s “Paint to Sample” (PTS) and on the other you have the dogma of Ferrari with its culture of “Resale Red”, where caution when specifying one of their run of the mill cars has become ingrained and almost cultural.

Decades back, how the original buyer specified their car was solely down to them, their “good taste” and the depths of their pockets. There was little jeopardy at the front end of the process, net of the actual cost of special paint finishes and trim options – and boy were there some horrors! However, with the advent of car finance that gears the all-important monthly payment to the car’s residual value in 3 or 4 years time, any mis-step while speccing the car will be immediately visible in the form of a spike in monthly payments. It takes real bravery to ignore that sort of disapproval from the RV setters as you plough your own furrow by signing on the dotted line of the order form…

There’s another reason less often spoken about in car showrooms and that’s the dreaded “cancelled order”. Understandably retailers don’t want to get lumbered with a 760i L in Santorini Blue over red leather – that’s a real example of what can happen. We’ve seen it and it wasn’t for everyone. These new cars are nigh-on impossible to “get out of” and in a world of ever tightening margins and increased stocking costs, without taking a bath, so it’s crazy not to nudge a gung-ho customer in the right direction – to de-risk the order process and protect the business. Those working in the game would say “oh we’d just ask for a huge deposit!”. That’s fine but weird stuff can happen. Speaking to a sales exec last week, they mentioned that early in their career an elderly customer came in and ordered a highly specified Golf IV auto in Desert over sand velour. So, a proper sea of beige! Unfortunately, the customer passed away before delivery. Funnily enough the gentleman’s son didn’t want to take delivery, so that car found it’s way back into the showroom to become a fixture and fitting for many months.

At every level, day in day out, sales execs will be counselling customers to varying degrees on the best specification – for them though, not the customer. They will want that car back as a used car but they want cars they can sell easily at 3 years old and a safe spec is far easier to move on than something that’s a bit “weird”, particularly if it’s even a semi-mainstream or volume model.

So, some understandable reasons for conservatism in the new car market but I reckon canny new car buyers need to stick to their guns and order what they want. For one simple reason. There will never, ever be enough “brave” buyers. Very, very few buyers hold their nerve when confronted with the raised eyebrow and the slanted “are you really sure about that?”. And if that doesn’t get them the request for that previously mentioned hefty deposit to “secure” the car finishes off 90% of whoever is left.

I’ve seen it so many times. Every new car will eventually be a used car and if factory fit options and specs are supply limited when new, then that’s good news in the used market. I’ve seen it happen time and time again. Used premium sports cars with manual gearboxes always fetch more than their auto equivalents – why? Fewer of them. Take the Jaguar F-Type, a brilliant option for anyone after a fun, well-built and stunning sports car. Only 3% of production was fitted with a manual gearbox. No wonder those examples are worth 10-15% more despite costing less when new than the auto equivalent!

In the rarified world of Ferrari, the premium for a DIY gear shift is even greater. Got one of the 199 manual 612 Scagliettis built? It’s worth double what the auto version would be – the auto’s outsold the 3 pedal version by over 13 to 1! Think that’s rare how about a manual California. Only 3 were ever built. You read that right - 3, out of a total production run of 17,300… And that was the very last production, manual Ferrari ever. What’s that going to be worth to the collector who simply must have that milestone for his collection?!

So as used cars economics kick in, it’s all down to simple supply and demand, particularly when buy something “sports and specialist”. So, buy what you want and if it’s like the Taycan pictured above, don’t worry. You only need to sell your car once to one other person who thinks like you do and they will be out there – somewhere.

You only need to worry about selling one car, dealers have to worry about selling hundreds and that’s worth thinking about the next time you’re speccing Viper Green over Kiwi leather! In our opinion – just do it – enjoy being different, if that is what you really want. Get it right and it could just pay dividends at sale time. Besides, life’s too short to just follow the herd, all the time.

Of course, if you’re leasing a car – even better, do what you want – it’s someone else’s problem in 3 years’ time! But and it’s a big but, you’ll have to live with it for the duration of the lease, easier said than done if it turns out that you’ve got it wrong and the colour combo is a crime against taste and decency – even to your own eyes

 I’ve only really cocked up once on the spec of a car and luckily that was a company car. It was an eight Valve 3 door Golf GTi in Jazz blue over a black and blue interior. On the day of delivery, under the neon lights of the office car park it looked utterly vile. It didn’t get better outdoors, in any light – including semi-darkness. Luckily, I managed to unload it to a new-joined colleague and swapped it for a black 20 Valve Turbo about 4 months later. One very narrow scrape and honestly if I’d been stuck with it, I think I would have moved jobs!

But don’t be put off, weird is good – if you really believe in what you’re doing. Just be prepared to hold your nerve under questioning from the business manager and for the odd looks from sales execs when you take delivery. Don’t worry though, we reckon you’ll be having the last laugh – it might just take a while…