'Reserved'

I've just been browsing a dealer's website and noted that 'for a small refundable deposit' they'll reserve a vehicle for you and take it off sale until covid regulations allow you to visit and inspect it.

I then looked down their used motorhome stock list. It contains 30 vans, of which 17 are flagged as 'reserved', so nearly 60% of their stock is potentially sold. Presumably, in normal times, most of those vans would have been prepped and handed over and at least some would have generated part exchanges which would have refreshed the stock and provided additional sales opportunities. On their caravan side they have 16 vans listed and 7 of them are 'reserved'. So, not only are dealers sitting on stock they can't move and generate cashflow, they're actually missing out on potential new sales because their ability to introduce new stock is limited.

Given there are at least another few weeks to go before they can get back in the groove and by that time the reserved stock may have risen from 24 to nearer 30, I'm wondering how long it will take to work through those reservations and prep the vans for handover, especially given that they'll probably still have to work to restrictions.

I think they may come to regret the addition of ‘refundable’ in their statement.
We all know the difference between a great sounding/looking van and what we find when actually viewed. What has anyone got to lose if they know they can get their money back, all it does is tie stock up as mentioned by SDA.