Rolls Royce is hoping would-be flippers of its upcoming Spectre electronic vehicle will pump the brakes—and if they don’t, they’re going to have to find another automaker for their next car.
CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös tells Car Dealer that anyone who plans on buying the $425,000 car to resell it for a profit will be banned for life from buying another Rolls-Royce vehicle from any of the automaker’s dealers.
“[If they resell the Spectre] they’re going immediately on a blacklist and this is it – you will never ever have the chance to acquire again,” Müller-Ötvös said.
That’s not stopping some people from considering it, though. One reseller tells the publication he has already set deals with two pre-buyers to acquire the cars for a $65,000 premium.
Getting on the waitlist for the Spectre isn’t going to be easy, though. The $425,000 EV will have limited purchasing slots and potential buyers will need to qualify for the car.
Rolls-Royce isn’t the first company to ban flipping its vehicles, but threatening a lifetime ban makes it the strictest with its restrictions. General Motors, last year, said it would limit the transferability of certain warranties and bar sellers “from placing future sold orders or reservations … if the vehicle is sold within the first 12 months of ownership.” It also offered Corvette owners $5,000 to hang onto their cars for an extra year.
Why the crackdown? By flipping high-demand vehicles, that allows a secondary market to form that could (and often does) substantially exceed the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. That can create confusion for consumers, who often blame the manufacturer, hurting its brand.
