I feel like the mantra of many car dealers is ‘It’s not lying if we omit the information’ ?
Spot on Tim. Motability customers often think that when they have been to the dealer and the ‘order’ later shows on the Motability website that the car has actually been ordered. It hasn’t. It’s just admin. All dealers will take an ‘order’ at any time, but can only place it with the manufacturer (the actual order) when they have build slot allocations. Sometimes this can be a month, or even several months, later. That’s why different people get wildly different lead times from different dealers for the same car, as dealers will almost never volunteer this information as they don’t want you to go elsewhere. So it is exactly as you say!
Of course, exactly the same thing happens to private buyers as well. Like most people, I have learned about all of this the hard way, but now that I know how it all works I ask very probing questions before any dealer gets an order from me (Motability or otherwise). You can see the surprise in their face when they realise that you know how it all works and it makes it very difficult for them to tell you bare faced lies as opposed to just being selective with the information that they give you!