New or "newer" Abarth in IL?

[Mr_Ritka]

Hi guys, so I have been very pleased with my 500 since I got it. It has been 4 years now and I am ready to move on to the next one. I initially wanted an Abarth but it was not available to me...that being said, I am now looking for an Abarth. Ideally I'd love a new 2019-2018 model (my 500 is a 2013). Upon searching online I only found two 2018 Abarths in Bettenhausen of Orland Park but now I can't find anything. The majority of my search results are all used, older Abarths.

So...my questions being, is there a dealer out here in the Chicagoland area that you guys would recommend? I have checked all the local ones and they have 0 Abarths on their site. I have also checked other car buying sites but have not been so lucky. Any and/all help is appreciated!

[rustbucket]

Basically you have two options- be prepared to travel or order one from a local to you studio/dealer. If you do the former I'd use Cars.com, Autotrader.com and Car Gurus and not just one of them, as starting point. Many of the cars are on all three but some may be on just one of them.... you could miss out by using just one of them. Verify the car is still for sale and verify the options using the window sticker .... I've found many mistakes in the listings. I wanted a manual Abarth, the listing said it was but when I pulled the window sticker, it was an automatic. Verify the price is actually your price.... Some really low prices listed are arrived at by dishonestly using every rebate FCA offers. Sometimes incentives vary by which part of the country you live in. Verify actual condition and mileage. Check for doc and hidden fees ... sometimes they can be steep. Have your financing ready so if you find the car you want online at the price you want you can lock it in.

Can't help with recommending a Chicago area dealer but hopefully someone will chime in soon. Ordering gets you exactly the car you want. The downside is the wait, uncertainty about the price and probably a higher price. The uncertainty stems from the fact that incentives/rebates are applied when the car is delivered, not when it is ordered- they could change in the mean time. The higher price results from it being a 2019- the remaining 2018's have much higher incentives/discounts. I bought a new 2018 Abarth locally in April and iirc (it's late) there were $3K in discounts/incentives. Current 2019's at the same dealer are at $1K.

Good luck whichever way you decide.