RBYCC:
Quote - Go with a forum vendor who has weekly allocations due to their volume.
I will buy from ANY DEALER (the first one that gets the car to me) that is willing to sell it to me for the price I got from my local dealers (two): Locked in at 2006 MSRP of $44,490 delivered to my front door, no additional fees except TT&L. I am being very honest with all dealers letting them know that I'm buying from whoever can get it to me first. If any "forum vendors" are interested in working like this, I'll be happy to deal with them.
Thanks,
Anxious

 

Many of the posts in response to this question have included true and important points about the GM Allocation Process. Ken Fitchner has already documented much of this in his 'newsletter' posts, but I thought I'd try to pull together some of the details into one post.

GM 's Allocation is analogous to a reservation system. GM allocates or reserves a certain number of cars for each dealer over a time period. Since Chevy has many different cars, the allocation is made in Car Groups. The Coupe and Convertible Corvette belong to the same allocation group. The Corvette Z06 has its own allocation group, with its own rules for determining which dealer gets how many Z06's and when they can order them.

I believe that Dealers do already know how many Corvettes they will get each month for the early part of the 2007 Model Year. I am not sure about Corvette Z06's.

The dealership plans wether or not they will use each allocation. GM incents the dealer to take each allocation by subtracting skipped allocations from future allocation calculations and plans.

Each allocation has a window in time when it can be ordered. This means that the dealer knows about when but not exactly what can be ordered. E.G.; They know wether or not they can order a Corvette, but not if they can order the Z51 option or Chrome Wheel's, etc. As noted in other posts, typically on Thr it is open, and by following Tuesday the order must be submitted to GM via the GM VOMS system. The Order numbers you get are issued by GM VOMS (Vehicle Order Mgmt System). The dealer can have many more orders in GM VOMS than he has allocaitons. In this case, the orders will just sit there and wait for an allocation. Don't be fooled, getting the VOMS Order # helps tracking, but doesn't mean much until it reaches status 2500 - Accepted by Mfg Planning. Please search other threads for a list of status codes.

The important part of the weekly Order Cycle communication on Thr is the list of constrained or limited quantity options is provided to dealers. You will note that last year many dealers would lament the fact that they could order a Corvette, but not the Z51 option when it was heavily constrained last fall. So if the dealer plans to order for stock a 3LT Convertible w/ Z51 but Z51 is on constraint they can order it in GM VOMS but it will not get "pulled" (Accepted) by GM Corvette Mfg Planning. Even if it is a 'sold car' (Customer made a deposit on an order) if the combination of options aren't available to the dealer, the order won't be pulled. In such a case, the dealer must decide to either promote a later customer order or submit a stock order for an available combination of options, or skip the allocation.

Bottom Line - if the dealer is any good at record keeping, they can tell you how many Corvettes are in their allocation, which Order Cycle they will be available (Approx. Which Week). If they have ordered any cars for other customers or delear stock, they can easily deduct those from their allocation and tell you when they have an 'open' allocation. The unpredictable part is in the option constraints. Even if customer "B" submitted their order many days/weeks after customer "A", if the Set of Options ordered by Customer "A" are not available to the dealer, that order will not be accepted by GM. The dealer will likely choose to submit the order for Customer "B" or next customer 'in line' with combination of uncontrained options (make at least one happy customer) or even for dealer Stock to avoid any Allocation process penalties for skipping an Allocation.

Pardon typo's - old sticky keyboard!

 

kts1962:
Thanks for the thorough response.
>reserves a certain number of cars for each dealer over a time period
So my small dealer may or may not have an allocation of even one 2007 corvette coupe (I ordered a stock 6-speed, no options)?
>The Coupe and Convertible Corvette belong to the same allocation group.
So if he has an allocation of one 2007 coupe or convertible, will GM send the coupe, since it is what I ordered, or will they send a random coupe or convertible?
>I believe that Dealers do already know how many Corvettes they will get each month for the early part of the 2007 Model Year.
If this is correct, dealer number one is either not telling the truth, or not familiar with the system.
>Each allocation has a window in time when it can be ordered. This means that the dealer knows about when but not exactly what can be ordered.
My dealer placed the order the day I was there and gave me a sheet with my "order number" (5 alpha characters). I understood from him that he had no idea if GM would "pick up" the order or not.
>The dealer can have many more orders in GM VOMS than he has allocations.
In my case (VERY small dealer), mine is probably his first "sold" order for 2007.
>The important part of the weekly Order Cycle communication on Thr
If so, I wonder why he told me he wouldn't know anything until around July?
>Bottom Line - if the dealer is any good at record keeping, they can tell you how many Corvettes are in their allocation, which Order Cycle they will be available (Approx. Which Week).
I will question him on this.
Thanks again for such an informative reply.
Anxious

 

First of all, you must contact the forum dealers to initiate the negotiation as the dealers do not monitor every thread for someone who wants to purchase a new C6. Just go over to the dealers thread and call or send some emails.

$44490.00 FOR A 1LT MN6 is MSRP as you indicate. Most forum dealers discount from MSRP. I bought an 06 Coupe 1LT, A6 with transparent top ( $2K of options over your MSRP) from MacMulkin in November at a few thousand below the MSRP you're locked into. Also Prepped by MacMulkin and delivered to my door on their flatbed, and my door is about 500 miles from their dealership.
MSRP is not that good of a deal

 

RBYCC:
I guess I'm more concerned about getting a 2007 fast than I am about the cost (within reason!).
Thanks for the info,
Anxious

 

You Got IT - He Knows what he has been allocated by looking his Delaersihp's "Allocation by Week Report" for the Corvette.

I see I got you confused here-I'll try to clarify. GM will build and send only whatthe dealer orders. If has a "Corvette Allocation" then the dealer must submit an order for wehat he wants during the prescribed week. The dealer's order (Whether for a customer or for stock) is furhter limited by the weekly constraints available to the dealer. In the weekly report (Thr) the dealer will learn 2 things. 1) if a certain option code is constrained or not. 2) If the dealer was awarded any of the constrained quantity. If an option is not constrained, the dealer is free to include it is his order.

Or Both... Can't tell from here, but my favorite dealer showed me the report indicating 4 2006 Corvettes and 5 2007 Corvettes Thru Mid-July.

This is still partly true for the dealer. Your dealer got the 5 Alpha Charater Order Number from GM VOMS - That's Good. It means he's put the order in but it wont be accepted by GM until he has an allocation. He should know if he has an allocation, but he can't tell until the Thr before his allocation week if any of your requested options are constrained and if he was awarded any of the available qty.
It's a 2 part equation: a) must have allocation AND b) All options on an order must be available to dealer. If an option is constrained the dealer will see on Thr that GM has 'n' available nationally, and he got 'y'. If 'y' is Zero, then your order just sits there. Last fall it was the Z51 Option. Many dealers could order their allocation of Corvette Coupe or Convertibles, but even though they had customer orders, they could not process them because their customers wanted the Z51 pkg.
There is a slim chance that a GM will pull an order for a dealer without an available allocation. This happens if and only if some other dealer skips their allocation. This means that there is now an available car and it is a bit of a lottery for the slot. It typically goes to Big Corvette Dealers.

That should be in your favor!

I'm betting he knows that he doesn't have any available allocation until mid July or after and doesn't want to tell you. He may even know exactly which week your order matches his first available allocation but doesn't want to over commit and is playing the constraint game as he wont know constraints until the Thr of Order Week.

Good Luck - I too was anxious when I bought my LMB Z51 Convertible last fall. Ordered in Sept. Watched my order linger at smaller dealership for weeks until the gentleman dealer recommended I call D. Salvatore @ Kerbeck because my orig. dealer was getting allocations but not Z51's and Kerbeck could get me my car sooner than he could. Impressive Move for a Dealer !

Good Luck

 

Same here, ordered in August a base 1LT Coupe A6 with transparent top. Small dealer with 4 Vette allocations the previous year. First week of October still no allocation, cancelled order placed it on MacMulkin who had a few weekly allocations and had the car at my door in five weeks !!!

 

For those that recommended contacting forum dealers: I contacted two last night and I am waiting to hear from them.
Thanks,
Anxious

 

I think dealers should be required by law to post their allocations publically for all consumers to see. Or GM should have a web page that shows who has allocations when.

It's a dysfunctional system. GM needs to fix it.

If someone wants to order a Fifty THOUSAND dollar car.

LET THEM ORDER IT ANYWHERE RIGHT NOW.

You would think that makes good business sense.

Alas.....GM just doesnt get it.

 

GM can't do that. The dealer has to earn the Corvette allocation. This has been discussed many times before.

 

So if someone wants to order a Porsche or BMW, do they suffer the same allocation nonsense? Do those dealers dicker around with customers leading them on about allocations they dont have?

 

Most imports don't have "allocations", as you typically don't custom order the vehicle. Import dealers know what's incoming and at the port, plus they have the ability to search the dealer network to find a specific vehicle. The probabilty of finding what you want is high, and your delivery can be a week or two.

The higher end imports that can be custom ordered still don't have an "allocation" system, more you custom order what you want, put your deposit down and wait sometimes a year or two for the vehicle to be built.

 

>recommended contacting forum dealers

They must not need my sale - no replies!
Anxious

 

cfunkb

sent you a PM call if you are interested

 

Thanks Carl. It's going to be a long two months!
Anxious (more than ever)