Kerrdogg

Just wondering, $950 to drive it across the street to get charged another $450 or so? Never made sense to me, but then when they charged $100 to upgrade the cassette to cd on the C5 I was confused also.

peter pan

Yes you still pay the delivery charge plus the R8C we did it in 08 and well worth it for us, sure the delivery charge is over done, but can not argue with the unions

Top_Fuel

Check this thread... Destination Charge with Museum Delivery?

johnodrake

Destination charge is $950 whether it is accross the street to the Museum, down the road to a Bowling Green dealer or to Miami or San Diego. Moreover, the car is not driven across the street, it is delivered on an Allied car hauler. It is all a contract deal.

The $450 supports the museum.

talon90

As noted, the delivery charge is a negotiated national average rate. A car being taken to the museum or a Chevrolet dealer here in Bowling Green pays exactly the same as the same Corvette being taken to northwest Oregon.

Cars for museum delivery are still transferred to the transportation company (Jack Cooper Transportation, no longer Allied), staged, loaded on a truck and driven across the street to the NCM where they are unloaded and sent in for PDI. As a result, they are subject to the rate just like every other Corvette.

Cooper is a bonded carrier and is fully responsible and liable for the vehicle until possession is transferred to the NCM, as was Allied.

The R8C (Museum Delivery) option charge gets your car not only PDI'd at the NCM (in my opinion the very best PDI - pre-delivery inspection available on a new car. It also gets you unlimited time with a member of the NCM delivery team, a tour of the assembly plant, a tour of the NCM and a complete system review of all of the features of the car and any questions that you may have. A dealer will chip a portion of their profit from the car in to the prep and that's why you get it for "free" and frankly, get what you paid for while the NCM gets a share of the charge which is also shared with GM for the listing of the option code and the plant visit.

Vasta

I did a little checking on Jack Cooper Transport since I've never heard of them, and I'm in the trucking business.

Here's a little bio:
Your new car's journey from the factory to your garage might include a trip on a Jack Cooper Transport trailer. The company hauls motor vehicles from assembly plants, ports, and railway terminals to dealers and other locations across the US. Through its Jack Cooper Transport and Pacific Motor Trucking units, the company moves more than 1 million new and used vehicles each year, including cars, light trucks, and sport utility vehicles. It maintains a fleet of about 1,200 tractor-trailer pairs. The company operates primarily in the western, midwestern, and southern US. Jack Cooper Transport is owned by Thom Cooper, whose grandfather Jack Cooper founded the company in 1928.

talon90

No doubt you are correct, but none of this is the museum's fault. They have no say what-so-ever in this fee or any other fee that GM or the Union's have negotiated. However, would it be more fair for a customer in California (who started this nationally negitiated rate b.t.w.) to have to pay $2,000 to have his car delivered when I can get mine for $250.00 or free because I can pick it up at the factory?

Vasta

What do unions have to do with this? It's a flat rate negotiated between Jack Cooper Transport and GM. And not a bad one if you ask me, like I said earlier. I'm in the transportation business and Fuel Surcharges are over 20% of the base rate these days.

jschindler

I believe it is a union issue, but after posting I agree that it was not proper for me to bring that up, so I'm deleting the reference. You have my apology.

jschindler

Agree it's not the museums fault - and that was not my point. FWIW, I did to the museum delivery once and I have no regrets. It was a great experience.

z51vett

The freight charge is broken out to one price. That is cal and kentucky pay the same.
and its not the unions thats what allied's contract is for no exceptions.
You are paying to support the museum when you do a museum del.
z51vett

jschindler

The contract to ship them 1/4 mile makes no sense, regardless of who dictates it.

talon90

But back to my previous question. Is it better that folks in California pay more for the service than folks in Kentucky. If the answer is yes, then that's fine. If the answer is no then that's why there is an average rate applied.

jschindler

I'm not talking about normal deliveries to dealers, I'm talking about delivering them across the street to the museum where buyers are already paying extra for museum delivery. I'm also not debating why they charge for delivery to the museum, I'm debating why GM would pay the trucking company to put them on a truck and drive them over there.

What they charge the customer is strictly a marketing decision. What they pay to get it there should be an operations decision based upon the most cost effective way to get it over there.

jschindler

What you said has nothing to do with the OP's question. Nobody is complaining about paying the museum. They are complaining about paying $950 or whatever it is to get the car across the street. The fact that GM is locked into an agreement to pay Allied is part of the problem, not the explanation. GM paying for stupid stuff is why the government had to bail out GM two years ago.

johan gouws

If you want to save money, buy in Oregon (chuckle)! Nothing beats a flat rate, but some will pay more and some less.

talon90

All right. Let's forget about the NCM for a second. We have a Chevrolet dealer in Bowling Green at exit 22. The assembly plant is at exit 28. They are about 8 miles apart (highway and city combined travel). Should they pay the destination charge? What about a dealership in Louisville, Ky about 90 miles away. Should they pay the destination charge? What about Nashville, 65 miles away and across state lines? How close is too close and how far is too far to drive?

A destination charge is the act of the assembly plant loading a car on a truck, the truck driving some distance and then unloading that car at it's destination.

As far as the cost for the museum delivery, you are getting a person to be at your beck and call for an entire day. Give you a one on one guided tour of the assembly plant, a one on one guided tour of the museum and go over every nut, bolt and feature of the car with you to make sure you are comfortable if that's what you want. Let alone the prep and cleaning that the car gets. Further, if anything is discovered that is wrong, the car will be repaired by the assembly plant. That's what you are paying for with the R8C. I think folks get hung up on the fact that the option has the word, Delivery in it (i.e. Museum Delivery).

The two have nothing to do with each other other than the proximity. You will pay the destination charge regardless of where you pick up your car. A prospective owner has to decide if what I described in my second paragraph is worth it to them to have the R8C.

You keep confusing me by saying what they charge is a marketing decision, I say not entirely. There is an operational cost associated with the R8C because the museum needs to get paid for this service. There is a marketing element in the charge because GM markets and sells the option. I have no idea how much goes to the NCM or what goes to GM for their role in it. However, if GM didn't market it or allow for it to be sold via the dealer network it likely wouldn't be as successful because people wouldn't hear about it. If the NCM wasn't across the street, it wouldn't be nearly as worthwhile (in my opinion) to do the museum pick up so there is some mutual benefit.

Someone needs to pay to move the car from the plant to where ever it is going. The charge whether across the street across the country is the same price. This is a flat rate. This was a negotiated arrangement between the automatkers and brought about by a California Lobby. This is who put the gun to GM's head, not unions as I've seen it recounted. There are operational costs in getting cars to dealers (with the NCM being a dealer for all intents and purposes for this discussion). It simply boils down to whether or not there should be a flat rate or a pay as you go rate for the car on the truck to the dealer.

You keep talking about driving the car across the street. Yet I know first hand that owners would be the first to complain about an extra 3 miles on the car. What if there was an accident. The transportation company approach solves all of the concern and liability risk associated with driving the car. You think it's stupid. I'm more fine with it to satisfy a perceived need. Personally, I wouldn't care if my car showed up with 3 miles on it. Trust me when I tell you that I know plenty that would refuse the car at delivery if it did.

jschindler

Let me simplify this. My only point is that I think it would be much cheaper for GM to delivery them across the street by having a plant employee drive it over there. I could be wrong, but that's what I think.

Regarding why they charge (the customer) the same delivery fee to deliver to a dealer 10 minutes away as they do to deliver to California, I fully understand that.

Regarding why there is a museum delivery charge - I fully understand that as well.

Regarding why they charge for delivery AND museum charge - I understand that simply because people are willing on paying for it. Same reason they charge extra to paint the calipers red on a Grand Sport when they are already painting them anyway, and they already have a batch of red ones for Z06's.

BTW, I would think there would be more risk of damage by the car being loaded and unloaded on a truck, but I can't say I know that for sure.

Ken H.

A car is one of the few purchases that you make at a store in which a delivery charge is identified. The price of delivery to the store is factored into everything else we buy, but we never see the charge when we buy the item. Obviously, the car companies do so in order to make the price of the car "seem" less expensive. Personally, I think it would be much better if they "hid" the delivery charge in the base price of the car, just like Sears does when they sell me a hammer.

I especially agree with Talon; I certainly wouldn't want to have to pay the actual delivery cost. The average cost is just fine with me.

jschindler

I fully agree with this, and I wish the government would step in regarding cell phone companies and cable TV companies who can't even tell you what your final bill is going to be because there are so many fees!