K9KUZ

Perhaps this is the benefit of dealing with a small dealership in a small town, where they may recognize your name but not know you personally.

Then again, my local dealer totally blew a sale on a new SUV a few weeks ago. Typical crap, salesman must be with you on every test drive, plus no discounts whatsoever. And these folks know me personally!!

M6mike

some dealers are good and some s*^%$*^%ck.

Catapult09

I agree, the GM dealers I've seen in action:

1. Lack passion for the product
2. Lack desire in knowing what they're selling ( Order takers only)
3. Crappy inventory.. very hard to find a fully fitted car ready to be purchased.
4. Most of the support technicians, I've seen working on my vette, rough house the car, spill fluid on the paint, overfill the z07 oil sump system, don't follow instructions from the factory.

On the positive side:

1. they let me watch them work on the car, BMW would never let me do that.
2. the Vette is solid, so I've never had a repair just service


I don't regret my purchase, but I feel bad for the engineers at GM, who make a great car, when allowed to do so by the bean counters, only to then have to push the car through such a sad and apathetic dealer network.

CaliforniaJack

Sometime in the late 90's I received an invitation from GM to attend a "drivers school" about 60 miles away. It was an opportunity to drive a C5 on a large paved area where they had you run a timed course thru cones twice. The first pass had the NEW "active handling" option off and a second run with it on. The exposure to the event ultimately drove me to order a 2000 C5 and yes, I sprung $500 extra for the optional active handling. The NEW GM needs to promote the Corvette brand with more "hands on" seduction that made me buy one, and I already had one!

VNAMVET

It's not GM, it's where YOU live move to the United States and it's a lot different.
Canadian dealers suck........
Stingray Chevrolet (Florida) will blow any GM pricing into the weeds.
I feel sorry for you Canadians.

msp1055

I guess its different in different areas. When I was looking for my 08 Z06, I located one within a couple of hours from my house. I emailed the dealer, got a response immediatley. I told them when I could come up and look over the car. When I got there they had on the dealership floor. I told them I had an hour if the deal was going down and they said no problem. They opened the showroom door and said have at it, and even asked me if I wanted lunch ordered for me as they were getting lunch catered. I got a sandwich and took off. Came back about 20 minutes later, we discussed the deal, rebates and what extras I wanted thrown in and he said, ok is that all. I thought wow, I should of asked for more. I finished my lunch, signed the papers and then a quick trip around the dealership to show me everything and I told him I couldnt bring it back since it was a 2 hours trip and he said no problem, lets go back to the parts department. He then gave me enough Mobile 1 and filters for 3 changes and said the other parts we threw in will next day air them to your house from the warehouse. I've been in contact with this same dealer about my next purchase. Heck I even get birthday and Christmas cards from them. My expierience has been amazing.

I Bin Therbefor

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/kens...-corvette.html

"Allocation Earn for the Next Generation Corvette

Suffice it to say the introduction of any next generation Corvette is one of the most highly anticipated introductions in the automobile industry. The expected arrival of a new generation Corvette generates a lot of showroom excitement and traffic. It also requires the dealership’s sales and service teams to sharpen and improve their performance and technology skills to meet the needs of the Corvette customer. It is for this reason that any Chevrolet dealer seeking to sell and service Corvette must agree to invest in special tools and training for the dealership’s personnel.

Information regarding the requirements for the next generation Corvette’s training and special tools will be shared in the coming months. However, before any dealer is requested to make a decision on investing in the next generation Corvette, it is necessary to understand the anticipated allocation method for the next generation Corvette."

torchredfrc

I don't normally post in complain-sessions like this but I did want to add a recent experience I had at both our local Chevy dealer and Jaguar dealer...

My wife and I are considering starting a family and having 2 Corvettes doesn't really foot the bill for driving with a car seat (we have a 06 and a 99). So I started shopping around recently for an SUV. First we looked at the Explorer and after about a 2 hour extremely high pressure encounter with the sales rep and his manager we finally were able to leave the Ford dealer... that's another story though. We ended our SUV search at the Jaguar / Land Rover dealership where I must say we felt like they rolled out the red carpet for us. I can't tell you how great it felt to have them offer their only Evoque to us for a 24 hour test drive and have them go over all the options / let us test drive it without question. My wife and I are fairly young and I've grown accustomed to being looked down at by sales people at dealerships - despite the fact that we've bought several new vehicles ranging from a C5, a Toyota truck, our C6, and even a new CTS-V.

So after this fantastic encounter with the Land Rover sales person I decided to go ahead and swap out my wives head unit in the C6. I changed it with another stock C6 head unit that had the aux jack in it. As many of you know, changing the head unit requires the VIN to be reprogrammed into the replacement head unit else the unit is locked. Off the the local Chevy dealership I went... while I waited I decided to poke around and see what they had on the lot for Corvettes. The dealer here has, in the past, had a few ZR1's and Z06's in stock and I had always wanted to check out the 4LT package or equivalent package for the Z06/R1. I didn't see anything in the 6 or 7 cars they had that had this package so I proceeded to ask a sales person I saw walking out of the dealer if they had anything with the upgraded interior package.

... that's where the fun began. The salesman scoffed at me like I had completely interrupted his busy day (he was on his way to a smoke break which he took after rudely answering my question about 5 feet from me and directly in front of their Corvette display). His answer was simply "No." in a rather harsh tone and he didn't even stop to say anything else until he reached his smoke break destination.

After talking to my wife about our next car purchase (a 2012 Range Rover Evoque) and scheduling everything so we can place our order we talked about my next car. I've long considered that I would always own at least one Corvette and she was fine with me holding off until the next generation Z06 or equivalent vehicle is available. After this encounter though and given the huge difference in how the Land Rover / Jag dealer treated us... I must admit, I'm going to have to really fall head over heals in love with whatever Corvette has in the 7th gen to actually go through with purchasing one.

I do think that if I should decide to purchase one I will be visiting one of the many great forum dealers though. In the case of the OP here in this thread I would highly recommend you take the time to travel to one of the better Corvette specialty dealers where I'm certain you'll be treated right (and probably get better pricing). In the past few months I had the pleasure of having emailed Tim @ Boardwalk in regard to a Z07 equipped car he had in stock. He was very pleasant to deal with and I think he's probably earned my business on the next Corvette I buy.

Despite all my complaints I have about the local GM dealerships I've ever dealt with, Corvette is a fantastic vehicle and I still want to own more of them. I would encourage anyone with bad dealer experience to shop around and find a good one that you can stick with. I know they are out there and if you don't believe me, send Tim an email.

DonOH

NOT to defend the dealer's but they do have a lot at risk. My salesman told me that one time he had a customer come in with a potential Corvette trade-in and the guy wanted to test drive a ZR so the salesman sent the guy and his girlfriend off for a ride. Two hours later the car comes limping back in. The shop put the ZR1 on a lift and saw a hole blown out in the side of transmission. By this time the guy (mid 60's) and his girlfriend were long gone. The shop guessed the guy tried to power shift and ended up blowing the transmission.

I can see this being a problem for small dealers. I also would not buy a brand I haven't test driven but small dealers can't afford joy-riding miles by people that want to experience a Vette they can't afford.

RULEMKR

I'm curious as to what kind of porsche you own? If 430hp and 400ftlbs of torque does not satisfy you; I dont know what will

Jp23rockstar

Off topic question how was the range rover evoque compared to other SUVs ride quality, performance, mpg, fit and finish?

2011grandsport

It's a real shame that happened. I can tell you the GS is a dream. What a ride and it looks very unique. I will rell you. I also had a bad experience with a big time dealer in A.C. NJ. Deal in place only to be changed dramatically on my return to seal the deal, only hours apart. Luckily I got a better deal elsewhere and I am thrilled. I wish you luck and consider the GS whenever possible..

Chevy Cust Svc

torchredfrc,

I am sorry to hear about your experience with the Chevrolet dealer. I would like to look into this for you with more information. Please contact me privately and I will be able to do further research. Thank you in advance.

Tricia, Chevrolet Customer Service.

dbw2

The Porsche (Boxster) was at the end of the warranty last May and I couldn't order a 2012 plus the local dealer is very small volume (30-40 units a year new and used) and they had zero stock for the most part other than Panoramas. Didn't want the Porsche without a warranty. The GS was an interesting cat. One that I could see keeping for a lot of years.

Nice Ride

I understand the interest in wanting to test drive the Corvette before you buy it. Of course you do. That said should appreciate the dealer wanting to keep the car "new". It isn't new IMHO if it has miles on it and a lot of Corvette guys feel that way. I sold Chevy for a local dealership for over a year and let me tell you more than one customer abused the "test drive". One woman drove 5 or 6 cars saying she wanted to buy only to finish the day saying she was sorry but she couldn't make up her mind. Never any intention to buy just waste time and enjoy a new car drive. The "customer is always right" stuff is a crock. They did keep a new Z06 in the show room and don't think that baby went out until there was a contract in hand. It is what it is.

dbw2

I hear what you say. But, for me that would not be acceptable. That attitude is for the most part a GM thing. I drove a lot of cars before getting my current one. The Porsche guys when they have something just handed me the keys. So did a few other dealerships with other high performance vehicles. And, I made a point to drive the vehicle appropriately - not insanely - there's no shortage of cops around here. I really think the GM sales people need to "qualify" the prospective purchaser better. I'm 58.

It was the drive that sold me as it wasn't really on my radar but a friend at the gym bought one and really liked it. Surprised the heck out of me actually - Nissan 370 roadster. For me it is about the drive.....I dearly would have liked to drive the GS because I probably would have bought one the same day. Hopefully one day I'll get a chance to drive the GS......if it's that good, who knows.

2011grandsport

hi tricia. thank you and I appreciate your interest in looking into my situation. i'm not looking to pursue anything as i have written the owner of Kerbeck about the situation. i'm assuming it fell on deaf ears. if for nothing else you can mention you heard this disturbing situation but i just don't have the time nor interest in dealing with that paticular dealer and its a shame. hopefully (in the interest of kurbeck) i am the only one and this is not a pattern. i'm sure they are doing very well. i'm enjoying my car and i got the best deal .. cudos to schumacher in little falls nj. again thank you...sincelerly Keith

dizzysn

This is exactly why I will never buy a new car from a dealer. I always get treated like crap because I'm young when I go to shop for cars and their service centers suck. The dealership near me laughed when I asked if I could test drive a USED 2007 z06. Guy said I was way too young to be able to afford purchase a Corvette and even if I could they weren't allowed to put miles on the car. Now this gentleman WAS right in that I could not afford that car, but his arrogance and stereotyping of me was insanely rude. I pulled out $24,000 in cash (which I was using it buy my C5) and stuck it on the table in front of him and all of a sudden it turned around into "Oh yes sir, absolutely sir we'll be more than happy to go get the keys for a test drive, please just wait one moment while I go get the dealer plates sir."

Drove the car, loved it and then went back to the dealer. Asked the guy to bring his manager over and proceeded to tell both of them to **** off and that they'd never have my business and that I found it insulting that the Caddy dealership down the street had given me the keys to their FIRST AND ONLY CTS-V they had in stock and sent me on my merry way. They only required a copy of my ID and insurance and asked that the gas tank be filled with premium back to where it was when I took it out. The same thing also happened at a Lotus dealer and I even told the guy I just wanted to look at the Exige because I couldn't afford it. He asked for my ID and said I could at least get a test drive to fulfill part of my wishes to one day own one. Handed me the keys and said to be back in 15.

It had really irked me for quite some time, because when I am able to afford to buy new I won't be given the privilege of a test drive. A CTS-V Coupe and a brand new Lotus Exige given to me with no supervision and I can't test drive a used 5 year old Vette. The Caddy and Lotus dealers couldn't even had prejudged me based on the car I drove at the time (04 GTO with lots of mods) to see if I was really capable of affording one of their vehicles. Even IF they saw my car they'd know almost anyone can afford a GTO these days. All they could see was my baggy pants and shirt and fitted hat with a straight brim and still treated me with respect and trust on their behalf to let me take out some expensive cars with no supervision. But not the chevy dealership until they see a mountain of cash in front of them.

jb_va2001

Folks, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Most "car salesmen" aren't really salesmen anymore, they're poorly paid order takers. We, the buying public, always want cheaper. So we use a "good salesman" to learn the product, do the test drive, choose a color, and pick out the options. And then we price-shop the car on the web, ultimately buying from the cheapest guy we can find. The "good salesman" would waste a lot of time with us, make little money, and then be forced to discount that great new sports car because it had accumulated too many miles on it. Are there exceptions? Sure. "Not me!" you say. I know none of you would ever do that but it happens all the time. And then adding insult to injury, the proud new Corvette owner will brag to friends, at work, and on CF about the great deal they got from a dealer located many hours, even states away.

I read all the proud "I buy American" comments here. But you are doing exactly the same thing you criticize nationally, at a local level. To save a few bucks you are buying from someone far away and allowing a local business and quality service to decline. I'm sure it's true; the local dealer is "too pushy," he demands "I pay up front," he "won't let me test drive it." Well, we collectively brought this on ourselves. The dealer is responding to the market they see. If passionate, Corvette loving, knowledgeable, professional salesmen were the ones making all the money selling these great cars, that's what we'd have selling them everywhere. But it isn't that way. And it's really unfortunate.

Cheers,
JB

LS1LT1

424 (and as much as 428 and 436hp with the NPP exhaust) actually.
And I agree.