USMCVETC7

JoesC5

So, you believe that when a new model comes out and it's hot, and every dealer wants to cash in on the high profits, every dealer that tells GM they want a bunch of those new "hot" models, then GM should be able to immediately send them the cars they requested? That way you can spend your $70,000 immediately.

To do that GM would have to build a billion square foot factory with tens of thousands of workers, and all of GM suppliers would have to do the same. That way every dealer could get the "hot" cars they want immediately. Correct?

The only problem with that line of thinking, is that there will be no temporary shortage of cars, thus all 3000 dealers will start discounting. Then with no great profits to be made, the small dealers jumps ship and quits ordering the "hot" model as it's not "hot" anymore. Then GM is stuck with this huge factory, with thousands of workers that it can't get rid of, and the same with their suppliers. Let's say GM expects to sell 24,000 new 2014 Corvettes, should they tool up to produce them all in the first month of production, just so you can buy your new C7 when it first comes out, from your local dealer who only sells a few Corvettes a year.

Why would the large dealers, that bought cars from GM when there was a poor market for them and low profits, just sit back and let a small dealer get an unlimited amount of the cars when they're hot? Don't the large dealers also deserve to make a profit when the fire is hot?

WS6R6

GM needed help moving cars during their bailout and now those dealers who stepped up and took cars during that time are getting rewarded for it. It really doesn't matter whether the process is right or wrong but just a matter of if you want a car quickly, go to one of the big dogs....if you care more about supporting locally than actually getting a car then get in line and expect a long wait if you're even able to get your hands on one eventually.

Personally I have no problem doing it this way to make sure I get the car I want in a timely manner. My local dealer will still be making a lot of money off me through servicing the car throughout its lifetime. It's a win, win for all involved and my dealer even told me to do it this way because they aren't able to get a stingray anytime soon. In fact, (showing how little we get nice cars in western Kansas) their only request of me was that I drive it down there when it arrives so they can actually have the chance to sit in one and see it in person!

leadville1

How do the out of state dealers go about delivering these cars? Do they ship them to your local dealer or do you have to go pick it up?

My dealer said they were the largest Corvette Dealer in Wisconsin and had allocations (Ballweg Chevrolet), if March comes around and I don't see an order I am going to be going elsewhere. But they also told me 5 Z51's were ordered ahead of mine.

sly1

Dave - excellent post. Right now the C7 is low hanging fruit, but it won't be that way in two more years. Will the local dealer invest his advertising dollars in the C7 then? Possible but unlikely. I would like to see GM restrict Corvette sales and services to specific dealers that focus exclusively on Corvette sales. I would gladly trade off dealer location convenience for Corvette technical expertise.

LIStingray

This is Obama's America. As such, all dealerships should profit the same irrespective of past or current efforts to sell Corvettes. Otherwise it just isn't fair or equal.

JoesC5

If a local dealer is willing to do a "courtesy" delivery(usually they charge from $250-500) then the car is shipped directly from the factory to the local dealer. You can also spring for another $995 and get a Museum delivery and drive/fly to Bowling Green and drive it home. Most large dealers can assist you in getting your car shipped from their store to your home, at your expense. And of course you can fly in, drive home, or if the dealer is close drive over and drive home.

When I purchased my C5, I got the best deal(and the dealer had a huge allocation) from a dealer out of state. When the car arrived, my neighbor drove me to Tulsa, OK(2.5 hour drive) and I drove my new Corvette back to Springfield, MO.

Dave@Ciocca

In that case, I want my frickin' Z/28!

Dave

Dave@Ciocca

I hope your local dealer can get you the car, but in the last week I've taken 5 orders from people who've had orders at other dealers for a few months and never got picked up. Four were with Z51 and one without. All five should be picked up in this week's allocation and I still have more room.

Dave

Greg00Coupe

Dave @ Kerbeck...... I agree with you 100%. You are a business to make money and work your Azz off. You knew the rules so did the others....... you chose to make a business decision and you guys positioned yourselfs to do well.

No allocation system is perfect. I assume GM wants to move cars and make $$$s.

Funny how folks want to buy local but then when the car can't be serviced they cry too. Little dealers need to invest in training and tools too to take care of the customer.

It always has been buyer beware!!! It won't change. Frankly someone who is DUMB enough to not do their homework........ not check out the allocation.. and give a deposit to a small dealer who is sold out........ get what they deserve.

I love Kerbeck as you all influence the market with you volumes. How many posts do we see that Kerbeck, Stanford or McMillian is offering discounts? Makes it hard on the little guy. But then a lot of little guys are marking up the cars over MSRP.

How many on here complaining would pay over MSRP to support their local dealer??? Ya I did not think so........

Kerbeck has 100s of cars floorplanned sitting under the snow in NJ. And some little dealer who does not know what Z51 means thinks they deserve one of those cars???? LOL

n8dogg

I'm not disagreeing with you. Your dealership clearly deserves a high volume of Stingrays. What I do not agree with is GM transporting Stingrays to dealers for inventory when there are customer sold orders.

To answer your question, the dealer I work for sold 0 Corvettes in 2012. We sold 0 in 2011, 0 in 2010, 0 in 2009. Reason being is because we opened in 2013. We're a new dealer. We've gone through the steps to become Stingray certified, we service a good portion of the local Corvette community, and earned all of our Corvette customers and orders.

We never had the opportunity to earn in the past, and how does one expect us to when GM doesn't allow us to sell any Corvettes?!

Jimbob26

I agree with Dave's comments. The dealers earned the right to sell the C7, and it was based on previous sales, and perhaps more important, commitment to Corvette customers. i purchased from a dealer who had 9 C7's allocated (I got my order placed in May, having given them a deposit in April), and was number 2 on their allocation list. I was lucky that my dealer comes highly recommended, has a specialized Corvette department, and is only 15 minutes from my house. I did my research and knew i had to pay MSRP.

THere was another dealer about an hour away from my house who was offering $2k off MSRP - only catch was that he did not have allocation. He also did not have a specialized Corvette Service department, relationships with the Northern CA Corvette Club, etc. as my local guy did.

Bottom line - my dealer, like the others who had allocations - earned them. I got in early because I did some planning and chose not to wait for the actuals cars to come out.

There's nothing wrong with waiting if you want to support your local dealer, and there's nothing wrong with going to a dealer with a large allocation. They each earned their numbers, and the consumer has the freedom to pick.

JoesC5

How about earning the allocations just like all the current Corvette dealers did? When the car is not the "hot" ticket, and GM will sell to all it's dealers, buy some, floorpan them and sell them just above invoice, thus slowly building up your allocations over the years.

HummelS

As posted above, there are a number of options. When I bought my 60th Anniv Grand Sport from Forum dealer Ken Fichtner in Montana, I drove up with my trade and drove the new one home to Kansas. Nice one-week vacation in September, with stops in Rapid City and Yellowstone.

When he got my C7 a few weeks ago, it was not a good time of the year to drive to Montana, so I shipped my 2013 trade to him, and he shipped the new one to me. Cost me about $1K each way, but by the time you figure in motel charges, gas, bar bills and restaurants for a 2000-mile round trip, it was probably a wash.

n8dogg

Good point! We would and will, if the C7's get to that point. We bought a few non-Z51 coupes from a dealer for this reason. We also bought 4 left over 2013 Grand Sports from other dealers hoping it would help us earn. Then we found out the 2013's did not make a difference because the allocation period had already started on the C7's.

So again, we're not looking for a hand out, just don't think it's right for GM to prioritize inventory over sold orders.

Our customers are welcome to go where they'd like. But if you have a certified Stingray dealer in your local community, and you'd like to do business with them, you should be able to. I understand why dealers should earn more than others, but why have we not received our allocation before inventory is being built for other dealers?

We too have a specialized Corvette department.

Glen e

correct, you buy inventory from other dealers when it's not "hot"

Stepa j

Guess I was not clear in my post. I was only speaking to ordering cars. Should the largest dealers get the most cars....absolutely just good business. But it is frustrating when cars are sitting on lots and having to be discounted and orders are not being accepted in other places.

I still can't get my arms around assuming no constraints why I can't write a check at my local dealer and have Chevy build me a car.

If cars are sitting in inventory on the bigger dealers lots I would guess they were not customer order cars?

It also can be a bit of hassle to order out so state..deal with courtesy delivery or shipping etc.

z51vett

I'm with Dave on this local dealer was in top 20 dealers but did nothing to raise he count didn't want to have excess inventory and have to sell at lower profit margin. Dealer up the road took over 200 corvettes he has stock to sell the other has to wait on sold orders no inventory on ground. My friends wife surprised him with new c7 convertible on New Years day for his bday. She bought it out of stock guess where, she asked for the most expensive they had in stock. So the other dealer lost because he had no inventory and they wanted it now and he has left over stock of c6's that they were going to make a killing on a little profit would have got them a lot of c7s they could have sold at list to make up for the small profits they would have made. This small dealer has the best Corvette tech in town.
z51vett
Doug

Larry/car

Here is the way it should work, If GM gives a dealer the right to sell Chevrolets, the dealer should be able to sell all Chevrolet products. When this or any Chevy dealer sells a Corvette or any Chevy product, the order should be submitted and GM should process and produce these orders by the submittal date (barring no constraints). That is the way I thought it worked. I knew some dealers were not permitted to sell Corvettes for some mysterious GM reasoning (allocations?) but I thought the early bird got the worm.

toddrichards

@DAVE -- I have no problem with you getting what you've earned, I do see a problem when there are SOLD customer cars waiting to be built and you or any other dealer is getting stock units first. That's not right. Legit sold customers should get there orders before stock units are built.

If a small dealer wanted to order 100 - 2013's sell them for hundreds of dollars under net to earn allocation for the C7 then they should have. That's there mistake.


SOLD before STOCK ... The way it should be.