The way I understand it is if you order from the local dealer, one of the larger dealers may end up getting the car so you may as well just order from them if you're looking to do a custom order?
TIA for advice.

 

Allocation is based on a number of things CSI, Past sales, Size of dealer, location can sometimes be based on sales of other models. However dealer should know if he has the allocation when you order if he does you will get it.

 

don't forget price-a small dealer who sells say 5 corvettes a year may want to make more per car than one of the large forum dealers.

 

allocation is basically how many cars a dealer can order and expect to receive. Most of us who custom order did so at large dealers because they have many allocations. They are more willing to give discounts on a corvette. a local dealer is much less likely to do so. When I went to a local dealer, they were expecting me to pay MSRP for the corvette I wanted to order. So I called up Mike Furman instead since he's only a few hours drive away.

 

This is not the way it works. When you order from any dealer, that same dealer will actually get the car provided they have an open allocation. If they don't the order will not be accepted and the car will not get built.

Allocation shouldn't be a problem now, though. We're at a point where supply exceeds demand and dealers are turning down allocations. When this happens, those allocations are offered to lower volume dealers who would not otherwise get them. I honestly don't envision any problems getting your order picked up.

What you may be thinking of is "courtesy delivery". When their local dealer doesn't have or anticipate an allocation, some buyers will order through a high volume dealership and have the car drop shipped to the local one directly from the factory. In these cases, the car is billed to the ordering dealer but shipped directly to the delivering one and the selling dealer never actually sees the car. The only extra charge for this is the amount the delivering dealer wants in order to accept the car and deliver it to its buyer. That amount is typically negotiated in advance by the buyer and delivering dealer. Note that this is not the same as buying from an out of state dealer's stock and having it shipped from the selling dealer to the delivering one.

 

The more Corvettes a dealer sells, or takes into inventory, the more allocations. Sometimes a dealer has to be willing to take a car with options GM needs to push instead of what they want to order or lose an allocation. For example, GM had a surplus of Z07 parts and my dealer had to take a bunch of Grand Sports with carbon ceramic brakes, etc.

 

The way it was explained to me is.If A dealer don't sell Corvettes then he can't order corvettes.If he sold 5 last year he can sell 5 this year.The large Corvette dealers probably don't need to worry about allocations.

 

That's not exactly how it works. True, when demand exceeds supply allocations are issued to dealers based upon previous Corvette sales. This always poses a problem for the little guys when a new generation is introduced, especially if the previous year's Corvette sales have been weak. It's different now, though, in that supply currently exceeds demand. Many dealers are turning down allocations. In turn, those allocations are being offered to other dealers who wouldn't otherwise get them. Assuming they take the allocations and use them to order new Corvettes, their allocations for next year will go up accordingly. This is why, especially during the final model year of a generation, many dealers order every Corvette they can get even if they're not pre-sold. This bumps up their allocations for when the new model is introduced and they'll get more cars.

 

^^^^^^ What he said!

If you're going to try and order a Corvette for a smaller, local dealer, ALWAYS find out:

1. If they have allocation, and when will they be placing orders.

2. Are there any dealer documentation fees, or other administration fees. Some dealers can tack on $1,000+ in dealer doc fees which is nothing more than raping the customer.