vabulldog

Brand new here. I'm on a deposit list for a 2024 C8. It seems to me that it would really suck to be a salesperson at some dealerships. It doesn't seem fair that some dealerships get such low allocations. I waisted some time getting my order in because I didn't believe being# 600+ on a list at one dealership could be better than being #5 on a list at another dealership. Is there a reason why some dealerships get such low c8 allocations?

AustinMartin

The whole ordering process seems crazy. I'm guessing that GM is not used to having more demand for a car than supply.
I can't even get callbacks from high volume corvette dealerships in Texas.
The whole thing sours me on even buying a GM car.

Kracka

Most TX dealerships suck for Corvettes. I personally use a dealership in PA, but if I were to order in-state it would be with Huffines Chevy in Plano or Lewisville.

MitchSpence

No, Classic got me a Vette in 12 months. Huffiines wants way over MSRP on used Vettes and they only get a few.

NORTY

Yes, it's based on how many the dealership sells the previous year. Or, more precisely, month during same month the previous year. The more they sell, the more they get the following year. This is why, some dealers move 2 cars a years, and some move 2,000 cars per year.

hcvone

I always thought that to be true, and was told this was how the allocations were set, BUT I found a dealership that has received 6 Z06's, and they only sold 3 C8''s last year, so I have no idea how allocations are set and given anymore

Tman65

Those dealers who don't historically sell many new Vettes get very few allocations. GM knows how to strategically assign allocations to maximize their sales.

IOSProKC

Look up the dealer(s) you are interested in here: C8 Tracker by Dealer (requires a free account)
You can see exactly how many of each model they sold over the past 3 years.

Vetteman Jack

Can’t blame GM for giving more allocations to those dealers that have proven they can sell a lot of Corvettes.

Tman65

Thanks! This is great information!

Michael T*

The whole process makes little sense. Why would a dealer (mine) have such a change in monthly allocations and thus deliveries a few months later.

papillion

The largest volume Corvette sellers have cultivated the business for generations of Corvettes. Taking their lumps along the way. The price of admission to the allocation club. They make a mint today and a mini buck tomorrow. Consider, if they are getting 2000 cars this year all presold. They have to take 2000 cars next year and the one after that. At the end of the C7 run, MM had a warehouse full of cars they had to order to maintain their allocation status, but no ready buyer. At one point, Ciocca nee Kerbeck had 100s of C7s on the ground or committed inbound. Again, spec cars no buyer. So they get fat today and work like the blue blazes to move iron when the bloom is off the rose.

5632

#1 reason is because they don't sell at MSRP.

JerryU

Yep, but it's more than Corvettes, the small dealer I use who did my Courtesy Delivery for my 2017 Grand Sport and C8 can't get what they mostly Silverado's. Somewhat like Corvettes they have limits due to parts supply, etc.

But as I understand how it works (only superficially) a computer sends the dealer sales manager monthly or twice a month a sheet end week before they will be taking orders early the following week. That shows what they bought in prior year(s) and how many they have in inventory (yep GM has a record of that.) It shows they should probably order by model NOT just Corvettes. They have to the following Monday or Tuesday to decide exactly what they will order when the order day occurs.

More complex but that is a view of what happens. If they sold few Vettes it shows few Vettes. However if the dealers who show they can buy XX Vettes and they don't order their allocation the low allocation dealer have chance to put orders in and may get one. With the big Vette dealers with 1600/year allocations taking all they can get unlikely that will happen.

As you said about Kerbeck in Atlantic City they helped BG (it's by location, Rick Hendrick with over 100 distributorships (many Chevy) is allocated by the dealership location NOT overall. ) Kerbeck "Helped BG avoid layoffs in the Winter" when many dealers don't order Vettes. I bought my 2008 from them and always looked at their Website and saw the changing discounts.

When I was going to buy my 2017 Grand Sport I watched their prices. GM offers dealer's incentives to buy in the winter months as layoffs at Christmas time are bad overall! BUT like most US car manufactures they make no cars for GM stock! All are ordered by dealers. So they offer dealer incentives to buy. Kerbeck took advantage of the special discounts AND passed them on in the Winter. You could see the discounts as I said on their website. All 6 of my Vettes were bought "Made just for me in BG" (who wants colors, options etc some sales manger thinks I might like!)

When I placed my order Kerbeck had ~250 Vettes in stock (or coming in) preparing for Spring and selling at deep discounts. I got ~15% off MSRP. That is the discount they were selling Grand Sports they had in stock. 6 weeks later mine was delivered to the small local Chevy dealer who did my Courtesy Delivery for a flat $350 (as they did the C8 that left BG end of the week it was built and I had the following Tuesday.) It's a good system and fair for those dealers who support Corvettes , good for BG and BG workers. BTW as Spring approached their discounts reduced.

sshallen

I believe, but do not know for certain, that allocations can be traded/sold.

Many a dealer would prefer four Tahoe allocations to a Z06 allocation.

The backdoor way would be dealer with allocation places the order he does not want for the dealer who wants it, and specifies dealer #2 as the delivery location as a courtesy delivery. You see some strange things on Monroney stickers.

Kevin93

Don’t rule out that the small dealerships also don’t have as much word of mouth and therefore no waiting lists. I went to Ciocca first then called MM, long story short my local dealer had immediate allocation and no one beating down their door. I was at 2000 a couple days after initial contact and 3000 in another week.

Bob Paris

That discrepancy could be that the cars were Courtesy Deliveries that were not actually sold by the delivering dealer.

449er

You live by the sword & die by the sword

p4snow

Exactly. MM was selling for 17% off MSRP to clear those C7’s out. Almost bought one but was saving for the C8. I ordered my C6 from them at the end of that generation’s run and got 20% off MSRP. I’m guessing that the difference between MSRP and invoice averages $5k, so if MM sells 1,000+ C8s a year, that’s $5 million in profit.

Didier9

Not necessarily. My dealer (who sells at MSRP and sold about 20 C8 this year so far) told me that GM wanted to help them because they sell at MSRP (not just C8, all their cars). They told GM they wanted more of the bread and butter cars, passenger cars, SUVs and trucks, they did not ask for more C8, even though they had a year long wait list. They got cars and trucks allocations that were supposed to go to two other dealers 40 miles away who were marking up cars by $10k to $30k and they have managed pretty well.