Listen, I understanding allocating dealer inventory based on previous sales and certain investments made by dealers to sell Corvettes. What makes absolutely no sense is passing the pain of navigating this system onto the customer. I'm a customer who wants to order a new corvette to be built; I should be able to place that order with whatever dealership I want and have that order enter a queue behind the last guy to order and before the next guy to order. It is that simple. Why do I have to go around the country looking for a dealership that has "allocations"? If I've had a bad experience with a large volume dealer in the past, why should I be forced to do business with that dealership again just because they have the allocations? What a pathetic, antiquated system. Even the name is a misnomer. They aren't allocating a car for a dealership, like they would be in the case of distributing dealer stock to be displayed on the show floor, they are allocating the ability to service a customer's order which should just be a pass through to the factory. I finally decided to get off the fence and give my business to a local dealer (not even that small of a market) and I'm told they can't put the order in. Impossibly stupid system, especially when the technology is available to do way better. BTW, before you give me this BS about the dealer not making the investments to sell and service the Corvette, if that were true, then they wouldn't let them sell any instead of letting them only sell 3 or 4, unless you mean to tell me that Chevy is fine giving those 3 or 4 customers a really shitty experience. Meanwhile, how will that dealership ever sell more Corvettes if you are forcing me to go to another dealer just to submit my order? Anyone defending this system is either at a dealer that benefits from how corrupt it is or is just a sycophantic apologist.

 

That's just the way the system works. The people that sell the most corvettes get the most allocations to sell, plain and simple. If you don't like it, you are more than welcome to start your own car company and do it your way. Or just buy another car....

 

That's because the whole dealership franchise system is broken. Tesla goes direct to consumer and now does it with personnel free showrooms in malls. They got banned from doing business in a few states including Texas q few years back. Some states "protect consumers", by prohibiting companies from selling cars right to their customers. They are actually just keeping stealerships alive and well for their friends.
You should be able to buy a car right from the factory. No bullshit, place your order, pay the man, build the car. Even some watch companies do it now. They have a boutique, with all the latest and greatest, sold at msrp of course. They also have a dealer network that gets stuff too, and what they sell, they mark at their own market price (+ or -).

 

I'll defer to those that know more about the process but I thought a dealer could put an order in the Workbench system (for a coupe - I don't think they can be put in for convertibles yet) even if the dealer doesn't currently have any allocations. Your order just won't be picked up by GM until he gets an allocation. It is up to the dealer whether or not he lets someone else go ahead of you.

 

I'd agree with you that for an ordinary person the system is poor.

In fact to add to your complaint, I can see that some dealers will not even talk about allocation to an unknowledgeable buyer, or reveal it to a knowledgeable one. They will still be happy to take a deposit, with the customer then facing a very long wait.

For a low volume specialised car like the Corvette, it would be more open and honest of GM to simply designate "Corvette dealers", where the buyer at least knows there is some possibility of getting an order filled and where service staff have had some training.

 

Very low volume compared to GM and Ford.

 

It’s how all major car manufacturers do it, especially cars with limited supply. Don’t participate if you don’t like it or come up with a better way and sell your own car.

 

Some of the people here are missing the OP's point I think, in saying that "if you don't like the system then too bad"

The point is that GM and their dealers are not open and honest about the system.

 

IMO w/no disrespect, it sounds like you want the experience of walking into your local Chevrolet dealership and just buying a C8. Not off the floor but through the regular order system. If you bought a car through one of the larger dealers with a large allocation and previously had a poor experience you aren't limited to 1 or 2 with allocation. The top 10 dealers all have a relatively large allocation and will sell you one at MSRP. It really sounds like your argument is built on the lack of convenience. Regardless of allocation, that just isn't how the automotive sales world works nowadays. Granted, I live 30 minutes from MacMulkin Corvette in Nashua NH, but they don't sell over 1200 Corvette's a year to locals. Neither does Kerbeck and neither does Hendrick, Bomnin, Stingray, or Rick Conti. They sell volume and have traction across the entire US. I could phrase your argument in a different way. When the C7 came out, I called my local dealer and asked if the would do it at MSRP. They laughed at me. That means I would have saved $10K plus by purchasing from a volume dealer with allocation because they don't make money off 2-3 cars, they make it off 100s. GM rewards those that do best selling the product. Why? Because they make more money that way. It a great capitalistic country we live in. It like the old adage, "I will give you a little and if you prove you're worthy, I will give you more". Makes sense to me. Again, my 2c.

 

You think buying a C8 is difficult, try buying a new Ferrari!

 

I went through this in '97 getting my first C5 through my local dealer.. this was before you could just log on to the Internet to learn the sort of information that's easily available today.
I placed my order in December of '96, I was #2 on their list, I finally got my car in July of '97... missing a few options I'd ordered, and getting a few options I hadn't ordered because of constraints that I knew nothing about.

 

Agree! That's how business in general works. The dealer that works harder and more efficiently, reaps the rewards. Then the buyer who is more informed can likewise reap some of those rewards. Just do your due diligence.

 

Go to your dealer of choice, give them your order and deposit. If your dealer will not accept your money to place an order, that is not GM's fault.

Went to my dealer placed an order and it is currently waiting for it's turn to get assigned to an allocation. Some day I will get a call from my salesman they can assign by build to an allocation.

Your build greatly impacts how soon your order can be matched to an allocation by the dealer. If your dealer receives an allocation and you are next on the list, but your paint color is on constraint at the time of the allocation. The dealer is not going sit on the allocation, they will go to next person on the list with no build constraints at the time of the allocation.

 

How about Kerbeck,MacMulkin have hundreds of C7’s right now in inventory!
thats why those dealers that order all those cars for inventory get the most allocations.
my local dealer dosent want the few C7’s they have right now!
they dont sell well in this area

 

Try ordering a Ferrari. You are on "the list" which is a giant unofficial black hole that could last for YEARS. Then one day they call you and tell you there's a slot for your car. Get down there now and order the car and put a 20 grand deposit ASAP before it goes to the next guy.

Once its ordered then it gets a bit more structured but it still months away. Even after it arrives in the USA it could take another 2 weeks to a month to get. Most likely the dealer will call you up and say "hey... your car arrived. You better make arrangements for payment in the next few days"

 

Meh, I walked into Ferrari and put down my deposit and had the car a year later at MSRP. No "local market adjustment" or any of the other BS I've had to go through buying a Corvette.

At this point I just buy through the forum here and get museum delivery. The Ferrari was honestly easier to buy.

 

"If you don't like the system start your own car company or don't buy a car". What a useless contribution. A lot of guys imagine that you have some great handle on capitalism, but you're dopey. The reward for selling more of a thing is getting more money; it isn't slowly earning the increasingly exclusive right to sell that thing through some artificial metering and the brazen act of forcing the customers of one reseller to do business with a different reseller through purposeful inconveniences and roadblocks.

I bought my last car through macmulkin and the sales guy didn't give a ****. They don't deserve my business. I'm not going to go into my experience or talk anyone else out of using them, but I'm certainly not buying another car from them. Part of free market capitalism is letting the customer make these types of decisions. If you can't wrap your head around how this is less of a free market approach rather than the opposite, then you've got mental deficits that will take more than an argument on an internet forum to get past.

 

Thats like saying GM should allocate a Corvette to the dealer in Hootersville, regardless of the fact that the Hooterville Chevy dealer has sold 500 Pickups a year since 1985 and only one corvette every five years to the local farmers. But they should allocate a Vette for YOU regardless, so that YOU can have the local convince.

Dealers that can move metal for GM are rewarded.

 

Hey OP,

 

I guess I still don't understand the problem. A dealer can put an order in whether or not he has an allocation. If you're willing to wait then ask him to put an order in the workbench system. It may take a while but eventually he will get an allocation if he is authorized to sell Corvettes.
If he won't put the order in (some dealers like to manage their orders outside of the workbench system to minimize the churn of order changes) then go to another local dealer.