In reading all the posting about allocations for each dealer I have the following questions.

1. Each dealer requests a general allocation level and then they wait to get the official allocation approval by month by month from GM.
OK the larger the dealer the more allocations they can receive. At a smaller dealer, they may only receive
say 12.. I place my order on 2/24. My car was used as a deposit so likely GM sees this as a sold order. Given this information how do I stack up in getting a 2020 car?

My point is the allocation is dealer by dealer. What is the advantage or disadvantage of a small or large dealer? GM has
to treat each dealer with some consistency otherwise having a Chev franchise really means what. Waiting for either a 2020 or 2021 is not a big deal with me. My concern is. getting the order accepted so that I don't have
to eat a price increase for 2021.

The second part of my questions is as follows: It is my understanding we have about 10 really large dealers in corvettes. So for discussion say they have a total allocation of 5,000 units out of 40,000.
The rest of the GM Corvette units will come from the remaining Chev dealers. Mention by several posts that each month the allocation by GM is given to the dealers so they can place the next group of cars from their allocation. Keep in mine that allocations are given for more than just selling corvettes. Some dealers may be large sellers of trucks and other types of vehicles. How about hearing from the buyers from small dealers. What has been your understanding from your dealer and will you be getting 2020 or in 2021.
Also, what does a preliminary order with an order number mean with a priority 1?

In listening to several podcasts I was told (may or may not be true) that a car selling, for example, $80,000 has a mark up of 12% or $9,600.00. Has anybody else been told this?

 

Dealers are "awarded" allocation for the year based on what they have sold in the past, referred to as turn and earn. There are good times and bad times over the years, but the plant workers show up every day to build cars. During the years that sales aren't so hot, GM may say to a dealer you can have 5 of the hot seller if you will take 2 of the not so hot seller. If a dealer wants to become a larger volume Corvette dealer, it doesn't happen overnight or because they just hold up their hand and say I'll take 40 new C8s. So for the most part, it is done on a percentage type draw I.E. a dealer with 100 cars allocated for the year may have 25 orders placed. A small dealer that is getting 8 may would only have 2 orders placed. It all depends where you are on the dealers list if you are number 8 of 8, it's likely to be a 2021, but if you were 8 of 100, the car is already built probably. At the end of the day, the closer you are at any dealer to the first 50% of their allocation, the higher the odds you will still get a 2020.

 

All Chevrolet dealers know their Corvette allocations for the year. You need to find out how many allocations they have, and what number you are on the list to get a better idea if you will receive a 2020 or 2021 model.

 

ASK YOUR DEALER

 

Unless you found a dealer with allocations left, you're likely not getting the car for a long time. Nearly every reputable dealer, especially those who have been truthful to their customers) have been "sold out" of available allocations for 2020 models. You might find a dealer that specifically skipped customer orders to get a car for the showroom, but you likely won't be purchasing that car for MSRP.

 

So, allocations are matched to existing orders once a month?

 

GM allows the dealer to place Corvette orders once a month. The dealer is told how many of his year allocation he gets to place for that month.

 

Also there isn’t a way to lock in a price for a 2021 at this point. If an order placed for a 2020 is not matched with a 2020 allocation, a new order has to be entered for the 21.

 

Do dealers actually have to follow their list, or can they randomly change the list to accommodate preferred customers? Chevy does not monitor the dealer's list until the order is accepted so dealers are free to play around with their list as much as they want. They can let preferred customers jump the deposit line at any time and they don't need to tell anyone, correct?

 

Technically yes, but if that happens you don't want to deal with that dealership in the first place.

 

My order has been at 1100 for over a month now......when GM does its DOSP on March 5th, I'm going to call the Concierge Service on the 9th.....if my order doesn't go to 2000 I'm canceling it.....and they've already told me my deposit is non-refundable so I will probably have a fight on my hands. Should be interesting

 

Do you just not want the car? A bunch were at 1100 for six months, the time is going to go by whether we do something with it or not.

 

Not all dealers are Kerbeck's or MacMulkin's. Not all dealers will tell buyers this information.

 

No, I'd like the car, but my allocation number is around #5, and my dealer should fulfill it this month. No excuse. And they haven't been exactly informative. It also irritates me that they say the deposit is non-refundable, especially since they did not disclose that info

Another source of my frustration (and this is totally my fault) is that I sold my Porsche Cayman S about a month ago because I thought I might have trouble selling it and wanted to get an early start....which turned out to be a major miscalculation on my part since it sold in one day......so I've been driving an old beater 95 Silverado.......forget the Corona Virus, if there's such a thing as Sports Car Cabin Fever, I've got it.

 

I think my major, well known dealer is doing exactly that -- letting preferred customers jump the line. I have had a deposit down since July and have no order, allocation or idea when I could get a car. I never suspected this would happen, but what other explanation is there?

 

Problem is, many in this situation won't know that they have stuck their head in the Lion's mouth until they smell its bad breath (non-refundable deposit). But, the answer is not "technically, yes". It's more accurate to say, "maybe, maybe not". If a dealer has represented to a buyer they follow the list in order X and they violate that and you suffer some form of damages, that is misrepresentation and potential fraud. It all depends on what the dealer has represented to the buyer and what documentation the buyer has to prove that. If a buyer can prove misrepresentation and that they suffered damages in some form, one option is to sue alleging fraud.

 

DOSP is not March 5th. They will be notified of the March allocations on March 5th, but the DOSP will most likely be March 12th.

 

Just because THEY say it's non-refundable, does not mean it is non-refundable. That depends on the consumer laws of your sate and what written documentation exists in your specific situation to define that one way or the other. Absent that documentation, many state laws favor the consumer (buyer). Traditionally, dealers like to throw around the term "liquidated damages". If they have to take delivery of a car someone has custom ordered and rejected, then yes, they have that argument as they have to market and sell the custom order the buyer rejected. If that order has not been built (code 1100 which is a computer entry not yet even accepted by the manufacturer), liquidated damages are virtually nil.

If your dealer says it's "non-refundable", you might politely ask where that is stipulated as you say you were not aware of that at the time of deposit. It might be buried in fine print somewhere though and that would be your error.

 

How many allocations did this "major, well known" dealer have in total and what number were you in line. With those two pieces of information you can fairly accurately determine when your order should have (or will) go in.

 

There is another variable that hasn't been mentioned yet and that is GM. They don't necessarily keep the orders in line as they come in. Mine is a perfect example, my order got placed from the Feb. allocation so somewhere around early Feb. it went in lets say the 10-13 range. Then on the 18th it finally showed 2000 event code, then two days later on the 20th was at 3000, the following Tuesday the 25th it's at 3300. It went to 3300 two and a half weeks after the order went in and the SAME day another car at the same dealership also went to 3300. That car had the order go in in December. Mine took two and a half weeks and the other took two and a half months to get to the same place at the plant. So I ended up jumping past a bunch at the dealership, I guess because GM was queuing up white 1LT cars to paint. So even if the dealer is honorable and keeps it fair and square with the order of deposits placed, there is no guarantee in the least that GM will. Might go better, might go worse.