EZDOESIT

Does anyone know the current GM policy reguarding GMS pricing on the C6?

My dealer allowed me to factory order a M. Yellow Z51 Vert in Dec with $500.00 down and a signed purchace agreement indicating GMS pricing. Now into Feb the dealer informed me that GM is not allowing GMS factory orders on the verts. Coupes yes. Is this true? If so, how can they legally do this with a signed, deposited, GM order accepted vehicle? Or is it more likely the dealer shifting the blame to "GM" in an effort to save face on a GMS order they could not/ did not intend to satisfy in the first place.

Pete.

mike1952

GM discontinued the GMS on verts February 1. It is not the dealers fault. The coupes are still on the program.

jschindler

Interesting case. I would think they would have to honor it if your order was placed on the factory back then at GMS. I would pursue it through GM.

I just got to thinking this through some more. In order to get GMS on a factory order, I think they have to place the order on the factory as a GMS order. You should ask the dealer if they did that. I know if they take a vehicle into stock, they can still sell it at GMS (on an eligible vehicle), but if they place the order on the factory as a sold order, it should have been placed at GMS.

Boozman

This was way before the cut off push this to the max with GM

Dmeech

If you made a contract with the dealer or Gm and they breached it, you can take 'em to the courts as it is a breach of contract.

mike1952

the car had to be invoiced prior to February 1 not just ordered....read the rules on GMS and GM supplier. The dealer is caught in the middle on this......he can't do anything about it and I doubt if GM really cares about what either of them thinks at this point. The only way a vert could have met the deadline would have been one of the almost nonexistant stock units in a dealer's possession and a dealer is sure not going to give up profit on a hard to come by car that people are offering over MSRP to purchase.

This is just like any other rebate deadline.

RLIP

Sad to say, you don't have a case. I looked into this last year because I was eligible. The GMS pricing is handled just like any other rebate. You are eligilbe for what ever is in effect at the time of delivery, not at the time of ordering. Just like all of the people who ordered cars in January. Just because the Owner Loyalty was in effect when they ordered does not mean they get it when the car comes in. I agree that it is , but thems the rules!

jschindler

Actually, I still question this (you may be right, I just question it). Rebates were always designed to sell vehicles from stock. GMS is not. And go back to my post earlier, aren't sold orders entered on the factory as "GMS" orders at the time? I find it very hard to believe that GM can or will accept an order on the factory, then when it's delivered say "too bad". In this case, the car has not been delivered, but what if it was? Would he be allowed to say "sorry, I won't buy it because the price is not at stated on the purchase contract"?

We all know that cars are price protected if there is an increase after an order is placed on the factory. This would seem to be the same to me.

Ken Fichtner

Let me try to shed some light on this:

When a dealers submits to General Motors an order request for a car or truck to be sold under the GM Employee or Supplier Plan, the order is submitted as a SOLD order. There is no differentiation between a retail customer and a certificate holding customer.

The Employee and Supplier plans are plans that a dealer can voluntarily honor if they have sufficient supplies and are willing to sell a car or truck at a price, including the rebate from GM, that is often lower than the price that the same product will sell for to someone else.

When a dealer "delivers" or reports delivered, a new car or truck, the rebate or purchase programs (including the GM plans) may or may not be available.

GM reserves the right to control which products are available under the plans and it is not uncommon to see products that are not available exempted from the plan.

At present there are less than 50 Corvette Convertibles in dealer's inventories nationwide and thus the Convertible is not a readily available product.

A dealer who accepted an order for a Convertible prior to the car being exempted has done nothing wrong. Employees and suppliers can view the rules and the disclaimers in the appropriate website. There never has been any rebate or program protection on a sold order. The only protection offered is price protection as discussed in my weekly newsletter. Note that price protection is only offered for the model year in which the order was placed. Thus if your dealer is unable to get you a 2005 model you won't be able to purchase a 2006 model at the 2005 prices in effect when you placed the order.

Have a great day,
Ken Fichtner

msm859

First contractually I don't think it is cut and dry. If someone ordered the vehicle and was told they would get GMS pricing. The fact that there is some web site out there that has disclaimers may not protect the dealership -- I would readily take this case to court.
More importantly though, it is bad business and ethically wrong for GM to have the verts on the list of eligible vehicles, have people with orders for months and months and then because of their delays in production take it off just as they are going to start actually shipping the vehicles. Many people relied in good faith on being able to get that pricing. GM should do the RIGHT thing and honor it on any vehicle ordered before 2/1/05!

jschindler

Ken, thanks for the explanation, but could you be more specific in answering these questions?

1) On a Sold GMS order, do you enter it on the factory as a GMS order?

2) If a customer orders a car at GMS, and (for sake of agrument) a couple of days before the car arrives, GM cancels it's availability on that car, what is the customers obligation to buy this car?

Let me explain why I think this is such an important question. On every other order, the customer negotiates a purchase price with the dealer, then the "rebate" is deducted from that negotiated price at the time of delivery. GM has nothing to do with the negotiated price.

On GMS, the dealer CANNOT negotiate price (assuming he is agreeing to honor GMS). The dealer is agreeing to sell the car at the GMS level that is determined by GM, not the dealer.

Soooo, if the car comes in, and GMS has been canceled, you have no other negotiated price on the car, right? Therefore, the buyer has no contractual obligation to buy the car, as I see it. Let's be clear here. The difference between GMS and MSRP on a Corvette is as much as $8,000 or more if I remember correctly.

Your thoughts on these specific issues would be greatly appreciated.

Ken Fichtner

"1) On a Sold GMS order, do you enter it on the factory as a GMS order?"

No, an order "request" is simply entered as stock or sold. There is no GM Employee or Supplier sold order program.

"2) If a customer orders a car at GMS, and (for sake of agrument) a couple of days before the car arrives, GM cancels it's availability on that car, what is the customers obligation to buy this car?"

If the dealer cannot, because of the program rules imposed by the manufacturer, offer the car under the program then the customer is not obligated. If any of you are facing this please let me know and I will gladly go buy the convertible from the dealer!

"Let me explain why I think this is such an important question. On every other order, the customer negotiates a purchase price with the dealer, then the "rebate" is deducted from that negotiated price at the time of delivery. GM has nothing to do with the negotiated price."

"On GMS, the dealer CANNOT negotiate price (assuming he is agreeing to honor GMS). The dealer is agreeing to sell the car at the GMS level that is determined by GM, not the dealer."

You are correct. The price is non-negotiable.

"Soooo, if the car comes in, and GMS has been canceled, you have no other negotiated price on the car, right? Therefore, the buyer has no contractual obligation to buy the car, as I see it. Let's be clear here. The difference between GMS and MSRP on a Corvette is as much as $8,000 or more if I remember correctly."

Again, you are correct. I can't, however, agree that there is an $8000 difference. The difference depends entirely on the car and the price at which the dealer would be selling the car without the GM plan.

I wouldn't think that any dealer would have a problem refunding a deposit and allowing the customer to back out of a deal when this car is one that we simply can't get.

I hope that these answers help.

Ken Fichtner

jschindler

Thanks Ken. As always, you are a great asset to this forum

jraz

Yes, I think that we who have vert GMS orders before Feb 1st should be grandfathered in. Maybe someone high up in GM will read this forum, understand that "it isn't fair" and try to help us. Maybe one of the forum dealers can put forth our case. Can't be that many of us since very few dealers would sell a vert at GMS. My dealer is a class guy and isn't greedy for which I am grateful.

I am also one of those poor souls who have had a GMS vert order in since November. Mine was to be produced in January and I would have had the $1500 loyalty money as well ( what a great deal that would have been). However, mine had the power top option and I received word on Jan 22nd that if I changed to a manual top I might receive it in March. So , I did but then learned that GMS went away Feb 1st. Had I known that was going to be the case I could have had a coupe out of inventory GMS in January with the loyalty bonus. ( Yes, there are a number of dealers that are selling coupes at GMS, thanks to those guys since they are doing many of us a great favor) . Nonetheless, my wife is right when she says there isn't anything to be done about it and get on with life. So, that's what I am doing. Getting my mag red coupe ( my first coupe) on GMS tomorrow. It's still a great deal on a fantastic car. Maybe I 'll like the coupe better than the vert. Time will tell. I'm getting excited about it just writing this email. Thanks GM for not taking the GMS off the coupes as well. When the weather breaks in the North and the C6's start selling like hot cakes, watch the GMS go off of the coupes as well. IMHO, if you have GMS then get a coupe soon before you won't be able to. It really is a great program to take advantage of.