Rich Mickol

OP. If it were me, this is what I would do. Instead of all this back and forth on the Forum, I would sit down and write a letter explaining the situation and mail it certified/registered mail to

Daniel Akerson
President, CEO of GM
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit MI
48232-5170

Take the battle right to the top yourself. If you don't get an answer or don't like the answer you get then spend your money on a Ford.

I thank you for your service and wish you luck in getting this mess resolved to your satisfaction.

Dave@Ciocca

Actually we are a full line GM Dealer here and with almost no Corvette sales this year (since the new car isn't out yet) we a are the largest GM dealer in sales in NJ, PA and DE. We also have 7 non-GM franchises.

Most Chevy dealers don't pay attention to the export list because not many people are looking to export the Malibu to Dubai. Larger Corvette dealers do need to pay attention to the list. There's another dealer here on the forum that I know who didn't look at the list in the past but does now...

Dave@Ciocca

I agree with Rich but the OP has already purchased a Corvette from another dealer. The point of his thread is that either GM's system is wrong or that Kerbeck simply didn't want to sell him a car. Obviously we want to sell everyone a car but we do have to follow GM's rules. He feels that he is being punished by this rule but I don't think he realizes that we do were punished by the rule by not being able to sell him the car.

Dave

AddisonD

This was all sort of interesting at first, but by now - and in more than one thread - it has become trite. RobVette already solved his problem by purchasing a car elsewhere.

Therefore, RV really has no ongoing problem, and certainly not one with Kerbeck, since he did not deal with them. Rather, he is simply using the internet to continue to whine about the Kerback situation he felt he encountered, and wants to somehow punish them for following the GM rules and restrictions as they understand them. He is not trying to win them over and have them sell him a car, because he already bought the car elsewhere.

Fwiw, I have two reactions, and I realize that some of you are likely to disagree:
One is that I find it very forthright that Dave at Kerbeck has participated in this discussion, and explained the dealership's position. If the forum readers don't like that, then they either don't understand what he is writing, or don't care - but there is no doubt that he came on here and explained it. For that he gets my kudos.

The other is that the fact that RobVette is in US military, or DoD, service keeps coming up, but that has nothing to do with this matter. There is an implication that being in that service gives a person the right to expect a business to ignore its policies. There is no basis for that, and in this case I see it as an effort to gain some arcane advantage that is not actually due.

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GuyFromLeMans

Thank you Addison, you just saved me some typing.

There are ways around this hassle btw, but they involve having trusted friends or family members on the other side of the pond... (Been there done that many times over)

Bottom line here is called "protectionism".
Every country that I know makes it hell for anyone to ship a vehicle to any other country, and it makes sense if you're in the car selling business.

RobVette

I've been part of DoD for thirty five years and have never seek or expected anyone to change their company policies. Nor am I trying to punish Kerbeck only seeking answers!

Steve_R

Excellent post and my thoughts exactly. This horse has been dead for a long time. The OP got his new Vette and Kerbeck didn't get in any trouble although they lost a sale and the profit from it. Seems both parties came out just fine.

11Black-GS

The OP being in the US military has a lot to do with it because it explains why he has exported two vehicles. I personally did not think he was looking for anyone to ignore policies or gain an advantage because of his service.

I believe the reason why this topic has continued was because at least one poster wanted to know what happened (even though the OP already purchased elsewhere). I added my 2 cents because I was curious and I wanted to learn more about the topic. I appreciate Dave's replies as it has satisfied my curiosity.

IMO, one of the benefits of this forum is discussion. If you are solely on here to get answers then great. However, let the ones who also like to discuss things educate themselves and learn from others by back and forth correspondence.

AddisonD

I didn't intend to imply that I was trying to short-circuit the discussion. Clearly, I jumped into it myself. Perhaps I should have tried to write more specifically. As I typed that, I was thinking that all the posts about what he could do to make Kerbeck change, or what Kerbeck could do to work around the restrictions, were not going to actually end up going anywhere. To that end, the deal is done and dusted. That's what I intended, even though I didn't get it to come across very well in my post.



Ok, I get that - no problem.

What I was thinking was that you elected to start this thread with the title "DoD Personnel Cannot Purchase a New Corvette if They Shipped a Corvette Overseas", and thus steering the topic to be about DoD service related to GM/Corvette/Kerback policies. Actually, the restrictions you ran into had nothing to do with DoD personnel, they had to do with buying new* cars here and then shipping them overseas.

And without a doubt, you did get the answers, and you did go on and solve the problem those answers presented to you.


...
*I emphasize the word "new" because it would seem that none of this would have happened had you bought a used vehicle, or had you shipped a car that you already owned in the US.

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Dave@Ciocca

No so fast...the actual rule says that I can't sell a car out of the US unless it has been in service for 12 months and have over 7,500 miles on it. Notice that I said AND, not OR.

I called GM last week because I had one our Canadian friends interested in buying a 2011 Corvette that had 4,200 miles. I figured it was not an issue but something told me to call and check. I was told that since it had under 7,500 miles it may come back as an audit.

This was a USED CAR. I don't know how I would have been punished if I sold a used car, but being the good soldier I did not sell the car. Like I said in an earlier post, I don't like the rules but I live by them.

Dave

ParisTNDude

I know a lot of people who bought Corvettes and other US made cars from AAFES while overseas as recently as 2008. I could understand their reluctance if they thought you were asking for an export model. It really doesn't pay to buy a US spec car with the intent to sell over seas IMO, since it costs tons to do the conversion to Euro specs along with the import fees and taxes. However, German cars sell in the US cheaper than over seas. Why is that? The American market for Euro cars is huge...why doesn't our country do something about that?

AddisonD

Yeah, I see that, but we are back to you being a GM dealership. Wonder how this might have played out if the very car you had for sale had been sitting on a generic used-car lot, that was not associated with a US manufacturer.

Here is what I had in mind:
There is a very large business here called Texas Direct Auto. They offer a huge number of high-end cars of all makes, including a lot of vettes. I looked at several there, over the past 24 months.

Anyway, they have this entry on their website: International Customers Welcome, We Sell and Ship Worldwide". They list some cars that are super low mileage, and some current model year.


Edit for adding this:
Jochen in Germany had another thread about buying a vette here to ship to Germany.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...12-gs-z16.html

He wrote that he was looking at used cars, because there were problems and restrictions with buying a new one to send out of the US. He worked the issues by finding a used car that met his criteria, and having it sent over. He has a new thread on that as well: "My 2012 Grand Sport Centennial arrived in Germany"
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...n-germany.html



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RobVette

Addison,
You're way off target by saying; "i should have purchase a used vehicle"

BTW..the last corvette that i shipped and still own in Germany was a used corvette" And last month, i purchased a brand new 2013 Grand Sport, 3LT for my Son.

It's my choice; if i decide to purchase used or new not yours!

For the record; I like Dave but disagree with Kerbeck in-house sale policy toward overseas DoD employees! At present, I've a better understanding of the big picture than i had 3-4 weeks ago.

AddisonD

Rob, you're really wandering here. I never wrote you should have purchased used, nor did I imply that you should have done that. As it ended up, I was having a discussion with Dave, from Kerbeck, about the new versus used topic for his dealership situation.

I can't believe you resort to putting that sentence in quotes, as if I had written it. That's just not right. Please read my posts again, and you will see that you have gotten way off from what was written.

You are really being sensitive here, over nothing. Of course, it is your decision to buy new or used; and it is also your decision to make an ongoing debate about it on this forum.
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Eric G

While Rob is wandering here, many US servicepersonnel and DoD civilians are likely to wind up in this situation if they buy GM while stationed overseas. As less then 1 percent of the living population has served or currently serves, I can see where many people would think this situation is likely to be rare.

There are hundreds of thousands of US military personnel and DoD civilians on Permanent Change of Station(PCS) orders outside of the US. This is different than a deployment like wartime. On PCS, you live in that country with your family and your goods are shipped there including your vehicle. This happens literally all over the world, with big emphasis on Europe, Southwest and Southeast Asia.

Government only pays for 1 car to and from. If I buy a second car in the US, I ship it myself. Gov't only returns 1. If I were to try to trade in to US dealer, I would end up paying for at least one vehicle to go back. There is no 'cheat' of the system here. They only pay one each way.

So, it makes most sense that I would sell any car I want to get rid of IN the country I'm in, which it appears would place me on this list. By the way, I can buy cars through the armed forces Exchange system from many US manufacturers for direct delivery, but NOT GM.

As I'm considering going overseas on my next PCS, would certainly bring my vette, and while I am not planning on selling it overseas, I would if the C7 Z06 is more awesome than the one I have and I got the right deal!

Hopefully everyone here not in the military can see where it may appear that military/DoD civilians aren't being fairly considered in GM's policy?

And Rob, you need to let go of Kerbeck, it IS GM's policy, not theirs. They just happen to follow it. Let's focus on making GM aware of the flaws of their policy.

Eric

phileaglesfan

GM should make an exception for those that work for the DoD overseas. What happens if a military couple buys two GM cars at the same time while living say in Germany? Technically the cars are not in Germany as far as the Germans are concerned.

I know you use to pay US sales tax on your vehicle bought in Germany if you didn't have it registered with the US Army there for at least 6 months before shipping it home. Utah wanted $2500 to register my Audi in the late 90s. I told them to read their books and they came out saying it was $185 or so. I then showed them that I was an Idaho resident so they took off the $150 property tax.

Obviously Dave had dealings with GM over this issue before and is not willing to make the same mistake again.

Yes, a lot of Canadians like to buy cars down here especially with the crappy (for us) exchange rate. I guess they don't do what the Germans do and screw you even if you bring it into the country.

RobVette

I would like to THANK everyone for your contribution to this issue/thread to include Dave (Kerbeck).