Mecholova

As a kid I grew up loving machines. Planes, trains, cars, robots... if it had gears, I wanted to watch it, take it apart, reassemble it and marry it. I would be mesmerized by the whirs, clacks, pings and growls. My first run in with a Vette was when I was 5. My friends older sister was dating a guy who won a 76 Vette and I was in awe of it. When she dumped him, I swore Id never speak to any girl again! (Ive since rescinded that... but wont talk to her!)


When I hit my teens, I started buying Camaros and Firebirds for 50 to 300 bucks and my friends and I would spend summers repairing them, swapping engines and trannys...fixing those notorious rear quarter panels (I believe 40% of Bondos profits were due to the 74 - 81 Firebirds/Cameros) We eventually moved on to a 280ZX and my friend built up a 71 Dart. The Corvettes of that time were....okay. Living mostly on past glory we thought. True or not, Im not sure but, they were well out of reach for us so it was easier to blow them off.


My 20s and early 30s I spent driving BMWs. Nice cars but,at this point they all started looking the same to me. There was a small spark with the 97 Z3 but that faded quickly as the Zs started looking more like a glorified Miata. Every day on the road, car models blended into one another...oh is that a Lexus or Acura? They all seemed less interested in standing out from one another and more worried about keeping that suppository shape. I know there are a few lookers out there and its just my opinion. I dont want to offend anyone whos loyal to any particular brand or model. This is just my personal experience with cars...until back in July when I hopped online and there in corner was a tiny little blurb about a new Vette. I bit and clicked on it. Love at first sight! I didnt care about the specs or the eco mode or anything. It just looked friggin awesome to me.


I showed my better half (See? I talk to girls again) who has her own 96 Vette and she just stared at the picture and asked "Can we get Museum delivery?When do we pick it up?"


I go down to the closest Chevy dealer...the place is dark but open. Little cubicles with people hiding inside updating their FB staus to "Eatin a sammich" I stand around for about 5 minutes looking at the swank Malibu they have on the showroom floor and finally someone walks up and says "Sup? You lookin for a car?" I should have walked out then but I stayed to ask about the Stingray. "We dont deal in classic autos" So I rephrase it to the new vette and he says "It aint due out til next January" Okay. Next dealer.


I go home and look up some more info on the car and love it more. I had some other things to do so I couldnt get to a dealer untl mid August...This one is about 10 miles away and has about 20 vettes on the lot and a Callaway in the showroom. They must know something, right? First guy I ask replies with "We have a lot of great deals on 2012s!" Yes but I'd like to place an order for a 2014. Do you have any allocations? 35. Great! What deposit is required? We arent taking orders yet but leave your info and we'll call when we can. I left my info.

I see a commercial on television from a dealer thats about 40 miles away talking about the "New Chevy STANGAY" Okay so the voice over was poor but they at least know the car. I give them a try. Drive down and I meet Vinny. Vinny tells me "We have 60! The largest allocations West of the Mississippi!" (We're in Connecticut) before sitting down to scratch his belly through the hole in his shirt. Any chance I could put a deposit on one? Leave your info...


Its early September and after checking on the dealers I left my info with, I call more dealers. 13th dealer I spoke to that day tells me they have 5 allocations and 3 are taken! I rush there (102 miles away) with cash in hand! I meet the dealer... he is polite, jovial and well dressed. The dealership is bright and clean and there are clean new cars in the showroom. I have hope! We sit at his desk and he pulls up the "build your own" website...a little unconventional for a dealership I think but hey, I'll get what I want without mistake, right? I pick out my options, he prints it out, we both sign it and he goes to his GM. 40 minutes later he comes back out and tells me I'll be getting a call when the orders entered into the system. I leave my deposit and head home. A week goes by and no word. I call and they tell me theyre waiting for allocations to open up! Huh? You had 5, Im the 4th! Whats going on? "Youll have to ask the GM who isnt in today. Try tomorrow" I go down there the next day with my friend and ask the GM whats up. As Im talking to the GM, my salesperson it trying to get my friend into a used Monte Carlo. The GM tells me theyre expecting allocations. I ask if he knows about the whole limited allocation thing and how only 900 or so were given any in the first run. Nope. Just knows its a Chevy dealer and they can order whatever Chevy makes. I left my deposit with them (It is refundable) incase they do get an allocation at some point this year. It wouldnt do me much good to get the car for the winter so I can wait.


Meanwhile... I call one of the large Corvette dealerships and speak to someone who knows about the car. Great! I email my order and a week later he emails me a purchase order. A few options were left off so I email him for a revised order and get one a few days later. I sign it and wire the money. Then he calls and says I didnt fill it out right. He will get his boss to send a new one with instructions. That was a week ago..still waiting for it.


Today, Im getting spam from every dealer I left my info with about cars I have no interest in.

Vinny emailed me this morning... they have cars available for just $10k over MSRP! Joy.


Chevy Dealers, your sales were down over 10%. You have a great car many people want. Learn about. Read a magazine or maybe watch a video or something or hey, check out the Chevy site! Im sure youll find something there on it! I know youre probably busy now with all these people calling for a "Stangay" but maybe take some time to show a little courtesy to the people who are looking to do business? Do you think its a good idea to boost prices when you finally have people storming in after how many years of so so sales? Go crazy with the whole "supply/demand" or "Free market" excuse but bailout doesnt factor into either of those economic theories. And certainly no excuse for poor customer service relations in retail.


Anyway...the car is great but my enthusiasm for getting one is dropping due to this clown brigade.


End of book. You can wake up now.

BlueOx

Sad tale but all too frequent a story. It's easy to understand how Tesla wants to go in a different direction and why GM wanted to drop a lot of crappy dealerships years before they went bankrupt.

Parker Corvette

So true.

04c5z06

Just go to blasius chevy in Waterbury, I stopped by yesterday and they had 3 there and another one that was sold

I called a couple dealers just to see who had any and one guy tried saying the C7s aren't out yet but the new stingray was still a C6

I thought you had to be knowledgeable to be a salesman?

USAF

I can easily see the end of dealerships as they are.
Showrooms will be order hubs that sell at MSRP.
No sales people just order takers.
Just like Saturn used to do.

USAF

Mecholova

Thanks for the headsup o4c5. Checked them out too. Nice sales staff but they're doing 5-8k markup. I think it was 5.

VNAMVET

I would send a copy of your letter to Daniel Akerson, GM CEO.
I would also have a list of the dealers that I visited.

MikeyTX

Welcome to the forum ............. Do I understand you are in the New England area ? If so, you've got three of our top forum dealers so close to you. Mike Furman at Chriswell Chevy, Gaithersburg, MD. Tommy Jr. at MacMulkin in Nasua, NH and, Dave at Kerbeck, Atlantic City. Shouldn't be hard to get one on order using one of them.

MikeyTX

In fact, Mike Furman is on line as I type .........

Mecholova

Thanks for the idea! Ill do that. I dont know if it will change anything but makes more sense than just ranting on a forum

BlueOx

Truth is that GM doesn't have a lot of choice. They can't just kick them out. This is one of the reasons I'd like to see Corvette have it's own dealerships and offer more models of vehicles like Porsche or BMW. Maybe they could go together with Cadillac...

Mecholova

Im trying to not bad mouth anyone but I have spoken to a couple of these guys. One is mentioned (not by name) in my original post with my deposit. Ive been waiting for him to send a revised purchase order for a week now.

The other I spoke with today. Very friendly and knowledgeable but I wont make a move to him until I can speak to the first guy about either getting a revised purchase order soon or a refund on my deposit.

John Harry

MikeyTX is right - check out the Forum dealers.

JJPonzini

My dealer sent people to Spring Mountain dealer training and my sales guy talked at length about what they learned. I feel they know the C7 inside and out. I stopped in to look at a AW C7, but it had already been delivered. We had a very frank discussion on the market for C6's, which I have, and the prices on pthe C7 now and into the future. I'm not ready to buy now, but I know the first place I'll visit when I am. They are a very large Chevy dealer and I feel lucky that I don't have to deal with the OP's dealer.

Parker Corvette

Mr. Ox. I agree with you. I have much experience with BMW, Porsche, Cadillac, and Chevrolet. Which of the 4 is out of step. Chevrolet, of course. I doubt that I will ever own another Chevrolet product. Once you have graduated, you just don't go back.

Z0Sick6

If you used a forum vendor you wouldn't of needed to make this post.

/end thread

Mecholova

One of the people mentioned in my post is a forum vendor

MikeyTX

That makes sense. Hang in there. It will work out in your favor.

MikeC4C5C6...C7

Rick Conti, Coughlin Chevy in OH came through for me. Allocation and honesty. No premium over MSRP.

MikeyTX

ehhhhhh ..... Not so ............. Sometimes even they can/will drop the ball. Sadly, I speak from experience. It was not though any of the three I listed. Nor was it Rick Conti. Thought I should add that too.