toddrichards

@Dave - No Z/28? I cant imagine you guys didn't sell 12 Camaros all year. That sucks.

Higgs Boson

Imagine that, people who work at large urban center dealerships like the current system and so do the people who bought their cars there. Lol.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big believer in capitalism but GMs customer IS NOT THE DEALERSHIP. What an awesome comment. GM does not put television ads to entice the dealer to buy Sparks, Cruises, and Malibus. The dealer is a captive audience, sorry. GM is not going to lose a few sales to Toyota because their dealers decided they need a few on the lot.

There are many ways to allocate cars. If you don't have a pre-order strategy, a new dealer strategy, a regular business strategy and an end of life cycle strategy then you have a problem. GM clearly has a problem in this area.

And if you are asking "Who is going to sell the Corvette when it's not hot anymore?" then my answer is this:

What kind of denial does a manufacturer have to be in to have so many units left over and have their dealers ***** them out? Buy some new forecasting software, damn. You made too many. What is wrong with building 1 unit too few vs demand (I know, harder than it sounds)? The last customer can indeed buy the used one from the first customer in that case but at least you haven't completely devalued the brand and broken trust with half your customer base.

Dave@Ciocca

I can explain that. Our allocation is over 100 per month. GM gives us those 100 each month that have to be built but GM can not control if we order sold or stock units. Regardless of what we order they have to build because the factory is set up to build those cars and can't not build them because they are not sold orders.

If a smaller dealer gets 6 cars for the year, they get one every other month to space out the allocation and when that allocation comes up they can place the order. Just because a dealer has a pending sold order in the system GM will not pick it up early. That was the way it used to be until dealers started placing "sold" orders with fake names just so they could pick up cars that they shouldn't have.

As far as your dealer being a new dealer with no chance to earn, you are partially right. There are no "new" dealers. Even if it's a new building and a new owner, that dealer is inheriting an existing business plan from a dealer who closed which is what the allocations for all of your vehicle lines is based on. When your dealer principal/owner purchased the franchise he already knew this info. Buying the 2013s to sell will help but for next year. For 2015 allocation they are going to see that your dealer was allocated 6 in 2014 but sold 12 so they see you are growing and will give you more.

It's great to be excited to sell this car because it is one of the best cars in the world with the best owners, but you have to prove yourself to the manufacturer by walking before you run.

Dave

Dave@Ciocca

I respectfully disagree. First, have you ever been to Atlantic City? We are not a large, urban dealership. We are over 1 hour from a real city (Philadelphia) and we are actually a small dealer in the big scheme of things, just not with Corvettes.

You are also incorrect about the customer. The dealership is GM's customer. You can not call GM and buy a car from them. They run the ads to generate interest in the car so you will call your dealer and say that you want it. The dealer gets a lot of calls so the dealer buys more of those cars from GM.

As far as leftovers, that's not the point. There are not that many left overs out there. We were referring to the fact that places like this forum started talking about the C7 back in 2011 which left 3 years of selling a car that people were trying to compare to a new model.

If all dealers decided to stop selling the Corvette when it wasn't the "hot" product then GM wouldn't bother making the car anymore. Most of you would be shocked to find out just how many times the Corvette line has been on the chopping block over the years.

Dave

Stepa j

Dave,

Thanks for the explanation. Learn something new everyday.


Kinda of reminds me of my wife. She is a teacher and the district gives her a budget for supplies. She has to spend it even if she does not need to or they will take it a way. They have no ability to efficiently allocate resources. Government Motors?

Larry/car

Dave, I have been watching your inventory since 2006. They are either over optioned or really basic. Inbound cars are just like the units currently on hand.

Higgs Boson

yes, I have been to atlantic city. not my cup of ocean water. it sounds like your dealership may be a good example of a new strategy being useful. you don't have to be harmed by a new strategy just because you benefit from the current one.

The reason an end user must get their car from the dealer is due to the law. Start HERE. I am not saying I want dealerships to go away, I don't, because I make my living in this business too. But at least understand why things are the way they are.

Let me make my point another way. If customers didn't buy cars from dealerships then dealerships would not buy cars from manufacturers. You do know that your dealership is a franchise, right? If customers didn't buy cars from dealerships then how long would the manufacturer stay in business only selling cars to dealerships? Not long because dealerships buy those cars with the understanding that they can sell them for a profit in a short period of time. This is called a reseller. A middleman. A link in the distribution chain. I would contend a necessary link.....but not THE customer.

But I understand why a dealer wants to see themselves as a customer. Because the customer gets (should get) SERVICE. CUSTOMER SERVICE, in fact. And if the manufacturer treats their dealer body poorly, that just ain't good service. Hey, we are the customer because we send you money for goods! In a way, but no more than the grocery store is a lettuce customer. Except that the grocery store can find a new supplier and we can't.....

And as far as leftovers, yes, it is the point. If GM wants to forecast 1000 sales for the last year of the generation and release info about the new one 3 years in advance, it is hopefully by design that what happens later happens how it does. If they sell 300 per year at massive discounts I just can't see how that is good for anybody. Even the sales manager at your dealership desperately incentivizes the sales force to dump all last year's models as fast as possible and then clap in the meetings for the person who sells the last one in inventory. Fun for the morning but remind me what positive effect this has on an industry....

Patriot77

I literally placed my order on Oct.4th, 2013 and Iam still at "1100" which I guess means the order has been received by GM but there is no allocation given to the dealer. I saw the dealer today in person and was told he has "no idea" as to when I will get the car. It could even be a 2015 at this point in the process. He said they stop the 2014 production in May, so if we don't know something solid by then I probably will be out of luck for a 14. I got a feeling this is going to be a "very long long wait". Mine is a Z51 and I don't want to change that because in the long run that option is going to be what helps the car hold its value.

Larry/car

Try live chat on the Chevrolet tracker site. I got good info on my order, verified dealer. My order placed 11/11/13. Re edited 12/17. Dealer doesn't no which concession period my order will be picked up. We are now into the second allocation phase.

toddrichards

Why not look for another dealer that has allocation now?

JoesC5

I agree, Kansas City isn't that far from Omaha and Hendricks has a dealership there, also Cable-Dahmer, and they both have allocations.

I just checked Hendrick's Kansas City website and it shows they have 19 C7's in stock and 3 of them are Z51's.

Greg00Coupe

Wonder how a much a role a big dealer had in saving Corvette when times where lean??? Maybe the car would not have been around if not for the kerbecks of the Corvette world.

One of our local dealers refused a bunch of ZR1s(?0 the c4s with the marine engine. Gm had tons to get rid of the dealer said not my problem. It been a long road back for that dealer to get any allocation.

Two sides to every story.

To me when I go to event and see the commitments made by the Kerbecks and Criswells...... I'm glad they are around.

Gee Mike @ Criswell sent a note he had 3 Z51s in stock. Why mess with a small dealer who's sale is one and done>?

Glen e

I agree 100%, and it's not all roses for the big boys, when things slow mid cycle or the market takes a hit, they will still get the call to take HUGE amounts of C7 product and they really can't say no. Easy to see all the gross profit they are running to the caymans with now, going up in smoke with a bad slow year or two......

MikeC4C5C6...C7

Guys in July I gave up on my local dealer and ordered a Z51 from Rick Conti. I took delivery on Oct 11. If you ordered a couple months ago and it hasn't picked up yet order somewhere else! While the process is interesting driving the car is FUN.

rickriada

Wow...reading this as a "lucky" past buyer of two 2014 Z51 C7s (one coupe and one convertible) concerns me wrt the other buyers who have orders in and are waiting for allocations, etc at the various Chevy dealers throughout the nation. I now feel very lucky that I have been able to buy our two cars due to my dealer in Clearwater being able, lucky or having the foresight to make it happen for at least me, not to mention his other buyers. Maybe he did "everything right for the last couple of corvette sales years" to make this happen for me and his other buyers? But... I now really know that I really don't understand the mechanics of being able to buy a hot new car via the GM system based on my "desired dealer doing it right or not" but I do hope that everyone else who ordered their new vette has the "luck" and patience to see it come through. Good luck to all new buyers of this fabulous new vette!

Dave80C3

Not a flaw but a smart business model for GM the company. See, we are not customers of GM, we are customer of the Dealer.

So GM like any smart business owner puts its best customers first. For Corvette we all know who GM's best customers are, the large forum dealers.

I am sure if you buy more cars from a dealer than any other customer you expect and receive different treatment than the person who only buys a car every ten years from them.

Because, the small dealer did not buy anything when it was hard to sell. Now that its an easy sell they suddenly want it.

GM has figured that out. Kerbeck is GM's customer, you and I are not. We have to buy our cars from a Dealer, we can not go to the Corvette plant and buy a car. We can not cal the plant and buy or order a car. Kerbeck and many other dealers can.

All business take the best care of their best customers. Airlines up grade frequent flyer, with over 75K miles a year to first class frequently for free. The guy who files five times a year does not get up graded when its less then 5K miles a year.

My local Harley dealer throws a Christmas party, dinner and drinks and band for the top 50 customers for the year. Many of us get first in line for some special model because we are in that top 50 customers every year.

GM is no different, it's rewarding its top 10 or 20 dealers, and doing fairly, the more they sold in 12 the more they get now.

I bought mine from a small local dealer who took cars and sold at a loss in 12 so he could get cars in 14.

Glen e

And this allocation system is not some brainchild of GM's it is the way the courts have ruled for the last 30 years when it comes to selling hot product. Do some googling on the Honda Allocation Lawsuits of the early 80's when Honda gave product to who they liked. Without a hard and fast mathematical way to allocate product, it does not fly anymore. Dealers challenge it all the time, I have been on the stand twice in my 20 years as a BMW rep, with a dealer accusing me of giving out M3's to his neighbor and not him. (I won both times)

And for those that think the small dealer is getting shafted, if he makes up his mind to be a corvette dealer he can do it. How did we end up with one of the big boys in Montana? or for that matter, one in Atlantic City or Pataskala? Because they decided to do it. He went and bought other dealers inventory when they did not want it, sold it and got the record for the sale. He took C6's when your "little dealer" you want to buy from, told GM to shove it. So if any dealer in the country wants to become a big corvette dealer, he can do it now and he'll be rewarded with C8 hot product.

The truth is most don't want to do it as it's a loaded gun, and basically, dealers don't want anything that does not sell.

Stepa j

I guess I come from a different perspective. I don't fit the typical demographic probably a good bit younger than most buyers. If I had my way I would go to GM's website configure my car, wire the money to GM and have them deliver the car to my doorstep. No calling dealers, no ridiculous negotiations, no trying to find some one to ship car etc etc.

It will happen someday.

Glen e

it works well for hot product, but not at all for volume slow sellers like the rest of their line....anybody can "wal-mart" their hot stuff...

Stepa j

Maybe, but like most on this site I do have more than a few cars/bikes in my garage and I would order all of them like that if I could. Just personal preference I guess.