Unfulfilled Dealer Allocation
01-30-2014, 09:33 AM
#81
Platinum Supporting Dealership
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.
It will happen someday.
To get the price to where it is, they have to plan how many they are going to build so they can tell their suppliers what they need and negotiate the price of the parts based on that. If they need to wait for customers to order cars before they build them, they would have a difficult time of forecasting.
With dealers, the dealers agree how many they are going to buy from the factory and the factory knows what to build.
Also, without dealers, where would you go to look at colors and options in person? Where would you go for a test drive?
Then, for those of you that think the $995 destination is crazy...what do you think it would cost to deliver them one at a time to people's houses?
And last, of course, is that fact that buying online would have no price competition and you would never see competitive discounting.
Building a product to sell online for direct ship works fine for a $300 ipad that costs $20 to make in China or a $500 TV that costs $50 to make when they are all made exactly the same or with maybe one option. However, with a $50-$75,000 car with dozens of possible configurations, it is not cost effective to sell it that way.
Dave
01-30-2014, 09:39 AM
#82
Le Mans Master
Once upon a time there was a dealership in Paramus, NJ,
called Malcolm Konner Chevrolet. Malcolm Konnor was a wise business man and the number one corvette dealer in the country. Back in the 60's-80's there were no allotments. If you wanted a Corvette you went to Malcolm Konnor and purchased one. You could go to another dealer in area called Hawthorne Chevrolet with their Corvette Corral and purchase one from John Curry. These were the premier dealerships. GM even made a limited edition Malcolm Konner Model. now that's powerful. Konner had 2 corvette salesmen. Both did extremely well, they were not available everyday. If you wanted to buy a Corvette you had to go when one or both were working. if not you could not buy a Vette. Times have changed and strategic planning is needed on sales, inventory and promotions to be successful. As a successful business man i understand the allotment system along with it's good and bad points. The strong survive and to the victor go the spoils
This debate will be short lived once the novelty has worn off. remember the 1978 Indy limited Edition Corvette. Not worth what it was thought to be worth today. The big corvette dealers will be big and the smaller dealers will sell their cruz's and mid size cars. In the end all will get their cars, some garage queens, some daily drivers. what is good is this Forum has very knowledgeable members who are street smart and successful! Remember if Malcolm Konnors salesmen were not working you could not buy a Corvette
called Malcolm Konner Chevrolet. Malcolm Konnor was a wise business man and the number one corvette dealer in the country. Back in the 60's-80's there were no allotments. If you wanted a Corvette you went to Malcolm Konnor and purchased one. You could go to another dealer in area called Hawthorne Chevrolet with their Corvette Corral and purchase one from John Curry. These were the premier dealerships. GM even made a limited edition Malcolm Konner Model. now that's powerful. Konner had 2 corvette salesmen. Both did extremely well, they were not available everyday. If you wanted to buy a Corvette you had to go when one or both were working. if not you could not buy a Vette. Times have changed and strategic planning is needed on sales, inventory and promotions to be successful. As a successful business man i understand the allotment system along with it's good and bad points. The strong survive and to the victor go the spoils This debate will be short lived once the novelty has worn off. remember the 1978 Indy limited Edition Corvette. Not worth what it was thought to be worth today. The big corvette dealers will be big and the smaller dealers will sell their cruz's and mid size cars. In the end all will get their cars, some garage queens, some daily drivers. what is good is this Forum has very knowledgeable members who are street smart and successful! Remember if Malcolm Konnors salesmen were not working you could not buy a CorvetteI have their autographs on many different Corvette items as a result of going to the shows. Whoever was there sat at a table and a line formed with people carrying objects to be signed.
Malcolm Konner was a great place for Corvettes.
Last edited by Corgidog1; 01-30-2014 at 09:41 AM.
01-30-2014, 11:47 AM
#83
Melting Slicks
Dave,
I have an interesting question for you, although I think I know the answer.
In the '70s and '80s the father of the dealership president/owner that I work for, owned the worlds largest Corvette dealer. His dealership happened to be in the same town and on the same street as we are today. Even though we are a new dealership, do you think the family history of Corvettes can help us with future allocations?
Thanks!
I have an interesting question for you, although I think I know the answer.
In the '70s and '80s the father of the dealership president/owner that I work for, owned the worlds largest Corvette dealer. His dealership happened to be in the same town and on the same street as we are today. Even though we are a new dealership, do you think the family history of Corvettes can help us with future allocations?
Thanks!
01-30-2014, 12:39 PM
#85
Race Director
Here's why GM is really concerned with supporting the local economy with giving out allocations. The customer who buys the car out of state is still going to have the car serviced locally (at a dealer or independent garage) and for 8 years out of 10 there is way more money to be made in parts in service of a Corvette than on the sale of one. The first year or two of a new generation is the exception to that rule. Does it stink for a sales guy like you who wants to build the market? Yep. Will your dealer still make the money off of those local customers who bought out of the area? Yep as well.
Keep pushing and you can build up your allocation over the next few years. When a special model comes out or the next generation hits, you'll be in a good position to serve your local market.
Dave
Keep pushing and you can build up your allocation over the next few years. When a special model comes out or the next generation hits, you'll be in a good position to serve your local market.
Dave
Getting a new car serviced at a dealer who didn't sell the car is stressful/awkward. Most dealers will not go the extra mile, even stall warranty items; the customer suffers, they blame GM for a lousy product. I can't fault the dealer, either.
01-30-2014, 12:40 PM
#86
Team Owner
I'm now in the camp that believes every dealer should be able to order a Corvette when they want to. But, I still want to be able to walk into every one of those 3000 Chevy dealers and buy the exact car I want without having to wait for the dealer to order me a car.
Therefore, GM should require every dealer to keep a minimum of 100 Corvettes in stock, at all times. That should cover most of the color/option choices.
And to keep things fair between all the dealers, no matter how large or small they are, every dealer will have to have the 100 Corvettes in stock, before they are allowed to sell the first one.
Let's see. 100 Corvettes times 3000 dealers equals 300,000 Corvettes GM must build before the first one can be sold. And that's annually. Now every dealer is on a level playing field as far as having enough Corvettes to sell and make a bundle of money.
As a "customer" of GM, that works for me. Let the dealers worry about what they are going to do with the left over 270,000 Corvettes come June when the next model year goes into production.
It's a win-win-win. I get to walk into my local dealer in a town of 6,000 and drive home the exact Corvette I want, this afternoon. Every dealer will make huge profits from the sale of 100 Corvettes, and the UAW gets the dues from another 10,000 members.
Therefore, GM should require every dealer to keep a minimum of 100 Corvettes in stock, at all times. That should cover most of the color/option choices.
And to keep things fair between all the dealers, no matter how large or small they are, every dealer will have to have the 100 Corvettes in stock, before they are allowed to sell the first one.
Let's see. 100 Corvettes times 3000 dealers equals 300,000 Corvettes GM must build before the first one can be sold. And that's annually. Now every dealer is on a level playing field as far as having enough Corvettes to sell and make a bundle of money.
As a "customer" of GM, that works for me. Let the dealers worry about what they are going to do with the left over 270,000 Corvettes come June when the next model year goes into production.
It's a win-win-win. I get to walk into my local dealer in a town of 6,000 and drive home the exact Corvette I want, this afternoon. Every dealer will make huge profits from the sale of 100 Corvettes, and the UAW gets the dues from another 10,000 members.
Last edited by JoesC5; 01-30-2014 at 12:45 PM.
01-30-2014, 12:44 PM
#87
Race Director
Member Since: Sep 2013
Location: Ft Lauderdale
Posts: 10,408
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Tech Contributor
That's your guess and certainly not a given. I have two dealers here in Florida that have called me twice trying to get my service business after buying at Conti, 1200 miles away. Service dollars are service dollars to many dealers including the big chains like Penske, autonation Hendrick and Group 1... In many of those chains, the service manager does not even report to anyone in the dealership, but to a regional VP of service 400 -600 miles away.
Last edited by Glen e; 01-30-2014 at 01:07 PM.
01-30-2014, 12:58 PM
#88
Team Owner
The stressful part was buying a new Corvette and paying a luxury tax on it, and having it in for warranty work fourteen times during the first 14,000 miles, and not with a dealer that didn't sell me the car.
Oh, before I forget, when it came time to buy my new 09 Z06 in 08, I purchased it from Reliable Chevrolet. If they had pissed me off by giving me crappy warranty work on the C5 I didn't purchase from them, I would have never purchased my Z06 from them. And a year after I started having Reliable do the warranty work on my C5, I purchased a new Mercedes from them(from their Mercedes store next door).
Last edited by JoesC5; 01-30-2014 at 04:21 PM.
01-30-2014, 01:41 PM
#89
Platinum Supporting Dealership
Many years ago, dealers made money selling cars and they only had the service departments because they were required to under the franchise agreement. Many were happy to have service break even.
In today's world, it's flipped. You hope your showroom breaks even and let service department pay the bills. Anyone who won't service a car properly because it wasn't purchased there is a dealer who won't be around much longer.
Dave
01-30-2014, 07:05 PM
#90
Race Director
Member Since: Nov 2013
Location: Gulf Coast AL
Posts: 13,190
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St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16,'19
NCM Sinkhole Donor
Wow great read on a long flight. There is not much I can add which has not been said except....
My local two dealers were honest....
1. Maybe 4 allocations first of the year
2.had already sold their allocation, hopefully would get more but did not know when (thank you honest dealers)
So....I ordered from Kerbeck Oct 4, picked up at Museum Jan 7, My husband and I flew to Nashville, rented a car and drove to BG, it was fun and interesting to tour the factory and museum. 7 hour drive home.
Dave and my salesman went above and beyond (dropped Fay and CF roof and added CF mirror/spoiler and black wheels 2 weeks into the order.)
My salesman Ron text me yesterday to check on me and make sure I was ok during the Southern Arctic Blast (we are not used to ice and snow). Dave put up with my many emails asking question, he truly is a great guy!
One more thing I am going to say is...this is the system, you can whine but you're not going to change it
..if your dealer does not have an allocation you can order from one of the forum dealers, or not, but the system is not going to change as it is working for most.
(Please excuse any typos slow internet on the plane and I hate typing on an IPad)
My local two dealers were honest....
1. Maybe 4 allocations first of the year
2.had already sold their allocation, hopefully would get more but did not know when (thank you honest dealers)
So....I ordered from Kerbeck Oct 4, picked up at Museum Jan 7, My husband and I flew to Nashville, rented a car and drove to BG, it was fun and interesting to tour the factory and museum. 7 hour drive home.
Dave and my salesman went above and beyond (dropped Fay and CF roof and added CF mirror/spoiler and black wheels 2 weeks into the order.)
My salesman Ron text me yesterday to check on me and make sure I was ok during the Southern Arctic Blast (we are not used to ice and snow). Dave put up with my many emails asking question, he truly is a great guy!
One more thing I am going to say is...this is the system, you can whine but you're not going to change it
..if your dealer does not have an allocation you can order from one of the forum dealers, or not, but the system is not going to change as it is working for most. (Please excuse any typos slow internet on the plane and I hate typing on an IPad)
01-30-2014, 09:24 PM
#91
Melting Slicks
In 01, had an order for 6 months at 1100 with local GMC dealer. Found out he would not get an allocation for the Crew Cab Dually, Duramax diesel I had on order. Pretty much same as with the C7, he did not sell any diesels before the hot new diesels came out. Got the truck out of Columbus GA.
Dealer local dealer I tried to order from bent over backwards to handle my service
That's your guess and certainly not a given. I have two dealers here in Florida that have called me twice trying to get my service business after buying at Conti, 1200 miles away. Service dollars are service dollars to many dealers including the big chains like Penske, autonation Hendrick and Group 1... In many of those chains, the service manager does not even report to anyone in the dealership, but to a regional VP of service 400 -600 miles away.
. What a great read and very educational....So whatever happened to Malcolm Konner Corvette?