Question on Available dealer allocation
 

I read here that some poor guy ordered from a dealer who didn't have an available allocation. The dealer took the deposit and told the guy he'd have to wait 5 mos.+ before the order will process!!

My question is: How can you know if a dealer has an available allocation for your order. Are dealers allowed to hold allocations in reserve for customers who order, if so how do you find these dealers?

Al

Order from a Forum sponsor to avoid those problems.

A dealers allocation is based on their last 12 months Corvette sales. No allocation can not be held in reserve. When allocation comes up the dealer has to order something or lose it. The dealers that sell a large number of Corvettes get some allocation every week.

Then what happens if I have ordered a coupe and my dealers allocation comes up this week when there is a constraint on coupes. Do I have to wait another month before my small dealer can order my car?

Bob

You have to wait until they get thier next allocation for a coupe when ever that is.

If he is a small dealer, I doubt he would be getting an allocation this week for a convertible.

Coupes should be available to order next week.

This week and next are all convertibles. Then there will be two weeks of all coupes. Then it will go back to convertibles again for two weeks. Don't how long this will go on but for now that's how they are going to do it.

Al
A dealers allocation is based on their 12 mo. sales history. They can have an idea how many they will receive based on that. Any dealer can also look and see exactly how many he has allocated over the next 8-9 weeks. This shows up in two places, 1.) as a breakdown of the orders by week that will show how many and which week he will get them for the next 4-5 weeks. 2.) an estimated shipment that shows how many he will get the 4-5 weeks after that (it shows as estimated but is in almost all cases accurate)

The biggest problem in most dealers is finding out who knows how to get the information and not relying on the salesperson to give it to you. In my experience most sales people are not aware of how the system works and what they have coming, unfortunately this goes for the salesmanagers in some cases as well.

Bob
You have two choices in that case:
1.) adjust your order to match the constraints which will speed up the process.
2.) stick to your options and wait until it can be placed which can mean an indeterminate time period.

Obviously the smaller the allocation the longer the wait difference between the two choices.

Marvin

Thanks Bob,
So if I'm getting this, I should find out from someone at the dealer what is expected (allocated) five weeks out and place my order for one of those?

Then again, if I go to a dealer who has sizeable Corvette sales none of this should be a worry. If so how do I know what (forum?) dealer(s) to go to?

Living in California it looks like I'll be going out of state one way or another.... to a forum broker or dealer.

You can pick it up from the dealer who ordered it for you or you can get a "courtesy delivery" at a dealer near you. For a nominal fee, the car will be sent to the dealer you've chosen. I'm not sure how much this "nominal fee" usually is, but I've seen numbers quoted from $250 to $500.

:iagree: You can have it drop shipped to a dealer near you from any of the Forum dealers.

Thats easy ME.:)

Marvin gave excellent information......ask to see the dealer's allocation. Every dealer knows how many cars he's earned and if he sells them quickly, they might earn more. The guys that are holding out for the over MSRP might sit on inventory longer and get passed over for a build date. Personally, I've had five allocated for the entire model year and I expect all of them to be sold before build. And we're just a small Mom and Pop store in the middle of nowhere. Bottom line, try to buy from a dealer who will give good service, a fair price, and who is convenient to your location. The selling dealer should have a vested interest in keeping you happy both now and down the road. It's called future sales!

Actually not all of our forum dealers will do this.

If you live in an area with several Chevy dealers, just ask. That's what I did. I went on a Friday to 5 local dealers and asked, "Do you have an allocation today." None of the salesmen knew. At two dealers the salesmen didn't even know what I was asking. At 3 of them the salesmen asked their managers. At two they said, "We don't have an allocation today, but will be happy to take your order and call you when we do." At one dealership, a low volume Corvette dealer, the manager showed me his allocation sheet from the day before as well as the constraints. He had one allocation. I heard him whisper to the salesman, "MSRP, $1000 deposit." That's all I needed. The manager placed the order on his computer with me watching and gave me a copy of the order with an order number on it. 34 days later I took delivery of the Corvette exactly as I ordered it. It was this dealer's 2nd C6.

Did you clean off the bottom of your shoes after that! :cheers: