You think anyone plays the fiddle when a car dealer goes under? Most people are probably throwing a party.

Car dealerships are one of the main reasons I haven't bought a car since 1999. I know more about the car I'm looking at than any of their sales people or managers, the whole hassle/haggle over price is not a good thing for me to be involved with (as I may very well get up and punch the salesman in the nose every time he opens his mouth), and they usually don't understand us enthusiasts.

Change the nature of car sales, and that alone can increase sales.

 

Thanks for clearing that up -- I wasn't sure.

 

Car salesman aren't hard to beat. All you need to do is act like they're going to lose the sale. You'll have them begging for mercy in no time.

 

I use to work for them a few years back when they actually sold cars directly.

They would dictate a price they would sell a car at and then negotiate with the dealer to get under that price.

Now they have Dealer Contracts and the Dealer would come to terms on what they are willing to sell a car for.
Cars like the Camaro won't get any special pricing. There are some Dealers who made it clear they won't mark up the price.
I would reach out to them.

 

All you have to do is the same thing I did....call all the local dealers, find one who will agree to give you MSRP on the car if you put down a deposit right now....and put down the $1000 deposit. I have it in writing from my local dealer that he will give me MSRP. In fact....I have it from two separate dealers in case one trys to screw me. It is a fully refundable deposit and that is in writing also. So whats the big deal? You arn'nt gonna make **** on interest on $1000 in the next 2 years anyhow so who cares? It beats paying $10000 over MSRP.
The Ford dealers won't let you do this with the GT500, so you'e already ahead of what they've done to destroy the customer interest in that car. If any of you can't find a local dealer to agree to this proposal call Les Stanford Chevrolet in Michigan. They specialize in out of state sales of performance cars and openly advertise they they will never charge a customer over MSRP on an advance ordered car. They did'nt charge over MSRP on the Z06 either if you ordered it in advance.
So whats the big problem????

 

If GM could set a maximum advertised price it wouldn't stop the dealers from selling cars over MSRP or asking for a higher price in the showroom but it could stop them from advertising a price over MSRP.
Then the only dealers who could name a price for a GM car in their ad would be a dealer selling at MSRP or below.
Ad's sell product. No ad's=No sales

 

yup -- punish them -- and then get punished by going to jail due to price fixing. (that's what you would be doing -- )

Let me repeat: You cannot tell a dealer what price he can charge for a new car or truck.. that's why it's called Manufacturer's SUGGESTED retail price. It is federal law. Period. The end. (don't like it? Call your congressman!)

See -- there's usually a good answer for why we do -- or don't do -- something.


Playing devil's advocate -- look at what classic Camaros are bringing on the market -- they're bringing stupid amounts of money -- BECAUSE there is a demand for them.

The same is true for when something DOESN'T sell -- the price drops! New vehicles get bigger incentives -- Used vehicles just have the selling price dropped.

Oh-- and to the fellow that has TWO orders -- you DO realize, don't you - that if we build both of them, one of the ones we build will delay other peoples' Camaros -- right?

 

Why can't GM set up something so we can buy it directly from the factory and bypass any dealership hassle?

Why do Saturn dealerships have "No Hassle" pricing? What you see on the sticker is the price. How can they do it?

B

 

This is gonna sound nasty, but...what do you want them to do? Ship it to your house? That's the only way I could say it...sorry.
Not sure if you meant to nix all dealers, but if you did: What about all the people who "shop" for cars, where would they shop? That's probably the #1 purpose of a dealer IMO, to get the vehicles out there, for people to see other than on a sheet of paper...

Saturn.........Because that's Saturn's reputation. Any Saturn dealer would look foolish not to do it.

It's like going to a party where everybody has to wear mild-orange t-shirts...And you show up in a bright neon green Raincoat....that'll go over well.

 

You can also bet the Chevrolet dealer won't let you do this with the "top" Camaro that's due in 2011, so let's not compare a regular production Camaro to a very limited edition top Mustang.

If you are going to compare fruit, compare apples to apples.

 

I agree. The age old question: Why do dealers exist in the first place? I know we can't change things now, but 100 years ago it would have been nice if GM set up their own stores, with people employed by GM, selling GM cars at what would be the ballance between profit for the company and right price for the consumer. Thereby eliminating holdback, markup, invoice, yada yada yada.

Sell it for what it cost with reasonable profit, sell it at a flat price at every dealer, and no one will need to shop around for a car.

I know I'm just blowing useless wind up everyone's tail, but buying a car really frustrates the heck out of me and it shouldn't be so difficult. If Saturn can do no haggle pricing, why not every GM division?

 

The only thing we can do as buyers is call around to the dealerships & ask them if they are marking up the Camaro if they do Then dont buy from them if they dont no matter how far they are from you BUY the car there.


I have already talked to some of the local dealerships here in washington state & several of them are saying the first year of the Camaro they dont expect to put a mark up on them.

We as buyers also have the right if we see a car we want but the dealership has a mark up to tell them you refuse to pay the mark up & to start walking, Alot of the time they will take the mark up off. believe me i have seen it done.

 

Just find another dealer. My local Chevy/Cadillac guy stands by the fact that he will never sell any car over MSRP. He didn't get my last new car purchase though because 20 miles away another dealer actually still had the "one at this price" special on the lot when we rolled in, and I showed the sales guy the ad and asked "is this car still available?" (This was a Trailblazer we bought for my son after he graduated from college.)

That's the beauty of this country. You don't have to buy from a certain dealer. You can shop around.

 

You bought your kid a brand new Trailblazer?!?! Ah man!! Can I be your kid??














Uh oh ... I can just hear it now ... "who's your daddy? "

 

No, I meant an option to buy directly from GM and let me pick it up from them. The Vette has an option for museum delivery where you can get a tour and pick up your car from them. I know that with the vette option you still need to order through a dealer, but how hard could it be for gm to take an order and then have a yard somewhere that I could pick it up from.

B