Sorry -- Illegal.

Trust me -- we've looked at every possible solution. Perhaps not everyone at GM is the brightest -- but be assured that there are a good number of people that are pretty sharp -- and we've looked at this issue from every possible angle.

 

That may be....but let me tell you that if you think the Dealer is a crook...just wait until you see what "John Q. Public" tries to pull with regularity........

 

Too bad GM can't have owned/operated dealerships. Damned congress. (no wonder they only have a 11% approval rating.) That does seem like the most logical way to do it. We ALL hate dealerships and "the game" they play. I actually sold cars for a while back in the late 80's. I'd get the customer to like me and want to do buisness with me and then when it came time to work out the figures, the sales manager would **** them off and think that they had been played by ME. It was so frustrating. I tried to treat the customer like I wanted to be treated. Unfortunately, the "system" wouldn't let that happen. And I had to get out of it. It drove me nuts. If I had the money, I would have a dealership and I would sell cars the Saturn way. No pressure, and NO haggling. Buying a car shouldn't be any different than buying a shirt. Price it, and sell it.

 

Jesus! What IS legal??????????

 

Probably because they have been burned by some skeevy dealer one too many times and have now adapted the "payback is a bitch" attitude.

It's a viscious circle. Dealers screw customers, customers feel burned, betrayed, cheated, etc., get pissed off and in turn go out of their way to try to stick it to dealers. You blame the crooked customers and support your dealers, meanwhile GM looses customer base and both the dealers and the company suffer.

Something has GOT to give, Scott. I would honestly be glad, almost greatfull to buy any car at sticker at one dealership if I knew every dealer was selling it at that exact same price, ala Saturn. At that point, I don't think any "John Q. Public" would feel the desire to go out of their way to scam a dealer. So, why not adapt the Saturn way with every GM division? Their dealers consistently get high marks, sometimes the highest in the company.

If the whole commission sales operative were thrown out the window and every salesman were paid an hourly stipen, that would go a long way as well.

 

Can we do this for Restuarants too?
I really hate having to tip a waitress(comission), I don't even want a waitress. Dang, I just want good food in a nice atmosphere, I don't mind refilling my own glass or picking up my own food.


waitress-salesperson
tip-comission

 

Telling the dealerships what they can & can not sell the cars for.

 

Yeah, but that would be very hard for slow selling dealerships to payroll salesmen if they don't sell enough cars to cover their costs. It could also lead to a home depot-type "hey, is there anyone here who can help me?" situation.

Unfortunately, there just is no easy answer.

I wish GM could sell direct--especially over the internet. You could go to a site, build your car, get fixed financing terms based on your credit, and have the car shipped to your door. Heck, GM could even set up "drive shows" where they bring all their cars to a central location for everyone to test drive so you would never have to enter a dealership.

However, that just isn't going to happen. We just need to work the system that is in place. Walk it with your terms and don't take anything else. It might take a little longer to get the car, but there is nothing you can do about that.

 

I'm sorry, but I have been watching this for a long time and it seems the dealers always are the ones blamed here. Scott makes a very good point about double orders. So, you are automatically assuming the dealer you put an order in with (which can't be done yet) is going to screw you? Why are you dealing with them in the first place then? It also puts pressure on one dealer if you walk away from the other and in his view for no apparent reason. So if both dealers give you a good deal and both cars come in, then what? Just playing Devil's Advocate here. That means you are tying someone else up, who may be on the board, who then writes in that allocation sucks and you can't get a car, which leads to more negative views of dealers and GM, which pushes someone else considering a GM car to competitors. Who's the bad guy then? I'm not saying there aren't unscrupulous dealers out there, but 9 times out of 10 they are normal guys trying to make a living and take care of their customers the same as other sales positions in other industries. Understand that if you have 5 customers, 4 willing to pay window sticker (not above!) for hot product( Toyota Prius?), and 1 who is beating you up for advertising and free extras and talking down to the salesperson while doing it, who do you think is going to take a back seat when ordering happens. I think from time to time we become over knowledgeable (we have access to a lot of info dealers don't get for months-unless you on on here) and therefore arrogant with respect to our GM and dealer partners here. We tend to forget that they are usually looking out for our best interests because it affects their bottom line both short and long term. Let's keep things positive, and if you have a bad experience, go somewhere else, plain and simple.

 

Dealers are a great deal for GM etc because they assume most of the risk in selling a car.

GM collects their money when they deliver the car to the dealership. And then - wrong color, poor options, whatever - too bad, the dealer is on the hook for it.

 

So how is the dealer going to lose out on this? Both orders are at guaranteed price of MSRP. If the first one comes in wrong and I don't accept it...the dealer sells it immediately to a customer at over MSRP. If I keep the first one I cancel the 2nd one (which is coming in much later) and the dealer gets that one to sell at over MSRP. All they have guaranteed me is a place in line at MSRP and a full refund of my deposit at any time. They have not guaranteed me the ability to order it as I want it because they don't even know yet how they are going to work this process. They cannot guarantee me an engine selection because that is not know yet. But...they are sitting on my $1000 cash depost for nearly 3 years so how do they lose anything in this? For all I know I might be able to order it the way I want it. But I am not going to accept a car that does not have the engine choice, interior color etc. that I actually want. At the rate this project is going I might even opt out of it early and get a new C6 corvette exactly as I want it and probably even with my GM discount by the end of the 08 model run.
Or I could be a jerk and get both Camaros, sell them both on Ebay over MSRP, and take the profits and apply them towards the Vette. That way I could get a Z06 relatively cheap if the Camaro does not offer anything more than a standard V8 in the ragtop. And that way there are two more happy Camaro owners in the world who paid over MSRP. It would be just like the highly successful Musturd GT500 program at Ford!!!!!

 

Never going back to a dealership that tries to rip you off.... And... telling your friends

 

I don't agree with most of what you said -- and by the way -- all Manufacturers are in the same boat, so to speak -- each State has francise laws (it isn't congress, per se that says a manufacturer can't sell direct to the consumer - it is each state's francise laws.....)

 

See ya weds night scott lol

 

go back and read my post again...........................