Vijay Ravindran at the WaPo’s Achenblog details his own descent into Camaro buying hell:
“I wanted a Chevy Camaro.
I’d never really liked American sports cars before. But the 2010 Camaro — a revival Chevrolet has been talking up since 2006 — is so much more sleek than your typical muscle car. And since my BMW 330 started showing its age (nine) around the same time that the death of the U.S. auto industry hit the headlines, I thought: Why not do a little something to help?”
“So, after seeing a newspaper ad promoting Camaros at a local Chevy dealer, I called and left a voicemail saying I was interested in a test drive.
I never heard back.
I was shocked. Here I was, ready to buy, while GM was in financial straits. I thought they’d be all over me. Turns out it’s not so easy to obtain a piece of the American dream.”
Needless to say, the story doesn’t end here. Ravindran tries several dealerships and gets treated like, well, crap. Which begs the question: if a halo car brings people into the dealerships only to be disappointed, what’s the point?
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He should consider himself lucky. If it’s that much trouble to buy the damn car, think what he’ll go through when he has to have it repaired under warranty.
And dealers wonder why consumers hate them, and why there is little sympathy for those who have lost their franchises…
Companies exist to make money. They used to do this by selling a product. Lately they have found a more profitable source of revenue: the
U. S. Treasury. So they aren’t in a hurry to return your phone calls. They’re all in Washington lobbying for, and getting, gazillions of dollars.
Vijay should consider himself lucky, he escaped Camaro buying hell before falling further into Camaro owning hell. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the car, but I’d sure as hell think twice about buying one of the first-year cars with all the problems that have been reported so far.
Don’t feel bad man – I went to a dealer driving a Dodge Charger with Hemi decals all over it hoping to check out a new Camaro and see what all the fuss was about… and my car is starting to have these pesky MOPAR electrical problems.
I haven’t heard back from the dealer either. Technically you could make the argument that you’re just in purgatory – not Hell. You don’t enter a Circle of Hell until a dealer wants to to become your consort with the objective of taking your money.
Vijay should send his story to Mr.Obama, some heads will roll then….He’s the supreme CEO/chairman/executor no?
Since the story is in Obama’s local newspaper, I guess you can rest easy, someone at the WH will probably notice.
Read the comments to Ravindran’s article …
It’s possible that many of the good car salespeople have moved to greener pastures because of carmeggedon, leaving the dregs behind.
I wonder if direct sales from the manufacturers (which I understand has legal obstacles in this country) would be better. It seems to me that there’d be more accountability and more uniform standards.
If the car is selling well enough and the supply is still tight, the dealers probably won’t take him seriously until he actually visits a showroom.
@ Stein X Leikanger
Read the comments to Ravindran’s article …
There’s a madness that’s hard to touch in some of them.
@ Ronnie Schreiber
I wonder if direct sales from the manufacturers …. would be better. It seems to me that there’d be more accountability and more uniform standards.
Manufacturers would love nothing more than build-to-order what ever way it is delivered (internet shopping, mail-order catalogue, dealers). It might be the only thing that makes the industry profitable again (in the USA at least).
I really don’t think this is limited to the car industry.
My wife and I bought a new house. She wants new cabinets. We ripped out the old ones & went shopping.
Home Depot only carries the absolute lowest quality ones in stock. ANYTHING ELSE must be special ordered.
I left home depot & went to Menards. Same thing, but they had 4 choices vs 2. Six weeks for me to get the cabinets. “Custom”.
We ripped out the bathroom. My wife wanted a specific vanity with granite countertop, NOT on sale, at $400. We checked 2 home depots & a single lowes TWICE. “They should be in but we don’t have any. Don’t know when they are coming in. They should be here but the computer doesn’t show any.”
I went to Lowes to buy new appliances. First trip I was there 2 hours looking and talking with the salesman. I finally pick out the fridge, and he says they don’t have any in stock and can’t get soon. I pick a 2nd one and they don’t have any. I give up. I come back a week later AFTER the sale, and I talk with the manager. I pick yet another fridge, and they don’t have any……..”Computer says 30 days”. All I want to do is buy something and go home with it. Like every other retail store. We find out from the manager that whirpool is out and needs to start production. They MAY start production of that model in 6 weeks (30 BUSINESS days). He says he’ll call me again on Thursday.
I shop online @ sears & find a sale. Delivery is in 2 days. If it’s not delivered, then I’m going to cancel.
Want to know why there is no economic recovery? NOBODY CAN SELL ME ANYTHING.
I had a similar experience with a Ford dealership a couple of months ago. I was looking at a Ford Fusion as a purchase probably about 3-4 months ahead of my visit. They were reasonably friendly in a stereotypically sleazy car-salesperson sort of way. But, at no point did anybody ever try to sell me a car. They pitched financing. They talked about rebates (money on the hood). They told me if I couldn’t make payments because I lost my job, there was coverage for that (I’m a cash buyer). This place had four long rows of Fusions in every configuration and color you could imagine, probably 60+ cars. They never tried to sell me a car. Seriously, they never tried to sell me a car. I had spent about 40 minutes on the Internet researching the Fusion, and I knew MUCH more about them than anybody I met at the dealer. They put all their effort into extracting personal information about my financial situation and possible trade in–stuff they need to know to put me at a further disadvantage at negotiation time. Great, give them info for them to use their thumbscrews on me while not getting any information about the product in consideration.
Why should I buy anything from them?
I’ve decided my next purchase will be a private party sale used car. I’d love to buy a new car from a dealer, but there is simply no value added to be experienced when shopping there.
It’s time to move on from the dealer-based car sales model. Maybe I’ll give it one more try with getting on-line quotes and finding the best deal first. Then I’ll do the test drive and walk away if I’m not interested in the product.
I’m sure if I put up the same effort to check out a Genesis, coupe or sedan, I’d be test driving one this afternoon.
This is pathetic.
So, is anybody still wondering why it’s necessary to cull weak dealerships, like they do everywhere else on the planet?
Robstar:
If you need things like cabinets and appliances and the big box stores are turning out to be useless, try some independent family owned businesses. We bought our kitchen cabinets from a small Homecrest cabinet dealer. He sat down with us and designed our kitchen and priced it all out for us. Delivered everything for free too. Same thing when we needed a dishwasher. Used a local appliance place, and they actually wanted our business! Crazy concepts.
Well. Maybe he could bait and switch the dealer. Call and leave a message stating that he is interested in a Suburban. Bet you he’ll get plenty of calls back from desperate sales critters. Of course that will probably be the end of the line for the time being. Surely you would hope they would at least work with him and at least try and order a vehicle. Then he could wait 9 months only to have to order cancelled like the Challenger fans.
Maybe my standards have been systematically lowered because I lived in the UK before moving to the USA eight years ago, but whether it’s buying appliances, furniture, cars and going out to eat I can barely recall any bad experiences.
Having visited UK car dealerships where the service is truly atrocious, I found that the Lexus, Ford and Chrysler dealers in the Chicago suburbs – at least the ones I used – seemed to bend over backwards to be helpful and get my business.
Don’t tell us about your problems trying to buy a Camaro, Tell Fritz! I’d suggest you tell Maximum Bob, as he is responsible for cuddling up to customers, but he doesn’t have a stellar track record for listening.
Good luck!
Yeah..not returning calls isn’t the way to run
a buisness. I woudn’t bother wasting anymore time
with that dealer.
If I wanted a Camaro that much,I’d find another
dealer. Lay your cards on the table. Mr salesman
“I want to buy a standard shift Camaro” Find me one for a test drive.
E mails and voice mails should be answered, agreed.However if you want to taken seriously
face to face works a lot better. A commision
salesman has no time for tire kickers.
Camaro’s are in short supply. The plant is
running 6 days a week. Contrary to popular
opinion, assemblers and management are busting
thier ass,to insure that defects are contained.
GM Canada and the CAW have all thier chips on
the table,with the Camaro. All of us,active and
retired,know whats at stake.
Slapping the Camaro together,to make dealers
happy,just ain’t gonn’a happen
You are not going to get much attention when you shop for hot or rare cars. The Chevy salesman handling your emails knows he doesn’t have the car, knows he can’t get it from the factory (anytime soon) or from another dealer. There is no point in courting your business when he will never have what you want.
I still have people emailing me asking for 2008 Hyundai Veracruz’s (they have huge rebates). I can’t get one swapped in – I have tried many times, and the 2009’s only have a $1000 rebate. I just tell them like it is and get it over with. Of course, they never come to look at an 09.
People who want Camaros, Mustangs, etc won’t just buy what’s on the lot, they want and think they can get some oddball combination of options and go from dealer to dealer getting told no. They get frustrated by the “poor” dealer service when the dealer just can’t get exactly what they want.
If the writer had emailed in asking about a car they had on the lot, I am sure they’d be all over him.
This episode points to the need to trim the dealer ranks. With fewer dealers, each remaining store would have a better selection, meaning less hunting around on the part of the customer.
I had a similar experience with a Ford dealership a couple of months ago. I was looking at a Ford Fusion as a purchase probably about 3-4 months ahead of my visit. They were reasonably friendly in a stereotypically sleazy car-salesperson sort of way. But, at no point did anybody ever try to sell me a car. They pitched financing.
I went to a VW dealer about 6 weeks ago to take a look at TDIs and some used stuff on the lot. Salesman was nice until we got inside. Overall, it felt more of a pitch for financing and since I wasn’t ready to just sign and take a new car, I was treated like crap.
I told the guy from the start that I would not be buying today and he brings me a sheet for a trade-in appraisal that’s the contract for trading in. So I changed a line and initialed saying I only wanted an appraisal and I wasn’t buying right now. Then 3-4 trips back to the finance guy. They didn’t care what car it was, they just wanted me to get financing through them. Ugh.
Won’t be buying from them in the future if I do decide to get a TDI. In fact, my most likely new car purchase will be all done online as I know what cars I want. I don’t need to physically be there to haggle. It would be so nice to have direct buy or online buying.
Additionally, he could have said he wanted to finance through the dealership and buy ‘today’. I’ve read that immediately saying the magic words “I want to buy today” (and often) really gets the undivided attention of car dealership personnel. Man, imagine a salesman with the prospect of selling a slow-selling, high-profit, full-size SUV. The phone would have been ringing off the hook with salespeople trying to get hold of the guy.
While domestic dealerships are largely populated with sleazeballs, consider the other side of the coin. A car salesman’s greatest fear is that he’ll be wasting his time on some schmoe that is ‘just looking’ and wanting to get free information while a true customer that wanted to sign on the dotted line walks away.
Even though he claims he ‘really wanted to buy a Camaro’, it’s difficult to know if that was actually the case. I mean, it sounds like he hadn’t even seen one, let alone taken a test drive. He certainly could have changed his mind after actually having the Camaro ‘experience’ in the flesh. Although I haven’t driven one, just sitting in one with that ultra-high beltline, ’slammed’ top and gunslit side windows tells me I wouldn’t want to drive one on a regular basis.
While I agree it is bad business not to follow up with a potential customer who calls in or sends an e-mail, the real issue is likely the lack of inventory.
We are getting lots of people coming to the lot asking about the 2010 Taurus, and after telling them there are none on lots yet, but offering to take a name and number and give them a call when some arrive, 90% of people decline the offer. Also, whenever a hot new car comes in, especially a sporty car, there are a lot of people who just want to come in and drive it, with no intention of buying it.
While in general it is a good idea to go ahead and let someone drive the car on the chance that they may be a real buyers, when inventory is virtually nill, and the dealer is trying to sell at full sticker while the car is hot, test drives do need to be limited because those that will buy the car don’t want one that has racked up a bunch of miles on test drives.
@ bluecon……Wrong! The launch has been a success. The line is running steady.
From what I hear the cooperation between trades/assemblers
management and engineers is at an all time high.
It is impossible to run the plant any faster,
while maintaining quality.
bluecon states he was around the plant on
product launches. Me to,many of them. For the
most part,the contract employees and other outsiders,were pretty good folks.
The odd time someone came in with an attitude.
The old chip on the shoulder thing Eh?
Here’s some inside info,boys and girls. Entertainment could be had,by trying to see
who could knock the chip off first.
There’s another approach:
Wait for the hooplah to die down. Then buy a Camaro. It’s amazing how well you can do when you go where the crowds aren’t. But it takes patience, and not everyone can resist their urge to have it now.
When I was car shopping last year, I was treated courteously at virtually every dealer and was only ignored at one. Dealerships are in the business of actually selling cars and are often flooded with tire-kickers. You have to make them aware of your intentions and that you are a serious buyer.
So far as product knowledge goes, I fully expect to know more than any salesman. After all, this is a big purchase, and if I do not spend a LOT of time on-line seeking information (especially from current owners), then I deserve what I get.
The desire for direct factory sales is one I do not understand. If there are no dealers, how would you do a test drive? Would you really spend the money for a new car without driving one several times first?
If I was a GM marketer (are you reading Karen what’s your name?)…..
I’d round up all the press/in-house Camaros and hold a traveling “Camaro Fair”– like GM/Lexus/Merc./etc. used to do at tracks and parking lots around the country for no-hassle road tests on an enclosed track.
Charge $xx for entrance to cover costs and in exchange you get a $yy coupon good for GM Goodwrench service or toward a new car along with the assorted freebies.
This ain’t rocket science.
@ jimmy2x (Goodfellas?)
If there are no dealers, how would you do a test drive?
I’m sure this is an increasing trend, but in Australia at least, you can book a test drive online. Currently that is data collection and referral to your nearest dealer.
Without dealers, I imagine the “manufacturer support office” in your local area would arrange a car to arrive for you.
Beautiful car.
That said, wouldn’t touch one with a ten foot pole, and if I was given one I’d sell it on Ebay.
JUNK Cars (though certainly not all of them)
Financed by JUNK bonds
Owned by a JUNK government
The most UN-American company in America
PeteMoran :
July 21st, 2009 at 5:17 am
Manufacturers would love nothing more than build-to-order what ever way it is delivered (internet shopping, mail-order catalogue, dealers). It might be the only thing that makes the industry profitable again (in the USA at least).
Jeez, this was the way my father used to buy cars back in the 60’s (dealers only back then). Weren’t the manufacturers the ones who changed the way things are done in the first place?
This isn’t restricted to domestic dealers, in all fairness. I’m sure you guys can find millions of stories about people being treated like crap at BMW.
This illustrates what BS Fritz is peddling.
Culture reversal at the average GM store is a lost cause.
GM can’t even get “buy-in” on Service Menu pricing.
I believe we have to admit that this Camaro launch is flippin’ hilarious as history repeats itself for GM over and over, plus a few new wrinkles. Let’s consider:
1. Typical GM 1st year build/supplier quality problems
2. Dealers all ga-ga and playing games with add on pricing and treating customers like crap cause this is the one time in their minds they can have customers begging for a car
3. How many launches for niche cars like this have had high initial “pent-up” demand only to fall down to low levels later on. Go back and do some historical research, Fiero, Reatta, Allante, SSR retro-pickup-thingy, PT Cruiser, Prowler, Thunderbird, etc…Also look at typical standard GM car launches and how they would spike early on and trend down in sales
4. Lutz all jazzed ’cause he can boast that they are selling 10k units a month. Oh boy! Yep. That will save GM. Meanwhile the Accord and Camry sell how many units year over year over year….Lutz is hiding some special tobacco in his cigars
5. Fools rush in and pay MSRP or over MSRP to have said niche car only to find resale later on to be horrendous
6. Now add Barry Obama running GM and pouring $$$ into it. Heck yes, why should the old GM folks running the “new” GM really be concerned about doing anything right when they’ve got Uncle Sugar at their back to keep their paychecks forthcoming
7. All that said, we should embrace freedom of market choice and if citizens want to buy Camaros let ‘em buy Camaros. They too should have the right to be “responsible” in making their purchase decision. But don’t make me pay for their responsibility and their purchase decision!
dwford:
People who want Camaros, Mustangs, etc won’t just buy what’s on the lot, they want and think they can get some oddball combination of options and go from dealer to dealer getting told no.
Imagine that, people actually think that they should be able to buy what they want instead of what the car companies want to sell – what a bunch of rubes.
There is absolutely no reason that the dealer shouldn’t be able to say some version of the following: “I can look for the car you want, or I can custom order it. Custom orders are currently taking X months. This is/isn’t faster than I can expect to find one through my normal channels.”
This is part of the reason that the manufacturer/dealer network needs to be completely redone. The dealer should exist essentially to offer service, take custom orders and schedule test drives (of standard models available primarily for that purpose) – in that order.
This isn’t limited to Chevy dealerships. Several years ago, I test-drove an Audi A4 wagon (not exactly setting the sales charts on fire) at a local Audi store. I liked the car and had no hurry to get it. I said that I wanted one with a specific series of options – nothing weird – and asked when they could get one like that. After the salesman checked their upcoming deliveries and said there was nothing in the pipeline, I said, “That’s ok – just order it and I’ll wait.”
At that he said they really had no means to do so but would be happy to deliver a similar car with an automatic transmission. The experience was sufficiently off-putting that I went to the BMW store nearby, drove a 325 wagon and asked about ordering. They were only too accommodating.
It’s possible that the car business will change after this current disaster, but doubtful. As consumers, we keep getting worse and worse service and still keep buying the stuff, so why change?
I was hearing today at NPR that the marketing strategy for the Camaro included pitching the car to young male americans going to watch the new Transformers movie.
Now how can anybody respect a car company that pays itself multimillion dollar bonuses, makes all the wrong choices and goes bankrupt and pitches a car after a crappy movie made for adolescents? How can anybody buy their product? How can anybody consider their product?
I had a pretty similar experience when shopping for my Saab 9-3 Sportcombi. I wanted a leftover ‘08 2.0T with a manual transmission (a rare car), and was perfectly willing to travel to get it. I called 5-6 dealers, not one returned my call!
Finally, I just sat down and spent 3hrs searching through Saab’s inventory website, and found a car 125 miles away in Boston. And really lucked out, as the salesman was FANTASTIC! Alex at Herb Chambers Saab in Boston. He was terrific to work with.
The finance guy on the other hand, was an @ss. This was the simplest possible transaction, no trade, I already had financing arranged through my credit union at a rate that they couldn’t match. All I needed was the number for the CU to cut the check for, and I could drive down and pickup the car. He tried every trick in the book to get me to finance through them, up to saying that I would have to make two trips down to the dealership if I didn’t finance with them. I told him I was making ONE trip, to pick up the car, and that he needed to make it happen RIGHT DAMNED NOW or I would be making NO trip. Finally shut him up, and I got my number.
So far the service experience has been good too, and the car flawless. Heck of a car for $23K. ~$12K in rebates and discounts.
I can tell you that the Audi dealership where I bought my Audi Certified 2004 A6 S-Line was just awesome. Here I am buying a used Audi for 27,000 (canadian) which was a smokin’ deal and less than their base entry level A3 brand new. So its not like I was dumping a load of cash on them. Despite the fact I was buying a used car the Audi dealership:
1) Gave me the easiest sales experience I ever had, no pressure, very friendly.
2) Gave me 2 follow up calls to see how I was enjoying the car
3) Gave me Dutch Chocolaits when I picked up the car along with a nice wooden Audi giftbox for my car keys (it was around christmas time)
4) Gave me a subscription to Audi magazine
5) Gave me a hardcover “History of Audi” book along with a personally signed letter from the dealerhisip owner thanking me for the purchase.
Basicaly, it was an awesome experience to go along with getting an awesome car at an awesome price.
This just in: GM says they fixed the manual tranny issue.
From Autoblog:
According to The New York Times, General Motors now says that a problem which stopped production of one of its hottest models has been fixed. As we reported first last week, a number of 2010 Camaro SS owners were experiencing failures related to the Tremec six-speed manual gearboxes in their new muscle cars. And while company officials are declining to reveal what the actual cause of the defect was, what we do understand is that something untoward was going on with the output shaft of these vehicles. The defect manifested itself in the form of a debilitating mechanical failure when the affected vehicles were launched aggressively with the engine turning 5,000 rpm or more.
It appears that the model’s production hold has been lifted, although some vehicles have been held back for inspection, just to make sure. GM’s Adam Denison reports that about a dozen owners had problems, and hopefully the problem with remain isolated, with no further cases coming out of the woodwork. In the meantime, GM has apparently decided that no recall action is warranted.
+1 slateslate :
I’d round up all the press/in-house Camaros and hold a traveling “Camaro Fair”– like GM/Lexus/Merc./etc. used to do at tracks and parking lots around the country for no-hassle road tests on an enclosed track.Charge $xx for entrance to cover costs and in exchange you get a $yy coupon good for GM Goodwrench service or toward a new car along with the assorted freebies.
This ain’t rocket science.
This is absolutely the answer – Tons of publicity and builds up demand, while giving test drives without burning out the dealer’s limited stock. (No dealer wants to waste a hot model by having it rack up demo miles).
Throw in a country rock band, a bunch of pretty girls in Ellie Mae cutoff’s and halter tops, serve hamburgers, cokes, and apple pie.
Maybe have a Charger and a Mustang for comparison runs like Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes do at their events.
Let’s go work in Detroit slateslate; they need us and it’s our patriotic duty.
So…Your a Chevy dealer who gets 4 Camaros a month and have twenty people a month who will kiss your feet to buy it for MSRP. You can take it to any auto auction and get other dealers to pay three grand over MSRP. Now, your going to get excited about some anonymous geek on the INTERNET who wants to test drive one but it has to be the right one and expects you to go find it for him? Not in this lifetime!
It does prove though that the manufacturer who produces the right product sells them in quantity regardless of how poor the dealer is in the amateurs opinion.
“…hopefully the problem with remain isolated…”
Really?
I can’t be too upset here. The dealer should have some sort of demo, but in a short supply, he won’t. Letting you drive his only and probably sticker plus “stealership market adjustment” car is not a good idea, he’ll probably think you are a tire kicker. He won’t get as much for the car if it has miles on it. He is waiting for the “gotta have it” guy, who is out there-you are not him. He’ll pay market adjustment without driving the car.
My last car was exactly the way I wanted it. I ordered it and waited, despite the dealer’s best attempt to sell me “what was on the lot”. Once he realized that I was ready to sign the order form came out and the right boxes were checked.
Sometimes in life you just have to wait. Only Americans think cars are “in stock”.
“Now, your going to get excited about some anonymous geek on the INTERNET who wants to test drive one but it has to be the right one and expects you to go find it for him?”
Welcome to the 21st century…serious buyers have been known to shop online; in fact, the demographics of online shoppers tend to skew toward higher incomes and more disposable income. Many times, these same higher income households have more demanding work schedules due to their professions (think doctors, attorneys, CPAs, etc.), they’re not intimidated by using technology to make major purchases, and so they use the internet to avoid the time wasted and BS that goes along with face-to-face shopping.
Where the auto industry could improve is by finding a way to weed out the serious buyers from the tire kickers. Some real estate and personal computer companies do this by having you pre-qualify by securely submitting proof of resources (real estate) or credit card info (computers). From there, you unlock your ability to either get a showing or choose certain options for your purchase. But until you do so, you may browse the product online to your heart’s content.
There is a disturbing disconnect here: The customers are pissed off at the way that some dealerships do business, and more than a few dealerships respond by saying, “Well, you don’t understand how we do business.”
One easy answer is for the dealerships to take the high road by educating consumers on how they do business, and/or by making their transactions more transparent. I’m not holding my breath for either of those things to occur.
Speedlaw: The guy drove 45 minutes to see the car; if that isn’t a sign of legitimate interest in the car then I’m at a loss as to what else he has to do.
I think the entire retail business model for automobiles needs to be revolutionized… but that won’t happen without a massive shakeup in state-franchise law. Here’s an article written in 2000 (yes, Netscape 4.0 had a pretty big chunk of browser use back then) that cited the need for a revolution to the automobile sales process.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1568/is_3_32/ai_63330933/
My favorite quote from the article is paragraph #1:
America’s automotive giants have not always been quick to jump on the next big thing. But they are heeding the call of the Internet revolution. At General Motors, for example, worldwide purchasing chief Harold Kutner promises that by 2003, 80 percent of new car buyers will be able to custom order its vehicles online.
The guy really wanted to push the e-business model on the “Old GM”
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_20/b3681072.htm
Note to Harold… this is epic over-promise and under-deliver. Then again, Harold did retire in 2001. He was probably shown the door for being a foolhardy old man (at least by GM’s standards of excellence).
That’s the way it is for a high-demand car. I have a friend who bought a Honda Fit last summer, during $4/gallon gas. You bought it off the truck with no test drive, or the next guy did, simple as that. She even made an appointment for a test drive and when she showed up, the car she was going to drive had just been sold. Should the dealer not have sold it? They will take the bird in hand every time.
Companies exist to make money. They used to do this by selling a product. Lately they have found a more profitable source of revenue: the
U. S. Treasury.
You’re right and wrong here. The US car companies are not interested in making money off of selling you a product and haven’t been for years. Before they settled for the government teet, they were bellying up to the Wall Street bunk and wallowing in their own self-importance, delusional entitlement, and corporate decandence. Take note that after squeezing every department they could, brand sharing 12 different models off the same frame, and reducing their mid-lower workforce as much as possible, the executives turned to Paulson and begged for some cash to keep themselves in fat city, not their workers and not their products. I’m a little preturbed that we didn’t get a little more out of this deal, but there were PLENTY in congress that were fighting for their local lobbyist to get anymore from it.
“That’s the way it is for a high-demand car…You bought it off the truck with no test drive, or the next guy did, simple as that…They will take the bird in hand every time.”
Xyzzy, you’ve raised an excellent point, and one that further underscores why dealerships are an outdated delivery system, and why new vehicles should be able to be sold by any party, including directly from the manufacturer.
In the example of gouging and a “take it or leave it” attitude with hot-selling models, the dealer has chosen to abandon building a lasting customer relationship in favor of a short-term profit. Not that there is anything wrong with this; it’s just that a major reason why state dealer franchise laws were created is because the NADA and its members argued that the public needed to be protected from sellers who did not have the consumer’s best interest at heart.
Today the buyer usually has several choices of vehicle that will meet his or her needs, and because of this all parties enter the transaction in search of the best deal. Because there are enough viable options to the consumer, and there were once enough buyers, loyalty wasn’t a necessary component.
So I say, let the distribution channels and markets run free. I wait patiently at my computer for the day when – not if – this happens.
Anyone who thinks there is any loyalty in car sales today is delusional. The same guy who wants the new Camaro today is the same guy who will want the new BMW tomorrow and the next “hot” car the next day.
While some think buying a car directly from the manufacturer would be some kind of economic windfall, where do you go to get service, where do you trade your old one in, and who do you ask to sponsor your kids t-ball team?
For those that think dealers have an indifferent attitude when selling a “hot” new car, what’s new? Have you ever tried to get the latest x-box, pet rock, cabbage patch doll, newest Window’s version… and the list goes on.
Only industry in the world where your exact cost is on a hundred web-sites and you have to trade back in what the guy bought the last time. They been talking about a revolutionary new way to distribute cars for nearly a hundred years and will still be talking when Obama’s kids are collecting retirement!
@bluecon…..The launch has gone great. The only
snag has been selling 9000 cars in June. Nobody
would have guessed that high of sales. On a good
day the plant can make 420.
We all know they can’t maintain those sales numbers. GM is reluctant to add second shift for that same reason.
Point of the halo car is to bring people to dealerships and create interest in the brand as a whole. But he never even went to the dealership in the first place to be disappointed. It’s a halo car. It’s limited supply means maximum profit. That’s good for GM.
Sorry, but it seems like a bit too much negative spin on a big DUH.
My advice is to actually go to the dealership. Leaving a voicemail isn’t going to cut it. Sorry. If you really wanted a Camaro and were serious, you’d try harder.