Scuffle Brews Over GM Request For Dealer Incentive Payback
GM earned some goodwill with dealers in recent weeks by reinstating over 600 dealers, most of them rural Cadillac stores. But as always, as soon as one grating issue in GM’s relations with its dealers is resolved, another one appears. Automotive News [sub] reports that GM is seeking five- and six-figure sums from what it terms “a very small” number of dealers who allegedly violated the terms of its Standards for Excellence Incentive program. This might be a relatively normal occurrence, if it weren’t made more complicated by GM’s recent bankruptcy. Because GM audited its dealers before bankruptcy, but didn’t act on the information until now, GM says that its penalties aren’t debatable, and that the normal audit process will not be available to dealers receiving the bills.
dealers could choose to repay GM monthly over three years at 5 percent interest. The money will be debited from the dealership’s open account. Dealers who refuse to sign off on the installment plan will be charged the entire amount in a lump sum
GM spokesfolks respond saying “each dealership was given the opportunity to provide supporting documents to substantiate their claims,” and “any information received from them was given thorough consideration before final decisions were made.” GM’s dealers, meanwhile, are getting used to having their lawyers on speed dial. And with between $80k and $900k on the line, they’ve got reasons to fight. Besides, if their transgressions were so undeniable, why didn’t GM just cull their poor customer service-providing asses? The saga continues…
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This is like Alien v. Predator. Doesn't matter which is which. The dealers getting bent over by GM and the dealers telling GM to go pound sand. Hah!
I was a salesman at a GM dealer for 12 years. When we were audited we were one of the best in Canada. The money in question is money most of these dealers were not entitled to in the first place. The credits are for things like a Graduate program . If you had graduated from a College or University, you were entitled to a extra credit. There are too many programs to list but these dealers took advantage of GM. The other problem is these dealers knew what they were doing. They use these programs to get you to buy the car and worry about the consequences later. Well its later so suck it up. It is a very dishonest practice and take deals from more reputable dealers who provide a Honest price. So you bought it for 500 less down the road at x dealer because they lied to get a credit. If these dealers were willing to cheat GM imagine how they will treat you when it counts. I agree sometimes a dealer makes mistakes and gives a credit you were not entitled too. But a few mistakes are one thing but if you owe 900,000 there were many Fraudulent claims submitted to GM. They are lucky they just want the money and not there asses. These were the dealers that should have been closed . I would charge them with fraud and send a message that the Auto industry will not tolerate this kind of deception. Its time for a big change when buying a new car. We need to be leaders not deceivers.
BAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Informed corporate GMC of the repetitive failures of several dealers to repair my 2004 Silverado using the lame excuse of "Unable to replicate the problem" and even after several attempts to reach different departments of corporate GMC I obtained the same old response..... "Take the truck to the dealer." Go to corporate GMC and experience the buck being passed. Go to the GMC dealer and experience a lack of ANY effort to diagnose a defect, just hear the SAME old refrain... "Can't replicate the problem." GMC deserves to fade away and may every over-paid decision maker experience the loss of all their assets due to economic collapse. Those at my working-poor economic level will survive. May I see a flood of execs. etc. digging through the dumpsters for dinner.
BIGDOUGG, unfortunately it would appear you know not of what you speak. You are talking about individual incentive programs(which it takes a PHD to understand sometimes)and the article is about the Standards of Excellence Program. Standards of Excellence involves quarterly and yearly goals dealers must meet in total sales, CSI, and other business standards. They are cumulative and all the records are kept by GM. For those of us who actually understand Standards of Excellence, it would be very interesting to know on what criteria they disallowed payment after the fact. It would not be the same as incentive charge backs because the customer did not qualify.