[BigJonEV]

I do not like Dealers because they are greedy, they try to get buyers on the price, lowball their trade, rip them on financing, and then try to sell them overpriced services they do not need.

I am all about a free market, when you add rules there is always abuses or odd situations, so it becomes arbitrary. Tesla has the best plan, everyone pays the same...

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a second, just on price, as there are dealers that do exactly what you are saying on financing and service contracts which I don't agree with. The Hummers are too new right now to show a book value so let's go off of what we have seen. They are averaging about $240,000 right now Retail price. A value is a value no matter who is selling it. There is trade value and retail value. MSRP is the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price which isn't bound by GM and what the dealers have to sell a vehicle for.

So if the average Retail price of a Hummer right now is $240,000 why can Person A sell it down the street at auction making a profit and is applauded. Yet when a dealer goes by Retail pricing they are scorned to the bottom of the earth. Can it not be considered greedy ordering a car with the intention to drive it and enjoy it only to sell it for a quick buck? I can only imagine the words Al Oppenheiser is using after we were begging him for info just to see what he spent so much time engineering be endlessly flipped. I'm all for making money that's why I enjoy sales, but greed is greed to me in this situation.

 

[BigJonEV]

But if dealers are seeing what these are actually selling for on the market that takes it past speculation. Now there is hard evidence of what an inflated market value they hold. It's pisses buyers off because they are now the ones who can't make the money, that's really what it boils down to. The crappy part about this is should I flip my Hummer I will lose my job and not from the family who owns the dealership, but I would be in violation of the new car franchise agreement. I also would not be able to work at another GM store. So while it sounds great about doing whatever I want with my Hummer that really isn't the case. We are lumped into the dealership model and I cannot benefit as an outside buyer would.

As far as marking cars up that are passing through, since yes we are a middle man, it's hard for me to see both sides. I've been delivering a brand new ordered 2021 Sport Escalade with an MSRP of $96,615 sell for exactly that as we don't charge over MSRP, while we are simultaneously selling a Certified Pre Owned 2021 Sport Escalade listed for $109,000 because that's what the books showed the value to be. That Preowned Escalade stickered for around $97,000 originally. We bought it from a guy off the street and gave him over his original sticker price while still selling it for profit on our end. So it's fine when it's used because used car prices are subject to market fluctuations, but if we had sold that new Escalade in the same day for over MSRP we are greedy and destroying GM. The person buying the preowned one knew what the market value was and what the original MSRP was yet he still wanted it and still paid for it. Now we removed the dealer selling vs an individual selling as we sold both of them. Is it still bad on our end we sold a vehicle for actual market value, but used and not new.

 

[BigJonEV]

I do not understand @travwill and his frustration, if the people in front of him in line sell their Hummers, that does not change his place in line or when he gets his truck, right? Its not like GM is saying let's hold back @travwill truck while these other people flip theirs. GM is building and moving out the trucks as fast as they can, if you are frustrated it should be with GM's website that was crashing when orders were placed, and therefore manipulating the order of which reservations were taken, that was truly frustrating. Or you could be frustrated that GM opened up orders for some VIP's before the public was allowed to order, but sorry fellow, that is life on any product. VIP's always get benefits.

I feel bad being so harsh on dealers because I think @BigJonEV works for one of the good ones that does business in a fair manner, and likely does offer some value to the customer, but generally dealers are not that way, and when people wander to their local dealer to buy a car, they get ripped off one way or another. I think direct sales is a better way to go for a multitude reasons, and eventually the legacy companies will have to come around on this, or dealership franchise contracts will have to be updated with better language around sales and pricing. Dealerships can make good money selling EV's but they have to change their operations as well, one price, no negotiation, no sales manger/salesman back and forth, here is the price, take it or leave it.

To be fair @Tom E-Tron dealerships have brought this on ourselves for decades. We earned distrust by using devious sales tactics that still haven't ended either for some. I hear what people are saying about Direct Sales and it might be another case of start something on the coasts and it moving inland. However, here even with no cars on the lot and telling people you almost have to order to make sure you get a car people still want to touch, see, smell the new car. I've told hundreds of people if they wait for this to show up on the lot to see it they will not get it. We take so many deposits on inbound units that the chances of inventory showing up not sold is few and far between. I believe there are still enough people out there that want to go to the dealership and want to see all of their options that the dealer model is far from dead for most major manufacturers.

What I will say on price as you mentioned, the best thing to come out of this scarcity is little to no negotiations. People are so happy that we even have a car they want, when you say here is the price, it's MSRP nothing less and nothing more, they take it. We have very little back and forth here and many 1st pencil closes. There just isn't anything to it anymore. They either ordered it or looked everywhere and we have the only one. I hope this stays around, because it honestly seems more refreshing to the customers as well. Been many more pleasant experiences than I ever had going back and forth with people.

 

[BigJonEV]

We are 100% in this for awhile. It will be at least 2024 before it feels normal again.

 

[BigJonEV]

I don't think so... the demand is so far out in front of supply, and I see more supply problems incoming.

Exactly. I was just talking to someone about this. This is a manufacturing and supply issue. I have seen higher gas prices and it only swayed people to think slightly different about what they were buying instead of not buying at all. Higher gas prices mean nothing to me really. I'm going to start getting asked more about crossover SUV's than Yukons probably, but that's it. It's the supply chain that's killing us.