GM Dealer Reduction

[jfnz24]

OK, now I am fed up with GM, and it doesn't even have to do with the product they produce. On Friday, I visit my local Chevrolet dealer, that is about 1 mile from my house in a small city to schedule an appointment for a state inspection for my Blazer. Anyways, pulling up in front, I know something is wrong, as they are pulling a lot of cars from the new vehicle lot, which holds about 100. Go inside and visit my service manager, who states that the dealership is being closed up. I guess that the staff found out after business Tuesday that Friday would be the last day. GM reps were taking the cars out, with the dealership's owners keeping their Buick dealership, which is about 16 miles away. All of the people that work here now have less than a week to find new jobs, which is ridiculous in my opinion.

So, I go home, and find a letter from the dealership to my father, who purchased a Cobalt SS less than a year prior, stating that in order to receive warranty work, we need to travel to this other dealership. Now, there is a Chevrolet dealer that is closer (about 10 miles), but which has a spotty reputation. While I am angry that this dealership has closed, I am more angry that we will not be able to choose where to get our warranty work done, let alone not be notified about this occurance (as I am sure the workers are upset also).

I can honestly say that my faith in purchasing another GM product has been shaken, and may go to Chrysler or Ford, as both have dealers within 2 miles.

Sorry, end of rant. Just needed to get that off my chest.

[unkillsam]

GM has too many dealers that canabalize each other's sales. Each GM dealer's biggest competitor is another GM dealer. That mean's that dealers are forced to take less profit on each deal in order to retain customers.

In the long run, that probably affects salesmen's attitudes and probably results in worse customer service.

[nsap]

I dealer reduction is bound to happen when you have a dealer network the size of GM's, and sales that have been slipping since the 1980's. Only the strong will survive.

They can't have a dealership within 5 miles everyone in the country. I have to drive 30 miles to get to the dealership I do business with. There is a dealership about .5 mile from my house, but I don't like the way they do business..

[jfnz24]

Originally Posted by nsap

I dealer reduction is bound to happen when you have a dealer network the size of GM's, and sales that have been slipping since the 1980's. Only the strong will survive.

They can't have a dealership within 5 miles everyone in the country. I have to drive 30 miles to get to the dealership I do business with. There is a dealership about .5 mile from my house, but I don't like the way they do business..

While I agree that they can't have dealerships everywhere, I do believe they should have more in metro areas. While Pittsburgh is close to me, I don't particularly want to drive into the city to reach a Chevy dealer, especially when I have other brands that are very nearby. Additionally, while this made be an "old school" of thought, I want to get my service from the same dealer I purchase the car from. Driving 30 miles is not convenient for most people, and would require most people to take off work/school/etc. in order to get their car repaired. I am of the thinking I want to drop my car off first thing in the morning and pick it up after work.

I guess my greatest concern deals with the warranty issue. Don't force me to go to a Buick dealer to service my Chevy. Since you closed the local Chevy dealer, let the customer decide where they want to take their GM warranty.

[unkillsam]

Originally Posted by jfnz24

While I agree that they can't have dealerships everywhere, I do believe they should have more in metro areas. While Pittsburgh is close to me, I don't particularly want to drive into the city to reach a Chevy dealer, especially when I have other brands that are very nearby. Additionally, while this made be an "old school" of thought, I want to get my service from the same dealer I purchase the car from. Driving 30 miles is not convenient for most people, and would require most people to take off work/school/etc. in order to get their car repaired. I am of the thinking I want to drop my car off first thing in the morning and pick it up after work.

I guess my greatest concern deals with the warranty issue. Don't force me to go to a Buick dealer to service my Chevy. Since you closed the local Chevy dealer, let the customer decide where they want to take their GM warranty.

You can get your Chevy serviced at any GM dealer.

I think maybe you read the letter wrong, they meerly suggested the buick dealer as an option.

[Hitman1970]

Based on what I perceived as a lousy customer service in my town I drove 70 miles to get to a dealer I wanted to do business with.

That is mainly a product of lousy service around most military bases because your customer base moves often; therefore you do not need to care about them. Sad but true.

[69Firebird400]

Originally Posted by unkillsam

You can get your Chevy serviced at any GM dealer.

I think maybe you read the letter wrong, they meerly suggested the buick dealer as an option.

I believe that you are correct, sir. Any GM dealer can service your Chevy. They were merely trying to be helpful by suggesting that you go to x dealer down the road.

A few months ago, our family doctor retired (BTW, at somewhere around age 36) so he sent a letter to all of his patients letting us know about his decision. He also listed three doctors in the letter that he recommended, and of those three, he said that our records would automatically be transferred to one of them in ~30 days if he did not hear otherwise.

That didn't mean that I had to go to one of those three doctors - I could go to any doctor I wanted to (and was in my health plan network), but based on his recommendation, we picked the one that he was going to have the records sent to anyway.

Incidentally, I bought both of our vehicles from dealers 75-100 miles away due to relationships that my father has with those dealers, and it's not at all practical to have them serviced there (even though I'd ideally like to). So, I just picked the local Honda and Nissan dealer online and gave them a try. For the Nissan, I had a negative experience with them when I was buying our Pathfinder (i.e. insisting that ALL vehicles had the $500 b.s. "vehicle protection package" tacked on), so we actually do not go to the closest Nissan dealer to our home for service and warranty work.

[ionlybuyGM]

well tell ya the truth ive gone to my nearest Pontiac/GMC dealer bout 4 or 5 yrs ago for a simple oil change and the morons at the dealership disconnected my air hose going from the engine to the air cleaner and i couldve been killed cuz i noticed it while i was driving on the Garden State Parkway at rush hour up a hill and definitely couldve been seriously hurt in the aftermath of their screw up so instead of trying out other GM dealers i solely bring my car 25+ miles to my uncles dealership in Union in which i live up in North Jersey by NYC just to get honest and dependable service!!! so sometimes its worth driving that extra 5 or 10 miles!!

[327]

They just suggest where you can go to get warranty work done. My buying dealer is over 65 miles from here and I get work done here in town.

Being only 6 extra miles to a good dealership from a spotty one, isnt that hard a decision to make!

[Opusnbill7]

Originally Posted by ionlybuyGM

well tell ya the truth ive gone to my nearest Pontiac/GMC dealer bout 4 or 5 yrs ago for a simple oil change and the morons at the dealership disconnected my air hose going from the engine to the air cleaner and i couldve been killed cuz i noticed it while i was driving on the Garden State Parkway at rush hour up a hill and definitely couldve been seriously hurt in the aftermath of their screw up so instead of trying out other GM dealers i solely bring my car 25+ miles to my uncles dealership in Union in which i live up in North Jersey by NYC just to get honest and dependable service!!! so sometimes its worth driving that extra 5 or 10 miles!!

*confused* How could you have been killed? Wouldn't the engine just have sucked in unfiltered air instead of passing it through the air filter if it was left disconnected? In fact, wouldn't this give you more power with less "restriction" on the input airflow? Not saying it didn't happen...just don't understand...?

[drew630]

Originally Posted by unkillsam

You can get your Chevy serviced at any GM dealer.

I think maybe you read the letter wrong, they meerly suggested the buick dealer as an option.

Yep, you can get any GM vehicle, except Cadillac, serviced at any GM dealer. Only Cadillac's have to be serviced at a Cadillac dealership.

[GMCSonoma]

Originally Posted by drew630

Yep, you can get any GM vehicle, except Cadillac, serviced at any GM dealer. Only Cadillac's have to be serviced at a Cadillac dealership.

Not so...

However it is at dealer descretion...

[shadams]

Originally Posted by GMCSonoma

Not so...

However it is at dealer descretion...

Thank you. Cross-line warranty is NOT encouraged unless there is reason to do so. GM will go to extraordinary lengths to satisfy a customer but that is not to say a particular dealer will. To say you can go to any dealer for service is not true in the sense that you may get turned away. It does not specifically say it is not allowed but is voluntary, but in my experience it is usually used as an excuse to not have to deal with problem vehicles. Normally it is the perfect opportunity to gain a new customer, so why dealers are always having you go somewhere else amazes me.

[t-rex]

Don't be so angry, jfnz24. The New Orleans Honda dealers aren't bad, but the BMW dealer here, as well as in Baton Rouge, are horrible. So we drive 130 miles to a BMW-Honda-Mercedes dealer to have our two cars serviced. Since most dealers suck pretty bad, lots of people make out of town trips if they find a good dealership. Granted, living 2 or 3 miles from a good dealer is bound to spoil you, but in your case, you don't have far to go to find a good dealer, so I wouldn't be so angry at GM. My parents use a Cadillac dealer (Sewell, a GMI sponsor) to have their Buick serviced.

I agree however, with your opinion on how crappy it is to give employees less than a week's notice that they're losing their jobs. I've always found it so ironic that management feel JUST SO betrayed when an employee leaves without notice, but when it comes time to let an employee go, through firing or layoff, they wait till 5pm and tell them not to come back the next day.

[shadams]

Originally Posted by t-rex

I agree however, with your opinion on how crappy it is to give employees less than a week's notice that they're losing their jobs. I've always found it so ironic that management feel JUST SO betrayed when an employee leaves without notice, but when it comes time to let an employee go, through firing or layoff, they wait till 5pm and tell them not to come back the next day.

Ahh yes, we just went through a "cost cutting lay-off" session. A good friend of mine and I started at the dealership I am at now almost 10yrs ago, and we both have risen through the ranks from makeready to shop, him to parts, me to adviser, him to dispatcher and then to assistant shop foreman and then out of no where they said, "Sorry, but we have to let you go, nothing personal, but your position doesn't produce, so.............see ya." Actually they offered him a spot back in Makeready making 1/4 of the money he was making and he told them to stick it.

Really hurts to see stuff like that happen, esp after putting in so many years there. Bastages.