GM: Tell your dealers to shape up or ship out!

[ChevyRules]

I must be lucky to have good dealerships in my area. I love my local Chevy dealership. There service is top notch. My local Saturn dealership seems to be a good dealer too( I have yet to deal with their service department. Aura is still under 3K miles). But, reading on forums of peoples horror stories about dealerships has me baffled. Everytime we hear something about a bad dealership for scandals and screwing the customer over are always dealerships that sell GM products. Do what Hyundai is doing. Tell your worst dealerships to shape up or kiss there ability to sell GM products good bye. While it is important to do this with all the dealers, do double duty with Saturn dealers. Reading on Saturnfans, they seem to be losing there grip on what makes Saturn great. An Aura owner getting screwed because the dealer wouldn't give him plates for the Aura over a dispute with the bank( although I didn't catch what was the cause and who was doing what). Now the latest just screwed GM over and made them lose an Aura sale. It was a tie between the Aura and Passat. And the Saturn dealership stupid antics made them go for the Passat.

Since login is required to view the thread here is the situation:

Sure...it just takes a bit to type out. So our local Saturn dealer had a sign in their service bay which offered to buy any Saturn. It didn't say you had to buy a new one or anything of that nature. Since I was ordering my car from the factory and I still needed it the meantime, I deemed it too much of a pain in the ass to sell it myself. Unless the timing was perfect, it wouldn't work out. So I decided to either sell it to CarMax or sell it to the Saturn dealer. I took the car to the dealer, talked to the sales manager and he confirmed that they will buy my car even if I didn't purchase a new Saturn. He appraised it and offered me a reasonable deal. I took it to CarMax and they offered significantly less for the car. Audi arrives and since the car is in my dad's name (in$urance $aving$), he took the car to the dealer after work. Since some time had passed and the car has more miles on it, the sales manager offered a couple hundred less, but still more than the CarMax offer. Unfortunately, the person who cuts the check went home for the day. The next day my dad takes the car in and the sales manager informed him that the owner of the dealership would not allow him to sell the price which was originally offered. He instead dropped it to the CarMax price. Appalled, my dad asked to speak to the owner, who was not in the office at the time. Since I was on a schedule and CarMax was a.) far away b.) tends to offer less if you take it in a second time, my dad sold the car to the dealer (now he gets to deal with a car that's still in inventory). My dad told the story to the service writer who works there (and we know fairly well) and he happens to tell my dad that the owner will be in the office the next day. So my dad goes in, confirms the situation and asks the owner if he realizes what he just did. Dad gets the check for the lowered price and we refuse to buy a car at either of the two dealerships again. So despite the fact the sales manager offered too much, the owner backed down on a verbal agreement and lost business from us that he had since 1994 as well as any word-of-mouth recommendations.

In my parents eyes, the Aura and Passat were almost dead even. I was pushing the Passat. Since the two Saturn dealers closest to our house were owned by the same jerk, we would have to travel ~30 miles to the nearest dealer for service. So in conclusion, yes, this experience pretty much sealed the deal for getting a Passat.

[shadams]

Keep in mind you are only hearing one side of the story. When people think they are the victim they will say and do anything to prove their point. GM has a very strict standard to abide by in terms of CSI (customer satisfaction index) and if you dont meet a minimum score they start reducing your powers down to the point of actually setting up shop in your dealership to keep an eye on things.

[tom3]

For the potential to get shafted on a car deal I'd say the only thing worse than buying a used car from a dealer would be an outright sale of a used car to a dealer. I'd sure think it would be low book - if the car was perfect.

[shadams]

Originally Posted by shadams

Keep in mind you are only hearing one side of the story. When people think they are the victim they will say and do anything to prove their point. GM has a very strict standard to abide by in terms of CSI (customer satisfaction index) and if you dont meet a minimum score they start reducing your powers down to the point of actually setting up shop in your dealership to keep an eye on things.

I should have done this already, but I read the original post and see that this was more sales related. Trade-ins, buying cars etc. are out of GM's control, it then boils down to the honesty of the people working there, keeping in mind that they need to make a living. I'll stay out of this one since I have 0 experience in sales or sales related issues.

[t-rex]

I have a relative with a successful Premium Used Car Center (as he prefers it to be called) who has been looking lately into getting a new brand franchise, preferably with a fast-growing import brand.

By his account: GM make it difficult to get a Saturn franchise, as they feel two dealers for an area of 1.5 million is more than enough. Hyundai are probably tied with Toyota and Lexus as far as having the most stringent requirements on its dealers. Hyundai deliberately keep the number of its dealers low, to encourage large dealerships, which is supposed to instill public confidence in the brand. Hyundai franchise fees are also incredibly expensive for what's deemed to be a "budget" brand. Hyundai are simply fanatical about their dealer's performance.

Suzuki have the lowest franchise fee (a fraction of even what Kia's franchise fees are), the most flexible and attractive financing, and have numerous plans and programs available that benefit both Suzuki and the dealer. Suzuki appear to have a very "team-oriented" approach to its relationship with its dealers. If my cuz gets his way, New Orleans may be seeing a new Suzuki dealership opening within the year.