[doh]

I ordered my 00 Yukon before they started building them at $500 over invoice. I bought it on the internet from a dealer 60 miles away. I never stepped foot in the dealership until the unit was delivered. The only test drive I took was from a GM sponsored event months after ordering it.

I bought my 01 Alero, without ever driving one. I bought it on the internet from a dealer 90 miles away - at invoice. Car was "in transit" when I put the down paymnet. Showed up a week later to pick it up.

I bought my 03 Yukon XL from the same dealer as I got the 00 Yukon from. I was not looking to trade to an 03, but when I brought the 00 in for service they made me an offer I couldn't refuse on the old one and sold me the 03 at Supplier pricing.

I bought my '11 Turbo 6 spd Regal having driven only an automatic, regularly aspired one in the wrong color. I ordered what I wanted from a dealer 15 miles away who gave me the best deal (at $200 over invoice). No trade in.

More or less, I have been doing "the Blind Eye Purchase" for a Decade and I see nothing wrong with it.

Honestly if GM sold all the cars directly to the consumer from the same number of outlets with the same number of employees making the same amount of money, I think everyone (except the dealership owners) would be better off. We would get more consistent pricing, consistent service, and less dishonesty in the profession of selling cars.

To prove my point, think about Apple Computer vs PC. Apple's are mainly sold thru outlets that Apple owns. The service and customer experience is very highly rated. We pay more for the product, but legions love it. PCs can be had from countless outlets, pricing is all over the place, customer service is a joke.

But this will never happen as state franchise laws likely prohibit this from ever happening.

Here is an interesting read on the subject:
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/eag/246374.htm

Where did you drive the Regal Automatic? On Line? Did you Order the Autoatic, then send it back to get a Stanard? What did you do with your trade in? "Did you trade a PC in on your Apple Purchase?" Or just put it on your shelf? Who showed you "How to connect your phone, to the Blue Tooth Regal?

 

[chinamonty]

Exactly. People shop around for lots of things. But according to some salesmen, we should simply "eat it" from whichever we go to first. So - if Safeway doesn't have it on sale, I'm not supposed to checkout Lucky's?

Australia is going through a supermarket "war" at the moment. Our two biggest chains Safeway/Woolworths and their competitor Coles are cutting prices everywhere. Now things are just expensive not over the top!
I have seen comparisons of what we pay for things versus what they are in England and a typical trolley is 15-15% cheaper in England.
When I think back to what I paid for some things in China I just shake my head. As an example I was going to buy a pack of six Schick Ultra blades for RMB20 (USD3.00 at the time) but found I could buy a razor and six blades for USD3.20. Here they would cost around AUD10.00 (USD10.70).
I am now starting to look at on-line pricing.

 

[Silmarg]

Where did you drive the Regal Automatic? On Line? Did you Order the Autoatic, then send it back to get a Stanard? What did you do with your trade in? "Did you trade a PC in on your Apple Purchase?" Or just put it on your shelf? Who showed you "How to connect your phone, to the Blue Tooth Regal?

I wouldve bought the Regal without a a test drive, but for the first time in four cars, I took a test drive. How could I test trive the manual? They werent available in January!.

I was not looking for a new car when I bought the XL. Salesman did his job coaxing me into a new car with a fair trade. No reason why a non franchised outlet cant do the same... and yes, I believe you can trade in certain products at Apple. You'll get screwed finacially at Apple by doing it... but that can happen at a car dealer too.

And while my salesman set up my Onstar, he offered to do the bluetooth, but I refused and I did the bluetooth when I got home.

I am not saying dealers dont perform a service. I am saying we'd probably all have a better experience if the sales outlet was owned by the manufaturer.

I used to work for a oil company (Hess) whose retail gas stations were 80% company owned and 20% dealer/franchise locations (I dont this the mix is as dramatic now due to aquisitions). The predominace of company owned gas stations is unique in the oil business. Suffice it to say, we had very clean, very consistent feel / experience) at our outlets. The bottom line is you lose some control when you franchise out the retail operation.

The reason why franshises were done in the first place is to preserve capital. But now that the manufacturers are mature, I bet they would love to own the retail side of the business. And I would love to see an Apple like consistent experience when I buy a car. That will never happen as long as its franchised.

Lets face it franchise = outsourced.

 

[demonspeed]

Who showed you "How to connect your phone, to the Blue Tooth Regal?

The WWW is a wonderful thing. "Doh!"