Chicagoland dealer- Al Piemonte Chevy was great- highly recommend- (long read)

[BulletSS]

For those that need/want to order a Camaro in the Chicagoland area, I have to recommend Al Piemonte Chevy in East Dundee. Up to talking to them, I had no idea that Piemonte even sold Chevys; it’s always Ford or something else on TV. Anyhow in short, they were very good to deal with, I got a great deal (over $3000 off MSRP), and I may be the fastest order-to-delivery of anyone on C5- 36 days.

So here is the long story….
Being a college graduate, I did a lot of research in both price and eligibility. I read all the posts that talk about how it is a dealer’s option to honor the discounts or not. I made a list of over 25 dealers in the northwest area of Chicago (Schaumburg, Elgin, East Dundee, St. Charles, Glen Ellyn, Palatine, Rockford, Woodstock, DeKalb, even up to Wisconsin). I called all of them and asked whether they honored the college discount. Believe it or not, only 4 said yes. I then asked if they honored the USAA discount and the GM card (which I needed time to build up to the rebate). Once the final 4 was chosen, I then called all of them back and asked what kind of goodies would they throw in since everyone is going to be priced exactly the same? Basically, why would I choose their dealership over another one? The offerings varied from free oil changes, car washes for life, car covers, locking lug nuts, to $100 gift cards. Naturally, I logged all of this in a spreadsheet.
The best was Al Piemonte Chevy in East Dundee. On August 24th, first thing Monday morning, I went to make a deal with them. Unfortunately, the sales man didn’t fully understand that the college discount was for supplier pricing. So all of the goodies he offered were taken away. Depressed and frustrated, I left.
Later that day, I called Grossinger Chevrolet- off of Lake Cook Rd in Palatine- that had said previously that they would honor the college discount. However, this time they said that the college discount wasn’t being offered on Camaros. I told them that I had a confirmation number that ended in Feb 2010, but they continued to insist that the Camaro wasn’t eligible. I called Chevy Customer service and a guy confirmed it was being offered, but it expired at the end of September (this was still August 24th). I decided to go to Grossinger and discuss what I had learned. Upon arriving at the dealer, I talked to the sales guy behind the desk (not sure if it was the manager or not). I told him that I had called and asked if their dealership would honor the college discount. He very abruptly declared- “Not on the Camaros!” I told him that I had already called and asked, and was told they did. Didn’t matter to him- “Not on the Camaros!” He said again.
At this point, I was unsure what to do. Here it was a week before the end of August, the college program ended in September, the USAA ended in December, and who knew how long the GM card would be eligible. Additionally, even if I wanted a car sitting on dealer’s lot, they were all being marked up like crazy and I didn’t have enough of a rebate built up on the GM card. Furthermore, the time it would take to get a car through the ordering process (which we all have heard the horror stories and months of waiting), it would surely be past the end of September when the college program expired. I was pretty much convinced that I was going to miss out on some of these discounts.
Buy off the lot- maybe get college discount or have to pay mark up, get USAA discount, no GM rebate to cash in
Order-MSRP and maybe college discount if it hadn’t expired, get USAA discount, save up for GM rebate.
Earlier in the afternoon, Al Piemonte called me and said that a CGM 2SS had just been delivered. It was a manual- just as I wanted- but didn’t have the RS package. After leaving Grossinger, I decided to stop by Piemonte’s just to see the color since I still hadn’t see one in person. I got there and talked to the sales manager Joe. After quite a bit of discussion about my first visit that morning and the college discount, he looked it up in the computer and saw that it did indeed expire at the end of September. He said that it is usually extended, so why not just order a car and see what happens when it comes in. I said there is no way I would order a car without knowing about the discount and to just “see what happens”. Here is where Piemonte shined- he said, “… if the car comes in, and Chevy hasn’t extended the college discount, I’ll give you supplier anyway”. At this point, I’m thinking, not only would it be hard to get a car in before September, but also how few dealers were even honoring it (now down to only 3), and the fact that they would give supplier even if the program is expired, I figured there is no way any other dealer is going to beat this. Therefore, I ordered that night. They had allocations and within a week, it was at 2000.
When the car came in, they did throw in some goodies after all. By using their financing, I got a couple of oil changes and 2 free tanks of gas. They also give car washes for the life of the car too.

So as for the deal: 2SS w/ RS minus college discount (it was actually delivered on 9/29- just in time), minus USAA, minus GM Card, minus 60day rebate. All told, about $3250 off of MSRP. 3 oil changes, 2 tanks of gas, financing at 4.19%, and car washes for the life of the car. The guys there are really down to earth, you can joke with them and they actually get it. They have a great operation and really make the customer feel welcomed. I highly recommend them to anyone in Chicago that is interested in a Camaro. After calling over 25 dealers, I know I couldn’t have gotten a better deal anywhere around here. If you talk to them, tell them Joe M. sent you.

Thanks for reading.