Is it possible to convince the dealer to accept a supplier discount lol?

[OUR72GTO]

You better go see his wife.

[Supermans]

Originally Posted by Hylton

I wouldn't honor any supplier discount on any hot moving car. Just makes no business sense. When things start to slow down, I'd do it though.

Are you marking up the price as well?

[Hylton]

Originally Posted by Supermans

Are you marking up the price as well?

No, that I wouldn't do. They are making a good chunk at MSRP. It's all about supply and demand. Let market forces do it's thing.

[camarolt76]

Originally Posted by Hylton

I think they will sell every car they will be able to build this year. Too much interest at car shows and media who are not enthusiasts. Car is also well priced compared to the competition.

Supplier discounts don't hit GM's profit on the car, only the dealers. If GM was the one who took the $$$ hit, every dealer would gladly accept every supplier discount because it would be no skin off their back. Don't forget, dealers will probably only get 15 cars on average this year that aren't spoken for. Most of them will come just in time for winter.

Are you sure that the dealer takes the hit on the Supplier Discount, and not GM? I am interested because I am eligable for the Supplier Discount, but I did not discuss it with my dealer. I also have a GM credit card. I did discuss that with them and they said that if GM offers the credit card discount (probably $1000 max.) they would take it. It does not affect their bottom line at all. The GM card discount is as good as my money.

[Hylton]

Originally Posted by camarolt76

Are you sure that the dealer takes the hit on the Supplier Discount, and not GM? I am interested because I am eligable for the Supplier Discount, but I did not discuss it with my dealer. I also have a GM credit card. I did discuss that with them and they said that if GM offers the credit card discount (probably $1000 max.) they would take it. It does not affect their bottom line at all. The GM card discount is as good as my money.

The GM credit card is not the supplier discount and in that case (as well as the student first time car buyer discount), GM and the CC takes the hit. That's why every dealer will be more than happy to accept that discount - will not affect their profit on the car. You don't pay with the CC of course but the deal allows GM to pass some of the discount cost to the CC.

[live2well]

I am still amazed at how many dealers wont honor the employee or suppliers discount on the Camaro. It just doesnt make sense to me why they wont honor it. In the Big picture those who are eligible are a small percent of the total sales of the dealer. If the General Manager/owner doesnt honor it they are losing a sale and lose a customer for life. Some dealers are so short sighted. If you move cars you make money. I would rather sell 100 cars at a dollar profit than one car at 100 dollars profit.


Oh and to answer the OP. Just go in with the appropriate info and ask for it. If they dont give it to you then do a take away close and tell him your going to go to the next dealer and they will give it to you. But be willing to do what you say. Dont forget you are in charge. They want your money more than you want the car. STAY IN CONTROL.

[Hylton]

Originally Posted by live2well

I am still amazed at how many dealers wont honor the employee or suppliers discount on the Camaro. It just doesnt make sense to me why they wont honor it. In the Big picture those who are eligible are a small percent of the total sales of the dealer. If the General Manager/owner doesnt honor it they are losing a sale and lose a customer for life. Some dealers are so short sighted. If you move cars you make money. I would rather sell 100 cars at a dollar profit than one car at 100 dollars profit.

One of my best friends is the largest GM dealer in my city. He has almost 300 employees and his dealership covers a city block. If he doesn't sell 5 cars a day on average, he is going to be in the red. $100.00 over invoice will not cover the overhead such as admin staff, building maintenance cost, outragous insurance rates and property taxes. Then he has to feed his family after everyone else.

Specifically to your point, if a car is sitting on a lot for 90 days then yes, he would consider a supplier discount just to move it. He sold all of his guaranteed yearly alottment for the Camaro already at MSRP so no reason to think he could not sell more at MSRP. At a time when dealers are hurting, they should sell at whatever the market is willing to bear without going above MSRP. If you want a discount, simply wait a year.

[383ss]

I'm hoping to

[live2well]

Originally Posted by Hylton

One of my best friends is the largest GM dealer in my city. He has almost 300 employees and his dealership covers a city block. If he doesn't sell 5 cars a day on average, he is going to be in the red. $100.00 over invoice will not cover the overhead such as admin staff, building maintenance cost, outragous insurance rates and property taxes. Then he has to feed his family after everyone else.

Specifically to your point, if a car is sitting on a lot for 90 days then yes, he would consider a supplier discount just to move it. He sold all of his guaranteed yearly alottment for the Camaro already at MSRP so no reason to think he could not sell more at MSRP. At a time when dealers are hurting, they should sell at whatever the market is willing to bear without going above MSRP. If you want a discount, simply wait a year.

I truly understand your view and no disrespect intended but your best friend's overhead is too high if he cant absorb a the employee discount or supplier discount (btw which is part of an employees compensation package "pay"). I only say that because most of his car sales would NOT fall into the employee or suppliers discount catagory.

Example being that if his yearly allotment was 20 cars and he sold 15 of them at MSRP and 5 were sold with GMS discount, then he is doing something wrong if this hurts his bottom line significantly. If 25% of his sales get the GMS discount and this takes food off his table then he is running his business the wrong way.

I hope I havent offend you. I am not trying to offend any one but if we keep running our businesses the same way we have for the last few year we are dooming our businesses. We need to start thinking long term not short term. Decades not just one or two years down the road.

[Hylton]

Originally Posted by live2well

I truly understand your view and no disrespect intended but your best friend's overhead is too high if he cant absorb a the employee discount or supplier discount (btw which is part of an employees compensation package "pay"). I only say that because most of his car sales would NOT fall into the employee or suppliers discount catagory.

Example being that if his yearly allotment was 20 cars and he sold 15 of them at MSRP and 5 were sold with GMS discount, then he is doing something wrong if this hurts his bottom line significantly. If 25% of his sales get the GMS discount and this takes food off his table then he is running his business the wrong way.

I hope I havent offend you. I am not trying to offend any one but if we keep running our businesses the same way we have for the last few year we are dooming our businesses. We need to start thinking long term not short term. Decades not just one or two years down the road.

Hi Brian,

No you haven't offended me in anyway. Discussion is good in my world, even if it is regarding polar opposite opinions about something. I agree with you that a dealer should grant employee discounts on a vehicle. Yes that would be part of a compensation package and would most likely be clearly identified in the employment contract/benefit plan.

To your second point about selling 15 out of a 20 allotment at MSRP and then having 5 to sell at discount, he would still make money as a whole but the dealer world is not that simple. Looking at Camaros alone, you are assuming that this would be the case every year. In reality, it would only be the case for the first year.

Once Oshawa gets fully ramped up, supply will be greater than demand and dealers will at last be able to hold inventory of the Camaro (lot cars). At that time, there is more incentive for a dealer to move a car because now, he has to worry about carrying costs. 10 Camaros sitting on a lot is $300,000 (roughly) to the dealer. GM gets paid even before some lot cars get sold. So what do you think the monthly interest is on $300K? That money must come from the dealers profit from the car.

There is another issue that has not been discussed here which complicates things even further. GM tries to get dealers to take slow moving or no moving cars which the dealer will lose money on every sale. Here's the scenario -

A few years back, GM could not build enough Hummers and they were flying out the door at MSRP. My dealer friend was selling them as soon as he got them. He ordered as many as he could get. The catch? He had to buy 3 Pontiac Aztecs for every Hummer he got. What's the big deal about that? The problem is he couldn't sell them and lost a minimum of $1,000 on every one. GM didn't lose a dime because they still got their money. So where does the Aztec sales loss come from? The Hummer sales.

The same thing will happen here. GM will pressure Chevrolet dealers to buy a dud if they want a Camaro. The profit from the Camaro sales will offset the loss from other cars. You would figure that GM would just build whatever is in demand and stop building what isn't. It's one more area that needs to be addressed in the new GM. Give dealers the cars they are asking for and stop giving them the cars that don't sell.

[camarolt76]

Excellent post Hylton, and thanks for the reply to my post.

[live2well]

Good Morning Hylton,


I agree with most of what you have said and understand all of what you said. The only problem I have is that the GM Dealer business plan spells out how GM is going to run its dealership programs. All Dealership owners know what to they can expect from GM and should account for those things accordingly. One of those thing is to except the trash cars with the good selling cars. Another is the discounts that are available to the consumer. Another is the money that they should make with the repairs. And many other streams of revenue. With that in mind the dealer must adjust their business plan to account for those possible losses or gains. I believe that not allowing the customer the discounts that they are entitled to is unethical and bad business. If the dealer cant absorb the small amount of discount that occurs from GMS and/or GMU customers then they are not running the business properly and therefore should lose their business. :-) We may just have to cheerfully agree to disagree on the GMS/GMU issue at hand. I as a businessman do understand exactly from where you are coming. :-)


P.S. Sorry OP for Jacking your thread. IMO the best way to get the discount you deserve is to ask for it and if you dont get it find a dealer that will give it to you.

[Hylton]

Originally Posted by live2well

Good Morning Hylton,


I agree with most of what you have said and understand all of what you said. The only problem I have is that the GM Dealer business plan spells out how GM is going to run its dealership programs. All Dealership owners know what to they can expect from GM and should account for those things accordingly. One of those thing is to except the trash cars with the good selling cars. Another is the discounts that are available to the consumer. Another is the money that they should make with the repairs. And many other streams of revenue. With that in mind the dealer must adjust their business plan to account for those possible losses or gains. I believe that not allowing the customer the discounts that they are entitled to is unethical and bad business. If the dealer cant absorb the small amount of discount that occurs from GMS and/or GMU customers then they are not running the business properly and therefore should lose their business. :-) We may just have to cheerfully agree to disagree on the GMS/GMU issue at hand. I as a businessman do understand exactly from where you are coming. :-)


P.S. Sorry OP for Jacking your thread. IMO the best way to get the discount you deserve is to ask for it and if you dont get it find a dealer that will give it to you.

Good morning Brian!

You are not highjacking the thread since you are discussing the topic at hand. I wish dealers would be willing to accept any discount programs as well but they are within their right not to. As per the dealership agreement, there is no provision stating that they MUST accept ALL discounts at ANY time.

The dealership agreement also allows the more unscrupulous dealers to sell the new Camaro above MSRP. GM is not doing anything to stop them from doing that. That's why we have created 2 threads here - one which identifies all the delaerships selling above MSRP and all the dealerships selling at MSRP or below.

Botom line is that most people will be able to find a dealership that will honor GMS discounts but you will have to be willing to spend hours and hours on the phone. It's all about how much effort you want to put into the endeavor.

I would suggest to anyone not willing to bang your head against the wall by spending hours talking to stupid, uninformed salesman (if you are on this site, you will know more than them), to wait 6 month when you start to see a few cars on the dealer lots. That's when they will be ready to deal.

BTW - my dealer buddy thinks he will not have one car on the lot for at least a year. That was before he knew he was getting the V6 car that GM is building for all the dealers.

As for the trash cars, it may be in the agreement but that business model does not work in todays market. That business model was created when GM had over 50% of the North American market. It barely has 20% now. GM has to be able to make all it's plants Flex plants and be able to change what they build on a dime so that they can better respond to what the customer is asking for. The days of buld it, and shove it in their face are over.