Question on train shipping.

[Phail]

Situation - There is a 2011 Camaro sitting in a rail car in Ontario, waiting for a train to ship it to a dealership.... but the train is waiting for a "Full Load" before it moves.....

A horrid thought hit me... what if this train only ships Camaro's! This train won't be moving for a loooong time while the retool goes on...

Question - Do these particular trains ship other worldly goods as well? Or only Camaros? AKA will the train move (in theory) from the plant before the July 18th round of 2012's hit the shipping yard... or will it sit there until the 2012's fill it up?

[SilverTurtle]

it depends on what is and isn't being built at Oshawa... the trains do not carry ONLY Camaros... our trains pick up mixed loads of cars, trucks and SUVs and ship them across the country... I'm sure the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National do the same thing... the only time our trains pick up a strictly SUV, car or truck loading of vehicles is when the plant that makes the cars only produces one type of vehicle, e.g., Arlington, TX, GM plant produces nothing but SUVs... so when a train leaves there, it is full of nothing but SUVs

since Oshawa produces several makes of vehicle, I'm sure it will only be a day or two before there are enough loaded auto racks to make a full shipment... now if they are retooling for ALL of the models that Oshawa produces, then you might have a problem.

[Phail]

It's been "waiting" for a ride for 2 weeks now, I'm starting to worry Thanks for the info though, but I assume all models are going thru a retooling right now, as you mentioned. So regardless of car types made, it could still sit there until the 12's start popping off the lot if GM is to cheap to ship a half full railcar....

For a car I ordered on April 9th, this amount of time is just making me angry at GM.

Want to lose a 35k sale over a couple hundred in shipping costs GM? A few more days of "waiting" and you will.

[SilverTurtle]

Originally Posted by Phail

It's been "waiting" for a ride for 2 weeks now, I'm starting to worry Thanks for the info though, but I assume all models are going thru a retooling right now, as you mentioned. So regardless of car types made, it could still sit there until the 12's start popping off the lot if GM is to cheap to ship a half full railcar....

For a car I ordered on April 9th, this amount of time is just making me angry at GM.

Want to lose a 35k sale over a couple hundred in shipping costs GM? A few more days of "waiting" and you will.

that's really odd... and, honestly, it might be the railroad, not GM... railroads dont pickup cars from a plant unless they show it to be necessary... so its very possible that they dont have enough cars ready to be picked up from the plant... which, like I said, is odd, but plausible

you might try checking with one of the GM employees that is on Camaro5... I would hate to see GM get blamed for something that a railroad was doing.

[clg_98ta]

I would think the train would be on a regular schedule. Its more likely that your car is on a rail car they won't be attached to a train until its full. I doubt it'll be long before it on its way.

If it's like mine was, the train trip will only take a couple days, but the wait for a truck to pick it up from the rail yard and deliver it to your dealer will be brutal... I had to wait another 6 days for my car to be trucked the final 75 miles.

[BlueDragonVT]

What does your status say? Here are the available statuses:

(4000) Vehicle available to ship.
(4150) Invoiced (order is invoiced to the dealer).
(4B00) Your car is bayed and is waiting for transportation by truck, rail or transfer to vendor.
(4200) Shipped (vehicle is shipped to the dealer or interim point of delivery).

It is my understanding that if it is anything but 4200, it has not been loaded onto a railcar yet. 4B00 means it is sitting on the lot, waiting to be loaded. A word about GM logistics, they seem to have a very had time dealing with short distance deliveries, especially anything under 500 miles. Mine sat in Oshawa for over a month for no apparent reason before it shipped. You can see some details here.

[Phail]

Being in Canada we don't have an easy way to look at current status other then going through the dealer, and my dealer hasn't returned one VM I've left yet (6 over a 3 month period), so I don't even bother calling them anymore and just go though the 1-800 number here for information (The CS from this number is awesome BTW, they've been very helpful so far). Oddly enough though they (1-800 people) don't have access to the workbench system themselves, so I've never gotten a code status update. I would assume from "awaiting shipping" means 4B00, but who knows.

Someone is suppose to be calling me back today once they ask about what exactly the delay is and if I should expect a long wait... I don't honestly expect much on this one though, although helpful, these CSR's seem to be fighting a losing battle as far as communcation goes (not their fault).

Lucky for me the railyard goes directly past the dealership here (5 minute drive), so no truck is required, they just go and pick the car up manually from the railyard and drive it to the dealer, so that should save some time..... once it actually gets here.

I followed your story BlueDragonVT, but figured I would avoid a similiar fate as the shipping fiasco is now over. Here's hoping for the best! We've had some crazy weather here lately, and my old beater has taken a few broken branches to the roof in the last few weeks (no damage, but who can tell under the dirt), so maybe its all happening for a reason

[Phail]

Received a call back from GM confirming that the car is indeed waiting for more cars to be made to fill a railcar before it ships.

Who thinks up these rediculious processes? If your plant is no longer making any 2011 cars.... SHIP WHAT'S LEFT and be done with it. Don't sit around waiting for at least 2 months for next years model...... UNBELIEVABLE. I really hope this is all one giant mistake and someones going to jump out and say "Gotcha" any minute.

I can't even drive down there and pick it up, I asked.

[DWalz286]

im in the same boat dude... my car was bayed and shipped once (on 6/9 and 6/14, respectively)
Then bayed again on 6/15... and now im just sitting and waiting for 2 weeks!

I've given up on having it for 4th of July weekend, but i planned a trip out to the beach next weekend that i pretty much based on having a convertible to drive out there... and now i'm getting worried that might not even happen. It seemed like a safe bet a few weeks ago.

If you ask me, this is kind of ridiculous. The dealer told me 6-8 weeks from when I originally ordered the car and I'm at 10 weeks right now with no end in sight.

Also, I live in NY and bought a convertible... not the most practical type of car for the northeast... but I figured I'd get this summer out of my new car... and now summer's half over! They're gonna finally get this car to me in August when theres like only 4 weeks of good weather left... I know it.

Maybe it's just my frustration talking, but this doesn't seem like a good way to do business.

[Phail]

Some good news finally from my end at least. I've been dealing with GM CSR's the whole time, as I mentioned, and they have been extremely helpful. They have been escalating my concerns as high as they can and I finally received a call yesterday from my dealer informing me that they are making a special shipment of this half empty rail car because one of the cars is sold (mine). Should get here in a few weeks.

Better then the September delievery date it would have been, but the fact that the car wouldn't have moved if I hadn't of bitched still doesn't sit well.

Dealers happy with me thought, he has 2 more Camaro's in the same shipment that he would have been SOL on receiving until Sept if it wasn't for my car. Trying to sell a year old car as new when 2012's are coming off the same shipment just seems like a really stupid move for GM's pocket book.

[DWalz286]

looks like im gonna hafta call and bitch too... whats the number?