GM Employee Pricing Event Questions

[msouther]

Hi Folks,

Here is my little rant, sob story, question. I recently bought a 2010 GMC Terrain from a local Calgary dealership. I negotiated with the dealership on June 10th including a Car Cost Canada report in hand. I took possession of the vehicle on June 14th. The employee pricing program is effective for deliveries on June 23 and up until August sometime. The savings are around $3,200 on the unit I bought if I would've waited had I known.

Here is my question: Should a dealership disclose an upcoming event like this?

I am assuming they would know about it. Also, considering I was negotiating and trying to get the best price, I figure they would mention it.

Should I pursue this further or just suck it up and quick being a baby. Looking forward to responses. Thanks!

[corsvette]

Way back when i worked for a Ford dealer they would know about new programs about a week in advance,only the annual sales that happened the same time of the year they know about all year (ex: 4th of July blowout sales0

[Tilly]

it's a car, and they're sharks. with holding information isn't lying... unless it's to your better half. it's a suck-it-up situation.

[ByTeMe]

Don't they have this event like every year now?

[msouther]

Thanks for the replies thus far. The thing that bothers me (besides the $3,200 savings) is that I believe this is an every year event and they should know about it. I see commercials for this every year too, but I have never bought a new GM so I don't pay attention to it. I will read more responses if I get any, but I am prepared to fight over this. If it was a few hundred dollars, then I wouldn't worry about it, but this is a decent chunk of change.

One other thing I will add which doesn't relate to the incentive is that my vehicle had 350 km's on it and it is supposed to be new. I have bought 2 other new vehicles before (Nissan and Mercedes) and they both had less than 50 on them respectively.

[LEGiiT]

Originally posted by msouther
Thanks for the replies thus far. The thing that bothers me (besides the $3,200 savings) is that I believe this is an every year event and they should know about it. I see commercials for this every year too, but I have never bought a new GM so I don't pay attention to it. I will read more responses if I get any, but I am prepared to fight over this. If it was a few hundred dollars, then I wouldn't worry about it, but this is a decent chunk of change.

One other thing I will add which doesn't relate to the incentive is that my vehicle had 350 km's on it and it is supposed to be new. I have bought 2 other new vehicles before (Nissan and Mercedes) and they both had less than 50 on them respectively.

Each manufacturers delivery miles vary. 350 seems like a lot but they could have driven it from another dealership in the province.

[94boosted]

If they have good incentives they usually won't negotiate much if anything at all so I doubt that you really could of gotten the unit for 3200 less than you did if you did a good job negotiating.

And you can fight it but they won't take a penny off. You signed the bill of sale at whatever the purchase price was, the deal is done. Unfortunately your SOL.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by LEGiiT


Each manufacturers delivery miles vary. 350 seems like a lot but they could have driven it from another dealership in the province.

And it could be a random quality control sample right at the factory plant.

[bignerd]

Well you would of known the mileage on it when you bought it, most dealerships give about 7 cents a km off for anything excessive. I would assume the mileage is from test drives.

You could of always waited for the next sale... did you ask about any upcoming promotions or did you just assume they would tell you?

You might be able to get some free oil changes or accessories out of them, not sure.

[msouther]

Nobody told me the mileage of the vehicle. I just assumed it would be in line with what I have bought new before (under 50 km). This isn't a huge deal to me anyways, just an annoyance that I pointed out.

The $3,200 is more than an annoyance and I should've asked if there were any upcoming sales. The Employee thing is annual and I wish I would have thought of it. We'll see what happens, but I am going after it.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by msouther
The $3,200 is more than an annoyance and I should've asked if there were any upcoming sales. The Employee thing is annual and I wish I would have thought of it. We'll see what happens, but I am going after it.

The rebate is manufacturer to dealer. So your car probably won't qualify anyway being the deal was closed outside of time period of special. These rebates are the reasons why domestic depreciate so fast and you should never buy one unless a special is on. And the fact that you're buying a 2010 on the lot mean you should get $5K to $10K off a SUV anyway. Hopefully you got that.

May be write a letter the GM Canada and see what they can do for you.

Also, I found that CarCostCanada doesn't work for domestics any more. The manufacturer/dealer has caught on and inflated the reported invoice price. I have seen many domestics sold anywhere from $3 to $5K below invoice before manufacturer rebate.

[msouther]

Xtrema,

Thanks for the reply. My discount on the vehicle was minimal as there wasn't much of a mark up on it to begin with. I have already called GM and I am waiting to hear back from them and then I will plan my next course of action. A letter is definitely something I will write too as I want to get my rebate.

[bignerd]

The mileage is noted on and forms part of the purchase contract. Did you not see this car before you bought it? What does the purchase contract state for mileage on the vehicle?

I just find it hard to believe that you are so upset about this rebate and expected them to inform you of all their promotions, and you did not even ask when you were there.

[Aleks]

Unfortunatelly you probably won't get any money back. It was just bad luck you didn't wait a few more weeks.

As far as 350kms goes I would refuse to take delivery of a new car with that many kms on it. But I've bought a few now and I always make them put in 20kms or less in the contract allowing for PDI.

[kamakurakid]

With Aleks ^^^^ on this, my new Honda had 13 kms on it when I bought it. If they had to bring the car from another dealer, that is what a truck is for. If it was a demo being sold as new, well now the deal stinks further.

Write a letter, make it short and informative, make sure it goes to the the right places and wash your hands of the issue. Might get something for the bad taste in your mouth.

[msouther]

I didn't see this exact vehicle before I bought it. I searched it out online and it said it was at the dealership that I bought from, so I went there. They didn't have it but brought it in. I assumed it would be trucked in. The purchase contract didn't say anything about the mileage because they hadn't found out at that moment. When I took delivery and signed the paperwork, the final docs said around 110 so I completed them. After when the sales guy was going over all of the documents with me, I noticed the mileage and brought it up. It has been documented so I have proof of this.

Regarding the rebate, I am actually more mad at myself than anything. I know dealerships are there to make money which is what they did. It just pisses me off that 9 days after delivery Employee Pricing comes out and I could've saved $3,200 by waiting or being more informed.

I will be writing a letter, but I am waiting to hear back from the lady I spoke to at GM..........

[realazy]

We had a similar thing happen when we bought our CR-V. They didn't have a cash incentive promotion until 2 days after we went with financing and took delivery.

We went back and offered to pay cash with the finance manager and got $2500 off.

[max_boost]

Gonna be harsh but you have no one to blame but yourself. This isn't Future Shop. There isn't a one time 30 day price correction. As for the mileage, why the fuck would you accept the car with 350kms?

Sorry man but when in doubt, either say no, or ask Beyond first.

:D

[HHURICANE1]

I have worked at dealers before and sometimes they don't find out about promos until the day they start or even after. It's frustrating as all get out but it is what it is.

[scat330]

If I bought a brand new car, I'd expect it to have less than 2km on it. You can't drive more than that around a dealership and off/on trucks. :rolleyes:

[clem24]

I'll just chime in.

This is obviously your fault, and you've acknowledged that. It would be goodwill for GM to offer you something. I highly doubt they'll write you a cheque for $3,000. What I would do is be VERY nice to them, and instead, ask for maintenance credits, accessories (like a set of winter tires), etc... Tell them how you love your car, how you love GM, basically suck their cocks and swallow.

As for the 350km thing, that's BS... If I saw that on my new car that I was about to buy, I would just outright refuse delivery. That's again, your fault. Dealers are sleazy that way and it's up to you to protect yourself. I doubt it's some "quality testing" vehicle. It sounds more like it was used as a demo while on the lot. If they had to bring it in from another dealership, it'd have been from within the city. They wouldn't have driven it 300 km. Maybe 50 max. I personally think you got hosed there.

[corsvette]

350km is high,sounds like it may have been a dealer transfer (transfered from antother dealer in exchange for a different colour unit ect)Other than that the pdi mechanic will usually put 20km on a unit,and there is an allowance for test drive kms,i think they're allowed 1000kms before its sold as a demo.The new car warranty on yours should also start from the delevery kms.

[wtf im nameless]

Originally posted by corsvette
350km is high,sounds like it may have been a dealer transfer (transfered from antother dealer in exchange for a different colour unit ect)Other than that the pdi mechanic will usually put 20km on a unit,and there is an allowance for test drive kms,i think they're allowed 1000kms before its sold as a demo.The new car warranty on yours should also start from the delevery kms.

Don't forget a lot of dealerships in town don't have a "demo" of each vehicle, they let you test drive the actual car you would buy in their inventory which is why none of them will have a few thousand K but most of them will have a couple hundred and have been test driven numerous times.

I just test drove an F150 last weekend and after the sales guy qualified me he let me test drive the exact one I was looking for, it had about 120K on it when I picked it up and about 132 when I dropped it off.

[Aleks]

Originally posted by scat330
If I bought a brand new car, I'd expect it to have less than 2km on it. You can't drive more than that around a dealership and off/on trucks. :rolleyes:

In that case you're getting ripped off by the dealer because they are not doing a proper PDI and you may end up with a car that you have to bring back right away because no one checked it over.

[redblack]

I thought that when you used the car cost canada report, all factory rebates and incentives go to the dealer.

As for the kms thing, they must have used yours for a demo for a couple of weeks, Both of the vehicles that i bought new had 38Kms (acura tsx) and 21Kms (Audi Q5).

[Zero102]

As said above, the rebates go to the dealership, so when they do a special like this the dealership gets paid back the difference between the regular price and the sale price.
When you bought the car it didn't qualify for the rebate to the dealership and I wouldn't expect them to take that kind of a hit on the car when you already bought it.

I sit and fight with this very issue every time I think of buying a new car, wait a few months and try to hold out for the best deal possible but even with my last one I got screwed. I bought it on a $1000 rebate time, managed to get a $500 coupon towards the car and negotiated them down $1500 extra for a total savings of $3k. 2 weeks after I bought it they had a deal on for $4k off. I still did alright, but I can't help but think I could have saved an additional $2500 if I had waited.

It sucks but it's the nature of the beast when you buy a new car. Just keep it for a long time and make every penny count, it's all you can do.