Deciphering GM Price Protection and The Dealer Advantage

[AllFlash]

An issue with respect to the pricing of a Z06 has risen on another site and I thought I might tackle it here, thinking that between us this thread might assist the site traffic as there doesn't seem to be another thread that offers any clarity (not even in Google). In short, a member placed an order for a Z06 last year but his latest printout reflects the price increase, whereas mine does not. We have tackled all the issues of when the order was placed, whether it was a dealer order and whether there were any order changes that may have caused such, but to no avail. This reminded me of two people that I know, one from this site, that should have had price protection on their Stingray last year, but the dealer never honored it. Let's see if we can figure this out because I think I have discovered the problem that not many recognize....oh and let's use a Z06 as example.

Joe Car Guy places an order for a Z06 last August, places $5000 down and receives a valid dealer order that is in his name and he checks with GM regularly. He receives the typical "Congratulations on your Corvette purchase Mr Car Guy" when he calla Marisa. A price increase of say... $1700 occurs in February and he gets the car in March, being told he has to pay the invoice.

From what I have learned, the invoice that is received reflects the new price rather than the original that the dealer agreed upon regardless. Is this correct?

I am also told that the dealer receives a rebate for the difference (original/new price) from GM to make up for their loss in selling the car at the lower price, rather than the higher price. Is this correct?

Through what happened to so many 14 Vette buyers, a few of which are friends who described the purchase in detail, the dealer stated that they were responsible for the sticker price and they would have to take this up with GM. Does this sound correct to any? If it does, the problem we have is that GM and the dealership are completely separate entities and do not have any control whatsoever over the financial side of each business. In other words, the dealer can say he will not honor the original price and, not only will he pocket the extra $1700 from the buyer, but also, he will also pocket the $1700 when it comes for GM, who believed the car was sold at the original MSRP. Is this possible? Everything I have read on this subject seems to confirm just this.

Before I approach my friends at GM with this question, I am hoping that we can maybe provide accurate input here. The doors open...

Is the sticker price the new price or original MSRP?
Does the dealer receive that chunk back regardless whether he gave the original MSRP to the buyer or he didn't?

 

[smackYYZ]

I had price protection on my vehicle and this is how it played out.

On my original dealer order, was the original pre-increase price as agreed ( but was full retail ). Car arrived with the sticker with the increased price, and dealer wrote out a new contract wth the new retail on the top line, but after the "Total Basic Vehicle" price added a line saying "Discount $3260" which netted me back down to the original pre-increase price and then everything netted to the same numbers.

It was explained to me ( by George or Owais can't remember which ) that was the way it worked and that they had to manually apply to GM to get an equivalent credit ( not the 3260 but what ever that represented net of dealer profit ) which would be applied to their invoice on the car.

 

[AllFlash]

Interesting...I wonder if, in any cases the sticker reflects the correct pre-price jump deal. I ask because when I look on the GM Worksheet, pricing is the same. with my total before and after the Tpt fees.

 

[smackYYZ]

Interesting...I wonder if, in any cases the sticker reflects the correct pre-price jump deal. I ask because when I look on the GM Worksheet, pricing is the same. with my total before and after the Tpt fees.

The sticker from the factory always displays the current pricing. My initial workbench order actually shows the increased price and is the same day as my original deal. Now my original deal was noted that even though it was pre increase price it may not be price protected, since the price increase had been announced the previous week.

George worked some magic to get my deal honoured with the pre increase price even though my order was entered after the increase. I think it may have been due to the fact that GM gave them 3 allocations but they only had from Wed when they got them to have them sold by Monday AM or GM was puling them back. And instead of loosing this last allocation George had used it to order a car for himself. When I came in he gave it up and changed the order from his name to mine. I sat there with him at the computer while he did it. He told me his wife wasn't going to be happy, but a paying customer gets priority over his own personal order.