Chevy Volt dealer markup pushes buyer to reserve Nissan Leaf

[wtmusic]

"Motivated by a green bent and a desire to buy American, Richard Kaufman visited a Los Angeles area Chevrolet dealership last month intent on buying a Volt. He left steamed -- bolting straight for a nearby Nissan store to sign up for a Leaf.

Kaufman says a salesperson at the Chevy store quoted him a price $5,000 above the base Volt's sticker of $41,000, including delivery.

'It's morally wrong, and it's not good business,' fumed Kaufman, 53, an entertainment industry executive. 'GM not only lost me on this Volt, they lost me for a lifetime.'"

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110228/RETAIL07/302289961/1261#ixzz1FYem1Dyc

He must have signed up on a waiting list (Nissan is not taking new orders) but this is terrible PR for Chevy. They need to work out a special agreement with dealers on the Volt - no markups above MSRP - or the product will end up the victim.

[TheWraith]

1. It's unfair that he's blaming GM for this.

They don't set the dealer-end sticker price, the dealer does. If the dealer is overcharging, THEY should be the ones to reap the bad PR for it.

[wtmusic]

2. Nissan must have an agreement with their dealers

because I was charged sticker, and I haven't heard any reports of others being marked up.

It would be in Chevy's best interest to have a similar arrangement.

[TheWraith]

11. Seems to me though that the Volt has a lot more buzz going on than the Leaf.

Being a US vehicle, the resurgence of GM, the fuel economy claims, and the benefits of a series hybrid... seems to me that would contribute heavily to the anticipation and thus the opportunities for markup.

[wtmusic]

12. Maybe.

GM has shipped 280+ Volts, Nissan has only delivered 40 something Leafs. That may have something to do with the buzz.

The first run of 20,000 Leafs is completely sold out though. When I asked my dealer for a price he laughed and said, "MSRP...we won't gouge ya".

[txlibdem]

13. There was a rather long-winded discussion on this

over at gm-volt.com a couple of years ago. The consensus was that GM dealers have carte blanche over pricing in their contract with GM.

On a related topic, GM dealers are reneging on the promised $350 per month lease price with $2500 down. See the following:
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?6962-lease-payment-cost

Some of the inflated lease prices could be from adding on options or upgrades to the Volt, one fella got a lease payment of $464/month and opted for an upgraded interior and shiny wheels. But another had to pre-pay for taxes and options to get to the $350 a month stated lease price.

I was never in the market for a Volt (has a fossil burner engine in it) but if I ever was this thread and the one about them jacking around with the lease payments would sour me on the Volt and on GM for their complicity.

[ejpoeta]

4. couldn't he have looked around at various chevy dealers or was this the only

one in the area that sold the volt?

[atreides1]

5. True

But it's still a GM product, guilt by association.

[PoliticAverse]

3. Consumer Reports also had to pay an extra $5,000 dealer markup when they bought their test volt

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/april/cars/chevrolet-volt/overview/index.htm

[jdlh8894]

6. Why would anybody pay $46,000

for a rainproof Golf Cart?

[wtmusic]

7. For not a whole lot more Tesla will have a beautiful sedan

next year which is all-electric and can drive 300 miles.

[jdlh8894]

8. And the price being??????

[wtmusic]

10. Base price $57K

(160 mi battery pack)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Model_S

[caraher]

14. And $65k for the longer range pack

[DCKit]

9. Links please.

I keep my eye out for this stuff, and hadn't even seen a pic before your post.