[Eye on Sky]

A lot of posts have been put up that GM can do nothing against dealers for abusing customers with surcharges over the MSRP. My father was with Ford for years and he said at one point he was paying 3.00 a piece for spark plugs. Being a kid I said let me sell them to you I can get them for .59 a piece. The first words out of his mouth were we would lose the franchise if we did not buy from Ford. Thats part of the deal of being a franchise you are subject to very stringent controls. If GM or rather Saturn wanted to exert there authority they could, but they choose not to. It is the same as a cop on the side of the road, with radar 60-70-80-90-100mph. The cop may sit there a while but eventually he will rein in the speed by putting on the lights, and ticketing someone. If Saturn Corp gets enough complaints they will pull on the reins. We have a golden opportunity with this forum to launch a letter-e-mail campaign to Saturn to let them know we don't like it. If corporate complaint letters follow the same course of political letters, 1 letter represents hundreds of peoples opinions. We all right letters maybe Saturn will come down harder.

 

[skywatcher]

I don't know that it would do anything, but if you're feeling like you want to explore options,
poke around over at http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/ .
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz posts there and claims all comments are
left intact and that "GM leaders have read each and every one".
Don't know where it would fit in.
Don't know if you'll get a response.
Don't know much of anything here.
Just something to consider, but you can probably pick up that I'm not too enthusiatic about the idea.

 

[twirp]

EyeonSky I feel your pain my friend, Feel free to contact Saturn at 1-800-553-6000 they will tell you point blank dealerships can sell for what they want. Let me ask you this.. does your dealership have a website? if it does search it up and down for a pricing policy . If they do print it out and take it to them. the one in Houston does and states that they ENTHUSIASTICALLY stand behind MSRP pricing policy. Next go to the BBB better business bureau website www.bbb.org and see what options you have. It sucks they are sticking it to you but sad thing is all manufactuers/dealers are doing it. I know it was 1-2 years ago Chevrolets gross profit on Suburbans was 10K. Why do you think GM has Billions in reserve??? Were all suckers for a cool product.:brentil: Heck just put your money back till Buick puts out the Velite, it may be out before I even get to order.

 

[silverbugeye]

EyeonSky I feel your pain my friend, Feel free to contact Saturn at 1-800-553-6000 they will tell you point blank dealerships can sell for what they want. Let me ask you this.. does your dealership have a website? if it does search it up and down for a pricing policy . If they do print it out and take it to them. the one in Houston does and states that they ENTHUSIASTICALLY stand behind MSRP pricing policy. Next go to the BBB better business bureau website www.bbb.org and see what options you have. It sucks they are sticking it to you but sad thing is all manufactuers/dealers are doing it. I know it was 1-2 years ago Chevrolets gross profit on Suburbans was 10K. Why do you think GM has Billions in reserve??? Were all suckers for a cool product.:brentil: Heck just put your money back till Buick puts out the Velite, it may be out before I even get to order.

thats all good but it you ask.. Whats the $5K mark-up?

and they says thats the SKY specialty pack... It includes.. hat, window tint, and a mug

 

[earlofcrankcase]

Let the Saturn people run their own show bro. They haven't had a car to draw attention to their line like this before. Just don't buy an Icon when you go to look. Their best money is made by pumping out cheap cars in large #'s. The sky is to get you in the door. Sad but true. Relax , it is what it is. There is only so many people willing to buy a car for looks v/s use. Scooting around go cart style is cool but for how long? I never considered a saturn before. Guess it's working.
If they had a 2d hatch back ready to go for under 16K that got 30mpg you might roll it till supply got good. So look the hell out.
I can't go with the pay now & see it in that color later giz. So I'm way back in line.
It's all good. Any time it isn't, all I have to do is get in my 04 Titan & take a trip down memory lane.

 

[twirp]

What a worthless thread!

Why do you constantly have to reply worthless quotes to everybodys threads , this is not the first time Ive noticed you doing this. No matter how worthless or stupid you find something just ignore it if you can not contribute something valid. People like you discourage others from posting threads because of the backlash it gets from people like you. This is not the first person TO'd about the mark-up. I commend those who want to correct a wrong situation. For now on try to refrain from the senseless quotes and show a little respect. Its totally cool to disagree with everybody and argue your point but its totally a waste of space on this forum to reply with meaningless quotes.

 

[SkyMan 08]

This is not the first person TO'd about the mark-up. I commend those who want to correct a wrong situation.

the only thing dealers will pay attention to is if people will just walk off the lot whenever ANY dealer trys the markup game... AMV's or Enviromental packages... etc are a gimmic, just refuse to pay and soon they will get the idea if EVERYBODY refuses...

 

[nighttripper]

the only thing dealers will pay attention to is if people will just walk off the lot whenever ANY dealer trys the markup game... AMV's or Enviromental packages... etc are a gimmic, just refuse to pay and soon they will get the idea if EVERYBODY refuses...

Have to agree with that. I don't know how many times I complained about one dealer and nothing changed until I just quit doing business. Went back after a few years and it seems I wasn't the only one who had the problem, dealer sings different tune now

 

[Ernest]

It is all laws of supply/demand, period. This is a marketing strategy and it will work. The reason is the target purchasing crowd is somewhat older(baby boomers) who haver worked and saved and built up there resources so they can now enjoy there 2nd, or 3rd childhoods. We did without to take care of our families and now it is our turn to do for ourselves. The Sky will sell at whatever price because people, such as myself are willing to pay the extra to enjoy the prestige of owning such a revolutionary style of Saturn. So all the complaining will probably not change things at the dealers until the initial demand and uniqueness has subsided, sdo if you can't pay the prices at this time, just wait, they will come down, supllies will become plentiful anmd there will little or no waiting period. Some of us us have been at this a while, over a year for me, so it has become a quest.:lol: I myself can buy any car I want, no sweat, but can't see spending twice to three times as much for a roadster that will make me smilke efverytime I drive it. Besides, I buy Americanatriot: because I believe in giving jobs to us, not lining the pockets of foreign countries who treat us like sh-- and only want our money & aid. If the markup bothers anyone, buy a ION RedLine coupe, inerxpensive and very quick.

ERNEST/Viet Nam Vet & Proud of it & my Country!!:thumbs: atriot:

 

[KappaMan]

Hey Twirp! What are you bitching about? You didn't start the thread, so save your bitching to when you are spoken to. It's call a "signature", and that's none of your GD business! My complaint with this thread is the fact that everyone here is bitching about GM and its screwed up dealer family.
"GM has the tools to retailiate at against Dealers" - Still a worthless thread!!:nono:

No time to handle through PM, sop public warning.

Name calling is NOT PERMITTED on this forum. Period. Read through the rules, please. There will be no further warnings.

Freeposting is also defined and addressed in the rules/guidelines/etiquette section. Freeposting is posting that doesn't advance the topic, and is in bad form. Announcing your opinion that a thread is worthless is basically freeposting.

Nobody forced your hand to move the mouse and click the keys and respond. There will be many many more threads on this forum in the future that you will consider "worthless", when, in fact, they are not. In the future, just don't respond to them, or take a moment and explain your position in a civil, respectful manner.


Back on topic: GM/Saturn cannot dictate price controls. I believe a minimum price can be established for products, but one cannot dictate a MAXIMUM price a retailer can charge for a product.

Now, I also don't believe that dealers can "collude" on price and gather together to decide what markups they will charge, but it is very difficult to prove this actually happens.

 

[reedred]

Now, I also don't believe that dealers can "collude" on price and gather together to decide what markups they will charge, but it is very difficult to prove this actually happens.

Many areas only have dealers owned by one company. If I decided not to buy from DCH Saturn and still wanted a Sky, I'd have to go two counties over into Queens! There's no need for collusion if your market area is large and distinct enough.

 

[t88-supra]

I agree with you guys about paying over sticker, but when asking my mngr the other day, he said that this car will be so hot that it would just be stupid for the
dealers not to ask more. the dealers are in the buisness of selling cars, not giving them away. ...... when I replied with that is not saturn like, he agreed but added that out of the 25 pre-orders that we already had, 22 of them planned on paying the extra 2500 markup.

 

[eldeeko]

What do you expect of a dealer? A very large majority of dealers came up through the ranks as "used car salesman" and it is a cut-throat business at that point. It takes a lot of determination to continue in such a life. Many end up parking your car and not selling you one. A dealer that has come up this way has seen it all, from used cars to new cars and with the proper amount of luck and contacts has purchased a dealership. Some have even purchased multiple dealerships with different makes of cars. Along the way it was mark-up, mark-up, mark-up. Every accessory know to man was pushed on the public for what? Mark-up. Why are factory accessories priced twice as high as they should be? So they can discount some of the extras to make the sale and not lose money. Bottom Line, not all prices are locked at a certain level and many can be discounted. Maybe not with a brand new model but most prices are variable.
Just my $0.02

 

[Eye on Sky]

Saturn Web Site-Dealer Resolution

I went on the Saturn web site last night. I laid out Dealership groups plan to up charge 2000.00 on each sale not already imaged and accepted. They suggested escalating to "Dealer Conflict Resolution" and gave a number to call and make a complaint. Explaining that the Company can take actions against unethical dealers. I sited the verbal contracts that a lot have recieved, the pre-orders that specified msrp or less. They asked for information right away to start the process. I stop at that point. I explained mine was already ordered first from the dealer and I have a contract and will recieve mine with no mark up, I just don't think it is fair to the others that may have waited just as long as I and will now get extorted for more. They then asked if I could at least give them the name of the Dealership so they could send it along further to customer relations. I refused because there is only 3 order images from this dealer accepted, It wouldn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out who sent complaint, and I don't want to queer my deal. I further continued saying that I believe My dealer isn't a isolated offender that it is widespread and could lead to litigation for breaking of verbal contract. They are passing on to corporate. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and a hand shake and a mans word mean something. If enough people do this the thought could be fostered of Class Action lawsuit. I don't think GM would want or need such publicity. Just my opinion