The Chevy dealer I deal with, Kool Chevrolet-Cadillac in Sturgis Michigan just had something I didn't expect happen to it. The dealership acrost the street, Dave Smith Pontiac-Buick-GMC has been there for 40 years, but it has been bought and sold several times, and the current owner, Gayla Perry, couldn't keep up in inventory payments with GMAC, so GMAC pulled the plug on them, and took the entire inventory across the street to Kool Chevrolet-Cadillac, making them now a FULL GM line dealership, possibly one of the FIRST in the nation! Haven't seen a sign up as to that extent, BUT, they are now have an inventory of Chevrolets, Dadillacs, Buicks, Pontiacs, and GMC trucks! Makes them all GM the way I see it! Will it stay that way?????

We have talked here about dealers closing, and how GM would pull the plug on them, but it appears they don't have to do that if their dealers can't make the sales needed to pay the financing on the cars sitting on their lots, unless they pay cash, or are doing good enough to make their payments. Keep in mind that Dave Smith is not closed, they JUST HAVE NO INVENTORY! Service is open, and they will sell you a car, but it will have to be from another dealer!

Now some of you know that I bought my wife LadyT a new '07 Solstice GXP for Christmas last year. I TRIED to buy one from Dave Smith, but the best they would do was about $700 of MSRP. I got $5,500 off MSRP, AND 0% financing from another dealer, Seely-Wright of South Haven. Further, the parts man at Dave Smith is a blooming IDIOT! He didn't have a clue how to locate parts that I wanted, like a stubby antenna and splash guards, of which I even furnished part numbers. I went across the street to my Chevy parts girl, she located them in about a minute, and I had them in 2 days!

I've made comments about a small town like Sturgis not needing two GM dealers acrost the street from each other, and also that there should be "all GM" dealers. Looks like I hit the nail on the head here. Survival of the fittest! We'll see if the current owner of Dave Smith, Gayla Perry, can get her act together and keep the doors open, but it looks to me like we just got ourselves an "ALL GM" dealer here in Sturgis Michigan, and that would be Tom Kool and Kool Chevrolet-Cadillac-Pontiac-Buick_GMC.

For those interested in the front page article of the Sturgis Journal article in todays edition, here is the link:
Sturgis Journal front page, Dec 23,2008

 

There is a full GM dealership here in Ontario, Canada near London, Ontario. At least it was last time I was there, but that was a couple years ago. HMP Motors in Exeter, Ontario.

The Chevy dealership where I bought my Monte last year went belly up recently. It had a Pontiac dealership next to it (different owners). Across the street is a Ford dealer and a Chrysler dealer next to the Ford dealer. They called the area the Tilbury Auto Mall. In Tilbury, Ontario.

Sign of the times I guess. Some of my co-workers and I were discussing this topic at work recently. We all pretty much agreed that one of GM`s problems is that they have too many dealerships. There is no need for a separate Chevrolet-Cadillac dealership, a Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealership, and a Saturn-Hummer dealership. Combine the three into one GM dealership. And while they're at it, GM needs to eliminate some of the redundant models. No need for a ChevyTruck line-up, and a separate GMC Truck line-up.

 

I HATE CHEVROLET OPTRA 115 bhp infact there r no hoses in it....

AVEO maha shalla

TAVERA .......SPEECHLESSSSSSSS>>>>>>

SRV-SPORTS CAR MY ASSSSSSS.....LICK IT INFACT

 

Probably a sign of the things to come.

Just like there used to be Plymouth, Dodge, and Chrylser dealers. Find a seperate one now days.

Maybe this will scare some of the idiot dealerships who think they can blow off the customer in to getting their act together?
(probably not. Right?)

 

TOO many people, businesses, etc, think that is all about them. Raise your hourly service prices, they'll pay it anyways. You know, those old fogies that pay that just die and fade away, just like the dealers that think they can get $80-100/hour labor, OR MORE, PLUS incidentals. Sorry, I pay $65/hour, and that just went up. Was $55 not to long ago.

I have a deal with my auto service tech...... he doesn't build molds, and I don't do major auto work.

As far as the dealers that think they can make thousands on a sale, times have changed. Ebay, Auto Trader, Cars, and others have leveled the playing field. When I bought the Solstice GXP a year ago December, several dealers was willing to make me a SUPER deal, $700-800 under MSRP. I ended up getting it at a no haggle price of $5,500 under MSRP, PLUS 0% financing!. One of those dealers is the dealer talked about in the top of this thread. See what that got them?