[mcd-02]

Hello everyone,

My wife and I live in a town of 4500, in a county of 33000.
We have a cadillac dealer in our town, the only one within 45 miles.
We purchased a used 2004 XLR in Tennessee, from a dealer. which my wife's uncle found for us.
I approached our Cadillac dealer prior to this, but no inquiries were responded to.
When it came time to service the car/warranty work, I was told by my service manager that they could not work on the car because the owner of the dealership did not buy into the XLR program, that is, service personnel training and specialized tools. He also told me that that is the same reason they do not sell corvettes.
I called the Cadillac help desk, and they told me that this is possible, but did not sound very convincing. They even called the dealership and were told the same thing.
Can anyone tell me if this situation is even remotely possible?
Or is it just sour grapes by the dealer. Small towns do have different ways.
Thanks for the help.
Scott

 

[elfred]

Hello everyone,

My wife and I live in a town of 4500, in a county of 33000.
We have a cadillac dealer in our town, the only one within 45 miles.
We purchased a used 2004 XLR in Tennessee, from a dealer. which my wife's uncle found for us.
I approached our Cadillac dealer prior to this, but no inquiries were responded to.
When it came time to service the car/warranty work, I was told by my service manager that they could not work on the car because the owner of the dealership did not buy into the XLR program, that is, service personnel training and specialized tools. He also told me that that is the same reason they do not sell corvettes.
I called the Cadillac help desk, and they told me that this is possible, but did not sound very convincing. They even called the dealership and were told the same thing.
Can anyone tell me if this situation is even remotely possible?
Or is it just sour grapes by the dealer. Small towns do have different ways.
Thanks for the help.
Scott

Yes this is true. Most all Cadillac dealers were given the opportunity to be an XLR selling and servicing dealership. The cost to the dealer was $20,000 for training, showroom point of sale material and special tools to service these cars. Alot of dealers passed on this OPPORTUNITY. Mainly because the smaller dealers allocation of XLRs would not justify this stiff investment.
Your dealership may not have been trained on XLR BUT systems on STS, Escalade CTS and DTS are very similar. The only exception would be the top mechanicals. Even better if your dealer is a Chevy dual then he understands the Corvette platform that XLR uses. Hope this helps.:cheers
Regards,

Elfred

 

[DarkJediTL]

I know when we went on the factory build tour, they were telling us that they don't even sell the XLR in Bowling Green because the Cadillac dealer there would not spend the money to train his mechanics and GM won't let them sell XLRs unless they have a trainned mechanic.

 

[elfred]

Yes, for many dealers it just didn't make economic sense. Spend $20K to join the club with no guarantees on allocation. Let's say you are allocated 2 cars for the year (small dealer like you mentioned) here is the scenario:

2 cars = total profit of $ 20,000 (at height of demand)
floor plan expense per day per vehicle= $43.00 X 2= $86.00
Average turn for XLR (in small town) = 120 days (optimistic)
120 days X $86.00 = $10,320 Floor plan expense for two cars

So here is the bottom line:
$ 20,000 profit
- $ 20,000 sign up fee

leaves the dealer with zero. Then you must factor the $10,320 in for floor plan expense (depending on prime this figure might be off by about $800 +- AND this does not take into account insurance and lot maintenance on these vehicles while they reside in inventory!

So as you can understand this dealers plight....it is not a good "OPPORTUNITY"
which equates to a loser scenario.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Elfred

 

[1_XLR]

I disagree....even at a minimum of 2 cars a year....it's been 4 years now.
and after the first year I think they can order all the cars they want.
So I think it's a market decision rather than an allocation issue.
I can't imagine that an authorized dealer can't sell more than 2-3 cars a year,
not to mention the service revenues they miss out on.

 

[elfred]

I disagree....even at a minimum of 2 cars a year....it's been 4 years now.
and after the first year I think they can order all the cars they want.
So I think it's a market decision rather than an allocation issue.
I can't imagine that an authorized dealer can't sell more than 2-3 cars a year,
not to mention the service revenues they miss out on.

Michael,

We are actually in agreement. The scenario I laid out and with which we are dealing with is "small ADI" or "market" dealers not big population locations. My brother is a Cadillac dealer and I do not recall in the agreement that you could get all the cars you want after one year. What would be the purpose of the initial charge of $20,000? All dealers definitely do not get the same or equal allocations.
Initially when the cars were red hot, MSRP was what was asked and that was where the allocation issue came in for many dealers. Once the product "cools off" then the market dictates any discounting along with excess inventory/production.

Many dealers never saw more than 4-5 units a year....hardly enough to carry the service department. When you look at how many Cadillac dealers are in the U.S. (approx. 2800) and look at XLR production, you can see how the low unit count and availability constraints could happen. :cheers

Regards,

Elfred