Questions from a discouraged Chevy Dealership visitor

[elc32955]

One note on the private sales prohibition... I believe it was either last year or the year before, we were told from a few knowledgeable sources that GM had relaxed the restriction on Caprice sales to the general public, but ONLY for certain model year cars (2011-2013) due to the age of the unsold inventory and problems that had been encountered with rings not seating properly on the unsold lot lizards, leading to high oil consumption and warranty claims. As far as I know, the "no private sale" rule is still on for 2014 & up cars.

There is always the recourse of asking the dealership to title the car and then sell it to you, that's been done successfully a few times by forum members here. Once it's titled, it's no longer a "new" car - which takes off the sales prohibition, the warranty clock starts ticking, and the title will list it as used.

Does anyone know if these cars are floor planned?

Eric

[BIG_GREEK]

Yes dealers and fleet dealers are NOT to sell PPV/SSV Vehicles, new, to the general public. GM has cracked down on this within the past few years, reason, no idea.

Also, the prices have skyrocketed, especially on the Tahoes. I think the base price for a Tahoe PPV is around $37k-$38k? Base price for the smaller, lifted station wagon ford is almost 10 grand less. Agencies and departments are switching over, GM might have kicked themselves in the rear end on this one but I guess we'll see.

It all depends on the dealer, some may have the vehicle "purchased" and then sell them "used", but some dealers have been caught doing this and were reprimanded. It also depends on who you (the buyer) work for, present a REAL set of LE creds, and they may sell you one new, if youre lucky.

Honestly, the best way for anyone to buy a Caprice is used. A LOT easier to purchase, less hoops to jump through, considerably cheaper than buying new, and its already broken in.

Whatever you decide to do, goodluck!! Keep us in the loop.

[iboughtonetoo]

That's the point though, there are ways of selling them if the dealer is properly motivated and they've been sitting there long enough. With Holden closing up shop next year, I'm sure the few departments that were still seriously considering ordering new ones are cancelling orders and going to Ford. It's just too hard to maintain a fleet of these things as hard as spare parts are about to be to get for them.

RJ, thanks for the tip. I just shot you a PM for more details. If things continue to go sour on the current guy I'm talking to, I could easily see myself making a trip down to FL for that one.

for them to sell it the dept has to take possession and then do the whole "we don't want it, give us a Tahoe instead". if they cancel before delivery, the car is "new" and therefore under GM fleet jurisdiction.

the ways they can sell them are very limited as GM is really micromanaging them for some reason. they just don't want to deal with the parent company and suffer loss of incentives on their actual money makers to sell some random dude a caprice.

they don't have to title it, per say. GM doesn't care. they just have to deliver to a fleet customer. if buyer doesn't title it, you get the manufacturer certificate in lieu of title from a state DMV and then you title it. since the sales docs will list it as "used" you will then title it in your name as "used". literally the dealer sent 10 pages of instructions to the title office. the girl was quite amused.

sure a dealer can phantom sell it but that's technically illegal, not only for fleet sales but in general. what maker got busted recently for doing that in order to boost sales in the statistics.. mazda? kia? something import. they had their dealer network buy cars, record them as new sales then relist them as used in a few days.

[KERR]

a close family friend of our owns about 8 dealer ships, back in 11 i ask about getting one, and his reply was, " id love to get you one, but none of my dealerships are in the fleet CAR sales, I can make a few phone calls to my buddies and see if they have any" at that time no one had any when i was in the market... last time i ask him he said he had no idea on the caprice, he said all the fleet / government stuff they sale is trucks.
Im guessing it depends on where you are what you do, I know the dealer in NC and used truck dealer in KY advertises its a huge fleet dealer, you go on line and they have like 100 white vans, 200 white trucks etc...

fast forward to last month i was getting a oil change and ask the used car manager if he has seen any.... he told me most of the big sales he goes to, that ex police cars come two ways, perfect and bring way to much money to ever resale, or damaged and not cheap enough to fix... He has been at the GMC Buick dealer for years and ran the Ford store before, one of the car guys that deals cars, instead of just a person that can read the literature and hand you a key for a test drive, so he is always looking at the cool, odd ball, fast stuff...
He did tell me has a seen like five taurus's that where the twin turbo awd police cars,

No doubt in my mind that car would be a blast but they just look small to me...


Now that you mentioned it i saw ad for a dealer ( modern? i think) in winston salem nc that was advertisin a new 15 caprice, but the price was stupid, like $37K or something... you would think if gm still has all them setting around they would toss out like 50% off and sale the public... heck they are doing 10-20% on everything else right now.

[CrashTestDummy]

While the Taurus is an interesting car, I have talked to a couple of the Cops at the Houston Police Academy, and the consensus is they only drive them because they have to. One guy said "they're crap". They have very limited rear visibility, even less than the Caprice, and almost zero with the cage in it. The brakes, while they're huge, they said they pretty much replace everything when it comes time for a pad change, because everything, including the calipers, are done, and he said the engines don't last long with all the heat soak, and the turbos.

Glad we got a Tahoe and a Caprice.

[storm9c1]

Yes dealers and fleet dealers are NOT to sell PPV/SSV Vehicles, new, to the general public. GM has cracked down on this within the past few years, reason, no idea.

CAFE is perhaps the big reason. Government EPA standards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate ... el_Economy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Emergency vehicles factor into CAFE differently (I haven't checked recently, but EVs used to be completely exempt from CAFE).

From an older copy of the CAFE code that I have access to:
"(2) A manufacturer may elect to have the fuel economy of an emergency vehicle excluded in applying a fuel economy standard under subsection (a), (b), (c), or (d) of this section. The election is made by providing written notice to the Secretary of Transportation and to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency"

[xcidmigs]

^^^^ ummmm?