Top Factory Issues for Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac Dealers - CY 2012

[XDCX]

The purpose of this thread will be to identify the top issues the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac dealers have with the Factory in Calendar Year 2012 and then review what progress was made toward resolving those issues by year's end.

This thread will remain in the open section of DealershipForum and the second post of this thread will be updated with the latest issues identified by our members. A separate thread discussing the ranking of these issues will be created in AREA 51 if needed.

[XDCX]

This post will be updated with the top issues the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac dealers have with the Factory as identified by our members. The ranking of the Top Issues will also be based on the input provided by our members.

1. Confusing information about the Oil Life System.
2. Either empower GM Customer Assistance to be able to DO something, or discontinue the 'service'.
3. Find proper price points for hybrid, light hybrid (Eco boast), and Plug-in Hybrids (Volt). Currently the Volt is about $15~20k out of the price range.
4. Decide whether they want the dealers to sell accessories or they want to package them on vehicles as LPO's
5. Bring back Pontiac, reduce GMC to just high line trucks, and phase out Buick in the NA market.

[tnpartsguy]

1. Confusing information about the Oil Life System. Sales is being told to tell buyers not to change the oil until the OLS tells them to. Service is told to try to 'sell' customers on the ideal of a 4~6 week 'pit stop' to check fluid levels, tire pressure, ect at no cost to the customer. The OLS model is a failure- the system was designed to work with extended range oils such as Mobil 1, not standard oil. GM just issued a new bulliten and policy on all '07 Cadillac SRX, CTS, STS models with the 3.9, as well as the GMC Arcadia, Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, and Saturn Outlook to cover the timing chains for 10 years/120,000 miles.

In trying to build a cheap-to-operate vehicle, GM has just caused problems! They need to go back to realistic maintenance requirements!

2. Either empower GM Customer Assistance to be able to DO something, or discontinue the 'service'. All they do is call and get in the middle of a customer situation and force a dealership to give something away. Refer the customer to the closest dealer, OR call the dealership WITHOUT the customer on the call and discuss the situation and come up with something the dealer can offer the customer, rather than backing the dealership personnel into a corner and basically throwing the dealership under the bus.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by tnpartsguy

1. Confusing information about the Oil Life System. Sales is being told to tell buyers not to change the oil until the OLS tells them to. Service is told to try to 'sell' customers on the ideal of a 4~6 week 'pit stop' to check fluid levels, tire pressure, ect at no cost to the customer. The OLS model is a failure- the system was designed to work with extended range oils such as Mobil 1, not standard oil. GM just issued a new bulliten and policy on all '07 Cadillac SRX, CTS, STS models with the 3.9, as well as the GMC Arcadia, and Saturn Outlook to cover the timing chains for 10 years/120,000 miles.

In trying to build a cheap-to-operate vehicle, GM has just caused problems! They need to go back to realistic maintenance requirements!

Great comments - I added your issue to the list in the second post of this thread.

Concerning the 4 - 6 week "pit-stop" - is that something new? I'd never heard of that idea before.

Concerning the extended coverage for the timing chains for the 3.9 V6 - that's the same issue you were talking about a month or so ago. Thanks for the inside information.

[tnpartsguy]

Originally Posted by XDCX

Great comments - I added your issue to the list in the second post of this thread.

Concerning the 4 - 6 week "pit-stop" - is that something new? I'd never heard of that idea before.

Concerning the extended coverage for the timing chains for the 3.9 V6 - that's the same issue you were talking about a month or so ago. Thanks for the inside information.

The "Pit Stop" is something they started last year to get the customer's used to coming back to the dealer, but not spending any money, to have us check fluids and air pressures as a service between oil changes. So many of the vehicles were coming in at 10~14k for the 1st oil change low 2~3 quarts of oil (we have seen some at 15K+ still showing 50% oil life and less than 1 quart of oil in the vehicle!!) The OLS is a flop, they need to do away with it, or program it to come on at LEAST every 7,500 miles. Yes, modern oils are better, but if you want to have a vehicle last for many years, regular oil changes are STILL the best way.

[tnpartsguy]

#3 Find proper price points for hybrid, light hybrid (Eco boast), and Plug-in Hybrids (Volt).
Currently the Volt is about $15~20k out of the price range.
Honda's Insight starts around $21k, Hyundai's Hybrid Sonata bases around $24k.
Buick Lacrosse is over $30k with E-assist.

[tnpartsguy]

#4 decide whether they want the dealers to sell accessories or they want to package them on vehicles as LPO's. The 1st quarter there is a big push for us to buy accessories for stock to sell, yet they are still pushing LPO package deals that undercut the prices we can get from our ADI. We've managed to hit our targets for Jan and Feb so far, but we might totally miss in March.

#5 Bring back Pontiac, reduce GMC to just high line trucks, and phase out Buick in the NA market.

The cars being marketed as Buicks would be much more suited to a revamped Pontiac. One thing they really NEED to do....drop the Lacrosse name in the US and call it "Allure" here as they do in Canada.

Marketing Chevy vs GMC trucks. I said it before the BK WHY??? Spending millions to market one division against another is really really DUMB.

China loves Buick...Great... market them as Buicks in China. But the current cars could be sported up in looks a bit and sell nicely as Pontiac's. Add a Camaro based Trans-Am, and bang! Pontiac's BACK!

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by tnpartsguy

The "Pit Stop" is something they started last year to get the customer's used to coming back to the dealer, but not spending any money, to have us check fluids and air pressures as a service between oil changes. So many of the vehicles were coming in at 10~14k for the 1st oil change low 2~3 quarts of oil (we have seen some at 15K+ still showing 50% oil life and less than 1 quart of oil in the vehicle!!) The OLS is a flop, they need to do away with it, or program it to come on at LEAST every 7,500 miles. Yes, modern oils are better, but if you want to have a vehicle last for many years, regular oil changes are STILL the best way.

Thanks for the information.

The "Pit Stop" is an interesting concept - I wonder what most Service Managers think about it? While I like the idea in concept I wonder if a customer ever gets frustrated because they have to wait 10 minutes to get their free check and then they become less likely to use the dealership.

Concerning OLS, the system sounds like a disaster if it's telling the customer they still have 50% life remaining on oil that's been in the crankcase for 15,000 miles. Additionally, if the GM engineers really wanted to convey valuable information to the customer, why didn't they incorporate a sensor that determines the oil level - that would have been more useful since most customers rarely check their oil level by dipstick.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by tnpartsguy

#3 Find proper price points for hybrid, light hybrid (Eco boast), and Plug-in Hybrids (Volt).
Currently the Volt is about $15~20k out of the price range.
Honda's Insight starts around $21k, Hyundai's Hybrid Sonata bases around $24k.
Buick Lacrosse is over $30k with E-assist.

Originally Posted by tnpartsguy

#4 decide whether they want the dealers to sell accessories or they want to package them on vehicles as LPO's. The 1st quarter there is a big push for us to buy accessories for stock to sell, yet they are still pushing LPO package deals that undercut the prices we can get from our ADI. We've managed to hit our targets for Jan and Feb so far, but we might totally miss in March.

#5 Bring back Pontiac, reduce GMC to just high line trucks, and phase out Buick in the NA market.

The cars being marketed as Buicks would be much more suited to a revamped Pontiac. One thing they really NEED to do....drop the Lacrosse name in the US and call it "Allure" here as they do in Canada.

Marketing Chevy vs GMC trucks. I said it before the BK WHY??? Spending millions to market one division against another is really really DUMB.

China loves Buick...Great... market them as Buicks in China. But the current cars could be sported up in looks a bit and sell nicely as Pontiac's. Add a Camaro based Trans-Am, and bang! Pontiac's BACK!

I added your issues to the second post of this thread.

Concerning Buick and Pontiac I'm not sure how many GM dealers would share your opinion and at this point it's too late to do anything anyways.

I don't fault your logic, but in my opinion I still think there's a need for the Buick brand and I wish GM would have been able to keep Pontiac as a niche brand like Bob Lutz wanted.