Will this be enough for you to buy one?

[clambake]

GM Offers Employee Pricing Deals
By SHAWN LANGLOIS
August 19, 2008 11:57 a.m.

General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will again offer employee discounts on most of its vehicles to customers in an effort to spur sales and clear out inventory.

The discounts cover "nearly all" 2008 model-year cars and truck as well as some 2009 models. The promotion excludes 2008 medium-duty trucks but includes the 2009 Chevy Cobalt and HHR, the Pontiac Vibe and G5 and the Cadillac CTS.

The deal, a revival of a similar promotion that triggered a sales boom in 2005, is set to run from Aug. 20 through Sept. 2 and is timed to coincide with the auto maker's 100th anniversary, GM said in a news release.

The latest employee pricing plan follows a surprise zero-percent financing deal GM announced back in June.

"This is a phenomenal offer for consumers," Mark LaNeve, head of GM North America sales and marketing, said in a release.

GM's U.S. sales surged 41% in June 2005 to an all-time industry record on the truck side when it first announced a sweeping plan to offer the public discounts generally offered only to employees.

GM, as well as most of its compe ion, has been affected by the prolonged housing slump and persistently high gas prices. In July, GM reported a steep 26% drop in U.S. sales as drivers continued to move away from bigger trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

GM offered an average $4,214 per vehicle in incentive spending during July, according to car-buying research Web site Edmunds.com. That's well above Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. and amounts to three times the promotional spending from Honda Motor Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corp.

[BacktoBasics]

I'm just going to point out the fact that when all this hoopla started everyone failed to realize that when these dealerships post MSRPs on vehicle doors its an inflated MSRP that goes along with the inflated invoice of a vehicle. What I mean by inflated is that neither the invoice or the MSRP show the dealer discount.

Originally they used those dummy invoices for financing reasons....to over come a large advance and make is easier for mid level buyers to avoid having to put big downpayments up.

This ultimately rolled over into employee pricing by simply removing the discount off the MSRP and showing a greater gap between the full MSRP price and that wonderfully discounted deal you got.

Also I'll point out that this is what helps these underwriters and dealerships over come any lack of back end money lost on a zero % deal. Not to mention the ability to simply charge you a higher freight/destination charge along with an even larger dealerprep/make ready fee.

These deals aren't really any better one way or another. The real problem with buying new is how easy it is for a dealership/salesperson to manipulate the numbers after you agree on a price and before they calculate your TT&L.

Traditionally if something doesn't sell well you raise the fees around a lower price and call it a bargin even if it actually equates to a worse deal.

[BacktoBasics]

Make no mistake about it though. There are people on this board that have never worked at dealership, never worked in finance, never had a clue how to calculate TT&L, never understood how backend money works and will swear up and down these are legitimate offers for the best pricing ever.

My favorite one is when people think they got a good deal or a cheaper price because the auto economy sucks balls and the dealership had to let it go for ::gasp:: "cost". Lets not forget the price of pretty much all materials has risen nearly 20% in the last calendar year.

[Extra Stout]

Employee pricing deals won't help you when you're stuck driving the product of a bankrupt company.

[BacktoBasics]

Employee pricing deals won't help you when you're stuck driving the product of a bankrupt company.

To expand on that. Most people think the product is being sold below cost which is why the company is going bankrupt but the reality is that these companies are suffering because the inventory numbers are shrinking not the cost of the units. Dealerships are carrying less and less of everything.

[clambake]

ok, what i meant (or should have included) was "is this enough incentive for your to buy a piece of product"?

[BacktoBasics]

ok, what i meant (or should have included) was "is this enough incentive for your to buy a piece of product"?

Dumb public says yes to the above!!!

[Anti.Hero]

Employee pricing deals won't help you when you're stuck driving the product of a bankrupt company.

Guvment won't let GM go bankrupt.

To expand on that. Most people think the product is being sold below cost which is why the company is going bankrupt but the reality is that these companies are suffering because the inventory numbers are shrinking not the cost of the units. Dealerships are carrying less and less of everything.

That and the p.o.s. unions.




I'd love to pick up a used 06/07 classic 1500 but I'm a broke college kid.