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Factory To Dealer To Driver - The Complete Process

Started by Eldorado_64, June 29, 2008, 09:44:32 PM

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Eldorado_64

     I am interested in learning the whole process of a new Cadillac from the assembly line to the dealer to the end driver? Can I get feed back from each any car factory and or sales dealers on how this process works from beginning to end?

     I have a few specifics as like when the cars are at a dealer, are they owned by the private dealer? So if if the lot was to go out of business, what happens to the un sold cars, does the dealer get stuck w/ them or can they be returned to Cadillac to end up at another dealer. What does it take to be a Cadillac dealer? Are they typically individual owned and operated or somethime joined w/ other Cadillac dealers, or dealers of other GM or any cars?

     Also, when a car buyer at a certified Cadillac dealer wants a specific, how do they get it? Does the dealer have the say to order it or does the buyer have to pay for it up front. For the cars a dealer specials for say their show room, if they never sell, are they stuck w/ them then? When they liquidate, is the loss more on the dealer side or the Cadillac side? How are sticker prices come about, set in part from cadillac and some by dealer? Is their any control on how high or how low this can be?

     Thanks for reading if you do. I am just interested in getting to understand the inner workings or process of a dealership works w/ Cadillac.

Eldorado_64 in CA
1964 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Biarritz & Sixty-Special
Cadillac, "The Only Way"

Barry M Wheeler #2189

Oh my...
To answer some of your questions. Dealers "pay" for their cars (and they do so for every one they "own,") by having a line of credit at their bank, and use this "float" or "floor plan" to keep cars on their lot, that normally no one could afford to pay for. Their inventory floats on a sea of paper, so to speak.
When my brother special ordered a new Riviera from me, I don't believe that I even got a deposit. Sometimes a dealer will ask for one, though.
Cars on the showroom floor are rotated from time to time. Some are sold directly from there, and you wiggle them out, sometimes moving two or three cars to do so.
Prices are set on the sticker by Cadillac. Add-ons, such as running boards, body fairings, wheels, etc, are where a dealer makes a LOT of money. Back when I was selling cars, the usual add-on was the Phaeon top, and usually that added $1500 to the cost. That was usually never negotiable like the rest of the car was. If a car is a left-over model, it still belongs to the dealer, and usually, a bonus is paid to the salesman who sells it.
If a dealer goes out of business, cars are picked up by the maker. Sometimes, a dealer in the same city will get them at a negotiated price, which the customer never sees.
One dollar under factory invoice... Dealers will sell at this price all day long, and make $s. They have what is called "hold-back", of the knowledge of how much it is, is never, never shared with anyone, even salesmen.  My son once bought a Mercury for $350.00 under factory invoice, but that is very, very rare.
Having all the ammo about prices you can get from the internet now gives you a much better way to come out ahead while buying a car. But you need all your wits about you to do so. All the war stories about car dealers being shady? 98% are true.
Buy at the first, or last of the month. When Gay bought her '79 SDV some twenty five years ago, she kept saying that "it was too much money." The salesman and the floor manager left us alone "to talk about the deal". We sat there and simply looked at one another in case they had miked the room. It was snowing out, and the 30th or 31st of December. Finally, the next time they came in, the salesman asked me, "Can you go ahead and buy this today?" (I.E, did I have bank approval.) I said that I could, and they knocked a couple hundred more off, we bought the car, drove it for ten years, and I still got $700 for it when we got rid of it.
When a dealer orders cars for his inventory, he usually goes with what he has been sellling. In the early nineties, when I was selling Buicks, we usually got nearly half of our stock of LeSabres and Park Avenues in beige, then white, metallic green, and red. Very few black or blue. We also had "set" accessory packages that we ordered. Going outside of this grouping generally meant that particular unit was going to sit on the lot for quite a while. (Like a LeSabre Limited with a cloth interior instead of leather.) If we had a customer for a car like that, if they HAD to have cloth, we usually dealer traded for it. Our lot's cars in Buicks and Cadillacs had chrome or aluminum wheels, as the "wire" wheel covers were passe' by then.
We would get a burgundy Century, and put a beige phaeton top on it. Called them, "the little jewels." Park them on the grass out front and many times would sell them within a day or two.
I hope you've enjoyed a look at the car business...
Barry M. Wheeler #2189


1981 Cadillac Seville
1991 Cadillac Seville

Eldorado_64

Way cool, lots of details. thankx!

So, as for a dealer, do they have to get approved by Cadillac or Buick to sell them. Would it be usual or wise for a dealer to merge w/ another dealer of another GM car or is it usually a one owner company deal even if they sell different makes?

About the special order, I remember my dad saying they had to have his car shipped to a local dealership. But what if you wanted features offered by Cadillac but were either already sold or not on a local or near by dealeship? Can you still get the combo of options (ie, certain color and interior w/ the full options) or are we limited to what was already produced less add ons?

Are there any members here who may have had the pleasure of working on a lot when the 63/64 Cadillacs were brwnd new? I'd like to here some shared experiences.

Eldorado_64
1964 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Biarritz & Sixty-Special
Cadillac, "The Only Way"

Richard Sills - CLC #936

There is a movie called "Tin Men", which has its opening scene in the showroom of Chesapeake Cadillac in Baltimore in 1963, with one of the lead characters negotiating with the salesman to buy a new '63 Coupe deVille.  This is a spoof, of course, but is probably based on the actual sales practices of the era.  Anyone who loves '59-'63 Cadillacs should see this movie.

Johnny

#4
I love that opening scene with Richard Dreyfus, a aluminuum siding con man, negoatiating with the salesmen for a Cadillac.




BALTIMORE 1963.

   EXT. CADILLAC DEALERSHIP - DAY                                   
    BILL BABOWSKY ("BB"), a wiry, dapper-looking man in his
    mid-thirties, is circling a baby blue Cadillac. A
    SALESMAN follows on his heels.
                             SALESMAN
               She's a beauty.
                              BB
                       (looking at Salesman)
               Who?

                                SALESMAN
               What?
                             BB
               Who's the beauty?
                                SALESMAN
               The car.
                             BB
               I thought maybe you saw some chick
               walking by. I lost my concentration.
               Why do they call cars 'she'? They
               never say 'he'... always 'she.'
    The Salesman shrugs his shoulders.      BB walks around the
    Cadillac.
                             BB
               Very nice... very nice.

EXT. CADILLAC DEALERSHIP - DAY                               4
    BB is now sitting in a cubicle in the office with the
    Salesman, going over the contract on the car.
                            BB
              Now don't try to hustle me here
              ... you know what I mean. I hate
              being hustled. Give me an honest
              price, not one of your 'special'
              deals... give me an honest price.
              Do I make myself clear?
                            SALESMAN
              Now, how much are you willing to
              pay?
                            BB
              There ya go... there ya go...
              you're doing it... you're doing
              one of those hustle numbers.
                                                 


                            SALESMAN
              I'm just trying to get an idea
              how much you're willing to pay.
                            BB
              Four dollars... I want to pay four
              dollars a month.
                            SALESMAN
              That's not an honest answer.
                            BB
              What do ya want to hear? That I'd
              love to pay three hundred and fifty
              a month... is that what you want to
              hear? Tell me how much you want me
              to pay and I'll tell you how much
              I'll pay, but don't do a hustle on
              me... I don't like that. How much
              do I want to pay? I'd like to pay
              nothing!
                                                 

Eldorado_64

I know, that was a cool movie. I believe it was the '63 Cadillac in the opening credits too (all the close ups). His blue '63 Coupe (somebody added Eldorado lower rocker trim) gets hit on the way off the lot by Danny Devito in his yellow '62 Cadillac Coupe. Mann, that's gotta' suck. Then Richard yanks off Dannys' mirror.
1964 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Biarritz & Sixty-Special
Cadillac, "The Only Way"

Rusty Shepherd CLC 6397

Quote from: Barry Wheeler on June 30, 2008, 11:29:49 AM
Add-ons, such as running boards, body fairings, wheels, etc, are where a dealer makes a LOT of money. Back when I was selling cars, the usual add-on was the Phaeon top, and usually that added $1500 to the cost.

Barry,
How much did that $1500.00 phaeton cloth top actually cost the dealership (in materials and labor)?

Johnny

#7
Add-ons are still a ploy used today by many dealers to pad their profits.  I have seen some dealers that add on pinstripes and other "gingerbread" to every car that comes through their dealership. 

Barry M Wheeler #2189

#8
Rusty, I can't remember for sure, but I imagine that we paid the outside shop that did it about a grand, so we had $500 bucks of pure profit. I heard the GM of Tutwiler in Indy who is an Indiana Region Member added about 10 grand of add-ons to each Escalade that moved over the curb when they were the hottest thing around. Another "deal" to stay away from is what we called "Rust and Dust." This is the rustproofing and paint protection add-on. I will say that my son-in-law's 93 Grand Caravan benefited from whatever they put on it in Iowa, as aside from some delaminating, it still shines, and it's that dull metallic blue that every other Chrysler/Dodge minivan of the era was painted.
Barry M. Wheeler #2189


1981 Cadillac Seville
1991 Cadillac Seville

Rusty Shepherd CLC 6397

#9
Something else I've learned is how to save money on the GM Protection Plan (and it should work for other manufacturers' extended warranties).  Wait until you are getting close to the expiration of the factory warranty (you won't tie up your money before the PP kicks in and if something happens to your car before the factory warranty expires or you get rid of it, you won't lose the money), decide which PP you are interested in and call around to several GM dealerships of all makes  in your area and tell them you are in the market for whichever plan for your car and want their best price.  The last time I did that on a Cadillac, the local Chevrolet dealer beat the highest bid by about $1,000.00 and the next best one by about $300.00. With a low bid, the dealership still makes probably a couple of hundred dollars just for filling out the forms and submitting them.

Walter Youshock

As I understood it, most dealers knew the tastes of their potenial clientele and ordered cars according to the local taste.  Cloth bench seats sold better iin certain areas than full-leather interiors with leather and split seats.  Most buyers were in the deVille crowd--the most profit coming from the mid-range car.  Accesories that added to that package were gravy.  In an affluent area, a dealer would have a few Fleetwood Broughams, maybe a d'Elegance with one in leather, a few Eldorados on the lot, etc.  Mostly, the pick was bread-and-butter Coupes and Sedans deVilles in various levels of trim.  If a buyer came in and wanted something out of the usual ordinary, they would "place" an order.  Dealer stock was searched for the car that best fit the customer's desire.  Maybe it was a deVille with a non-specified passenger recliner seat or Guidematic and they would ask the buyer if they were willing to take that car.  If so, it was shipped in from the other lot.  If it was something totally out of the ordinary, then it was a real factory order.  Remember, once upon a time, you could order a 3-tone interior--different bolster, insert and piping and non-standard paint colors.

I can recall this from when my aunt and uncle were "downsizing" from Cadillacs in 1980/81 when gas first hit 99.9 a gallon in 1980!!!  They were looking at an Olds sedan and actually ordered it from the books.  The dealer told them it would take about 3 weeks to make the car as there wasn't one like it already built.  They never placed the order and decided it was cheaper to buy a used Sedan deVille instead and see how things improved.

One example of this local flavor is the distribution list of V-16's, Eldorados (1953) and Eldorado Broughams.  Most were shipped to major metropolitan areas, yet they weren't purchased or titled there.  There was at least one Eldorado Brougham in the Scranton, PA area purchased by a doctor.  The car was, according to the current owner, ordered and found in dealer stock in New Jersey, shipped to Wiley Cadillac and taken home.
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham

Eldorado_64

So, on a special order, other then waiting, does it cost extra just for ordering from the book (if the car has to be produced)? Is there usually a deposit required up front from buyer or dealer before car builder will pop out a new one? I mean, say I want a fully loaded Eldorado and one in the dealer invitory is close but missing 2 or 3 features and in wrong colors, and I only want to change the color of interior and paint (not the fabrics, just color) and add the 3 missing options? Is it basically the cost of the other car (already sitting on floor) plus the 3 added options price, or am I paying extra to have the car added to production?
1964 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Biarritz & Sixty-Special
Cadillac, "The Only Way"

Barry M Wheeler #2189

There is NO extra charge for ordering a car built. In fact, the Riviera my brother got was a $100 over invoice deal. He actually had a dealer in Indy ready to order the thing AT invoice, but I told Bill that  at my dealership, that adding a $100 was the only way they would do it. He told me, "Well, since you're my big brother..."

He bought a new STS this year, and my sister-in-law, after they had that deal done, asked, "How much extra would it be for the cross-over for me?" Some salesman had a very, very nice Saturday.

I found a brochure that in 1938 (a recesssion year) that the St. Louis area had a promotion that they would fly you to Detroit for "X" amount of dollars, wine you and dine you, and let you watch your car being built. then they gave you gas and expense money to drive your car home. Back then, only a very, very few people had ever flown, no matter what their station in life, so this was a significant promotion to sell cars. It was printed in the S/S some years ago, I can't remember when.
I have a quanity of Oldsmobile order sheets that a friend kept when he was selling a few new Olds' to good customers. (He had an upscale used car lot.) They showed each and every option available, and you simply checked each item you wanted on your car. Plus, there were a few blank spaces for "off the wall" accessories such as the special piping on seats, etc.
Barry M. Wheeler #2189


1981 Cadillac Seville
1991 Cadillac Seville

Tom Hall 7485

Eldorado_64, the process of obtaining new cars for inventory or for a waiting customer changed some
over time.  In 1964, small-volume retailers had to buy their cars from a middleman called a distributor.
Large-volume retailers could order directly from GM.  There will be something about this system in a
Self-Starter in six to twelve months, I believe.

Generally, the inventory was owned by the retailer or the distributor but was subject to a lien in favor of
the financier who loaned money to the retailer or distributor to buy that inventory.  The financing system
for inventory is called "floor planning" and is often through General Motors Acceptance Corporation.

Tom Hall, CLC Member 7485, Lifetime member since the mid-1990s.