I finally decided to get myself a brand new 2SS yesterday so I popped into the local Chevy dealership. My experience was.. less than satisfactory. :icon_no:

They had one Camaro in stock, and it was already sold. On top of that the dealer had sold it for TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS OVER MSRP. The sales guy said this was 'standard practice' right now because of 'supply and demand'.. I call it dealer gouging. Can you imagine being ten grand upside down on your loan for the entire ownership of your vehicle?

Furthermore he told me that even if it wasn't already purchased that they 'weren't giving test drives anyway' unless you have already put a deposit down. Being that a deposit is more or less a promise to buy, how could I promise to buy a car that I have never even driven?

Since I am shelling out the dough for a brand new car, I am really particular about what I want, and I won't be satisfied unless I get exactly that. The good news is that if you custom order they don't gouge you for ten grand. The bad news? Allegedly the factor has stopped taking custom orders. They're on hold indefinitely. So the guy couldn't even tell me when they would be able to fulfill such an order.

All in all a sternly disappointing experience. Frankly I am dumbfounded.

Am I overreacting here or was this dealership being a real d*ck about the whole situation?

Has anyone had a similar (or different) experience trying to buy a 2SS?

And has anyone heard of the hold on custom orders they told me about, or were they full of it?

http://jalopnik.com/5314296/gm-temporarily-halts-manual-transmission-camaro-ss-shipments

apparently its a possible mechanical problem..

I hear you. I am currently undecided from a Mustang GT Camaro SS or 370z Nismo. I went to a Ford dealership to test drive a mustang to get the feel for it and I walked away so pissed. The salesman told me that because of the "limited" availability the owner wasnt letting anyone test drive them. So I said to him I wont buy a car I cant test drive. The asshole told me that if I am looking at the $35,000 car, since I have the money for that I dont need to test drive it. I was like WTF? He told me if I bought it then they would let me test drive it. What if I test drove it and didnt like it? I walked away so annoyed. I also dont know how limited it is, he had like three GT's sitting on his lot for the last 3 weeks. I had been passing his lot everyday on my way to work, and everytime I do I still see that Black GT.

As far as the Camaros go, I have not been able to test drive one. Every time my Chevy dealer gets one, its sold the moment I get a chance to get to them after work, and they only stock one car. I dont think the cars I am seeing are ordered because when the ones that are ordered come in there is a big SOLD sign in the window.

The dealer charging you ten thousand more I would just try a different lot or wait the extra couple of months. The way Chevy needs money, by March 2010 the lots are gonna be flooded with them.

Im in PA and my Chevy dealer says they are still taking orders. Its just a two month wait. If your dealer was anything like my Ford dealer I would go to a different lot.

One hell of a first post huh?

sorry to hear about your experience...my experience buying my ss was wonderful. i ordered in may so i just missed the restrictions...

oh yeah, to clarify on the restrictions because you might not be a member on camaro5 where it has been discussed in length...

so Chevy has decided to indefinitely (well throughout the rest of the 2010 model year at least) put a 50-60% hold on ss orders because they've simply sold too many and what they were really shooting for in terms of sales was the v6 model...so this means that the amount of ss orders that will be allowed to go through the system from now on has been reduced by 50-60% until V6 orders start catching up

johnnyashcan - that issue occurred in the middle of july and was solved after about a week and is not the reason why there is a restriction on ss orders...Chevy just wants to catch up with their quotas on the V6 and so that the market doesn't get oversaturated with the SS model

^ Thats rediculous if thats true.....They are holding off on orders to catch up on V6 models? I get the feeling they are trying to make hype, like sony did with the PS3. Give a select few the car, and get everybody excited about it and have orders come in down the line. Honestly who releases a car thats been talked about for so long and than suddenly just puts it on hold. The cars been out for what 6 months?

From what I've heard, a supplier doesn't have the capacity to produce enough of a particular name brand SS component. GM wants to build as many cars as they can sell, but they can't do that without all the parts.

I wouldn't know about that...All I know is that some dealers that are members of Camaro5 have confirmed that the reason for the restrictions is that GM wants to catch up in V6 sales because they had originally planned to sell about 50/50 between V6 and SS models, but as it turns out about 80% of Camaro orders were SS models for the longest time. It may have started turning around but when I was checking during the summer it was about 80% SS orders and GM hadn't planned on that...

The real reason may be a component/supplier issue but I haven't heard anything to that extent (except for a gas tank component/supplier issue a while ago [at least I think it was a gas tank component...=/] but for one the gas tank is the same on V6 and SS models and second GM usually has secondary suppliers lined up exactly for those type of situations...in the end I never heard anything else about that issue and since then they've continued to build so I don't even know the validity of that "issue" or maybe it just got resolved).

Just curious - where did you hear about the SS component issue?

Found it... the Fbodfather addressed the issue on Camaro5.


I could not bear to read thru this thread (...without my head exploding...)

OK --

SS model - -that's where we make money --

So WHY would we purposely decide not to build SSs?????

Makes no sense.

At issue: component sourcing. We have worked one supplier (overseas) (the supplier happens to be a 'brand' name....) -- at maximum overtime. There are laws in the country where this supplier is located. The government of that country allowed the supplier to work around laws temporarily -- but now we must follow the law. (...sorry - can't be more specific....)

Believe me: we want to build as many sold orders as possible
(within the law.....)

(...as we need to make money)

(...so that I can retire!!)

(just kidding about that last part...)


Now: You say: "Why not just get another supplier?"

Go back and read the "brand name" part..........

I had given up on getting mine since in the springs they wouldnt go less then 5K over MSRP, and in pueblo it was 2500 over. But I ended up getting mine from denver for 250 under. The day I went to pick it up the GM military sales guys were on post and I told them about it and they said when they hear about the mark-ups they tell the customers to find a different dealer. I didnt get the military discount, but still feel like I got a good deal.

Found it... the Fbodfather addressed the issue on Camaro5.


oh okay cool thanks for looking that up. i hadn't come across that...very interesting...

because i know CamaroScotty (a dealer) or whatever his name is on Camaro5 was saying the restrictions were due to sales quotas...but this of course makes sense too and is very unfortunate

The reason for the restrictions on SS models is the EPA, not GM. The EPA says that GM and all makers must meet certain fuel ratings overall, so they need to sell a certain number of economy models across the board for every high performance model that gets a little less gas mileage.
Thus the reason for trying to hold back until they sell a few more V6 models, before resuming taking SS orders.

The reason for the restrictions on SS models is the EPA, not GM. The EPA says that GM and all makers must meet certain fuel ratings overall, so they need to sell a certain number of economy models across the board for every high performance model that gets a little less gas mileage.
Thus the reason for trying to hold back until they sell a few more V6 models, before resuming taking SS orders.


AKA "CAFE" standards

Brian

I finally decided to get myself a brand new 2SS yesterday so I popped into the local Chevy dealership. My experience was.. less than satisfactory. :icon_no:

They had one Camaro in stock, and it was already sold. On top of that the dealer had sold it for TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS OVER MSRP. The sales guy said this was 'standard practice' right now because of 'supply and demand'.. I call it dealer gouging. Can you imagine being ten grand upside down on your loan for the entire ownership of your vehicle?

Furthermore he told me that even if it wasn't already purchased that they 'weren't giving test drives anyway' unless you have already put a deposit down. Being that a deposit is more or less a promise to buy, how could I promise to buy a car that I have never even driven?

Since I am shelling out the dough for a brand new car, I am really particular about what I want, and I won't be satisfied unless I get exactly that. The good news is that if you custom order they don't gouge you for ten grand. The bad news? Allegedly the factor has stopped taking custom orders. They're on hold indefinitely. So the guy couldn't even tell me when they would be able to fulfill such an order.

All in all a sternly disappointing experience. Frankly I am dumbfounded.

Am I overreacting here or was this dealership being a real d*ck about the whole situation?

Has anyone had a similar (or different) experience trying to buy a 2SS?

And has anyone heard of the hold on custom orders they told me about, or were they full of it?

I'm not sure where you come from but here in Colorado every dealer is different. Some over charge yet some,like mine Hajek Chevrolet Didn't. As far as not being able to order anymore ss's. I had heard they put a hold on making them for now. How long I'm not sure. Don't give up and try several dealers,even if you have to go out of state. I've heard about several people doing that and getting a great deal. You can have your Camaro serviced at any dealer so don't worry about that issue. I'm telling you if you really want one pursue it because this is a beautiful car and loads of fun.

Go chevy in Denver 250 under msrp
Al serra in the springs 5000 over
pueblo 2500 over
hometown in NC 10000 over

this for a 1SS

I had no problem getting my 2010 ss. Went to a dealer they had one. Test drove it. Went home checked on alot of other dealers . Everyone said its extra 5 grand over msrp. Knowone would negotiate. Not even a little. Went back to first dealer put some money down went home in it. Just that easy

Just that easy to pay $5000 over or they gave you a deal?

I made the $5K mistake on a 99 Durango and vowed never again. With a $5K markup a $37K car is a $25K car after you drive it off the lot. A $32K car is a $25K car after you drive it off the lot. I said that I would just have to wait till next year and the deal said lets talk.

I hope you got a deal, but I know you love it either way, I just didnt have $5K to give someone to let me buy it.

My dealer had to use the 13th out of 12 alocations to get me mine, dont know how that worked, but I guess they can build off other dealers alocations if need be.

we ordered the 2010 back in june or july, literally they sat us at a computer, we picked options, printed it out and they charged MSRP directly from the build website..
It got here yesterday :)

Well the rush might be over soon. The local dealers around me( northern indiana) have alot of stock SS's on the lot. They arent really discounting them per say, but they certainly aren't charging more than sticker either. I haven't asked for a test drive yet until I am serious enough to to buy. Not all dealers are that way though. I agree if I was serious enough to buy, and was refused a test drive on a car I was interested in. I would throw a huge fit and make them understand my dismay immediately. But they shouldnt let every 20 something year old kid who walks in the show room just take an SS car out for a thrashing either.