I hope these are not to personal....

After going to the closest dealer, we found a couple of HHR's that we like...
one doesn't have all we want, the other has allot more than we need... we thought about ordering one, however, we were told that any discounts / rebates that are in effect will not be honored, they only honor the ones that are in effect @ the time of delivery (6-8 weeks) hummmmm......Anyone else run into this? We were really not ready to buy one this weekend, but that's when a couple of the promo's end.... we were kinda wanting to rent one for a week first

If we don't want to go with one they have... They said they can do a trade with another dealership to get us one that would work for us, so we did some checking on our own & found some that would work.... the funny thing is... now instead of narrowing it down to 2 color choices....we are @ 5 possible choices! The one we drove last night was the beginning of our mind change.... it is the cap. frost... I really liked it..then during the search, we came across a Golden teal... It is starting to grow on us... in our minds...it is kind of reminisce of a "retro" color, which as you see our icon, we like the old cars / trucks, like our old GMC

Then we have 1-2 possible trade in's... now since we have never traded a car in on a new one... this raises some ?'s... as we tried one time to trade with a dealer.. they low balled us SO BAD... it was WAY out of line... like $1000 for a car they could have sold in a weekend for a Fast & Easy $8 - $9000, well, hubby got ticked off & we left, he swore he would never try to do a trade in again... So, I was wondering... I see that some of you did do trade in's... were the dealers fair? Did you have an idea of what your trade was worth (i.e. looking on kelly bluebook, or in the paper, etc.) We have looked @ kelly BB, on trade in value for good condition, just to get an idea, & would be happy with that price, if the dealer actually would give it to us.

The other thing... anyone use the GM discount?? I am eligible to use it... was told the price is right on the invoice, no haggling, etc. just black & white... anyone confirm this?

Oh, one more... anyone have the side curtain airbags?? We were thinking it will be easier to get our son in & out of his seat, if he is placed to one side vs. the middle.. but then we are concerned with safety... I see the HHR has a 5 star crash rating, but don't know it that is with the curtains or not.


Thanks in Advance for any info... You guys have been great & Very Helpful

 

Looking4.....

The manufacturer "rebates or deals" currently posted give a "take delivery date by" in the small print. So yeah, if you factory ordered, you would probably miss the discount.

As far as a "GM Discount".....are you an employee, an eligible relative to an employee, a "friends" discount, or a "suppliers discount". each one of these are different and entail different requirements from you and the sponsor. The dealer rep you're talking with is probably just a floor salesperson. If you are correctly sponsored for the discount, a dealer usually has someone assigned specifically to these type sales. If the dealership refuses to acknowledge the discount, which they are entitled to do, DIFFINATELY GO TO ANOTHER DEALER.

I am a retired GM employee who helped establish, set the rules, and enforced the policies of the GM Discount Program. If you have any more questions...specific or gneral....PM me, and I'll be glad to help.

Oh, forgot......the 5 star rating is WITHOUT the side curtain air-bags. I would think, that they would provide an increased level of protection, however.

 

Let me know what your trading in and I can tell you exactly what your trade is worth to a dealer. Dealers dont use Kelly BLue Book for trade values. They have a Dealer price list that shows them what they can get for a car at the dealer only auctions, they then adjust the price accordingly (slightly down) to accomidate their pocketbooks. My advice to you is to take the trade to carmax and have it appraised. They do this for free. And if the dealer wont give you what carmax will for your trade Carmax will buy your car for what they quoted. Now normally I wouldnt tell someone to go to carmax (I'm a strong Union supporter and Carmax is anti Union) but like my grandma always says, you going to go to Jewel and buy your batteries for 5.99 or walmart and buy the same battery for 3.99? Anyway let me know what your trading in and I'll do my best to get you the Chicago market fair wholesale price on it.

What the dealer told you about the incentives is true also. Rebates dont apply to special order vehicles. As the adds state, " Must take delivery from dealer stock by (insert date here)."

hope this helps.

 

dealer trade-ins will always be low. We did trade in a near-new saturn vue because it kept us from selling it third party, and they gave us a pretty decent deal (paid it off plus $1000 cash or so) but we still probably lost cash on it. however, it was paid off and the new car was in our hands within a couple hours.

The older the car, usually the worse the value will be as they can't sell it themselves. Most dealerships have rules in place as to how old, and how many miles they will put a used car on the lot with. Past that point, it gets resold to one of the smaller places, or shipped to auction.

 

We traded in an '03 Trailblazer EXT. It had 85K miles on it. I never traded a vehicle before, but we live in a rural Upstate NY community and selling it ourselves would have been a PIA. Living in a small community has some advantages. When we go to the Chevy dealer in town and want to test drive something they just toss us the keys and tell us have a good time. (That includes an SSR a couple of years ago!) The HHR with options we wanted was not available locally, but our local dealer found one a couple hundered miles away and that dealer was willing to do a dealer swap. Our local dealer let us drive the swap vehicle there and drive the soon-to-be-our HHR back for dealer prep and paperwork. I had checked trade-in values on KBB and Edmunds and our dealer gave us a fair amount for the trade and a nice deal on the HHR. Our HHR has the side curtain airbags. (Front and Rear passengers get side bags with the option). BTW we bought a leftover '06 about a month ago and saved a lot of $$$ because of incentives and the other dealer wanting to get the '06 out of his inventory. If you plan on keeping your HHR for a long time and having basically 1 year depreciation on it when you take delivery doesn't bother you, you might want to see if there are any more leftover '06's that will fill your wants and needs.

 

I special ordered my HHR exactly how I wanted it. I also was entitled to one of the supplierr discounts. It was all easy and well worth the wait.
Do your homework, be patient and don't settle for anything other than what you want.

 

Thanks Snoopy. Your previous work has saved me thousands over the last few years.

 

You are quite welcome. And, I am very glad you were able to avail yourself of the program.

But I misquoted myself, a little. And, I do not wish to take credit for that which I did not do........I did not help establish the original program. I assisted in rewriting and establishing new guidelines, rules and policies...for a revised version. Because I was already a member of GM's Salaried Professional Ethics Committee, I was also assigned to a panel that determined and enforced disciplinary action, for violators of the policy.

It has been revised and added to since I participated.

 

Lookin':
I just bought my 07, loaded, summit white HHR a week ago. If I may, I'd like to offer some suggestions prior to your purchase.

1. Get on the computer and DO YOUR HOMEWORK. I went to Edmunds and built the car as I wanted it. Put in your zip code and it will tell you all of the dealers in your region with HHR's. You will be able to view the window stickers on all of the vehicles. You will also be able to check for all rebates/incentives available on the vehicle. However, what was most benefical during the negotiation process, is it tells what the average price people are paying for the vehicles you may have found interest in, IN YOUR AREA.

2. Print several off showing what the sticker is, the invoice price of the vehicle and what people are paying for that vehicle. (Create a folder for these printouts because you will be taking them with you to the dealer). This is going to show your dealer you did your homework and you are willing to go check out prices at another competitor if you can't reach agreement on price. Also, keep in mind that dealers, regardless of location, all pay the same price for cars.

3. Again, using Edmunds or any other comparable service (KBB), determine what the trade-in value is IN YOUR AREA, for your trade-in. Print this out for your folder to support you in your argument over trade-in allowance.

4. TIP: Do not start the process off by mentioning anything about GM discount! If you do, everything more or less comes to a stop and the paperwork gets written up with that price. Getting some type of GM discount does NOT mean you are getting that car wholesale or the lowest price the car can be sold for. Negotiate for the lowest price possible THEN ask what the price would be for an employee or jobber.

5. Hope these suggestions help in your purchase. After retiring as a police officer after 31 years, I spent several months as a salesman at a GM dealership. Keep in mind, the salesperson is there to sell cars. They don't always tell you the truth. But, I can't emphasize enough to do your homework on the car. Know what the dealer paid for the car and what people in your region are buying that same car for.

6. If you can, always wait until the end of the month to purchase. You will probably find dealers more amenable due to monthly sales quotas that haven't been met.

 

Plus, several dealers offer internet shopping discounts (mine was $600)and you can apply for GMAC financing over the internet and get approval within hours. You can do most of your legwork before you ever leave home. The only drawback is you have to name a dealer when applying for financing. So, find the car first then apply for the loan.