Your dealership and order experience...

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mngopher

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Hey everyone...

I'm a new visitor to this site and hopefully a new owner of a Yukon/Tahoe some time this decade. I wanted to see what other people's experience has been with the dealership and how their orders have been handled. We just had our order cancelled and were told we would need to wait a couple of weeks for the 2023 order bank to open. We had already waited two months and never had our order accepted. Needless to say, we're extremely frustrated. I've spent the better part of the last two weeks calling every dealership within 1000 miles looking for orders that have fallen through and somehow every single one that exists has been sold, is reserved, or won't be built for at least another two months. It seems like some have had luck in getting reasonable service with reasonable expectations being set upfront. What I've gathered over the past two weeks after talking to probably 50 dealerships are the following:

1. GM is micro-targeting what features can be ordered by specific dealership based on I'm assuming market data of some sort. There are several dealerships claiming they haven't been able to order air suspensions for a year now. Meanwhile, I see several in-transit on GMC's inventory site that have air suspensions going to specific dealers. The same applies to the 6.2. I had a dealership tell me I can still order the rear entertainment package too...they're claiming their allocations make them one of the few in the country that can. Talk to them about what options are available the soonest...they're different for every dealership. Maybe this isn't a surprise to people but it was to me.

2. In the upper-midwest, there are a lot of very low mileage (< 500 miles) "used" 2022 Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon (XL) for sale at dealerships and used car lots. I talked to a buddy about this who has some insight and he said that he knows a few dealerships where the owner has buddies buying these up at discounted prices and reselling only to share the profit. This makes sense to me too based on some of what I've seen. Highly custom stuff...coming in one month and ending up on a lot two months later on the other side of market going for $10,000 or more above what it would've sold for new MSRP. They all deny it but I had one dealership refuse to sell to me with my supplier discount and this was the reason they gave me. They thought I was going to turn around and resell it. If you have a discount, bring it up early so they're honest and upfront with you about what pricing you won't get.

3. The rural areas seem to have the dealerships who care the most about customer service. We tried ordering in a metro area and were told upfront..."we're going to take a $1000 upfront non-refundable deposit, run your credit to make sure you qualify, and then when the vehicle arrives, we'll ask you and others to pay the whatever the market rate is on your vehicle." In essence, the price I was going to pay was going to depend on who bid the most for it. I've never encountered something like it and these salesman and sales managers don't seem to see anything wrong with it. I hope people aren't actually okay with this because it sets the example that this behavior is okay even though it's incredibly stupid and ruins it for everyone.

4. One dealer told me that if I didn't pay cash, they wouldn't hold the vehicle for me. Another wanted 10% over MSRP ($90,000+ for a GMC!!) and another told me that they had a vehicle...took my deposit...and sold it anyway because I couldn't make it until later in the day (was going to drive 400 miles for it). Thankfully, I was only 150 miles in when they were polite enough to call and tell me it had been sold.

5. They're intentionally populating publicly viewable inventory to drive people into the dealerships. I don't know how many times I've been tricked into thinking that a vehicle not in-transit is actually available. 1/50 are available in my experience...the rest are "spoken for."

6. Quarterly production numbers for both the Tahoe and Yukon seem to be down only slightly compared to where they were before the pandemic. Has anyone asked why sales counts being down 10% lead to a market that would suggest a shortage far more severe? I was told it's because they're restricting who gets what in order to increase lead times to make it appear as if there's a shortage when in reality...most of the vehicles are complete and sitting in a lot somewhere. Even delivery isn't as nearly as bad as everyone says it is.

Bottom line is that the dealerships that are gouging are allowed to no matter what GM says. GM wants it this way and is intentionally keeping stock artificially low. We're extremely disappointed and frustrated. We're either going to buy an Expedition/QX80 or cancel our cross country trip this summer/next. Anyone have any advice on how to get one of these without waiting a year for one and paying over MSRP, I'd love to hear it!
 

Rradford45

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Ordering was easy. I actually built on the GN website and took to the dealership. Finally got accepted in March, built in April and been sitting in Midlothian since. Dealership is not good at giving any information. I knew from the GM chat most of the steps before he would notify me. Texted him Thursday and asked if my Tahoe showed up yet and he said he was fixing to call me and ask what GM said because we made a complaint. I told him it said in transit to contact you. He never responded. Texted him Friday and still haven’t heard a word. So tomorrow we have to call GM and talk to the lady that is handling our case. So once I get my vehicle I will be letting people know the horrible customer service we have received. I called every dealer in Texas and no one has any in stock that does not have a hug mark up. It’s frustrating and almost depressing especially since I have no vehicle to drive.
 

selectsplat

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Call local dealerships, ask for the ordering manager, tell them what you are looking for, and ask them to contact you directly when they have an available allocation.

There’s no sense in placing an order until they have an allocation for something close to what you are looking for.

Be prepared to settle for less than what you want. Decide the 2 or 3 things you can’t live without and be flexible on the rest, including trim. I got my color, 6.2, and 22” wheels. I gave up the sunroof and RST trim (in favor of a High Country)

Expect to pay MSRP. I wouldn’t pay more than that, but you’re not likely to get any type of discount. The demand is not fake.
 

acapote86

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I went to AutoNation and no BS. Yes order takes forever, and all things you want get slashed, but that’s not the dealers fault. My order was placed in January, accepted in March, built in May. I am still waiting on delivery of the Yukon but that’s due to transport shortages, not the dealer.

I would suggest finding an Auto Nation near you to place the order. Don’t settle for the Ford or Infiniti. I’ve driven them all through rentals and they don’t even compare. Any of the GM SUVs are by far the best driving experience.
 

todayusay

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had a 2021 Yukon AT4, wife had been wanting one every since they announced them a couple years ago. Had it 15 months, put 45k on it, and when we sold it it had a couple issues that we had given up on and had been in the shop over 17x for numerous other reasons

say that because the dealer we bought it from was going to help us get "something else" back in dec.

Ordered a Yukon in early December from them, had the RSE on it, so it of course never got picked up
Ordered a Z71 tahoe from them in early Jan when I figured out the whole allocation/constraint process. That one, to my knowledge, hasn't been picked up yet either...this dealer wasn't requiring a deposit, but then again I also never got a vehicle from them

Then ordered a Z71 Tahoe in mid Jan from another dealer ($1k refundable deposit) - got picked up in Feb, built in March and delivered in April

I probably contacted 30+ dealers in Jan and most were over sticker on both available units and custom orders, anywhere from $4k to $10k. Found a dealer in MO that was at sticker and they actually contacted me twice in March about Tahoes that had became available - which at that time we were only weeks away from ours being built so we passed.

Did have a dealer in houston, pricing theirs at $4k over, offer quite a bit on our Yukon, net to us would've been $2k, which is what we ended up with the one we ordered....in hindsight probably should've gone that route, the whole paying over sticker clouded my judgement (had trade in offers ranging from $60k to 73k within a month or so) the dealer we bought the tahoe from actually offered the $60k, ended up selling to a larger metro dealer for $68k

I suggest placing an order at several dealerships as long as the deposit is either minimal or guaranteed refundable...have a talk with someone at the dealership and find out what the realistic timeline is on ordering (how long is their waitlist and how many allocations are they planning on)....another local dealership I was going to place an order with told me they normally sell 5 or so Tahoes a year (very small, rural dealership) and they had over 20 on order that hadn't been accepted.

realistically I wouldn't expect any 23s to be delivered until late August at the earliest - and Halloween or Thanksgiving is probably a more realistic timeline
 

Stbentoak

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Do you know why you can get an Expedition or QX quickly? Because they are not as desirable. QX is still about 5 years behind times and is a total gas horse. Expedition is an acceptable alternate, but if you are looking for space such as Surburban or XL, there is no substitute. Not to mention there is NOTHING out there that can compete with the MPG deliverable of the DMax. Diesel is 5.55 locally, but Premium is 5.95. While these are all stupid numbers, at + 8-10 MPG of Diesel, the dollar per mile numbers cannot be denied....
 

Joseph Garcia

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Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

You are already receiving sage advice from the knowledgeable folks on this Forum.
 

bunky319

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Do you know why you can get an Expedition or QX quickly? Because they are not as desirable. QX is still about 5 years behind times and is a total gas horse. Expedition is an acceptable alternate, but if you are looking for space such as Surburban or XL, there is no substitute. Not to mention there is NOTHING out there that can compete with the MPG deliverable of the DMax. Diesel is 5.55 locally, but Premium is 5.95. While these are all stupid numbers, at + 8-10 MPG of Diesel, the dollar per mile numbers cannot be denied....
Exactly where I'm at. I just can't get excited about the Expedition, as much as I might want to. And the diesel option really pushes the GM solution over the top....BTW, I just noticed only a 10 cent difference yesterday between regular and diesel at a local gas station.....
 

Stbentoak

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Gas up .50 this week alone. Some places diesel is up .70…
IN ONE WEEK…..
 

StephenPT

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We *almost* bought an Expedition Max. Talked to the dealer about it one day and the next day went to go look at it. It was sold earlier that morning. Had it not have been sold, there's a chance we would have bought it. In hindsight I'm so thankful we didn't, because right now there's an open recall on most all '20/'21 Expeditions because they can spontaneously combust. Ford is asking all owners to park them outside away from structures while they still try to determine root cause...

I've also noticed your observation that there are a lot of LOW mile used GM full-size SUVs available. We went to a dealer that had a row of them. As we looked at each one, some of them had ~50 miles on them, the plastic wrappers covering things like the screen, hvac knobs, etc. hadn't even been removed yet. They were not USED, but they were being sold as used so the dealer could throw a huge markup on them and not get in trouble with GM for gouging above MSRP. They had a Suburban RST 6.2L used with less than 50 miles. It was just a tad under $100K...

As far as our dealer and our experience - we have an open order for a Yukon XL SLE w/ Duramax through Robideaux Motors in Idaho. They offered supplier pricing ($300 over invoice) and up to this point our order has not been picked up yet, but it's only been 2 months since we ordered and based on what I've read on these forums, unless you walk into a dealer that has an open allocation and you get your name on it, the wait from order to production seems to be a minimum of three months. It will probably be longer for us as now it sounds like the Duramax is on constraint. Either way, the savings is worth it for us and although we haven't gone through the whole process with Robideaux yet, I don't have any reason to believe they are going to pull any shenanigans on us. They were very straight forward and honest upfront and there are other forum members here that have gone through the whole process with them and have said it's been the best car buying experience they've ever had.
 
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mngopher

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I'm not saying there isn't demand...I'm sure there is! I'm one of the people who wants one and is willing to work to get one. That being said, I also know how many industries are operating right now while the prevailing narrative is that there are supply chain delays everywhere despite that not really being the case. Dealers are taking advantage of the fact that they can gouge and have an excuse that's been accepted by the population to be true. Meanwhile, the manufacturers are enabling it by restricting how much inventory they release at a given time with a given feature set in a given area. It's like I said...I can get certain features in northern Minnesota but can't get them elsewhere and vice-versa. I appreciate the advice on the Expedition vs. Yukon/Tahoe. Honestly, I swore I'd never buy another Ford after my last F-150. My favorite vehicle...but required 3 engines, a transmission, and differentials in 25,000 miles. It was the "bullet-proof" 5.0 too. To be honest, I wanted a 2023 Sequoia...and had their rear cargo area not been so embarrassing, I'd be buying one of those instead but when I saw the "cargo shelf" I put in our order for the Yukon, several months ago now. Still at square one...and that really bothers me especially since production numbers are actually up YoY and not down that much compared to non-pandemic years.

The truth is, we're up against a clock. There are a few things that we want to do in the next 3 years that we likely won't be able to do again. Our cross-country trips this summer and next are probably not going to happen unless I buy something soon. Unfortunately, that means I'll be buying what's out there and it's not Tahoes/Yukons. We're very much at the top of our budget on these vehicles as is and its sounding like to get what we want, we'll be priced out of these vehicles the next model year anyway (to be honest, I'm not sure how the market for these vehicles is so deep given our income distribution in this country). The other options seem more reasonably priced. Again...I know they may be inferior products but being inferior doesn't matter if you can't get the superior product because it doesn't exist.

I do plan on sticking around on the forum...I like these vehicles and even if I don't get one now, I do plan on trading up once reality kicks in again in the market. I appreciate everyone's perspective as well. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
 

Stbentoak

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I think you underestimate how much actual cash many consumers are sitting on. Personal savings level is 5X what it was pre pandemic. Almost 5 TRILION dollars. I'd wager a pretty fair share pay cash for these vehicles and another pretty fair share aren't fazed by +5-10K over the sticker if they really want it.
Also, I don't think GM is restricting supply to create a "Shortage" situation. They are restricting options but building anything they can. They don't make any more or less, their price to each dealer is already pre-determined. They want them all delivered. The real issue is TRANSPORTATION. They can't get enough rail cars and truck transports to haul them. It will take months to wear this down if they even do.
Good luck on your cross-country trip. With fuel prices surging, I doubt if I could stomach dropping 150 a day in my tank to see the world's largest ball of yarn.
Rumor has it in our area that RV manufacturers are going to shed 50% of their work force on July 4th due to rapidly falling demand. No one wants to say it outwardly, but this high and going higher fuel is starting to take the fun out of "Recreational" travel, boating, road trips and the like. It can easily cost you 100$ + a week just to drive to work.....
 

Chickensandwich

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I just wonder what people do for work that allows them to afford an $80k truck! That couldn’t ever get on my radar..and I’m sad. Maybe if I lived in a studio apartment I could swing it, but man….
 
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mngopher

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The truth is, most of that cash is in the hands of small business owners that took PPP and weren't really impacted (a large chunk of them), those that played the stock market well, etc. Your average family with 3+ kids, the people that I would think are wanting to buy these vehicles, aren't really dropping 80-100K on these vehicles...yet they're impossible to find. At least in our market, many of these vehicles are being bought and resold to take advantage of the used car premiums. That and one of the dealerships told me they've had more small business owner types buying 1-ton pickups with cash than any year before and once they take delivery, they're putting in their order for the next. Good for them that taxpayer money buys them a pickup and gets them a write-off but for the rest of us out there, we need to earn that money and any cash we have needs to be used judiciously. I'm not willing to throw away tens of thousands in market adjustments AND lost value. The idea that people are paying 10K over MSRP or more for new vehicles and used vehicles that are going to be worth half their value next year is frankly kinda nuts. I don't know anyone, many that make far more than I do, who make so much that they literally can toss 10-20K in the trash just to get into a truck sooner other than business owners or people who are buying/reselling/splitting the profit with the original dealer.

As for who can afford an 80K vehicle? Good question. What salary should you be making to afford a $60-80,000 family vehicle? The top 10% makes $200,000. To buy a $60-80,000 vehicle with a $200,000 household income seems well...risky. The guy at the dealer says most families buying these make much less than that. Not meaning to get into a debate about spending or the value of these vehicles, but it does seem crazy that so many are willing to drop $80K like nothing...and to pay cash for it when residuals are going to tank in a year. I'm above that 10% and to spend even $50K on a depreciating asset is a hard pill to swallow, let alone $80K but I'm willing to do it simply because I'll have it for 10+ years (the only way buying one of these at these prices makes any sense at all) and it's going to serve a purpose to us beyond just daily transportation.

As for gas...it's strange so many are complaining about gas with these vehicles when really after spending what people are spending, gas expenses should be nothing. I mean...seriously...anyone that didn't see the gas spike coming 7-8 years ago and bought a truck thinking they would stay low was foolish. Really, $100/week for gas is like pennies compared to the cost of these vehicles.
 
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suterusu

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$200K/yr. is roughly $10K/month take home after taxes, 401K, etc. So a $1,000/month payment (if they put money down) is 10% of their take home. What percent of take home do you think an average car payment is?
 

RVAHokie

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$200K/yr. is roughly $10K/month take home after taxes, 401K, etc. So a $1,000/month payment (if they put money down) is 10% of their take home. What percent of take home do you think an average car payment is?
Good question. My house hold makes double that and I'm still squeamish about the Denali I have on order.
 

todayusay

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The guy at the dealer says most families buying these make much less than that. Not meaning to get into a debate about spending or the value of these vehicles, but it does seem crazy that so many are willing to drop $80K like nothing...and to pay cash for it when residuals are going to tank in a year.

As for gas...it's strange so many are complaining about gas with these vehicles when really after spending what people are spending, gas expenses should be nothing. I mean...seriously...anyone that didn't see the gas spike coming 7-8 years ago and bought a truck thinking they would stay low was foolish. Really, $100/week for gas is like pennies compared to the cost of these vehicles

My thought would be that anyone that has the ability to drop $60-80k in cash for anything..SUV, boat, RV, and so on is in the minority.

If you want to talk about the guy that just retired and is splurging because they just got a lump sum payment to replace their pension or they have $800k in an 401k and decide to pay cash for (fill in the blank)....that's not quite the normal buyer. Usually those are the ones that are making that once in a lifetime purchase for cash...and a vehicle usually fills that void. Used to work in the financial sector and it was almost a given that the retiree was going to draw +$40k on their account within the first month of moving their retirement over for a single purchase.

The rest of the buyers of these SUVs are stretching out the financing as far as they can and are in the majority as your dealer mentions. School teacher (or similar job) making $50-65k and then the spouse maybe making $60-80k...so ~$125k combined income. They also aren't coming on a forum to discuss their order in the middle of the day.

All depends on your circumstances. We tried to keep a vehicle for over 150k miles a couple of times (we average 45-50k/year on the family vehicle) and after spending several thousand on a transmission both times, decided that wasn't our ideal path. Have a buddy with a 2017 Chevy half ton and another with a 2016 Suburban and they both had to put in new transmission with under 80k miles.

If you can buy one at sticker or less and don't care about the optics, buying new every 9 mos - year would probably make the most financial sense right now. Drive it until the warranty is about out and trade/sell if for what you paid for it - or more. The used prices will continue to be strong as GM will continue to increase the MSRPs on the Tahoes/Yukons - thereby increasing value of the used ones...seems like GM was a little late to the game of raising prices. Small increase in the fall, another increase in early spring and last month an increase that doubled the first two increases...My 2022 Ram 3500, ordered in Dec - delivered in Feb, is now almost $7k higher if you built the exact same truck in a 2022...just ridiculous

was just at the dealer today and salesman told me he had a couple buyers back out on trailblazers as they didn't want to wait on their order (at sticker) and the dealer down the street had several at $5k over...we are a solid year into the chip shortage/car market craze and it isn't slowing down yet. Will be interesting to see where we are around October after summer spending has come into reality
 
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mngopher

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We *almost* bought an Expedition Max. Talked to the dealer about it one day and the next day went to go look at it. It was sold earlier that morning. Had it not have been sold, there's a chance we would have bought it. In hindsight I'm so thankful we didn't, because right now there's an open recall on most all '20/'21 Expeditions because they can spontaneously combust. Ford is asking all owners to park them outside away from structures while they still try to determine root cause...

I've also noticed your observation that there are a lot of LOW mile used GM full-size SUVs available. We went to a dealer that had a row of them. As we looked at each one, some of them had ~50 miles on them, the plastic wrappers covering things like the screen, hvac knobs, etc. hadn't even been removed yet. They were not USED, but they were being sold as used so the dealer could throw a huge markup on them and not get in trouble with GM for gouging above MSRP. They had a Suburban RST 6.2L used with less than 50 miles. It was just a tad under $100K...


Thanks for the heads up on the Expeditions. We went to go look at one tonight and it had an open recall on it...but it was still for sale anyway. I asked them to check and they told me it was clear...when I looked myself, it was one of the vehicles being recalled. Pretty annoying how dishonest they are.

As for the other piece...the dealership that's been dicking us around over our order...well I found out why tonight. I noticed they must've had a new delivery of vehicles so I stopped by to see how many had sold signs. All of them did...but the idiots put the customer's name on every single one of them. With the exception of a few pickups, almost all of them were being sold to businesses. The Yukons were actually being sold to some auto brokerage outfit out of Montana. What ****** me off is that now I realized that my order likely was never placed or had a lower priority than these brokers. I'm guessing these brokers are agreeing to split the profit with the dealership too.

That being said...word is, dealerships are starting to have a hard time dumping their marked up used inventory especially SUVs and trucks (the brokers don't buy used). I give it 6 months before the entire market crashes. A friend of mine said that dealers at auctions are having to rerun cars several times until they get the amount they're looking for. I've seen this too where vehicles that I saw two months ago are still sitting there without buyers...mostly used SUVs and pickups with huge markups.

We're out of the market until it corrects unless something pops up. Thanks for the comments on your experience. I appreciate it. For those willing to wait longer, good luck. I'm sure the wait will be worth it....just don't overpay.
 

Stbentoak

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Market correction= MSRP. The days of 5-10K off sticker are over....

Also, for @todayusay you should run a poll on who paid cash and who financed for 10 years. I think you'd be shocked. The young families or schoolteachers that you discuss are buying Tellurides, Palisades, and Santa Fe's, Not Denali's and Tahoe's. Boats and RVs are in a completely separate category.

And for @RVAHokie If you make 400 a year and an 80K vehicle scares you, you must be mismanaging your money or live on the east or west coast. I've never made any money anywhere near that, but I was taught by a wise financial advisor in my 30's to pay myself 1st, Live Debt free within your means, and invest and let time do the rest. It's a tough row to hoe for lots of young families today.
 

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