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View Full Version : Please give me you thoughts on potentional dealership sponsorship.



Ohiotj
01-01-2014, 01:37 PM
I have been noticing a few threads here about bad dealer experiences. As I have said before I used to sell Chrysler products for a little over 7 years. Currently I am a stay at home father who frequents the VOA forums a lot. Also I own an old 1993 viper. So this is my hobby and a great time killer for me while the baby naps.

I spoke with my old general manager yesterday about their plans for the viper. Right now they have only sold one and it was spoken for before it hit the lot. This was when the viper first restarted production in 2013. They only have one more coming in from their order bank. The dealership is located in WV and they really are not in a big sports car market. However they also own a MB dealership and are used to dealing with cars in this price range. I asked him about a potential sponsorship here with me being the dealer rep who would handle the sales and ordering of the cars for VOA members. So I have a few questions that I would like an honest answer to. Your answer will help me decide if it would be worth my time and the dealerships time to do this.

1. What price would potential customers be looking at in relationship to MSRP and Invoice?
The dealer uses a fixed pricing system on their lot cars and don't negotiate off that price. For all Dodge, Ram, Jeep, and Chrysler products they sell everything at invoice minus rebates. To be honest though I doubt that would be the case for the Viper.

2. Would you feel comfortable buying from a dealer even if you have not seen the car?
Keep in mind there would be shipping/traveling cost involved with purchase. The price would have to make sense for the consumer to purchase from WV instead of their local dealer.

These are the main questions that I know the owner will ask and need to know before even really considering it. The reason I am thinking about this is because I like to sell cars and I like to be on the forum. I know there are the big Viper dealers who sponsor the site but I never see them participate in the discussions. Seems they post only about their sales and don't contribute beyond that. There is nothing wrong with that but I feel I would be more involved in the club. So please give your honest opinion and let me know if this sounds like a good idea. Making money is not my goal in this project, if anything it may help pay for some of my track days! Thanks for your time.

Hope everyone is having a happy New Year.
Ryan

ViperSmith
01-01-2014, 02:42 PM
Ryan,

It is sort of a double edged sword for you. If I am dropping that much coin on a car - I want to custom order it. I think that is some of the issue which dealers are facing. Many checked every option box thinking they'd make tons of cash on options.

When I ordered my Gen V, I did so picking options, color, etc that suited me. Considering there were ~125 SRT models built for 2013, including the 100 Red SRT models, the chances that one of those 25 aligned with my options was probably zilch. I ordered mine sight unseen. If I was on the fence about the car, I would have probably wanted to drive one first.

Bill and Mark from Woodhouse post a bit with help and insight. Tomball doesn't a lot.

Best,
Harold

F2V
01-01-2014, 03:32 PM
I put my initial deposit down on my G5 with Bill Pemberton in early DEC 2010...when many on the old forum were saying it would never be built. How's that for sight unseen :-)

HyperViper
01-01-2014, 04:59 PM
Forget about it....

Rand1993
01-01-2014, 05:05 PM
Sent you a PM.

Ohiotj
01-01-2014, 05:41 PM
Thanks for the responses. I was just looking at the difference between msrp and invoice. From what I can tell on a sticker of 107,000 there is about 5,200 markup. My question is what are most people paying for the new cars in relation to msrp. If they are paying somewhere around sticker I know I could save buyers money. I saw one ad on here that said they were going for big money off sticker. If other dealers are taking the 5,200 off sticker then I would not be of any help.
To be honest in regards to service the dealership only has one tech srt certified. I asked him to do some work for me on my car and he passed saying he wasn't comfortable doing it.
Also this dealer doesn't have any vipers in stock so each viper would have to be customed ordered. This means buyers would have to wait for the car to be built and all the drama that goes with that. Like I said this would be doing more of a service for the members then me trying to make money.