No wonder the dealer here has 3 Gen 5's sitting and cant get rid of them

[Rizzo]

So I stop at the local dealer here in town. They have 2 GTS's and a regular SRT. The 1 GTS has been there since last Sept and the other 2 have been there since spring. I asked the sales guy for the prices. He tells me the regular SRT is $151,000.00 but the GTS is lower priced because it doesnt have the options in it??? I looked puzzled and showed him the options the GTS had said he must be mistaken. I asked him where the window stickers were? He said they didnt come with window stickers??? ( I know they did as they had them out the last time I was there LOL ) For shits and giggles I asked if he knew what an ACR was?? Nope. I asked if they would dicker on the price. Nope. He did not have a clue about the car. Didnt know the pricing. I even told him Ive had 3 Vipers and just bought the ACR. I asked about a test drive just to see what the response would be. No test drives. They treat the Viper like its a Neon. I can imagine a customer walking in that didnt know much about them would just turn around and walk out look for something else. Its too bad. They will end up sitting on these all winter again. I imagine in October or Nov you would be able to walk in and get these for a steal. They have to be getting worried about floor plan on them.

[Eachey51]

I hate dealers who know nothing about the car. My local srt dealer told me the viper has carbon ceramic brakes (breaks). I just smiled at him

[plumcrazy]

i despise dealers. except woodhouse who totally blew me away when i bought mine there. a Very different buying experience at woodhouse

[Viktimize]

So I stop at the local dealer here in town. They have 2 GTS's and a regular SRT. The 1 GTS has been there since last Sept and the other 2 have been there since spring. I asked the sales guy for the prices. He tells me the regular SRT is $151,000.00 but the GTS is lower priced because it doesnt have the options in it??? I looked puzzled and showed him the options the GTS had said he must be mistaken. I asked him where the window stickers were? He said they didnt come with window stickers??? ( I know they did as they had them out the last time I was there LOL ) For shits and giggles I asked if he knew what an ACR was?? Nope. I asked if they would dicker on the price. Nope. He did not have a clue about the car. Didnt know the pricing. I even told him Ive had 3 Vipers and just bought the ACR. I asked about a test drive just to see what the response would be. No test drives. They treat the Viper like its a Neon. I can imagine a customer walking in that didnt know much about them would just turn around and walk out look for something else. Its too bad. They will end up sitting on these all winter again. I imagine in October or Nov you would be able to walk in and get these for a steal. They have to be getting worried about floor plan on them.

Thanks for the heads up! I will be most likely waiting till winter to Gen5 shop once all my cars are sold. I'd be quite happy to jump over one Province for a good deal.

[Shooter]

Some dealers/salesmen are they're own worst enemy.

[donk_316]

Seems to be the norm and not the exception here in Canada. I'd much rather buy a "used" G5 from one of the big 3 in the USA and drive it home. (Used because you can't import new cars into Canada)

[Rizzo]

Seems to be the norm and not the exception here in Canada. I'd much rather buy a "used" G5 from one of the big 3 in the USA and drive it home. (Used because you can't import new cars into Canada)

You can import them. The problem is the dealers arent allowed to sell you a new one. You have to get someone down there to buy it for you and then you just buy it from them. A big problem is Dodge voids all warranty as soon as it crosses.

[Coloviper]

Also has to be used for minimum of 6 months.

[Austin]

I hate dealers who know nothing about the car. My local srt dealer told me the viper has carbon ceramic breaks. I just smiled at him

What are "carbon ceramic breaks"?

[VYPR BYT]

What are "carbon ceramic breaks"?

the high carbon content makes them brittle... that's why they break when you brake - lol

[Bill Pemberton]

A carbon ceramic break is the period of time you have to take out of your day to change the persnickity items , since they are so touchy towards damage. Just ask the Corvette guy who has to cover them, make sure nothing gets near them and is incensed when he finds out how much they cost to replace. The break is both mental and physical, and is a good reason why Dodge uses great Stoptech or Brembo two piece metal rotors , as they don't need such tremendous heat to get to a functional level and they don't need a second mortgage on your house to fund replacement.

[Eachey51]

Hey shut up Austin, i can barely spell my own name! Lol I fixed it for you though! sorta..

[BlknBlu]

what happened to thier training at SRT? It is frustrating when folks in any industry are just salesmen and have no real clue what they are selling. It is good to see folks passionette about the brand.

Bruce

[Austin]

Hey shut up Austin, i can barely spell my own name! Lol I fixed it for you though! sorta..

LOL. Just givin' ya a hard time.

[hmerrittiii]

viper 2.jpgI went to my local dealer in Raleigh, NC who I bought a 2014 Loaded Ram 1500 Lariat recently. Told them I wanted to look at a 2013 Viper GTS, said the battery was dead and I could not drive. They really didn't want to deal off sticker from what I gathered.
I looked on Ebay and found the perfect car and a Dealer Glendale Chrysler in St Louis. MSRP $137,800 and I paid $98,500 so look what I got. In addition, I was a dealer in Palm Beach for 18 years (high end) those Viper salesman can't make it at a Lexus, Mercedes or high end dealer. They would be fired and that is part of the problem the Viper has. The useless jagoffs selling them
are at the mid or bottom level of earners in the car industry so most of them can' sell worth a dam and are very old school. Lastly, the dealers don't want to pay the salesman so that's what we get with non luxury salesman. Not all but a good majority. Spiff those Vipers $1000 to $1500per unit and they may move! A Journey buyer will still see a Viper, ha.

[Mike_EE]

Chrysler can't force dealers to do anything. They can whine, wheedle and cajole, but there's little they do otherwise, except terminating them. And this is what, more than anything, is causing sales to suffer. It's a pain to find a dealer that will let you test drive one, and there's no way that I, or most of the people that I know, are going to buy anything with wheels and/or an engine without testing it first.

It took four attempts to find a dealer that would let me test drive one, even after driving up in a modified Challenger SRT-8, and offering to bring in some form of loan pre-approval. It turned out that the dealer closest to me had one, but I never would have know this without the dealer's service manager joking that we should buy one and then, after hearing our response, telling me that they had one - hidden in a storage garage! They lets us drive their secret Viper, and that's one that we bought.

Chrysler can build anything they want, but the dealer network has to know to use it as a marketing tool and good-will generator, as well as a profit center.

[VIPERGTSRT10]

So you're the one who bought it, you got an awesome car! I live in St. Louis and saw the car up there a few times. After they had it for a while I talked to my salesman up there and told him they would have to discount it quite a bit to sell it based on the current market. He looked at me like I was crazy. Fast forward a few months, they sold it to you for nearly $40k off!

viper 2.jpgI went to my local dealer in Raleigh, NC who I bought a 2014 Loaded Ram 1500 Lariat recently. Told them I wanted to look at a 2013 Viper GTS, said the battery was dead and I could not drive. They really didn't want to deal off sticker from what I gathered.
I looked on Ebay and found the perfect car and a Dealer Glendale Chrysler in St Louis. MSRP $137,800 and I paid $98,500 so look what I got. In addition, I was a dealer in Palm Beach for 18 years (high end) those Viper salesman can't make it at a Lexus, Mercedes or high end dealer. They would be fired and that is part of the problem the Viper has. The useless jagoffs selling them
are at the mid or bottom level of earners in the car industry so most of them can' sell worth a dam and are very old school. Lastly, the dealers don't want to pay the salesman so that's what we get with non luxury salesman. Not all but a good majority. Spiff those Vipers $1000 to $1500per unit and they may move! A Journey buyer will still see a Viper, ha.

[hmerrittiii]

Just so you know, when a dealer keeps an expensive car on lot say 6 months or more, sometimes they have to start paying it down so it effects their cash flow. The dealer may of had $15k or $20K paid down on it sitting idle.

[SHADOWSNAKE]

Had the same problem with purchasing mine. No test drive, the car had a dead battery (which I had to show them how to jump) and the salesman was neither SRT certified nor knew anything about the car. On top of that, it was scratched to hell (!) from sitting on the showroom floor for 10 months. I fixed that. The only reason I bought it was because the car was exactly what I wanted, and over $25k off.

Fortunately, I have a great dealer nearby that only lets their SRT sales guy and mechanic touch Vipers. They serviced my Gen III. Sadly, they don't do as well with price.

IMO, the dealership experience greatly contributed to the lost sales. If I wasn't such a Viper fanatic, I would have never bought the car.

[Mike_EE]

Just so you know, when a dealer keeps an expensive car on lot say 6 months or more, sometimes they have to start paying it down so it effects their cash flow. The dealer may of had $15k or $20K paid down on it sitting idle.

This is called the "floor plan":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retail_floorplan

Importantly, they're typically not "paying down" the cost of the vehicle (principle); they're paying only the interest on the loan against the vehicle. Depends on the deal made with the primary lender, but that can amount to $1500 a month on a Viper GTS. This is why it's beyond belief that dealers, especially with an interest-only floor plan, wouldn't market these with more care...

[SlateEd]

I think ignorance is industry-wide though... When I bought my S4 I knew more about the Audi lineup than salespeople I encountered at 3 out of 4 dealerships.

The difference was they didn't try to act like they knew more. They were able to tell when I came in passionate about a car, wanting to see it in person but having obviously done my homework - they wanted to help me fall in love with it (and buy it) not impress me with how much they know. I don't know if it's old-school mentality or what, but at my local CJD dealership this winter I had salespeople who didn't know jack trying to impress me with "facts" that were not correct about the GenV.... and I was wearing an SRT jacket at the time --you think they asked me about that? connect with the customer? Nope.

[Sharky]

So I stop at the local dealer here in town. They have 2 GTS's and a regular SRT. The 1 GTS has been there since last Sept and the other 2 have been there since spring. I asked the sales guy for the prices. He tells me the regular SRT is $151,000.00 but the GTS is lower priced because it doesnt have the options in it??? I looked puzzled and showed him the options the GTS had said he must be mistaken. I asked him where the window stickers were? He said they didnt come with window stickers??? ( I know they did as they had them out the last time I was there LOL ) For shits and giggles I asked if he knew what an ACR was?? Nope. I asked if they would dicker on the price. Nope. He did not have a clue about the car. Didnt know the pricing. I even told him Ive had 3 Vipers and just bought the ACR. I asked about a test drive just to see what the response would be. No test drives. They treat the Viper like its a Neon. I can imagine a customer walking in that didnt know much about them would just turn around and walk out look for something else. Its too bad. They will end up sitting on these all winter again. I imagine in October or Nov you would be able to walk in and get these for a steal. They have to be getting worried about floor plan on them.

Hey Rizzo, I was in to that same dealership a while ago. Couldn't find one person in the building that seemed to really know anything about the G5, other than they were set on their prices.

[Rizzo]

Hey Rizzo, I was in to that same dealership a while ago. Couldn't find one person in the building that seemed to really know anything about the G5, other than they were set on their prices.

HAHA. No kidding. They need to have somebody market those cars. There are so many guys around here with that kind of disposable cash but they dont even know the car exists. PS. Buy my VooDoo and add it to your collection...LOL.

[HEADCSE]

The problem with dealers is in order to be a Viper dealer they have to pay over 20K to get the point because of tools and so forth. Then they have to have a Viper tech trained which in itself is expensive as well as a trained Viper sales rep. (Not saying that most do) The dealer can set the pricing how they want it.(obviously trying to recoup this amount spent on a vehicle that they will sell 1 to 5 a year if that with most stores)

Sales reps and managers concentrate on selling and knowing the product that makes the dealership and themselves $$$$$. It is what it is and that's why most dealers around here are getting away from the Viper.

It's unfortunate but being in the business I get it.

[Sharky]

HAHA. No kidding. They need to have somebody market those cars. There are so many guys around here with that kind of disposable cash but they dont even know the car exists. PS. Buy my VooDoo and add it to your collection...LOL.

What are you doing selling that car? As long as it isn't for sale it isn't a temptation. I remember seeing you bringing it home as you passed through the metropolis of Moose Jaw. What type of mileage on the car?