Can Ford be far behind?.................Jeff or Ernie?

http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/11/news/fortune500/gm_discount.reut/index.htm

 

It's supplier pricing, which is something entirely different. Some rebates are coming off too, so actually it was cheaper to buy a GM product before the "sale" starts. I'm now thoroughly convinced that Gm is trying not only to bankrupt itself, but it's dealers at the same time. i posted a thread on the general automotive forum about it. Let's hope Ford doesn't follow.

 

wow gm is going out in stlye and taking every dealer down with them. kinda like a murder suicide.

 

vw is also killing it's dealers, very very slow payment of warrenty claims. i mean like 90 to 180 days before the dealer gets paid back. over charging for tools. like a code scanner from them 11.5 grand. a socket that some thing from sears would do the job of for $5.00 is $45.00. if a dealer returns a part in say a gm cardboard box. they fine them $150.00 for the box. and a lot more.
while gm may be doing their best to stay alive at least they pay warrenty claims in days not months.

 

Yep Charlie, that they do.

I have to sit back and wonder how in the heck we got to this point. A lot of folks point their fingers at the UAW, but management has to carry most of the blame. Even the financial end- they've known those pension and health benefits were coming due decades ago- but they spent the money instead. Sounds like another large entity I know.

 

i for see vw leaving the usa long before gm ever thinks of chapter 11. when one looks at all the other companys under the gm name .they are really doing ok. in fact with cars they can keep just chevy and caddie and still do great.
ford and gm both made mistakes buying the over seas brands that don't make any money

 

I wonder , could this be something more sinister going on ? Maybe the auto industry being dollar pinched , are wanting to kill these long warranties ? Long warranties have always been the dangling carrot for the consumer, but are the dealers choking on the carrot now ? Is the american car consumer still consumed with wanting the long warranty packages ? ...

I for one, found the dealer warranty work to be one of the most frustrating things I have ever try to get done on my vehicle. For me, I would rather have the hidden dollars charged for the factory warranty taken off of the initial purchase price of the new vehicle. ....

We just bought a plasma TV at work for over $5K. It came with a one year warranty. Is this a new wave of the warranting of consumer products coming at us ? I remember when a one year warranty came on a 50 dollar product.

 

No way, no how consumers would go for that. I heard Ford figures $1500 into the price for warranty repairs. Given a choice b/w a 28.5K truck with no warranty and a 30K truck with a 3/36 bumper-to-bumper..that is a no brainer. Maybe Im lucky but I have never had any trouble with warranty work. Its forking over for the non-warranty work that I have trouble with...

 

The auto indutry is facing the same difficulties the airline is enduring. TOO much capacity with TOO HIGH costs and tenacious competition. The consumer (who are mostly UNINFORMED) have bought into this employee discount stuff when actually BETTER deals have been offered in the past. But the underlying theme here is TOO MUCH CAPACITY, and TOO much competition.

 

And YES, Ford and the others will be "forced" to follow.

 

Another thing that's really not helping is paying a "competetive" management and CEO salary. Top guys are getting millions a year, while asking the bottom level to take another cut to keep the company afloat. When they fire an inefective CEO, the give them a multi-million dollar payoff. Why? Do they really need that much to walk down the street?
This isn't just a problem in automotive, it's a problem with all large companies.

 

Excellent reply !

 

So guys any news what Ford is going to do yet.? This could get interesting. Will they counter or not.

 

I always got some wondering,
why the can't auto dealers sell the cars just at one fixed price?
why everybody has to waste more or less of their time when what he wants is a car?
and dealers have to waste much more time to deal with each customer in a painful bargain?
Just sell the cars like the computers. Look at how Dell do their business.

 

Of course Ford is going to "counter." They're using Veterans day as an excuse to delay their announcement one more day. Why isn't their one price shopping in the auto world? Simple. If they can "sucker/screw" one ill informed buyer (which there are tons of) it's all worth it. It's as simple as that.