Ordering a Vehicle through the Dealer...Process?

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Jan 23, 2013
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MA
I'm going to be purchasing a 2023 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 in the very near future. The 2023 Colorado is a brand new redesign and the base Work Truck models are just starting to hit the dealerships. The LT, Trail Boss and Z71 models will start to arrive in a few weeks. Production of the ZR2 doesn't start until April so they will probably start to show up in May sometime.

That said, this will be my first brand new vehicle and the first time I've put an order in through the factory. What is the process like? Do they give you any timeline on when your vehicle will be delivered? Thanks!
 
Hey man:

I can't comment directly, but there is a motortrend article out there where you can pay about $400 for a factory flash, and turn a work truck into a ZR2 equivalent. It doesn't void warranty either. It only applies to one engine option.

Might be a way to get performance cheap if you don't want to wait, and are looking for a sleeper.
 
The first step is to determine the truck's qualities:
- color
- tires & wheels
- audio options
- interior options
- etc.
Then price the truck out on a GM website, if available. Draw up a document with the desired options and the total price you want to pay. Include state taxes, inspection, registration, etc. Send the document to the sales manager of local dealers and see what happens.
 
I hope you have better luck than I did. There’s absolutely no customer loyalty at a car dealership. They’ll literally sell the same car 10 times over with no regard to who special ordered it. 🤷‍♂️
 
@Marcozi I've already figured out the options and color I want so that's the easy part. I wish GM allowed you to "Buy Direct" from the factory and skip the dealer but sadly that's not the case.
 
@Marcozi I've already figured out the options and color I want so that's the easy part. I wish GM allowed you to "Buy Direct" from the factory and skip the dealer but sadly that's not the case.
It's not GM (or Ford, or Honda, or Toyota, etc) that prevent direct purchase. It is the auto dealers and their lobbyists who require vehicles be purchased from a dealership in each state and franchises. Not sure how Tesla can do it but even they are limited in several states I believe.
 
One other option - do you have any relatives that work for GM? Back in the day (10+ years ago), employees had certificates they could give to family members. (Even cousins, and step relatives).

It was a straight discount off sticker, and you could order your car direct. Show up to dealer and order.

May want to play with this and see what options are available.

 
@Chester11 Unfortunately no, not a single family member.

So far my limited understanding is that dealers all have certain allocations of certain vehicles over a certain amount of time. A small sleazy dealer will sell you truck and then take your truck and sell it to someone else if they come by with more money. The good dealers that have enough allocations will sell you the truck and it is yours.

If everyone plays by the rules you get a sales acknowledgement from GM and are given a VIN number and progress updates throughout the build. But finding the good dealers are probably the hard part.
 
I've ordered vehicles through my local Chevrolet dealer. With the market the way it's been for the past few years, they've gotten much better about ordering vehicles.

The ordering part is done at the dealer (obviously) but getting your truck depends on two things:
  • Does the dealer have allotment?
  • Is anything you want to order on restriction?
Either of those will stop your order dead.

Allotment is how many of a particular model a dealer is allowed to order. Corvette is the most common example of a vehicle with allotment issues, but you can run into allotment issues on other models, especially new models where the line isn't fully up to speed and they're in launch mode (like the 2023 Colorado). An example: A dealer is allotted, say, 100 Colorado for May. This is spread out among trucks they're going to put on the lot and also orders for customers. If they've exhausted their allotment for May, your order has to go into the next month where there is allotment available.

Restriction has to do with whether GM is building vehicles with the option(s) you want. This has been pretty wild over the past year or two with supply chain issues. For a while, the 6.2L was under restriction for Silverado, as was the multi-flex tailgate. If your dealer put through an order with content that's on restriction, your order just goes and sits in a black hole until whatever it is comes off restriction. At the time of order, the dealer should know what's under restriction at that moment and can adjust the order accordingly. The problem becomes the time between when your order is placed and when it comes up for production. If something on your order goes into restriction during that period, it just goes into that black hole and nobody is notified. It usually plays out that after a while with no word, you ask your dealer where your truck's at and they have to Scooby Doo why it's taking so long. That's when they find the restriction.

If you passed those two gates, your order will go through and the next piece of info you'll receive is a VIN. That doesn't mean your truck's been built yet, but it should also come with a production week. That means your vehicle is in queue and slated to be assembled that week. Once you have your VIN in-hand, you can stop pestering the dealer for a while. Take the VIN and ask the chat-bot window at the bottom of the Chevrolet site where your order is at and they'll give you a status update.

Once your vehicle is built, it needs to be transported. More waiting. Waiting for your truck to get into a rail car and waiting for local transport when it comes off the rail car. Lots of logistical factors here but it's usually not too bad, a week or two is typical. There's another potential bump here: Build-shy. This is what GM calls it, but other manufacturers do it to. Trucks are built without all the necessary parts and are parked in a field somewhere waiting to be refit when parts are available. This isn't like when you vehicle is supposed to have a heated steering wheel but it doesn't and it'll be added later. Build-shy vehicles are missing significant components, like entire power window switches or infotainment displays, stuff you can't hand over to a customer with a promise to add it later. On your end, it'll look like your truck has been built (it has, mostly) and is awaiting shipment, except that actual shipment date is completely unknown. This was a big deal at times for certain models but I think much of that is in the rearview mirror now. Manufacturers are on top of things and now they're being proactive with order restrictions instead of being reactive with build-shy. An example is Ford offering Bronco orders money to change their order (remove options on restriction) or continue with the order, understanding their vehicle won't be built until 2024.

From there, it's a regular dealer transaction.
 
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Hey man:

I can't comment directly, but there is a motortrend article out there where you can pay about $400 for a factory flash, and turn a work truck into a ZR2 equivalent. It doesn't void warranty either. It only applies to one engine option.

Might be a way to get performance cheap if you don't want to wait, and are looking for a sleeper.

Just missing the lift, DSSP shocks, locking front and rear diffs, more aggressive appearance, wider track width, and better approach and departure angles...

I know there will be those who buy a ZR2 to pose...but there are also a bunch of us that buy a ZR2 for real offroad capability. Just getting a quick engine tune on a work truck, does not a ZR2 make.
 
@MrHorspwer Thank you for that excellent write-up. I am unfamiliar with my local dealers so it will be difficult to determine who are the good ones. I'll probably start on websites like dealerrater.com and get a better understanding of who has the largest inventory, who sells the most trucks, etc.
 
What MrHorsepower said.
I have a Silverado HD on order right now. I anticipate June before I take delivery. The new models are in high demand and there is a backlog of orders. Sold orders are built first but depending on options and constraints (shortages) things will get shuffled around.
Right now my dealer has no available allocations for an HD, they likely will by the end of this month so my order is in status 1000, accepted but preliminary. I have a salesperson that I have bought well over a dozen Chevys from as well as both my sons buying from him. I don't need a deposit and I know he will tell me everything he knows without shading me. Lots of misinformation floating around fueled by sketchy dealers right now. Like MRHP says, allocation is the key. Make your deal but dont give an order to a dealer who doesnt have any allocation or you will get bounced around and who knows when your truck will get built. I have the advantage of a GM family price so I have no need to negotiate, the price is set. BTW, my dealer says first of April before he gets his first two Colorado's. Anyone's guess after that.
 
@MrHorspwer Thank you for that excellent write-up. I am unfamiliar with my local dealers so it will be difficult to determine who are the good ones. I'll probably start on websites like dealerrater.com and get a better understanding of who has the largest inventory, who sells the most trucks, etc.
Ask your friends and people you know for a recommendation. Dont be afraid to go to more than one dealer. An informed consumer is always the best defense. Do your homework and know exactly what you want. Theres plenty of information on these trucks TFL truck and others on Youtube have done lengthy reviews.

And... oh BTW. there are 3 versions of the 2.7L turbo. One is the base which is on the WT models. The other higher HP version is on the LT and up. This version can be upgraded to the max HP version for an extra charge. The base version cannot. The base version lack some of the physical parts required to support the highest HP version.

Also, dont let a dealers inventory level sway you. The one I used has a less than average inventory because they sell almost everything they can get, theres a reason for that. ;)
 
A good dealer will work with you, be prepared to wait. Also be prepared to interview several dealers and don't let the bad ones tell you ordering isn't possible.
 
We ordered the GMC in December 2020. When you have the truck configured exactly how you want it at home on the Chevy website print it out. You can also save the order to your computer. Take the printout to your dealer and let them make the order off the printout, don't sit there and try to do it with a salesman. Either come back tomorrow or take a walk and let them put the order in then confirm the order is exactly how you want it. We had to sign off. Give a deposit. We were told we should get the truck in 12-15 weeks or something. That didn't work because of the times. At some point they should tell you it's scheduled to be built and should give a fairly close delivery date. We were told that whatever incentives were valid at time of delivery not time of order would be honored. Again maybe because of the times. Got $5k more for our trade in when the truck came. You should be able to request seeing the truck before it goes to PDI and they magically make any boo-boos disappear.

Congrats ordering the truck you want. We only did it one time.

There’s absolutely no customer loyalty at a car dealership. They’ll literally sell the same car 10 times over with no regard to who special ordered it. 🤷‍♂️
Garbage. We had some issues but having the truck sold out from under us wasn't one of them and this was when there were no trucks on the lot.
 
If you don't mind traveling you can contact "David B sells Chevy" on YouTube. Seems like he does an excellent job and straightforward. Also Costco car buying service if they still do that.
 
You have to contact a couple dealers you are willing to work with and see if they will even order one for you. Some vehicles you can’t order. Some dealers won’t bother to want to order a vehicle either
 
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