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Free oil changes for life!

17K views 42 replies 22 participants last post by  devbolt 
#1 ·
I thought this was amusing to keep on my car for a few days. :D:D

I'm not sure if its more funny or sad, as obviously this Chevy dealership really doesn't know how to market and advertise to EV fans (or owners!)

A Tesla driver behind me in stop-and-go traffic today took a photo... good for a laugh, I'm sure.
 

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#2 ·
Hah, that's pretty good!

I've got a similar story; about a month after taking delivery of my Bolt I got a very nice printed mailer talking about how my local GM dealers's mechanics are specially trained and know the best way to maintain my Bolt. I especially like the picture of the mechanic pouring a quart of oil into the engine compartment. Check it!

Apparently this was sent out by Chevrolet Canada head office. When the service manager at my dealership saw this he tore a strip off the morons that put it together hahaha
 

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#10 ·
I still get messages about vehicles I traded in



I still get messages from the dealers or manufacturers about previous vehicles I owned even though I traded them in quite a while back. Not too long ago I got one about the recall for a vehicle I hadn't owned for years, and I'm pretty sure I had earlier told the manufacturer I didn't own that vehicle anymore. I will still probably get messages from the dealer about how it's time to do some maintenance activity for my Volt for years after I trade it in.
 
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#7 ·
....the placard is both funny and sad.... but these mistakes, ignorance and lack of preparedness on the part of the dealers may doom it. It reminds me of why Tesla has their own dealerships.
Yup, it's just lazy work and same-old, same-old, business as usual attitude by entrenched dealerships.

Is anyone at the dealership or GM actually paying attention?

We get "thank you" postcards on behalf of GM/Local Dealership thanking us for investing in our future, etc... by going electric, then the very next day we get "free Oil change" offers from the same dealership.

Hello.... wake the *uck up already GM and pay attention! Stop embarrassing yourselves and your dealers!
 
#11 ·
This thread does illustrate the challenges going forward facing established dealerships. Dealerships make very little profit on new car sales, so they try to start up a relationship with buyers for service, parts and of course future car sales. Their biggest money maker is used car sales. Even though they look big, monumental and loaded with money, many dealerships are just skating by and can only survive on volume sales.

Electric cars make this situation worse for them. They know they won't be in for much service, they know they won't be buying any parts and they also know that BEVs don't help sell any of the other cars on their lots. It's easy to see how they wouldn't be thrilled about the future of transportation. Tesla has it easy because they have the opportunity to right size the sales and service to the new realities of electric cars. The established dealerships are going to have to make some very painful downsizing.
 
#21 ·
https://electrek.co/2017/07/03/gm-chevy-bolt-ev-sales-3/#more-47194


A new report on Bolt's small growing sales. The article is all positive until one reads the comments. Let me say that I want GM to be successful and I enjoy the Bolt...but:

* small sales compared to Tesla and especially with recent announcement of volume shipping beginning in July for the 3 at a price point similar to Bolt.

* excess Bolt inventory - they aren't selling

* poor or laughable dealer experiences (i.e. the OP's comments)

Sigh...I've seen this trend before in several of the fields in which I have experience and just because you have an advantage now, doesn't mean that you see or can respond to the changing technology/market conditions:

* Advent of digital imaging - who would have thought Kodak would ever fail?
* Sun Microsystem - ready to 'bury' HP
* Levi's (the jean's maker) getting into the upscale suit business...no.

I really hope that GM will 'get it' but I suspect they won't unless there are big changes in the management team. At least the Bolt seems to be a great car and I hope to enjoy it for however many years I own it regardless of lack of market traction.
 
#25 ·
The Model 3 is definitely effecting Bolt sales for sure. In addition, all the other manufacturers are dumping their lesser BEVs super cheap and that's also hurting sales of the Bolt. I am convinced there are a number of people on the Model 3 list that are waiting to see what the Model 3 really is, how good it is and what it really cost before making up their minds. I sure some will abort their positions and buy a Bolt, but as long as Elon keeps everyone in suspense some Bolt sales are on hold.

Lots of people put a lot of emphasis on the Model 3's supposed "$35,000" base price and how it's cheaper than the Bolt, but that's completely based on Elon's stated promise that it will start "about" $35,000 and completely ignoring Tesla's history of quickly discontinuing the low cost models and raising prices soon after launch. They also historically give preferential treatment to the loaded cars, so the net result is very few people actually get these amazing cheap cars. I predict that the Model 3 will sell for considerably more than the Bolt in the end.

I think the one thing that we should learn from GM's creation of the Bolt is, they can move quickly and successfully execute a competitive BEV program in a very short amount of time and hit their price and performance goals. If GM feels they need to come up with a sleek BEV sedan to compete with Tesla, they could easily do it and IMO, the Model 3 has room for improvement just based on what I've seen so far.

Many count GM out and that Tesla will now blow them away and take over the automotive business world wide. I predict that if the Model 3 is crazy successful and can maintain 100,000 sales every year and not just a pent up fan demand, GM can get a competitive car on the road in 1-3 years time that will have the advantage of going second where they can improve on the Model 3 and one up it. Likely they have concepts already on the drawing board that we don't know about yet.
 
#22 ·
I would not call 30 at the end of July, 100 for August, and 1500 in September to be volume shipment levels for the Model 3. I would call it a slow rollout with actual volume shipmentts not starting until November or December.

And yes, the comments on Electrek are "interesting" to say the least. Lots of misinformation and just plain wrong information.
 
#26 ·
I would not call 30 at the end of July, 100 for August, and 1500 in September to be volume shipment levels for the Model 3. I would call it a slow rollout with actual volume shipmentts not starting until November or December.
When it was the NUMI plant, about 6000 vehicles were produced per week by 4700 workers. Tesla has something like 6000 workers making about 2000 vehicles per week.
 
#30 ·
Dav8tor wrote:
"I think the one thing that we should learn from GM's creation of the Bolt is, they can move quickly and successfully execute a competitive BEV program in a very short amount of time and hit their price and performance goals."

I had read that the GM is losing ~$9k per Bolt so not sure about the price goal unless the loss is part of the goal which, it may be, if all they are trying to do is hit regulatory requirements.
https://electrek.co/2017/05/03/gm-electric-vehicle-profit-bolt-ev/


And, to EFt's point: "I understand the premise, but EVs are 1% of total car sales in the US. I doubt EV sales will bankrupt any properly operated dealership any time soon." It looks like things can change quickly if the incentives are there: "Electric cars reach record 42% of Norway’s total new car sales..."https://electrek.co/2017/07/04/electric-car-norway-tesla-model-x/

I don't expect that radical a change with the current administration and the auto industry would find such a change, but it's coming, and it's just a question of when.
 
#33 ·
Dav8tor wrote:
"I think the one thing that we should learn from GM's creation of the Bolt is, they can move quickly and successfully execute a competitive BEV program in a very short amount of time and hit their price and performance goals."

I had read that the GM is losing ~$9k per Bolt so not sure about the price goal unless the loss is part of the goal which, it may be, if all they are trying to do is hit regulatory requirements.
https://electrek.co/2017/05/03/gm-electric-vehicle-profit-bolt-ev/
Nobody knows how that $9K figure was arrived at. Some speculate that that number includes all the R&D and tooling necessary to produce the car for the modest annual sales target of 30K to 50K they originally set. What we don't know is how many years it will take to amortize those sunk costs. The actual labor and parts cost that it takes to build the car and sell it is likely earning a small profit on each car sold.
 
#36 ·
my chevy dealer keeps sending me discount service coupons to get my Fuel Injectors cleaned - will improve my MPG and pay for itself in greater fuel efficiency.

when I bring it in to take advantage of the discount I plan to also ask them to swap the spark plugs for new ones - that can't hurt - ya know!
 
#38 ·
My buddy told me the dealership charges $400 for oil change on his Rover!
 
#40 ·
I stopped at a Chevey dealer last fall to ask about the screen freeze issue (since fixed with a recall). I entered the showroom and the earnest salesperson came out to greet me. I asked him if I could speak with someone who knew about Bolts. He said he did, and took me to the parts department....you know...where they know about bolts, and screws and other such.
 
#42 ·
I had a similar experience as some of you here have mentioned - first thing the "business manager" talked about when I went to the Chevy dealership I got my Bolt from, was to point out "their excellent service department" that would take care of all maintenance tasks, like tire rotation and oil changes... I looked at her and I said "yeah, those oil changes will certainly come in handy". She looked at me confused, at which point I said "because, you know, an EV really needs those oil changes". Still having a dumbfounded look on her face, I helped out by saying "which they don't, because EVs don't have an ICE and as such don't need oil to grease those cylinders", at which point something must've clicked in her brain, she responded with "oh yeah" and smiled awkwardly and seemed embarrassed. I told the sales rep there the scoop of it (he wasn't present at the prev. interaction with his sales manager) and he just grinned awkwardly and changed the subject quickly.
 
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