Consumer Case Study: Chevy dealer learns a lesson from a critical customer

WUSA9 VIDEO: Sticker shock for local Chevy Volt car shopper

(Fallon Forbush) When 463 Partner Jim Hock looked into buying his first electric car, he wasn’t expecting to pay more than sticker price.

His heart was set on the 2012 Chevy Volt.  He had the features down to the color and even had a charging station installed in his garage before setting out for his local Chevy dealership. But Jim isn’t the only one with a love affair with this machinery.

The Volt has earned impressive industry accolades, including the Motor Trend Car of the Year, North American Car of the Year and the highly coveted recommendation from Consumer Report.

Should Jim have been such a nag when his dealer told him he’d be getting a deal if he only had to pay a $5,000 up charge?

Word on the street is that dealers have charged 50 percent higher than General Motor’s asking price. That’s up to $20,000 over sticker price.

"The price is very fair," Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with IHS Automotive, said in an interview. "The Volt is one of the first modern-day electric vehicles. The products that change our lives always cost more at first."

Whether you think an innovative car with first-time features that is bringing electric travel into the mainstream makes sense of dealers’ demands or that Jim’s shock is justified, there is one certainty.  That is, consumers are savvy and they’ll always shop around.

Such an up charge didn’t keep Jim from getting his coveted car at an advertised price and the media is spreading the word to other consumers who just might have a crush on it too.

Comments

[Xavi]

Thanks Trip! I love film and would love clients to be intteeserd in getting weddings shot on film. I think this was shot on fuji, but I love the porta 400. I should have some stuff up soon shot on it.

[Kohei]

This is a pretty piss poor rievew. 3/4 of the rievew is just bashing the Colorado. I think a rievew, whether the rievewer likes or dislikes the product, should be objective, and highlight both good and bad features. Also, his definition of cramped must be pretty askew, because I (6'4 ) sat in my friends new crew cab Colorado and felt like I might as well be in a full size. Besides that I drive an Isuzu Hombre (rebadged S10) and even that offers me plenty of room!

[Alejandro]

Leah Garcia - I absolutely LOOOOOVE this!! The pirtecus came out so cute, u do fabulous work Anginet! CONGRATS Leon family he's such a doll and I couldn't b happier for u guys ^-^ Can't wait to meet bebe Jordan!

[Lou]

Great shots with a great background. The one that does look a lttile' funny to me is the one with the groom with his hands in his pockets with his back facing the camera. Looks' like something else is going on. LOL

[Sandra]

Thanks again for the reply! Seems we're both pretty confedint e-books will be a disruption, so our primary disagreement is really just about the point in time when you declare a disruption a disruption. When you see the majority of people reading books on e-readers rather than books, there is of course no question that the old model has been disrupted. But signs of this are already showing in my morning commute, I would say 10% of the people are dozing off, 30% are listening to music, 20% playing with their phone and 40% reading a book or a magazine. Of the 40%, 10-20% are using a Kindle. It's not a niche market anymore though I completely agree the e-books launched 10 years ago were doomed to fail. Sure the Kindle may fail to excel in all the B's, but it's good enough for many people and good enough to kickstart the disruption. Is it a mainstream device that everyone would buy? No. But it's the first commercially successful foundation (and as such, a necessary prerequisite for a real disruption) that has taken place in the e-reader space.But again, it's really just a question of what point in the disruption cycle does one declare a disruption. After reaching 1% of the final user base? 5%? 25%? If (and it appears when) we agree that we are well on the road to a major disruption, the exact point of declaring a disruption matters little.On a lighter note, I don't hold very high hopes of manufacturers coming out with a device that Can be dropped from a fairly decent height and not be ruined. generally most electronic things are pretty bad at handling sudden decelerations caused by concrete floors..

[Dennise Marquis]

The products that change our lives always cost more at first.

[Denita Ocasio]

The only one with a love affair with this machinery.

[Mileta]

My fiance and I are exneiiepcrng a bit of a role reversal, in that I am in the minority of grooms, one who is the primary planner/coordinator of our upcoming wedding. My fiance has great taste and is involved with all major decisions, but is also an extremely busy professional, so I was happy to step up as the experienced party planner, doing the homework and pre-negotiating with vendors, before my fiance and I together make final selections of vendors and the plan. However, I had never planned a wedding before, so I've bought many books and read lots of websites and paged through many magazines (I don't think I can look at another magazine ad of a bride-model laying horizontal on a couch without snickering). Virtually everything is written for the bride who typically plans the wedding which to me means there is a heavy emphasis on decorations and flowers and invitations and linens and color schemes it was all driving me crazy as a guy trying to put together a wedding plan that is simply fun and action oriented, while still allows for nice things. I've attended many dozens of weddings over the years and I've kept an eye on what makes weddings enjoyable and memorable: keep it festive, keep guests involved, and make sure there is time for the happy couple to spend time with each of the guests. I never saw any correlation with the size of the party, the location, the decorations, even the food quality (and I'm a big foodie), with how successful and fun the wedding was. Given this perspective, I looked and looked for wedding planning advice in all the books and magazines and websites, hoping to find action oriented advice for having a festive wedding reception frankly, I found little useful advice. Finally, just three months before our upcoming wedding, I have found the book I really needed on the recommendation of a wedding DJ friend (who lives and works in another state), I ordered Peter Merry's book, which I have found to be chock full of actionable ideas from an experienced wedding DJ/entertainment director. He focuses on the concept of entertainment and leaves decorations and other more frivolous things to the other books. He is a welcome voice, a rare male perspective in wedding planning books, that a planning groom, and presumably planning brides as well, needs. I've already made adjustments to the reception agenda and found validation with some activity ideas we already had in place. Rest assured, there will be great food and many touches of elegance in the design of our wedding, but I am now more confident as ever we will have a truly festive wedding with Peter Merry's advice influencing our plan. Many thanks to the author the advice is easily 10 times worth the cover price of the book. I strongly recommend this book to anyone planning their wedding.

[Nissan Skyline GTR]

I love your idea of having a little stack of card for the car that the kids could pick out for the ride home! Brilliant!!! Thank you for taking the time to read and leave this lovely comment. I am SO glad you’re here!!!

[tenpedief]

The 463: Inside Tech : Consumer Case Study: Chevy dealer learns a lesson from a critical customer htjnpy kzxqrvn rbwjbn http://www.frznorfacemagasinnenligne.info/ gaihfbd iktepxji moncler pas cher fekhejy imlzm

[ludmila]

Of course, what a magnificent website and enlightening posts, I will bookmark your site.All the Best!

[malwina]

Hello there! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a outstanding job!

[Kacper]

Fantastic post however I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this topic? I'd be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit more. Many thanks!

[lallyGap]

check this link, buying louis vuitton online with confident SDjFAxJq http://www.louis-vuittononline-shop.com/

[Edilberto]

Jadranka Andjelic - The Most Beautiful Wedding pictures that I have ever seen!Congratulations to Jason and Gorana.May all love and joy be with you in your life totehger.LoveJadranka

[Guy]

Lisa D - Whoa!! Love the style of this wedding! My fave is the one of them kssniig in the tress with their backs facing the camera! So gorgeous! As per usual, you did a fabulous job!!!November 18, 2010 10:43 am

[ReofGesy]

you love this? buy louis vuitton bag online for more CSceyyFr http://www.louis-vuittononline-shop.com/

[sdwhnmowf]

B3EKYw ugqkjbgmbtti

[przeprowadzkipoznan]

There are some attention-grabbing points in time on this article however I don’t know if I see all of them heart to heart. There is some validity however I will take hold opinion till I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we would like more! Added to FeedBurner as effectively

[mtjrlej]

mZyD54 , [url=http://xvyxihtaxrhs.com/]xvyxihtaxrhs[/url], [link=http://nfdlhgeajeyz.com/]nfdlhgeajeyz[/link], http://hktfombzfybx.com/

[ekffndaz]

SC1luB , [url=http://aewhwvkdhsww.com/]aewhwvkdhsww[/url], [link=http://nxjtareatntg.com/]nxjtareatntg[/link], http://codcmzgxcztk.com/

[jgtllssozil]

Minr3H venkjnvqxmnr

[Gapdeaws]

you love this? moncler sale WrDLRVbJ [URL=http://moncleroutlet3.webs.com/]moncler jackets[/URL] to get new coupon MdNAWpwv http://moncleroutlet3.webs.com/