GM to begin auctioning vehicles on eBay Tuesday
When General Motors announced its post-bankruptcy turnaround plan, one of the more obscure items in its strategy was to sell vehicles through eBay Motors. That plan goes into action tomorrow, as 225 of GM's 250 California dealerships begin piloting the program.
Under the program, GM will sell Chevrolet, Pontiac, GMC and Buick models on the popular auction site, with the transaction being handled by a nearby dealership. Some of the auctions will be held with a bottom line "buy it now" price, while others will be bid-style sales. Car buyers will also be able to ask dealers questions through the site and work out financing online, without having to deal with anyone in person. The pact with eBay includes two new URLs to access the GM portal of eBay Motors, as customers can enter through gm.ebay.com and chevy.ebay.com (both inactive until tomorrow). Customers can also access deals through the main eBay site.
While GM's company-wide involvement in the program is new, dealership participation in eBay Motors auctions has been going on for years. The pact between GM and eBay will add functionality to the process, though, while giving dealers a greater online presence. Suspiciously absent from the program is GM's Cadillac brand. We don't know exactly why GM chose not to include its luxury arm in the eBay auctions, but we suspect that the decision has something to do with giving customers a more premium, coddled car-buying experience. The trial program is reportedly set to expire on September 8.
[Source: Free Press, GM's FastLane]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
richard 10:42AM (8/10/2009)
I suspect Cadillac's absence has less to do with customer experience than trying to protect the brand name's equity as a "luxury" marque. I doubt Lexus or BMW will be running officially-sanctioned auctions anytime soon, and maybe someone at GM had the rare good sense to realize this.
Reply
leunamme 11:36AM (8/10/2009)
seems like GM has a slightly better understanding of the real world than it used to. good to see they protect Cadillac.
engineerd 10:43AM (8/10/2009)
I think this is brilliant. Hopefully it's a first step to ordering the car you want online. As much as I like my car dealer, being stuck buying something off the lot unless you want to wait weeks/months for the car you really want sucks. Taking a more direct approach, while long regarded as best for the consumer, has been slow in materializing.
GM was smart, too, to go through dealers so that they don't sue the pants off the General.
Reply
Kumar 10:52AM (8/10/2009)
Yes, an online ordering system would be nice, but a long ways off. We're still dealing with dealer closures and state franchising laws. Hopefully easy access to different prices will make buyers a little more knowledgeable and less prone to being taken advantage of if there is only one GM dealer in their area.
Your best be is still to search for the specific model you want at any dealer within the range you are willing to travel to, and start emailing for price quotes. Then, you can either take the best one and go to that dealership, or use that quote to bargain down the price locally.
Kitko 10:44AM (8/10/2009)
Buyer's feedback welcome.
A business model prone to backfire? We'll see.
Reply
Judy Zik 12:45PM (8/10/2009)
I can't wait to see the feedback. Seller advertised they were selling a quality American car...recieved Chevrolet Aveo.
Avinash machado 10:47AM (8/10/2009)
Good idea. This could help them shed their fuddy duddy image.
Reply
piranha 10:54AM (8/10/2009)
This is a good idea... IF... they do auctions without a reserve, otherwise you are looking at just buying the same car you can get at a dealership, for what will probably be a reserve set to the 'invoice' price and not get any extras (i.e. service) that you would from buying at a particular dealership.
Reply
DayShifter 10:58AM (8/10/2009)
You're not going to get around that.... they are most likely to have some sort of starting price or reserve.
piranha 11:06AM (8/10/2009)
Starting price, OK... but it can be done without a reserve. By starting price, round/fake numbers here... If MSRP is $30k and Invoice is $27k, set the starting price at $20k, with 7 days of bidding the car shouild reach the $27k mark, otherwise, the product/price isn't indicative of 'what the market will bear'.
Generic.User 11:34AM (8/10/2009)
they still have the G8 in stock?
Reply
BigWill 11:43AM (8/10/2009)
I can see it now ...
PONTIAC G3
HOT SEXY IMPORTED SPORT HATCHBACK!!!! GET YOURS NOW!!!!
Item condition: New
Quantity: More than 100,000 available
Please enter a quantity of 1 (or more .... preferably more)
Price: US $13,999.99 Buy It Now
You can also: Watch this item (We don't know why you would, but you can)
Shipping: Pick up at dying Pontiac dealership nearest your location
Estimated delivery: Today
Returns: No Frickin' Way
Coverage: This is actually an overpriced Aveo, so take it to a Chevy dealer for service
Reply
Leclerc 12:09PM (8/10/2009)
Lol, it's incredible how desperate GM has become.
tankd0g 12:00AM (8/11/2009)
Shipping $9999, insurance extra!
TranceMaster 12:06PM (8/10/2009)
will they ship to canada?
Reply
Henry 12:12PM (8/10/2009)
If you buy the vehicle using PayPal, does than mean Elon Musk gets a piece of the action? Douche bag!
Reply
Willie 12:23PM (8/10/2009)
I can honestly say that this is a pretty good idea. It is worth a try and it is nice they are piloting this for a month in one region to work out the bugs before expanding. There are so many things we can now order online that we could not just a few years ago, why not cars too. Plus, the program expires on my 21st birthday, YAY September 8th!
Reply
Rich 12:57PM (8/10/2009)
That one piece of personally identifying information puts criminals one step closer to your bank account. Great work.
By the way, what are the last four of your ssn? (You do realize, don't you, that the first three are highly predictable, and the middle two are guessable?)
2xtrbo 12:25PM (8/10/2009)
Byline - "AND ANY LOSSES THEY TAKE WILL BE PAID FOR BY YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN."
Reply
ZeitgeistXIII 12:36PM (8/10/2009)
Wow I am surprised how many people think this is a good idea. Ebay is fine for used cars or vintage cars but new cars? How do you test drive it? Yes dealers can be evil and all the other things people do not like about them. But if you release a new model and expect people to buy it without driving it its kind of like buying a house with out walking through it to see the actual layout. WTF? Plus the myraid other reasons about buying cars online such as:
Interior layout, pictures are just that no depth how do you know the knob is easy to reach? Or with the steering wheel adjusted you can see your gauges easily? How about do you like the way the seat adjusts?
Exterior colors, I have yet to find an online picture that really get colors accurate. Not to say theyare completly off but the lines of a vehicle have a dramatic effect on color combinations for me at least.
Driveablity flat spot just off idle? Then to find out thats they way the engine is for what ever reason. Or an odd noise or vibration at certain speed.
The list could go on. But for the largest purchase for a person next to the house and where many people spend lots of their time why would want to treat this like buying a blender or microwave?
To throw out that "You can go to a dealership and do that" makes no sense whatsoever do you think your local dealer is going to be happy that you,
A: Waste the staff's time jerking them around and then not even buy from them
B: Really be motivated to help you if you are stuck with a lemon and do not like the car after said handjob?
C: Make you a priority for service and warranty, they will do it but you can be sure you are not on top of the list. Some shops push local customers to front of service lines and offer free expedited parts delivery for clients who have strong purchase history. As consumers you may think that is unfair but the reality is you take care of people who take care of you.
For those of you that may think that would not happen try this on, When I worked in retail for motorcycles I had a policy of buy a helmet from us and I would give you a free custom fitting by exchanging the cheekpads if needed. Normally this would be an additional 50.00. I had a client come in get fitted and then leave. Two weeks she returned with a helmet bought 40.00 cheaper on the internet. She complained it did not fit like the one she had tried on and had custom fitted. I explained why and told her she needed to buy cheek pads and they would cost 50.00 she then berated me for not honoring the free pads deal. I reminded her she did not purchase the helmet from my store or any significant purchase history and there would be no special deal since she had wasted my time of about 45 mins making sure she was happy with the way her helmet fit then have her leave to save 40.00. I do not expect people to work for free and I do not expect to do so either.
The internet sales are just a big electronic catalog that allows you to buy instantly which is fine for some things in life appliance and cheap clothes come to mind. So until they have "demo" centers where you can see colors and options in person I think this is lamest way to buy a car if you really want to know what your getting and have any hope of good customer service down the road.
Reply