Why do Texans get all the Blackwing's?

[Tall Steve]

Whether you have any dealing with Sewell or not, I hope everyone appreciates the effort that Dustin has made to explain not only his dealership, but some of the inner-workings of dealership process as a whole. I believe the above answers any questions about ethics. No dealer is perfect and any business is a struggle to combine all aspects of operation into profit. Having your compass pointed in the right direction is where you want to start.

Well said sir!

 

[Ivy1Le]

Whether you have any dealing with Sewell or not, I hope everyone appreciates the effort that Dustin has made to explain not only his dealership, but some of the inner-workings of dealership process as a whole. I believe the above answers any questions about ethics. No dealer is perfect and any business is a struggle to combine all aspects of operation into profit. Having your compass pointed in the right direction is where you want to start.

I can honestly say I've never had a bad experience with a Sewell branded dealership, and Dustin is top notch. I'm not sure if/when I'll be looking at another Cadillac but I'd likely check to see if Dustin is still working there before making any purchase decisions. Thank you @1StunnaV for the fantastic write-up

 

[dribs15]

I have lived in the Dallas area all of my 57 years and I bet you don't hate that "Arlington" team as much as I do! lol

I knew I liked you!

 

[Throat Yogurt]

First, I would like to thank the OP and many other for the kinds words about Sewell as well as about me.

I definitely understand where the OP is coming from. Perception is reality....... If you don't fully understand why or have correct information readily available, his post makes sense...... I want to be crystal clear, this statement is in no way shape or form meant to discredit or criticize the OP.... Let me address a few things....

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- A -​

While I do have a nice chunk of inbound units, we certainly do not have that many inbound/in stock..... I can only assume you were on sewell.com and not sewellcadillac-dallas.com. Sewell.com brings up the inventory of all Sewell locations combined. If you sort down to just CT5-V Blackwing, it will show the inventory/inbound units for Dallas, Houston, Grapevine, and San Antonio (Ken Bachelor) all combined.. This is where my statement about "correct information" comes from....


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- B -​

With more information, you will understand why this came about.

Currently 65% - 70% of all of my Blackwing orders are customers outside of the state of Texas. For a good while, there was no rule like what you have stated. At one point, prior to this rule being made, it was over 80% out of state orders.

While to the "typical dealership" this may not seem like a problem, to us, it was. As you can imagine, with any dealership, the vast majority of your customer base will be local. We have a large amount of local customers who are leasing their V series and when their lease expires, we don't want to leave them without a vehicle. They would either have to go to another dealership or, like you, outside of their state, likely having to pay unfair pricing to find one. While we genuinely appreciate ALL of our customers and would love to help everyone everywhere if we had the opportunity, we want to make sure we are taking care of our local loyal customers and not forgetting about them.

So in a nutshell, we have taken MORE out of state orders than in state orders. I hope this shines a little light on this subject.

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- C -​

This is likely the case, minus the keeping locals happy..... Your average dealer is a "turn and burn" and do not care about repeat business or "customers for life." We are not a "volume dealer." We are not like the others. We are Sewell. Only those who have purchased/leased/serviced with us can ultimately comprehend what this truly means.

"But you're the number 1 sales Cadillac dealer. How can you say you're not a volume dealer?" - This would be because our business model of treating people with the upmost respect, building relationships, great customer service, not charging over MSRP means customers WANT to buy from us. We aren't perfect, just as anywhere else, but we do our best to try to be..... This along with how allocation works allows us to be #1... I will touch more on this subject...

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- D -​

While on paper, this make complete sense, it does not for Sewell.

The overall customer experience matters more to us than just selling a car. We can sell a car to anyone or we can provide an experience that customers enjoy and deserve.

A couple points here. The museum is "technically" a dealership which allows GM to ship the car there for delivery to the customer. This is essentially the same as a "courtesy delivery." These guys do one thing, they deliver and train customers how to use Corvettes. They know the care well and likely provide a great customer experience.

The problem here is most dealers know nothing about the Blackwing and could not provide the level of training or support that we can. This brings us back to the courtesy delivery topic. We do not complete courtesy deliveries because in the past, its never worked out well. The car gets shipped to a dealership that typically knows very little to nothing about the vehicle and they are unable to properly answer any questions or concerns... If the vehicle is damaged in transit, the dealer is arrives at really could care less as its not their car and have no obligation to fix anything or try to help make a bad experience better... Lastly, since most of these dealers don't usually get blackwings, there's a high chance your vehicle may end up with a few more miles on it than when it rolled off of the truck.... I will leave that one there....

We will not allow a bad experience to be considered acceptable, just because it wasn't our fault. By not allowing courtesy deliveries, this ensures we have control over the entire process from start to finish, nearly eliminating the opportunity for a bad experience. If there is a problem, we can resolve it rather than depend on XYZ dealer.


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- E -​

So much truth in this post I just had to quote it so people could read it again....


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- F -​

Allocation and why we get so many V's

There are so many reasons that add up to the final number...

1) A good portion of allocation is based off of prior similar vehicle sales... How many of these V series did we sell prior to this shortage? Answer = The most... So even when there wasn't this "goat rodeo," we still sold the most.

B)It gets deeper...... GM has something called snapshot. In a nutshell, a couple times a month, GM will take a "snapshot" of what a dealer still has in their inventory unsold, and base their next round of allocation off of that number. If a dealer would have normally received 5 units but they still had 2 on the ground, then they only get 3.

This is where fair pricing (no "market adjustment") comes into play. Since we are not charging over MSRP, our cars move quickly once they arrive. Under most circumstances, when snapshot occurs, all blackwings are signed for and inventory on hand is ZERO. This allows us to get more allocation the next round. When a dealer is asking $50k over MSRP, the car will likely sit there for weeks or months until it sells. This means the dealer will lose multiple opportunities for more allocation. Essentially, they are making more money off of one sale and losing the opportunity for more sales making less money. While this business model may work for them, it doesn't for us.

In a nutshell, indirectly and coincidently, not charging over MSRP earns us more allocation. So its not necessarily that we are getting more allocation than "your local dealer," it's that your dealer is earning less allocation than they have the potential to earn because of their business practices...

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I hope this helps clear the air on a few things and allows for a little bit more understanding of this topic. It's now 4:00 am local now, so I have to get some sleep and get back to helping get more cars out to you all!

I will end with one of my favorite quotes......"The right thing to do is always the right thing to do"

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Dustin, I am blown away by this response. First, for the fact that you would even bother responding to this ridiculous thread, and second that you have done so with such thoroughness, clarity, and professionalism.

Can anyone imagine another dealer/salesperson writing something like this on the internet to someone who is not even their customer? I am floored.

 

[Tall Steve]

Dustin, I am blown away by this response. First, for the fact that you would even bother responding to this ridiculous thread, and second that you have done so with such thoroughness, clarity, and professionalism.

Can anyone imagine another dealer/salesperson writing something like this on the internet to someone who is not even their customer? I am floored.

Dustin is an awesome cat!

 

[Daijoubu]

Dustin, I am blown away by this response. First, for the fact that you would even bother responding to this ridiculous thread, and second that you have done so with such thoroughness, clarity, and professionalism.

Can anyone imagine another dealer/salesperson writing something like this on the internet to someone who is not even their customer? I am floored.

That, and the fact that dealership management gives him the leeway to do such. If you can't count on ALL of your employees to be the voice of your business, and trust that they can tow the line, you have failed at management. Sewell obviously does it right.

 

[Tall Steve]

That, and the fact that dealership management gives him the leeway to do such. If you can't count on ALL of your employees to be the voice of your business, and trust that they can tow the line, you have failed at management. Sewell obviously does it right.

The management at Sewell is great, or at least from a customer stand point it is... The GM almost always stops to shake hands and say hi when he notices me at the dealership... The service manager is freaking awesome too, and he too always greets me and shakes hands . What can I say that I've not already said before.... I am a Dallas nobody and they treat me like a baller! Ok, I will stop my fanboy thing now.... Carry on boys and girls....

 

[Commonman]

First I would like to thank Dustin for his measured, informative and professional reply to the many comments that came from this discussion. I am sorry you had to respond at 4am to this post but your integrity is obvious to all. Dustin cleared up a few things for me and gave some insight into the process that was new and informative. The only part of his reply I disagree with is "In a nutshell, indirectly and coincidently, not charging over MSRP earns us more allocation. So its not necessarily that we are getting more allocation than "your local dealer," it's that your dealer is earning less allocation than they have the potential to earn because of their business practices..."

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This infers that my local dealer is going for the 25K gouge. Nope. Selling at MSRP in a small town market. Just don't have the population or volume to get the big numbers. This is the dilemma of buyers who don't get the privilege of working with you from Big D.

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Finally to the folks that felt this was a pointless exercise I will direct you back to the post titled "1st song" for some heavier content. Also my apologies to Big Ds very own Tall Steve for "chapping his ass". Having lived in Wichita KS. for a few years I can highly recommend "Udder Butter" for fast effective relief. ( you might give some to that goat on forum ID picture also. Lovely!) Hope we all can someday get our Blackwing's. If Cadillac would like to make more than 1500 a year I will not complain. Cheers.