In an unprecedented move that has sent chills down the white-belted spines of American car dealers, General Motors has declared nearly 1,000 of its 4,355 US retailers as "unfit and downright dangerous" to its customers and will be recalled immediately.
GM Vice-President of Franchise Dealer Relations Bentley Reuss said in a news conference in Detroit today that the manufacturer was, "equally concerned about our customers' emotional and mental well-being as we were with their physical health when we did the ignition recall. When GM dealers berate car buyers, throw the keys to the their trades on the roof and fail to disclose products like Lifetime Tire Nitrogen on their contracts, it hurts our mutual clients."
Reuss noted that an independent survey of recent buyers of GM products identified 988 dealers who handled the sales process poorly. Reuss was quick to point out this was not a termination of the affected retailers' dealer agreements as that would be prohibited by state auto dealers franchise laws. "We had a ton of our recall lawyers about to bolt to Takata," said Reuss. "We put them to work reviewing the state laws and they found there was nothing prohibiting a manufacturer from recalling a dealer when customer's mental health was put in danger by a dealer."
When asked about why this groundbreaking action was taken, in spite of the company's excellent showing in the recent J. D. Power Sales Satisfaction survey, Reuss laughed and said, "You mean J.D. Monopoly? We and our dealers control that survey 100%. Let's just say that it is amazing what free oil changes can do. We did our own independent survey which yielded accurate results."
Reuss admitted that the dealer abuse of car buyers had been going on "for some time" but that GM senior management was never told about it until earlier this year and that the person in charge of customer satisfaction initiatives has been fired.
Reaction from the recalled dealers was predictable. Said David White, owner of Brandywine Chevrolet in suburban Philadelphia, "Its ironic that when business is bad, GM wants you to move the iron at any cost, customer satisfaction be damned. We've sold a ton of cars for Chevy and this is the thanks we get. The funny thing is that our local GM factory guy was in my office when the announcement came out and he was not told about it. It didn't stop him from trying to sell us some of those crappy Volts, though."
Recalled dealers' inventory will be shipped to the nearest same-franchise dealership, with the exception of the Corvette which will be redistributed at "the local Zone Manager's discretion," said Reuss.
Reuss noted that their review also uncovered 28 Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Saab stores still in operation despite the elimination of those franchises in the late 2000's. Those retailers will be terminated rather than recalled. "Those dealerships were actually showing great customer satisfaction numbers so we are sad to see them go. Again," said Reuss.
Tesla stock rose on the GM recall news, though founder Elon Musk said, "There goes our plans to partner with Cadillac next year to sell our cars."
The post GM Recalls 988 Dealerships appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
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