Happy Birthday to me, 3500HD officially ordered!

Z45 · February 28, 2020

Its sounds like your dealer does not have an allocation to get this truck built and is stringing you along. My brother went trough the same thing a few years back. They had all kinds of excuses(and lies) saying they are calling this guy and that guy trying to get the truck built but they never could because they never earned any allocations. Some dealers really don't care a lot about orders as they are future sales and they are living day to day trying to move inventory. My brother wasted 4 weeks with his dealer and finally stumbled on the exact truck + few more options in transit to another dealer and bought it. The dealer he went with was a volume truck dealer whereas the first one had only a handful of trucks, small town dealer who probably only had one allocation for the entire model year and going to have to wait.

1100 and Dealer Allocation

This causes a lot of issues. When you place an order with a dealer, the status is 1100. UNTIL Chevrolet ACCEPTS the order, it just sits there at 1100. You don't have an order with GM at this point. You only have a dealer requesting an allocation for a slot in the production schedule. Dealer Allocation is simple to understand - GM changed its model for producing vehicles a few years' back. Dealers are now awarded allocation based on past performance, as well as other factors. If you are sitting at 1100 you are not in line yet for production. Your dealer MUST get GM to accept the order. When GM accepts the order, all the parts are available and will be allocated to your car build.

First, many dealers (and sales people) do not understand the allocation process.

Second, dealers are told at the beginning of every model year the number of units they are expected to order. This is their Guide Number, so called because it is intended to help a dealer "floor plan."

Third, many dealers confuse Guide Number with Allocation.

Fourth, dealers are told every other Thursday how many Allocations (a portion of the Guide Number) they can use over the following two weeks AND this number of orders will be divided over two weeks.

To summarize, say the dealer is given 50 units as a Guide, that means about 1 unit every weekly ordering process from 2 units awarded in the every other week ordering process. If the dealer sells a dozen Camaros every year, change the 50 to 12 and reduce the bi-weekly consensus to conform. By the way, this awkward system meets laws and demands of court decisions.

When will my car ship?

You have better chances of picking winning lottery numbers than to know for sure when your car will ship. When you combine the QC issues with geographical delivery of cars (at the lowest possible cost so they need to aggregate deliveries - and they don't not use a first in first out methodology), this can be the most frustrating part of the whole SRE journey. There is no transparency to actual data. There is just generic codes and sometimes the whisper from "someone in the know". Your car may ship quickly, it may not. It will likely take longer the more rural you are and the lower the volume of cars your dealer sells.

Edited February 28, 2020 by elcamino

XY74 · February 28, 2020

Are you saying that even if an order is retail sold, it is still dependent on allocations to that dealer? My dealer told me (I know, lips were moving) retail sold doesn't depend on allocations. Small town dealer, tho they do sell a fair amount of trucks in farm country.

artie2908 · February 28, 2020

I've been following this thread with great interest as I am in a similar situation. I ordered a 2020 GMC Sierra CCSB 6.6 gas back on Jan 6th. It still sits at 1100 as of today. No movement whatsoever. Dealer has assured nothing to worry about. While I dont need to truck right now, (wouldnt mind letting the tough winter weather move on) the dealer is starting to tick me off. After reading numerous threads about guys that ordered well after me, they already have TPW dates and some have shipped. . If my order changed to 2000 today, I'm probaby still looking at 2 months out. Dealer didnt want any downpayment ... beginning to appreciate that. Dont know if I should look on the GMC search feature for another truck or wait out the dealer and allocation BS. His price was ok and fair but not a great deal. What's great about this forum is no matter what problem or situation you have, someone else has gone thru the same thing.

FirstAscent · February 28, 2020

@elcamino Thanks for the detailed info.

I think your spot on. I talked with the sales manager today, the more I speak with them the less confidence I have. I'm now ACTIVELY looking for a truck in stock somewhere within a 1000 mile radius of me.

He first left a voicemail for me trying to make it sound like it was good news. It wasn't, it was ridiculous. He said the order has been accepted and should be about 90 days out. SERIOUSLY!? 90 days. You told me 60 days when I first ordered it and it's already been 45 days!

I finally called back and got ahold of him, again he says yeah the order has been accepted. I asked if it's moved on past Event Code 1100 and he said no it's 1100 which is accepted. I kindly mentioned it's been at 1100 since day ONE! literally. silence.....

I then asked if they had any direct lines to the factory or anyone he can contact for updates, he said nope they just have to wait for GM to update them. He kept saying it'll be worth the wait, this will be the only one in the country like it. Well not true, I've found 5 similar trucks so far, just nobody will give me the price I'm looking for haha.

So long story short, they don't have a clue what is going on or they are just simply hiding it from me. super frustrated. I can't wait to cancel this order once I find one at another dealer.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Z45 · February 28, 2020

7 hours ago, XY74 said:

Are you saying that even if an order is retail sold, it is still dependent on allocations to that dealer? My dealer told me (I know, lips were moving) retail sold doesn't depend on allocations. Small town dealer, tho they do sell a fair amount of trucks in farm country.

Yes. Retail sold does not mean much as the order can get cancelled at any time, its not a sure thing.

Quote

My dealer told me (I know, lips were moving) retail sold doesn't depend on allocations.

He is full of BS.

DOSP - Dealer Order Submission Process

The weekly process consists of 4 stages.

1. Constraints Distribution - Dealers are informed on constraints to review before placing orders. (A Constraint is a limit placed on specific build configurations.)

2. Dealer Order Submission - Dealers can order on Thursday, Friday or no later than midnight on Saturday. (You can submit orders earlier but you don't know the constraints.)

3. The 4-Pass Process - GM will attempt to place each dealer’s orders on Mondays using a 4-Pass process. (At this point a dealer may get more or less than was allocated) ◄Your dealer is hoping they will pick it up if some other dealers don't use theirs. Its sort of like a ball player sitting on the bench waiting for another player to get hurt so they will let him play.

4. Dealer Review - You can review your placed orders for changes or replacements until Tuesday at 9pm ET. That's when the accepted orders are sent to production control.

If the dealer has the allocation and it passes the edit tables (no option constraints on order) then you should know with a week if the order was accepted into production, code 2000.

Order status codes:
1100 = Preliminary Order (Order passed GM edit tables but dealer has not received allocation to place order)
2000 = Accepted By GM (Dealer used allocation to place order into production)
2500 = Preferenced (Order pulled to the production system)
3000 = Accepted By Production Control (Order input into the production system)
3100 = Sequenced (Order sequenced for Production)
3300 = Scheduled For Production (Order is scheduled into the plant build cycle)
3400 = Broadcast (Order is sent to various build & supplier areas to bring order together)
3800 = Produced (Order is built and VIN# shows in the Dealer Order system now)
4150 = Invoiced (Order is invoiced to the dealer)
4200 = Shipped (Vehicle is shipped to the dealer or point of delivery)
5000 = Delivered To Dealer
6000 = Delivered To Customer

Edited February 28, 2020 by elcamino

Z45 · February 28, 2020

44 minutes ago, FirstAscent said:

@elcamino Thanks for the detailed info.

I think your spot on. I talked with the sales manager today, the more I speak with them the less confidence I have. I'm now ACTIVELY looking for a truck in stock somewhere within a 1000 mile radius of me.

He first left a voicemail for me trying to make it sound like it was good news. It wasn't, it was ridiculous. He said the order has been accepted and should be about 90 days out. SERIOUSLY!? 90 days. You told me 60 days when I first ordered it and it's already been 45 days!

I finally called back and got ahold of him, again he says yeah the order has been accepted. I asked if it's moved on past Event Code 1100 and he said no it's 1100 which is accepted. I kindly mentioned it's been at 1100 since day ONE! literally. silence.....

I then asked if they had any direct lines to the factory or anyone he can contact for updates, he said nope they just have to wait for GM to update them. He kept saying it'll be worth the wait, this will be the only one in the country like it. Well not true, I've found 5 similar trucks so far, just nobody will give me the price I'm looking for haha.

So long story short, they don't have a clue what is going on or they are just simply hiding it from me. super frustrated. I can't wait to cancel this order once I find one at another dealer.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Same BS my brother went through with small dealer in Wisconsin. The salesman did not know anything because management controlled what the salesman knew. Everytine his wife would call they got a different answer. I used my connection with a sales manager I knew and he let me in on the low down. Dealers will oversell what they are allocated in hope something will stick. They don't want to lose a customer and will string you along.

Edited February 28, 2020 by elcamino

Z45 · February 28, 2020

GM warns allocation scammers -Dealers bend rules to get hot models

XY74 · February 28, 2020

Thanks for the info Mike. Glad mine went through, apparently my dealer had an allocation for it. It sat on 1100 for 3 weeks and the next week I checked it had a TPW. Ordered 1-20 and TPW of 3-2 .

XY74 · February 28, 2020

7 minutes ago, elcamino said:

GM warns allocation scammers -Dealers bend rules to get hot models

That is from 2012. Surely GM has changed something since then if it's still a problem. ?

FirstAscent · February 28, 2020

Yes thanks indeed Mike!

I've found two more trucks similar to the options I want. One is in the right price range I'd be OK with, but its 2000, two THOUSAND, miles away However, still tempting at this point.

The 2nd truck I've now found is only 300 miles away, they haven't gotten back to me on the price yet but I'm not impressed with the gooseneck/5th wheel prep. I think this is a deal breaker on this one for me no matter the price, I'm picky with how things are installed. For whatever reason they didn't opt for factory install on this one and did it themselves. compared to the flush, clean, factory setup, this looks chintzy to me and I told them that too haha.

jjackkrash · February 28, 2020

I've got a 5'er on order, and while this is my first 5'er, everything I am seeing suggests you really want the factory fifth wheel prep with the factory pucks.

FirstAscent · February 28, 2020

1 hour ago, jjackkrash said:

I've got a 5'er on order, and while this is my first 5'er, everything I am seeing suggests you really want the factory fifth wheel prep with the factory pucks.

Agreed, I don't want to take any chances. I don't have a fifth wheel on order but I'm literally about to order one any day now! The factory fifth wheel prep should just be standard, it's basically out of the way for anyone who doesn't need it, and there for anyone that does.

Man I just can't catch a break. I talked with the dealer again, the one 2000 miles away. They confirmed the truck is available and he got eyes on it. Price is close enough. But he just called back and said "oh there is a small dent in the bumper I just noticed" what the heck!? He's sending me photos now. UGH

Edited February 28, 2020 by FirstAscent

Sniperdan · February 28, 2020

1 hour ago, FirstAscent said:

Agreed, I don't want to take any chances. I don't have a fifth wheel on order but I'm literally about to order one any day now!

Man I just can't catch a break. I talked with the dealer again, the one 2000 miles away. They confirmed the truck is available and he got eyes on it. Price is close enough. But he just called back and said "oh there is a small dent in the bumper I just noticed" what the heck!? He's sending me photos now. UGH

Holy crap man, you just don't have any luck at all!

jjackkrash · February 28, 2020

Don't settle; and maybe find a different dealer with an actual allotment.

Or you might even start thinking about 2021 orders.

https://www.donlen.com/buildstart-trucks-gm.html

FirstAscent · February 28, 2020

2 hours ago, Sniperdan said:

Holy crap man, you just don't have any luck at all!

Seems that way haha. It was fun placing the order, then slowly going downhill since then.

2 hours ago, jjackkrash said:

Don't settle; and maybe find a different dealer with an actual allotment.

Or you might even start thinking about 2021 orders.

https://www.donlen.com/buildstart-trucks-gm.html

Definitely not settling. I'm frustrated but not going to get something just to get something. But really hoping I can find what I want in stock, I'm definitely finding trucks, just needs to be the right price as well.

2021 wouldn't be too bad but I need the truck fairly soon once the fifth wheel arrives and I'm hitting the road. So I don't have time to wait

Edited February 29, 2020 by FirstAscent