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The local Saab dealership recently changed General Managers and the new general manager sent me a letter about an "invitation sale" with special incentives to buy in-stock Saabs before the end of the year to help them reach a sales goal. I had planned on keeping my current 9-3 for a few more years, and am not normally enticed by this type of sale because I am eligible for the GM Supplier discount through work. But, a couple of phrases in the letter piqued my curiosity.
The letter said that the sales staff was authorized to sell any new in-stock Saab (2007 or 2008) "for the price we normally reserve for our employees". It went on to say that I could "...get the same discount as my service manager, my sales manager, ...". This is in addition to the rebate incentives, loyalty incentive, etc. I initially assumed this meant the "GM employee" pricing (vs. the supplier pricing) so I stopped in just to see how they would price a 2008 9-3 SportCombi.
When it got down to talking numbers, the salesman said that it was not the GM employee pricing, but more like the supplier pricing as that would be the discount the service manager or sales manager would get. This seemed odd to me, but when I asked again about this and showed him the letter, he stuck to the point.
With the discount, plus incentives, he quoted a price around $27K "out the door" for a 2008 9-3 2.0T 6-speed manual SportCombi with the only extras being the Cold Weather package, roof rails, and the metallic paint. This struck me as a good deal, but not the great deal that the letter implied. In fact, it didn't seem any better than I could probably negotiate at any time with my GM Supplier discount.
So, was the salesman correct saying that employees of the dealership are not eligible for the "GM employee" discount? (It is true the letter did not use the term "GM employee" price.) Is this deal much better than what I would get with the GM Supplier price?
Mark
posted by 129.33.49...
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