General Motors South Africa - interesting

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Boerseun
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue 23 Jul 2019, 11:52

General Motors South Africa - interesting

Post by Boerseun » Fri 26 Jul 2019, 09:03

Hello all, as stated earlier bought a nice Chev Lumina Sedan 5.7 and started some research on parts etc. I grew up in a real klein dorp and knew the General Motors dealer well. I am an ouer (not oud) but ouer toppie and I remember when he bought the franchise on borrowed money Chevrolet then pulled out after he had the franchise for about two very rough years. That was in the days of C10's and Kommando's and then very hectic fuel prices. He was saved in the nick of time by the "LUV" bakkie especially the very first diesels. You could light your cigarette on the diesel pre -heater! The day of the early KBD! :D
Then it became Delta and Isuzu and Opel had a very good footprint, things worked well. But what did work was that the dealers generally honored there parts commitments and even out of the "ten year cycle" shared information. I could go in and get a "funny" part on my Firenza or I could get something for a Nomad. In all these cases if he did not have it they kind of knew among themselves (through faxes) and by picking up the phone and speaking to each other pretty much who had what.
After Apartheid General Motors came back with a big bang, sold very well and really got going until they pulled out again. This second pull out was also a big nool that was showed to Chevrolet owners because when I phoned my dealer he said that this pullout was done secretly and they knew it basically only weeks before the public was informed. "Squads" of GM staff came collected parts, had them shipped to a "central warehouse" in PE for redistribution because we now have this wonderful internet at the click of a button. What really happened is that the cream of GM parts were sold at knockdown to the biggest GM dealers who can now basically charge just what they want. There was no intention from Chevrolet & GM to really support there products and the key was to get out, sell it to Isuzu and walk away.
Methinks there could be a small medium sized business opportunity brewing with guys who love there Chevies and who wants to keep them going and set up a decent parts distribution network.
But it is sad when loyal brand supporters are just given a nool, and out of principal I will never support overpriced parts from big fat dealers that DON'T CARE - ever.
Oops that was just my morning rant
Cheers

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ZA Perana
Posts: 7313
Joined: Sun 15 Jul 2007, 18:01
Location: Cape Town

Re: General Motors South Africa - interesting

Post by ZA Perana » Sun 28 Jul 2019, 20:36

In my opinion there is a degree of truth to this. Sure, you can get parts but the waiting times are impractically long and the prices ridiculously high. I recall it took 3 weeks for a oil filter for my SS....then they quoted me R68k odd for a diff, when I could import a new one from Australia for around R33k..

Where the surplus parts landed up I don't know, likely in some massive warehouse in PE or maybe there were not so many parts to begin with..
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tobes
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun 30 Dec 2012, 13:09
Location: Pietermaritzburg

Re: General Motors South Africa - interesting

Post by tobes » Sat 17 Aug 2019, 09:46

My everyday ride is the humble Aveo.It was my best purchase of all my cars so far,considering what I got for the price I paid.However I had to wait 2 weeks for a clutch kit.This is for a model that is basically flooding the roads.Only other option is aftermarket parts,but I told my mechanic I will leave it up to his discretion which parts he will use.

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