Allocation?

[zhengst]

Got this email from one of the dealers after I asked him about discount off MSRP:

"Our pricing for LEAF is at MSRP, we don’t have any markups or markdowns on the pre-ordered LEAFs. The one dealer that is offering the discount have a high volume of LEAF customers that will be waiting for a long time for their LEAF to arrive because not all the cars will not be allocated at the same time to the same dealer. Every certified dealer will get 10 – 15 LEAF a month and clients that are with dealers with high volume will have to wait longer to get their LEAF, which could mean missing out on some of the incentives that are available to the first few thousand LEAF customers."

Is it true about the allocations and that orders with high volumn dealers will have to wait longer than others? That doesn't sound like a reasonable practice for awarding higher sales. And I read elsewhere that as long as you get your orders in, then you will get delivery in order of the total queue, not in order of the queue for each dealer.

Pretty confusing. :?:

 

[Skywagon]

If it follows the trend that those of us have seen so far whom have received our cars then I would say no. Fontana offered their discount first and were one of the larger order dealers. They are also one of the dealers to receive the most number of deliveries so far. What I had heard from a Nissan corporate director was that they were built and to be delivered based on when the orders were placed. Therefore, if a dealer had more orders early on then they would be receiving more cars when deliveries started.

 

[evnow]

Is it true about the allocations and that orders with high volumn dealers will have to wait longer than others?

No. Just FUD from the dealer. Get a new dealer.

 

[DarkStar]

Is it true about the allocations and that orders with high volume dealers will have to wait longer than others?

I got the same spiel from some local dealers when I was looking to order. Ended up being completely false. Dealers with more orders get allocated based on those orders, so more orders equals more LEAFs!

 

[LakeLeaf]

Is it true about the allocations and that orders with high volumn dealers will have to wait longer than others?

No. Just FUD from the dealer. Get a new dealer.

I think this is partially correct - although misrepresented by the dealer. We were told a while ago that each dealer was going to have a allocation quota for each month. What that means though (unlike what the dealer stated) is that if your preferred dealer sells their entire allocation for the month before you try to order, you will not be able to RAQ at all - not that you will be placed in some dealer queue. So no, you won't be waiting in a long line, but yes the dealer only has so many Leafs to see a month. If you are RAQ'ing towards the end of the month, the dealer may have no more vehicles allocated to him to sell. It's possible that some dealer may say - "I don't have any more allocation this month, but will put you in on day one next month with my new allocation". Then it's all about whether you want to wait that long and slip down the line.

So go with that discounted dealer and be sure the ask what their monthly quota is, and keep in touch often as you get close to RAQ'ing to be sure they still have allocation available. Be sure to have a back up dealer or two in case the "high volume" dealers go through the allocation before you get the RAQ.

 

[evnow]

Yes - dealer gets an allocation for orders he can place.

But I'm yet to hear a single person post here that they couldn't order at the dealer they wanted because the allocation was complete.

Ofcourse, the above dealer was obiously trying FUD.

 

[TomT]

Time for a different and more honest dealer!

Got this email from one of the dealers after I asked him about discount off MSRP:
/quote]

 

[LakeLeaf]

The only thing we've heard from a dealer is that Leon posted one day that he processed his last RAQ on the last day of the month and used his last allocated Leaf for it. From what's been reported - that's as close and any dealer has come so far to running out of allocation.

 

[garygid]

Right, I read that also.

 

[jimcmorr]

Okay, it's been nine months since the last post in this topic. NH ordering has been opened up, much to my surprise, I fully expected to have to wait until next summer to order in NH! To say nothing about my expectation to be in Georgia by now.

I went to talk with my local NH certified LEAF dealer over the weekend and we had a nice discussion about the LEAF. He told me that the dealership was installing two Quick chargers (yes the 30 minute kind). I pressed him on it a little but he was quite certain about it. I am still skeptical considering that the QC port will not be installed on every LEAF that comes to them. Mine, if I order now, will likely be one of those.

When I asked him about Nissan's allocation system he told me that he was allocated one LEAF order in October. Seems a little thin to me but I took him at his word.

Some of the earlier posts in this topic suggest that the allocation is determined by the number of orders the dealership gets, other posts suggest that the dealer can only quote price on the number of LEAFs in his allocation.

Does anyone have a clearer explanation about this allocation process?

 

[Volusiano]

My understanding is that earlier for Tier1, dealers were not given allocated quantities, but instead, if they could take in as many orders as they could get, they'd be delivered that many vehicles. That is why many dealerships, notably in CA, offered significant discounts so they could rack up as many orders as possible.

However, when Tier2 ordering started opening up, Nissan changed the plan and started giving out fixed allocation to dealerships. This changes the game completely. Now with fixed allocation, almost no dealers are willing to give out discounts anymore. Most sell at MSRP, and in some place where demand is higher, they even sell at markups.

 

[walter]

I had heard also dealers were "marking up" cars. I was at my dealer yesterday for a test drive and I asked him point blank about their practice. He reassured me they did not partake in that type of foul play................We'll see. They do however have an allocation of no more than two vehicles a month and will not accept anymore than that allotment in orders........ :roll:

 

[davewill]

... They do however have an allocation of no more than two vehicles a month and will not accept anymore than that allotment in orders........ :roll:

I thought that the allocation was for orders...that they couldn't take more than the allocated number of orders in a month. It was also my understanding that there has always been an allocation, but that the allocations were high enough before that they weren't an impediment to competition.

 

[redLEAF]

My dealer was only getting one per month (Tier 2 in IL) allocated; I heard a higher volume IL Nissan dealer was getting 2 per month. I'm his first and only customer for November -- he sold two expected for December that went through (due to being all part of the early reservation process) so perhaps that makes a difference as well. Whatever the number is, it's pretty small and would agree it's probably maxed to 2 until supply can catch up.

 

[smkettner]

FUD, go to the dealer with a discount.

 

[SanDust]

Does anyone have a clearer explanation about this allocation process?

This is the last thing I've seen: http://nissan-leaf.net/2010/10/25/nissan-switches-gears-allocates-individual-nissan-dealers-a-monthly-leaf-allowance/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; If nothing else it has a very good discussion of how the process might work.

Note that most people ordered their cars under the old system where there weren't any allocations.

 

[jimcmorr]

Does anyone have a clearer explanation about this allocation process?

This is the last thing I've seen: http://nissan-leaf.net/2010/10/25/nissan-switches-gears-allocates-individual-nissan-dealers-a-monthly-leaf-allowance/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; If nothing else it has a very good discussion of how the process might work.

Note that most people ordered their cars under the old system where there weren't any allocations.

Thanks very much SanDust!

 

[dgpcolorado]

My understanding is that earlier for Tier1, dealers were not given allocated quantities, but instead, if they could take in as many orders as they could get, they'd be delivered that many vehicles. That is why many dealerships, notably in CA, offered significant discounts so they could rack up as many orders as possible.

However, when Tier2 ordering started opening up, Nissan changed the plan and started giving out fixed allocation to dealerships. This changes the game completely. Now with fixed allocation, almost no dealers are willing to give out discounts anymore. Most sell at MSRP, and in some place where demand is higher, they even sell at markups.

A few thoughts about all this, having gone through it twice recently:

When one searches for dealers to RAQ, the website does, indeed, list some dealers as having reached their quota for the month and those dealers are blocked. This is the case in Tier 1 now (Oregon, for example) as well as other Tiers.

However, the idea that dealers are no longer willing to discount was not my experience as recently as late August. I had no difficulty finding dealers in the Portland Oregon area, including southern Washington, who were willing to quote prices well under MSRP. At the same time there were several dealers in California who were advertising prices well under MSRP. I simply told each dealer I contacted what other deals I had seen available and asked what their price would be for the model I wanted.

That said, those here at MNL are surely aware that ordering in Tier 3 states opened on September 28th. In my state, Colorado, reports suggest that dealers have been sticking pretty tight to MSRP, or higher by adding on phony "dealer fees" of one sort or another. There is one report of one dealer that was willing to go slightly under MSRP. My sense is that the dealers here in Colorado realize that there is a lot of pent-up demand and see no reason to "deal". Whether that will change in the coming months remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, as of August there were still deals to be had in several Tier 1 states.

 

[Volusiano]

However, the idea that dealers are no longer willing to discount was not my experience as recently as late August. I had no difficulty finding dealers in the Portland Oregon area, including southern Washington, who were willing to quote prices well under MSRP. At the same time there were several dealers in California who were advertising prices well under MSRP. I simply told each dealer I contacted what other deals I had seen available and asked what their price would be for the model I wanted.

That said, those here at MNL are surely aware that ordering in Tier 3 states opened on September 28th. In my state, Colorado, reports suggest that dealers have been sticking pretty tight to MSRP, or higher by adding on phony "dealer fees" of one sort or another. There is one report of one dealer that was willing to go slightly under MSRP. My sense is that the dealers here in Colorado realize that there is a lot of pent-up demand and see no reason to "deal". Whether that will change in the coming months remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, as of August there were still deals to be had in several Tier 1 states.

Thanks for sharing this. It's definitely an interesting observation. I wonder if the reason Tier1-state dealers are still willing to discount is because the demand in those Tier1 states has already been pretty much satisfied in the last 8-9 months of sales already, so they no longer have a huge pent-up demand like that of the Tier2 states are experiencing. Sure, there will always be new customers coming on-board late in the Tier1 states. But if those Tier1 people had waited that long already and not bothered getting on the reservation list, they surely aren't going to cave in to MSRP or markups that easily if precedence has already been set for some kind of a discount there.

Or maybe they still are getting a more generous allocation compared to Tier2 dealers, although not so generous as to appear limitless like before anymore.

Also, August might have still been a transitional phase where the allocation only started tightening up so Tier1 dealers might have still had some more wiggle room left over from before to work with compared to Tier2 states, between the old and new allocation.

It'd be interesting to hear from Tier1 folks who put in their RFQ in September to see if discounts are still pervasive in Tier1 states anymore.

 

[mechkid]

hey i got a better why not hypnotize the dealers to give you a huge discount on the nissan leaf!!!!! OO )