Anyone know what the current wait time is to get a Volt?

I am curious to find out from anyone that may have went through the order process on the Volt how long it may take to get one if someone placed an order today? Is it as long and uncertain as ordering a Leaf at this point?

Timaz said:

I am curious to find out from anyone that may have went through the order process on the Volt how long it may take to get one if someone placed an order today? Is it as long and uncertain as ordering a Leaf at this point?

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Given the ad campaign targeted at the Leaf they are running, one might think they have them backing up on dealers' lots.

I think each launch state is different... My state (MA) is not included, but a nearby state is (Conneticut) is... I just ordered one today from a CT dealer only 65 miles away, and was told it could be 3-4 months. Each dealer has an allocation, based on how many other Chevy cars/trucks they've sold, many of the 600 authorized Volt dealers have an allocation of 5 or so for 2011, some of the larger dealers may get 35 Volts... So the trick is to find a smaller dealer, in a initial launch market, near you, that doesn't have their 5 Volts sold/allocated yet.

Anyway, the dealer I have the deposit with is getting a demo Volt in the next month or so, so I'll probably take the 65 mile drive when it arrives, to check it out, and have them evaluate my possible trade (2010 Prius). Time will tell...

here is a good Volt forum: http://gm-volt.com/forum/index.php

Perhaps try a volt forum, may be a good place to find more Volt info.

Funny thing is - people on gm-volt claim (and are convinced) that ALL 2011 Volts have been pre-sold.

Byt Micth says he could get one in March by placing an order now.

evnow said:

Funny thing is - people on gm-volt claim (and are convinced) that ALL 2011 Volts have been pre-sold.

But Mitch says he could get one in March by placing an order now.

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Well, just got a confirmation email from the dealer, said he will get me the order # tommorow, and once I have that, there is a website to check its progress... We'll see, I doubt the entire 2011 production is sold out. The dealer I spoke with said they have a lot of interest and questions, but I am only the 2nd person to actually come up with a deposit and place a real order with them, which I find pretty amazing, being that they are the closest dealer to a major metro area (Boston).. Of course the Boston area dealers are not getting Volts until the end of 2011 or so, so making a 65 mile drive doesn't seem that big of a deal.

FYI, GM/Volt tracking site: http://www.camarotracking.com/

My local dealer seems to be just selling each one as it arrives. Everyone who is on the waiting list gets called when the car hits the lot and they have a bidding war. I'm not sure if it is because the list is so small and there is little demand, or if the list is huge and they expect to get bigger markups this way. I'll find out when they call me. There are two more hitting the lot this week. I'm going to go down and test drive one. Its a very nice car in person. See my other post.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=713&p=45113#p45113

palmermd said:

My local dealer seems to be just selling each one as it arrives. Everyone who is on the waiting list gets called when the car hits the lot and they have a bidding war. I'm not sure if it is because the list is so small and there is little demand, or if the list is huge and they expect to get bigger markups this way.

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That is a bad way to buy - if they order for you - you can get the exact color/options you want.

evnow said:

palmermd said:

My local dealer seems to be just selling each one as it arrives. Everyone who is on the waiting list gets called when the car hits the lot and they have a bidding war. I'm not sure if it is because the list is so small and there is little demand, or if the list is huge and they expect to get bigger markups this way.

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That is a bad way to buy - if they order for you - you can get the exact color/options you want.

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The car I saw on the showroom floor was done that way. I'm not really sure of the differences or the way this dealer is handling the sales. I kind of got the impression that there is not much demand, so the dealer has ordered a few "extra" to have on the showroom floor. I'm really curious to see what happens when they call me back to look at the two getting delivered this week.

It is none of my business, but I don't really see any advantage of buying the Volt if one already has a 2010 Prius. I mean, they are both hybrids. No offense, but makes more sense to me to get a real EV and keep the Prius for long driving. I would wait for the LEAF...

trentr said:

It is none of my business, but I don't really see any advantage of buying the Volt if one already has a 2010 Prius. I mean, they are both hybrids. No offense, but makes more sense to me to get a real EV and keep the Prius for long driving. I would wait for the LEAF...

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The difference is my commute 5 days a week will use no gasoline, sure, I could wait 18 months or perhaps longer, but I don't need to, also selling the Prius sooner than later, it's worth more with less mileage on it. Also, I was seriously thinking about converting the Prius to a PHEV with the PICC conversion (about 13.5K available early in 2011), but there is no mfr warranty on it (well, there is some, but it's no Leaf or Volt pack warranty), the hit selling the Prius is about the same as buying the PICC conversion, and there is also no $7500 fed credit on the conversion. So when you factor it all together, EV driving for my commute, at least a year sooner than the Leaf, and for the area I am in, I feel a PHEV is a better fit.

Something is better than nothing. I not a fan of the volt, but it's better than not driving a leaf. I'm impressed that mitch's 'threats' weren't empty and he did what he said he was going to do. Congrats mitch, looking forward to hearing your experiences.

I ordered BOTH a LEAF (on the first confirmed order day--8/31) and the Volt as early as possible in that cycle, but it took me almost two weeks after ordering for the Volt opened to FIND A DEALER in my region who would even take a specific order at MSRP. ALL the closer Chevy dealers in the core Sacramento area were ordering "spec Volts" and waiting to put them up for bidding sale when they hit the showroom. There was last week a Volt forum member who posted a picture from one of the biggest Sacramento area Chevy dealers of the Volt window sticker with a $7700+ dollar markup demanded.

Anyway, here is the current tracking history for my Volt order; it would appear to be arriving at my selling dealer (40 miles West of Sacramento, Fairfield Chevrolet who did take the order at MSRP) about next weekend:

08/05/2010 - (1102) Order Entered via Web
08/05/2010 - (1100) Order Placed at Dealership Order passed GM edit tables but dealers has not received allocation to place order
08/23/2010 - (2030) Order edited or modified
09/20/2010 - (2030) Order edited or modified
09/24/2010 - (2030) Order edited or modified
10/19/2010 - (2030) Order edited or modified
11/11/2010 - (2000) Order Accepted by GM Dealer used allocation to place order into production
11/16/2010 - (2500) Order Preferenced Order pulled to the production system
11/16/2010 - (3000) Order accepted by production control. Parts being ordered and production process is underway.
11/30/2010 - (3100) Order available to sequence.
11/30/2010 - (1102) Order Entered via Web
11/30/2010 - (3300) Order Scheduled for Production Order is scheduled into the plant build cycle
11/30/2010 - (3400) Order Broadcast (Internal Plant Paperwork Order Produced) Order is sent to various build & supplier areas to bring order together
12/21/2010 - (3800) Order produced and vehicle is being prepared for shipping. (Cadillac, GMC and Buick customers please contact your dealer or customer service for further updates. No further updates available at this time.)
12/28/2010 - (4000) Vehicle available to ship
12/28/2010 - (4104) Bailment Invoice Created (vehicle is about to leave plant property).
12/28/2010 - (4B00) Your car is bayed and is waiting for transportation by Truck, Rail or transfer to vendor
12/29/2010 - (4B00) Your car is bayed and is waiting for transportation by Truck, Rail or transfer to vendor
12/29/2010 - (4200) Shipped (Vehicle is shipped to the dealer or point of delivery)
12/30/2010 - (4106) Bailment Released (vehicle has left plant property).
12/30/2010 - (4150) Invoiced (Order is invoiced to the dealer)
12/30/2010 - (4200) Shipped (Vehicle is shipped to the dealer or point of delivery)
12/29/2010 - (4300) Interm transfer; processing transfer to QC or vendor

While finding an "honest dealer" for the Volt was a total headache, following the production and arrival of the Volt has been 1 zillion times more transparent and responsive than what I am experiencing with my "day 1 Leaf order."

George,

It's good to see that since GM accepted the order (11/11) until now is less than 2 months, that's a good sign, that the wait won't be "forever" for a Volt. I know they are only making about 5,000 in total for the 2011MY (will probably switch over to 2012MY sometime in the 2nd half of 2011), but it does seem like some dealers are willing to take a deposit, and place an order, and not just order all "spec" cars. I seem to have found one nearby, we'll see what actually happens with it. The dealer I ordered from has sold 1 Volt, has 1 on order for a demo, and I am only the 2nd "real" order who was willing to come up with a deposit, let's see when they get me the order tracking info.

GeorgeParrott said:

following the production and arrival of the Volt has been 1 zillion times more transparent and responsive than what I am experiencing with my "day 1 Leaf order."

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This!

It costs GM how much to be transparent, and produces how much good-will?
If Nissan would take a little of the "Cards & Stickers" budget and put it into order transparency, the 20,000 people most interested in a Leaf might think more highly of them, rather than become frustrated.


I'm thinking of following Mitch... my work commute is only 10 miles and my weekend drives very rarely exceed 50 miles. I could drive "full EV" for most of the year until the fuel rots in the tank. The electric efficiency (Miles per kWh) isn't all that different, even if I'm carrying around an unused ICE drivetrain. The additional cost of the Volt is made up by the superior styling, interior materials, and ICE option..
And since I'm leasing anyway, the cost delta isn't all that much.

mitch672 said:

George,

It's good to see that since GM accepted the order (11/11) until now is less than 2 months, that's a good sign, that the wait won't be "forever" for a Volt. I know they are only making about 5,000 in total for the 2011MY (will probably switch over to 2012MY sometime in the 2nd half of 2011), but it does seem like some dealers are willing to take a deposit, and place an order, and not just order all "spec" cars. I seem to have found one nearby, we'll see what actually happens with it. The dealer I ordered from has sold 1 Volt, has 1 on order for a demo, and I am only the 2nd "real" order who was willing to come up with a deposit, let's see when they get me the order tracking info.

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Thank you for the update! And best of luck! I will look forward to your updates on how things proceed. I have reviewed inventory available in Virginia, just south of me and am thinking of taking a look in the next week...depending upon schedules.

just because i am all in on the Leaf and i also HATE GM, does not mean that a Volt is not a good option. i think its a much better option than 95% of the cars that are being sold today.

it will work for a lot of people and it could work for me. my commute is 20 miles. but the SO's commute is 60 miles and i want us BOTH to do it in the Leaf.

now at 110 volt charging, recharging 60 miles daily would be a struggle. but i work every other day (done so to coordinate day-care for my son) so it would not be making the long commute more than once or twice a week.

i can only hope that the people who do get a Volt stay here and report back to us their experiences.

My parents ordered a Volt to replace my dad's '04 Honda Element as his daily driver. The Honda just passed 100k miles, but they live a bit too far out in the boonies for my dad to be comfortable with the Leaf. That said, his regular commute will likely allow him to drive EV mode all the way to work and drive all the way back EV mode if he charges there.

Anyhow, they ordered from Rydell Chevrolet on October 25th. On CamaroTracking their order shows up as having been placed on 10/28 but still waiting for dealer allocation. Dealer says they will get the car in February - but we shall see. I'm not really sure which order process is better/worse, GM's or Nissan's. They both keep you in the dark on different aspects of the process yet are more open on others. I will say that Fontana Nissan is infinitely more knowledgeable about the car and the process than Rydell are about their car/process. It took over a week just to get Rydell to acknowledge that they don't want a base model, and they were the best of the four dealerships my parents went to.

I'm just hoping I'll be able to sneak a second Voltec charger out of SPX via their order. :twisted:

Check this out. Volt available at dealerships - mostly with a markup over msrp.

http://www.cars.com/for-sale/searchresults.action?stkTyp=N&AmbMkNm=Chevrolet&AmbMdNm=Volt&AmbMkId=20053&AmbMdId=35025&cpo=&mkId=20053&mdId=35025&minp=0&prMx=&rd=100000&zc=91008&alMkId=20053&alMdId=35025&searchSource=TRAIL_HEAD

My Volt arrived at my dealers today and I pick it up tomorrow. Whenever my LEAF arrives I will regularly report comparisons and general observations.

I saw somewhere on the net today, that the Stockton Chevy dealership has incoming Volts without deposits, and they might be selling at MSRP...I will check tomorrow for any such at the Fairfield dealership where I am getting my car.