GM’s CarBravo Platform Commended By Consumer Groups
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The Consumer Federation of America has offered praise to General Motors for the honest, upfront business practices it has implemented with the introduction of its CarBravo used vehicle sales platform.
In a press release published Wednesday, The Consumer Federation of America said that “many car dealers across the country sell hazardous used vehicles with known safety recall defects,” including cars that have not been repaired under the Takata airbag recall. The release also said that the only industry in America that “openly accepts the selling of unsafe recalled products to the public is the auto industry,” through the used vehicle market.
GM, on the other hand, has committed to not selling any vehicles through CarBravo that have not been repaired under a previously issued safety recall. This rule will apply to both GM and non-GM vehicles that are sold through the online used car buying platform. Congress has prohibited the sale of new cars that unaddressed safety recall defects since the 1960s, but this ruling has not yet been extended to the used car market.
“General Motors’ CarBravo will be competing toe-to-toe with established used car behemoth CarMax, and market disrupters Carvana and Vroom. These outlets openly admit that they routinely sell used vehicles with hazardous unrepaired safety recalls instead of getting the free repairs done, including vehicles where the manufacturer warns that there is no fix available – leaving consumers stuck with unsafe vehicles they cannot get fixed, sometimes for many months,” the press release said.
Jack Gillis, Executive Director of the Consumer Federation of America, said GM is setting an example for the competition with CarBravo.
“As the first automaker to make this commitment, General Motors is taking a giant step forward in protecting the public from hazardous vehicles,” Gillis said. “GM is recognizing what auto safety advocates have maintained for years, which is that vehicles with safety recall defects can injure occupants and others who share the roads with these problem cars.”
In addition, Rosemary Shahan, President of the Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) organization, this week called on GM’s rivals to follow the example that it has set.
“We challenge CarMax, AutoNation, Vroom, Carvana, and other car dealers to meet the safety standard that General Motors is setting with CarBravo,” she said.
Powered by General Motors’ own digital retail platform, CarBravo is an online car buying site that provides shoppers with dealer pricing information, vehicle history reports, and a 360-degree view of available vehicles. Listed vehicles will be inspected and reconditioned in order to meet GM standards. Users will also be eligible to receive online offers from Black Book to buy their vehicles, even if the customer does not purchase a vehicle through CarBravo.
Dealer enrollments for the CarBravo service opened in January, while the consumer side is expected to launch later this spring. At the moment, CarBravo’s web page simply displays clever sentences such as: “Sneaking a Peek? We’re excited, too.” and “A brand-new way to own not brand-new cars.”
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Does this mean, they will no longer sell GM used vehicles with the known transmission problems? Asking for 10,000 friends.
Is this used car business setting the stage for GM to sell EV’s online and direct from GM like Tesla does? To do that and cut out their dealer network they have to have a way to market the used cars. Watch out GM Dealers!
It isn’t because CarBravo will be run via the existing GM dealer network.
Wonder how long till this morphs into GM using it as a direct-to-consumer sales channel for new EVs.
The government allows consumers to still drive vehicles with recalls even if there is a remedy. Why not ground the millions of vehicles subject to recalls not just the thousands offered for sale on dealers lots?
And suppose you as an owner of one of the millions of recalled vehicles that have no remedy available and want to trade it or sell it a dealership that then can’t resell it. Do you think they’d still take it in trade? If so how much less would they give you for it?
It’s not that big of an issue for a franchised dealer because the automaker pays a daily floor plan (interest) reimbursement, for unsellable new and used cars.
Outside the Takata airbag issue, it’s rare that a recall is stuck on parts: the majority are a software reflash or contingent on inspection. And even in the Takata case, only a small portion of recalled cars were under a stop drive order. Despite dealer whining, doing recall work does yield a small profit and contributes to paying the bills.
1) Floor plan costs are a small portion of the cost of carrying used car inventory compared to depreciation.
2) Only the OEM manufacturer the dealer is franchised by covers their floor plan cost, not other brands they take in trade.
3) It’s not just “stop drive” vehicles the “Consumer Federation of America” wants dealers to stop selling, it’s any vehicle subject to any recall, even if there is no remedy available.
Many Americans bought GM cars specifically so they didn’t have to file for divorce… some simply didn’t like their children. GM’s brilliant marketing scheme was clearly modeled after Ford’s. Ford’s Killer car was excellent in that after it Killed you, it also cremated you, but it left the tell-tale evidence of being Ford’s fault. GM improved upon their Killing apparatus by Killing Americans, but making it look like it was the driver’s fault. Now GM plans to change their business model, there go the sales…