-
This thread is just the tip of the iceberg.The people ahead of the curve aren't Googling for answers — they're already in here, having the conversations you haven't found yet. DealerRefresh is free.Get the full picture →
General Motors — DealerRefresh Vendor Library
General Motors
30% · Criticized
50 DealerRefresh discussions
Visit Website ↗
About suggest a correction →
General Motors is a publicly traded U.S. automaker (NYSE: GM) that wholesales new vehicles — Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac brands — plus OEM parts and accessories to its franchised dealer network of nearly 4,000 U.S. dealerships.
What you do with it
access wholesale inventory across Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac brands, so they can maintain a sellable lot and generate revenue from new-vehicle transactions
When a dealer holds a GM franchise and needs a steady supply of new vehicles to sell
tap GM's iMR (inMarketRetail) program to fund approved vendors such as live chat, mobile apps, and website providers, so they can offset dealership marketing and technology costs with manufacturer reimbursement
When a dealer wants to leverage OEM co-op dollars for marketing and technology tools
comply with GM's evolving operational and brand requirements, so they can retain access to dealer-excellence incentives and avoid allocation penalties
When a dealer needs to meet GM's standards for digital presence, facility appearance, and lead response to protect incentive eligibility and vehicle allocation
Brands & Products 2 under this umbrella
Community evidence → Stable
The DealerRefresh community acknowledges GM's functional role as the unavoidable franchisor supplying inventory and co-op funding, and notes genuine value in the iMR program expanding access to approved vendors like live chat and mobile apps. However, the dominant sentiment is negative: dealers and industry voices consistently describe GM's mandates — from CarBravo enrollment fees and 24/7 lead response requirements to digital signage costs, forced CDK/Cobalt tool adoption, and facility standardization rules — as coercive, financially burdensome, and disconnected from real dealership operations. Several threads portray GM's digital initiatives (eBay Motors pilot, Chevrolet.com, Flex/Cobalt SEM) as underperforming or poorly executed, compounding frustration that compliance is effectively non-optional given allocation leverage. Positive voices are sparse and tend to be GM announcements or vendor approvals rather than organic dealer endorsements.
Coercive compliance and allocation leverage6 mentions
Mandatory cost burdens (fees, digital signage, platform costs)7 mentions
iMR program enabling vendor funding3 mentions
Underperforming or poorly executed digital tools (Cobalt, Flex, Chevrolet.com, eBay pilot)5 mentions
Lead quality and response requirement issues3 mentions
GM digital/innovation initiatives received skeptically by community4 mentions
Facility and brand standardization overriding dealer autonomy2 mentions
OEM website traffic and conversion problems2 mentions
50 mentions · 9 positive · 21 negative · Scored from 20+ years of candid DealerRefresh discussion. Scores shift as new conversations happen.
POSITIVE
"General Motors has approved the company as an iMR (inMarketRetail) Match eligible turnkey vendor for dealership live chat. All GM dealers who are a part of this program can now use iMR funds for ActivEngage live chat services."
General Motors Approves ActivEngage As IMR Match Eligible Turnkey Vendor For Live Chat →
POSITIVE
"eBay Motors and General Motors Company today announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind promotion that enables consumers to 'click and buy' new cars, crossovers and trucks online from participating California Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Pontiac dealers at outstanding values."
eBay Motors and General Motors Make Shopping For a New Vehicle Online as Easy as ‘Click and Buy’ from California Dealers →
POSITIVE
"General Motors, previously in the limelight for leaving Facebook ads, is back and invested in a higher ROI with the data-backed target ads."
Facebook Introduces Partner Categories for Ads →
POSITIVE
"General Motors chose Tekion. And now Hyundai USA has selected Tekion Corp to be one of three digital retailing EV platforms for dealers, along with Roadster and Dealer.com. GM was an early investor, other investors include BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and some larger dealership groups."
Tekion - EV Digital Retail solution for car dealers? →
POSITIVE
"GMC's ongoing push to create a modern and customer-focused dealer network includes updated facilities and new business approaches. Now, GMC is adding mobility with a new SalesAssistant tablet app for Android and for iPad iOS."
GM Introduces the SalesAssistant App for Android and iOs →
POSITIVE
"Dealer Inspire, a Cars.com subsidiary, has been selected as a website provider for General Motors' 4,000+ U.S. dealerships across Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac brands"
Dealer Inspire Selected by General Motors to Provide Leading-Edge Website Services to its 4,000+ U. →
POSITIVE
"General Motors has approved AutoMotion's dealer app as the first mobile app solution eligible for GM's iMR (inMarketRetail) program funding"
General Motors Approves AutoMotion Dealer App For iMR Program →
POSITIVE
"benefit from a $100k General Motors grant and local dealership partnerships"
Have a High School Student? Send them to Northwood's Automotive Summer Camp! →
NEGATIVE
"GM's decision to force Marc Heitz to demolish his distinctive hunting lodge-style dealership or forfeit dealer-excellence incentives, ultimately leading him to sell rather than comply... GM prioritizes rigid facility standardization over dealer differentiation and customer experience... GM's enforcement undermines dealers' ability to stand out in a competitive market and represents short-sighted corporate governance... That might be the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I mean GM."
GM dealer sells rather than comply. →
NEGATIVE
"GM Launches CarBravo Dealers express significant skepticism about GM's new CarBravo used vehicle platform, citing expensive enrollment fees ($1,000), per-unit costs ($299), quarterly listing fees ($1,500), strict photo requirements, and vendor fees that collectively exceed what they currently pay for alternative listing services. While GM frames CarBravo as optional, dealers view the requirement to choose between listing on CarBravo or GM's existing CPO site as coercive pressure, particularly given GM's recent warnings about redirecting vehicle allocations to dealers who don't cooperate."
GM Launches CarBravo →
NEGATIVE
"Dealers report receiving an unusual surge of duplicate and triplicate GM HandRaiser leads (from events and promotions), with quality and timeliness issues that affect response metrics and bonuses."
GM Double and Triple Dumping Leads into Funnel? →
NEGATIVE
"GM's controversial decision to showcase a new SUV at the 2010 New York Auto Show during a time when competitors were emphasizing fuel efficiency and economic practicality, resulting in the vehicle receiving no press applause"
General Motors = Government Motors →
NEGATIVE
"Forum members reacted skeptically, with several commenters criticizing GM's perceived late adoption of web-based car sales strategies and questioning whether eBay is an effective channel for new vehicle sales"
GM Cars to me SOLD on eBay? →
NEGATIVE
"Dealers are struggling to meet General Motors' new 2-hour lead response time requirement, which is measured on a 24/7 basis rather than business hours, making the standard difficult to achieve with standard staffing."
GM Lead Response Times →
NEGATIVE
"GM has been pressuring its dealership network to implement SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solutions, citing compliance with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and network security guidelines, though dealers are skeptical about whether this is a genuine legal requirement or a sales push for GM-approved vendors"
General Motors and SIEM →
NEGATIVE
"A Chevy dealer criticizes General Motors for poor digital marketing execution, particularly highlighting the slow, Flash-heavy Chevrolet.com website while simultaneously mandating dealers use GM's own underperforming digital tools like Digital Airstrike and Flex."
Chevy Marketing a total Effing joke →
NEGATIVE
"GM dealers (Cadillac, Buick/GMC, Chevrolet) are experiencing a sharp drop in referral traffic from OEM websites starting mid-June"
General Motors Referral Traffic Falls off a Cliff? →
NEGATIVE
"Automotive dealers react negatively to General Motors' new logo redesign, which the company introduced as part of its EV initiative rebranding. The consensus criticizes the modern aesthetic—particularly its gradient colors and beveled edges—as a downgrade from the previous clean design that will age poorly"
New GM logo - what were they thinking? →
NEGATIVE
"This thread consolidates dealer complaints and troubleshooting around GM's 24/7 internet lead response time requirements, with particular focus on technical issues with OneSource's lead management tool failing to properly 'stop the clock' on smartphone responses."
GM Internet Lead Response Time - OFFICIAL thread →
NEGATIVE
"This "upgrade" was meant to make dealers more competitive, but my client who just switched over to the new playform is being told that they only get a 60-day trial on the Flex site until it becomes $699/month more UNLESS they sign up for the GM Digital Marketing Package through Cobalt. While I value the OEM's attempt to push dealers into more progressive tools, this ultimatum sounds like nothing short of extortion."
GM / Cobalt Flex Site - Extortion? →
NEGATIVE
"GM no longer provides window stickers online (unlike Ford and Chrysler), making the feature unavailable unless dealers use a third-party solution"
Window Sticker App →
NEGATIVE
"our dealership had been using Cobalt "CDK" SEM services for a long time, when I came on board with the dealership I looked at the numbers and decided to opted out of the SEM service from Cobalt because they were keeping 40% of our budget as their retainer. That's extremely high... I've had it up to here with CDK recently. I have dumped a lot of money in SEO towards our OEM website however the site is not converting at all."
Using something other than Cobalt as a GM dealer →
NEGATIVE
"Our dealer group websites are all on dealer.com --- the only exception is our GM store, which CDK is still the only OEM option. Despite this, we have a dealer.com website for that store as well... the manager of the GM store wants to cancel our dealer.com website, and just use the CDK website. I think this is a bad idea, in that, well, the CDK platform sucks."
The Conundrum of a Good Website →
NEGATIVE
"GM's mandate requiring digital signage in showrooms—costing $2,000-$3,000 monthly—is a necessary investment or wasteful requirement imposed by manufacturers out of touch with real dealership operations"
Is 'Digital Signage' needed to sell cars? →
NEGATIVE
"sales also fell 5.1% for Ford and 4.7% for General Motors amid a broader decline for an industry that is now entering its sixth consecutive month."
Sales down for 6th month... WHY? →
NEGATIVE
"Texas Chevrolet dealer Greg May says he could do without the latest mandate from General Motors to hire a firm to handle his online reputation management. Like all GM dealerships, Greg May Chevrolet of West, Texas, near Waco, had to select by last week one of three vendors approved by GM. GM issued the mandate to ensure that all its dealerships solicit customer reviews, post them on the right consumer sites and respond promptly to negative reviews that can hurt both the vehicle brand and the dealership. Failure to comply puts at risk 20 percent of what GM's four brands pay quarterly in dealer Standards for Excellence bonuses pegged to vehicle sales, consumer satisfaction and other measures."
Automotive News Pokes at GM for their Mandates Reputation Management →
NEGATIVE
"GM created Shop-Click-Drive to make it easier for their customers to buy their cars online. It apparently took hundreds (if not thousands according to the article) of programmers two years to develop the online platform... are the numbers, which, frankly, are not impressive."
GM’s Shop-Click-Drive - Is it Adding Up? →
NEGATIVE
"General Motors committed fully to EVs while largely abandoning hybrids, whereas Toyota's hybrid-first approach is gaining dealer enthusiasm and market share."
EVs are coming, but for how long? →
NEGATIVE
"General Motors and Cobalt Websites-The Big Rip Off and the Slow Deception"
General Motors and Cobalt Websites-The Big Rip Off and the Slow Deception →
✏ Request an edit
See something wrong? We review all requests and apply corrections after staff review. No login required.
Corrections go to a review queue. Staff apply them after verification. Your IP address is hashed and stored to prevent spam.