Tracking Your Volt Order

[Mark Z]

Movement again!

#135 here. I've been posting on the rail movement of my Volt towards CA the past few days here on this thread. Well after sitting for 2 days in Lou-a-vul, CSX reports the railcar with my Volt, ETTX860147, moved again. Today it went a whole 120 miles to Evansville, IN...

Thinking that my Volt has been on the same train car keeps the wheels spinning in the brain. Did they wait 2 days for all the other railcars that loaded on the 16th and 17th to catch up? At least it's closer to that UP railhead.

And this is as good as time as any to let some steam out of the train boiler. When you visit the CSX website and enter the two cities to help you determine the preferred junction to transfer to Union Pacific, it's Chicago.

Then my brother sends me an ad from the dealer I ordered from. They are advertising a Volt and the VIN is after mine. (Now it is only fair that the dealer get his unsold one in the showroom before mine, after all, mine is sold!)

Add to that the train whistles all day long outside. The trains move here all the time, why not in Louisville?

Okay, enough steam release from the train. Next stop, Union Pacific. All aboard!

[Chevyconnects]

Thinking that my Volt has been on the same train car keeps the wheels spinning in the brain. Did they wait 2 days for all the other railcars that loaded on the 16th and 17th to catch up? At least it's closer to that UP railhead.

And this is as good as time as any to let some steam out of the train boiler. When you visit the CSX website and enter the two cities to help you determine the preferred junction to transfer to Union Pacific, it's Chicago.

Then my brother sends me an ad from the dealer I ordered from. They are advertising a Volt and the VIN is after mine. (Now it is only fair that the dealer get his unsold one in the showroom before mine, after all, mine is sold!)

Add to that the train whistles all day long outside. The trains move here all the time, why not in Louisville?

Okay, enough steam release from the train. Next stop, Union Pacific. All aboard!

Totally understand the steam in the boiler. But this all is the norm and you have the right attitude cause its only a few more days. Glad its rolling again though. Larry

[Rusty]

But this all is the norm and you have the right attitude cause its only a few more days. Glad its rolling again though. Larry

What's really infuriating is they shipped the cars that had the shortest trip and the fastest transport first, then shipped to progressively further and further markets. Thus shipping to the market that would take the longest to get to, last. If they'd done it in the other order we here in CA would have gotten our cars nearly a week less later.

Now we're looking at losing our $7500 again, when I'd so hoped we weren't going to. And the loan may be problematic if I don't take possession of the car...

[volt11]

For those of you that might be still buying into "conspiracy theories" regarding the Volt's first retail delivery, here's a good article that explains just how it all went down.


Read more: GM's Volt electric car more than a head-turner -- it's a job saver | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

http://www.freep.com/article/2010121...#ixzz18bpMOQly
GM Corp or the Volt team was not involved and chose to let it happen "naturally" and NOT to make a public display of it. (Techncially the auctioned unit that went to stock car magnate Rick Hendrick had already done that)

Hopefully we'll see a bunch more Volts head out this week!
WopOnTour

That was an interesting read. It's fairly plausible, and it changes some former press information, which had reported that Kaffee flew home Monday (this one now says Tuesday), so let's assume the earlier reporter somehow got it wrong.

His journey to get his Volt started Tuesday in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., when he found out his car would arrive at Gearhart that night. At 3:30 p.m., he booked a ticket on a 9:30 p.m. flight to Newark, N.J.

However, what remains unexplained (unless I missed something) is how did Gearhart Chevy know that they would receive the car on Tuesday night, in order to make the delivery on Wednesday morning (when they had a gaggle of press showing up)? AFAIK, no other Volt buyer knew ahead of time exactly when his/her Volt would land at a dealership, as we read here every day, because they're impossible to track accurately. Gearhart would have needed a contact in the trucking company, and possibly the plant to make sure his car got on a truck in the first shipment, and became the first stop. We know this because other trucked cars took up to 3+ days to make it from Hamtramck to NJ dealers (mine being an example), so the 1-day delivery of Kaffee's car had to be locked in somehow. This all might not rise to the level of describing it as a "conspiracy", and obviously pretty much nobody cares, but rationally there still had to be some "conspiring." We just don't know who with who (particularly, if any of them worked directly for General Motors), and this article's writer glosses over what to me would be an obvious question. Again, unless I missed something.

And before I'm accused of only thinking the worst, the missing information could be as simple as Gearhart getting a call Monday from the "enthusiastic" trucker that he was on his way to his first stop, and Gearhart kicked into action from there. It had to be Monday, because the article states, "So the store made a call Monday, and within 15 minutes, CNBC was booked." We also learn from the article that, "Even Eric Norvell, the car hauler who had delivered the Volt the night before, returned to watch the car reach its rightful owner." Didn't anyone care, like his employer or GM, that he presumably still had a carrier full of other cars to deliver?

I'd just be interested to know. I also found it just slightly strange that Kaffee flew all the way back from Florida, only to attend the media reception, and turn right around to fly back to Florida, leaving his Volt in safe keeping at the dealership(!):

Later that day, at 7 p.m., Kaffee had to catch a flight back to Ft. Lauderdale for his last week and a half of vacation. ... Until he returns, his Volt will stay locked in Gearhart's showroom. Talk about wanting to be the first on your block.

[ChasSidwa]

As to Kaffee being the first retail delivery, my understanding is he will not actualy take delivery until he gets back from FL. I think Airton might have been the first actual delivery. I feel paper work has to be signed and you have to drive the car off the lot to be a "delivery".

[Mark Z]

As to Kaffee being the first retail delivery, my understanding is he will not actualy take delivery until he gets back from FL. I think Airton might have been the first actual delivery. I feel paper work has to be signed and you have to drive the car off the lot to be a "delivery".

Videos show that he did drive it off the lot, so the paper work must have been signed. Their website shows it proudly on the home page and it says "Jeffrey Kaffee of Parsippany, NJ is the first customer in the country to take delivery of the Chevrolet Volt on Dec. 15th at Gearhart Chevrolet."

http://www.gearhartchevy.net/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KnXvwoMUwY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_k1SNgfZ6o

[ChasSidwa]

I heard that Gearhardt didn't have the paper work yet and as you recall he did drive it right back on the lot and went back to FL.

[Electric Lurker]

Here's hoping we see some movement today...

[?'smyvolt]

On behalf of all of us with cars sitting in Area 51 (i.e. stuck in status 3800) on the Sunday night before Christmas, I want to ask those of you who moved to 4000 last Monday, what time on Monday did the move to 4000 occur? Just wondering when we could *hope* to start seeing new 4000s tonight or tomorrow...

Or would Tuesday be the first time such movement would show up on the database?

[?'smyvolt]

If any of those who have purchased rather than leased could answer this question, it might be helpful to us all. What terms is GM offering for an extended warranty for the Volt beyond the 3-year, 36,000 mile standard warranty?