Re-Joining the GMC Ranks: 2015 2500 Denali Purchased

jasonvp · November 27, 2014

Or, well, mostly. I have a deposit on one that's sitting on a dealer's lot in Ohio. So he's taken it off the market until I can pick it up and pay for it in full next week. It's still on his website here, but I don't know how long it'll be up. And the pics were taken before they put the side steps on, in case anyone is curious.

I had a 2005 GMC 2500HD (Duramax) for over 9 years. I loved the truck dearly, but something just got into my head, "You need a smaller truck, and face it, you enjoy driving stick!" So I sold it and ordered a new 6-speed Toyota Tacoma. A massive step down, but I'd all but convinced myself it was the right thing to do. I didn't need that big truck, right? I mean, what was I using it for other than to haul my little buddy around, do runs to the dump as needed, or drive around when it started snowing. Towing? What's that?

Oh yeah, that's that thing I've always wanted to do (I drive on a race track a lot, and would love to tow my car there vs drive it there). Well, the Taco can't do it, so I'll just perish the thought.

After a few months, the Tacoma honeymoon wore off. The barebones, spartan interior was very off-putting (and uncomfortable). My little buddy wasn't too comfortable in the back of the extended cab, but he was too good to complain. And the torque.... Gawd how I missed that TORQUE!

Recently, I've started in earnest to find a new 2015 GMC 2500HD SLT like the one I used to have. But in playing around with the online configurator, I found that the difference in price between the Denali and SLT isn't massive. So why not just go all the way, and keep the truck for another 9-10 years? With that, I began hunting around local dealers. None of them had the exact truck I wanted in stock:

Sonoma Red
Jet Black interior
Duramax Plus package
Off-Road (Z71) package
Power folding chrome-capped mirrors
Polished aluminum wheels

Options such as the sunroof, amber running lights, etc were OK to have, but not deal breakers if they weren't there. And the exterior color is important, but also not a deal breaker. What I don't care for is a black exterior and chrome (yo!) wheels. In fact, I don't believe chrome wheels belong on any vehicle, ever. Anywhere.

One local dealer had a similar truck, but it was black. I test drove it and found myself nearly into reckless speeds on the highway (80MPH here in VA is instant-reckless). No drama. No excitement. No noise. No nothing! It was incredible. The truck just... goes. And it's hyper-comfortable inside, well laid out, well appointed, and just, well... awesome. Very impressed.

The dealer and I failed to really come up with a good deal, so I told him I'd be back. The truck was sold a week later to someone else, so no big deal. Another local dealer wanted desperately to scour the country to locate my exact truck. He failed. I let him try and try, but for whatever reason, he just couldn't do it.

Amusingly, my lady friend, who is quite resourceful, went to work on GMC's configurator website and found 2 trucks like I want them. One in Ohio, another in Texas. So I reached out to both dealers. More on that in a moment.

While all of this is happening, I started shopping my Tacoma out. The local GMC dealer didn't want to give me anything more than $21k for it. The local Toyota dealership wanted it badly, but tried to talk me out of my expected $25k asking price and down to $23k. Carmax didn't even bat an eyelash. "$25k. Easy peazy." The aforementioned Toyota dealership decided to up it by $100, and I sold it to them for $25100. Done. The Tacoma is history.

Mr. Texas dealer told me that the truck in question wasn't on his lot yet. It was sitting at the factory waiting to be shipped to him with no ETA. I asked him to look into a courtesy delivery, where he makes the sale, does all of the paperwork, but the truck is delivered to, and PDI'd by, a local dealer. He never got back to me.

Mr. Ohio dealer, on the other hand... well just look at that price. It's less than employee pricing. It's exceptional, in fact. They do that with all of their trucks, so that they can keep selling more. Unfortunately, they won't deliver the vehicle to me. They require me to be in the showroom to sign paperwork. I've purchased new vehicles from remote dealers before, and getting my vehicle driven to or delivered was never a problem. And, I was never required to set foot in the dealership's door. But, these guys stuck to their guns.

Further, he wouldn't take my credit card to put a deposit and hold on the truck. "We can't do that." Literally the first dealership I've ever heard of that wouldn't take a card for that. In its stead, I would be required to electronically transfer the funds to their bank, and that would have no refundability. Further, the final sale would also require either: A)a pile of cash, B)an electronic transfer into their account (which can take ~24 hours to clear), or C)financing through them.

Hm.

Well, I'm going to have to get on a plane to fly to that dealer and then drive the truck home. I'm not about to pre-wire the money up to him in hopes that everything checks out with the truck. That leaves me with literally no protection. Nor am I about to try and travel through Dulles Airport carrying $58 large in cash. I'll be stared at. A lot.

That leaves financing. I thought about it a bit today and called the sales manager back (not the sales guy). I told him, "OK, I'll buy the truck next week, and I'll do it with local financing. Once I get home with the truck, I'll just pay the loan off in full and we'll be done." He agreed that would work perfectly. Further, he was willing to take my credit card for deposit.

Sometimes I really hate sales people...

Sorry for the wordy post. But, I'm back in the GMC fold thank God. And I'm a happy boy. Can't wait till next week!

TheBigLand · November 27, 2014

Jason,

Truck looks great. I recently got my 2015 GMC 2500 HD All Terrain and love it so far. Welcome back to the GMC world. The new Denali's have a newly designed rim and from your pictures I see it has the old PYS 20" rims which was also redesigned and I have on my All Terrain. They don't even come on the Denali anymore. The truck you are buying has the new mirrors so I assume it was built after August and if it was I am surprised it never came with the newly designed Denali rims. 18" are standard and the 20" are upgrades. Does your truck have the Wi-fi with 4G? If it does I would ask why the vehicle doesn't have the updated rims. If it doesn't have 4G then the dealer must have just installed the new mirrors on a pre-august production truck.

jasonvp · November 27, 2014

see it has the old PYS 20" rims which was also redesigned and I have on my All Terrain. They don't even come on the Denali anymore.

They're still an option, for -$400, which is what the truck has. It's one of the check boxes the dealer has to specifically choose to "downgrade" to the polished aluminum wheels (versus those icky chrome ones).

The truck you are buying has the new mirrors so I assume it was built after August

Yep. Invoiced in October, I believe.

and if it was I am surprised it never came with the newly designed Denali rims. 18" are standard and the 20" are upgrades.

Actually, not one the 2500HD Denali. The standard wheels are 20" diameter chromies. They also have an 18" wheel as an option, and it does reduce the pricing a bit. Bear in mind, the descriptions listed on the dealer's web page aren't perfect. For instance he does list the power folding mirrors as "standard" equipment when they're clearly an option. He also lists the 18" wheels as "standard" equipment and then shows the 20" AT tires. So the guy entering the data into the description goofed.

If you go to GMC's web site and build the truck as shown with the options (including the -$400 for the polished aluminum 20" wheels), you'll see the MSRP come out perfectly to match what they're listing.

TheBigLand · November 27, 2014

Never knew that you could chose the old rims. Thanks for pointing it out. I thought they discontinued the rim because of the new design. Either way, sharp looking truck, my last one was metallic brown but I went with the Onyx black this time. My wife really likes the Sonoma Red.

jasonvp · November 27, 2014

Either way, sharp looking truck

Thanks much. I'm looking forward to driving 'er home next week.

SteveBBB · November 27, 2014

Congrats, Beautiful truck! You had to jump through a few hoops, but looks like it's well worth it.

jasonvp · November 27, 2014

Congrats, Beautiful truck! You had to jump through a few hoops, but looks like it's well worth it.

Thanks, and yes, I did. This isn't my first rodeo though, having purchased a number of new vehicles over the past 20 years (~12 I think). I'm well versed in all of the various sales tactics and whatnot that people try to use. The sales guy at the shop in OH wasn't able to promise me the same, exact price by next Thursday. Part of the discount is GM's $2k cash rebate, good until 1 December. "So you need to purchase it now. Even a deposit isn't good enough."

Sure. And in the month of December, GM will likely have a big "Year End!!" sale with, perhaps, $3k cash back. Nice try.

Sales guys. Gotta love 'em. Or something.

therink · November 27, 2014

I just factory ordered a 15 Denali 3500 SRW at dealer invoice which is 59,300 with amber marker lights, mud flaps, off road package. I will also receive what ever rebates in effect when I take delivery (currently 2k GM and $600 Costco gift card). Out the door, $56,700.

There are no 6" steps on the truck in the photo. These are standard on the Denali. Did the dealer maybe not install them or maybe removed them?

jasonvp · November 27, 2014

There are no 6" steps on the truck in the photo. These are standard on the Denali. Did the dealer maybe not install them or maybe removed them?

They hadn't been installed prior to the pic, since I'm fairly certain that's done once the truck gets delivered to the dealer. They reduce some of the clearance of the pickup making it (more) difficult to load and unload them from the delivery trucks.

Colossus · November 28, 2014

Toyotas are very boring, huh Congrats on the new truck and welcome back!

PokerMunkee · November 28, 2014

Sweet truck, I'm jelly!

Laura GMC has their 2500HD Denalis discounted $9,300 on their website. They have 66 of them in stock, but only 2 Sonoma.

http://www.laurabuickgmc.com/VehicleSearchResults?pageContext=VehicleSearch&search=new&bodyType=All&make=GMC&model=Sierra+2500HD&trim=All&stockOrVIN=&minPrice=-2147483648&maxPrice=2147483647&minYear=-2147483648&maxYear=2147483647&minMPG=-2147483648&maxMPG=2147483647

Remember, their prices include $1K trade in assistance, so add $1K back to the sale price. They have ones with exact MSRP as yours. I'd aim for this pricing!

This one is like yours but black: http://www.laurabuickgmc.com/VehicleDetails/new-2015-GMC-Sierra_2500HD-Crew_Cab_Standard_Box_4_Wheel_Drive_Denali-Collinsville-IL/2363617573

jasonvp · November 28, 2014

This one is like yours but black: http://www.laurabuickgmc.com/VehicleDetails/new-2015-GMC-Sierra_2500HD-Crew_Cab_Standard_Box_4_Wheel_Drive_Denali-Collinsville-IL/2363617573

Yeah, those are great prices, too. The linked truck doesn't have the power folding mirrors by all appearances. And I'm not really a fan of black, per se. It looks like all of the Sonoma trucks have that (bleah) brown interior.

I'm very satisfied with the deal made with the Ohio dealer. And they're only 6(ish) hours away, so the drive home won't take too long. :-)

PokerMunkee · November 28, 2014

If only these things had the push button start, then it would be perfect. I'll take one in Iridium w/ black! Like this: http://www.laurabuickgmc.com/VehicleDetails/new-2015-GMC-Sierra_2500HD-Crew_Cab_Standard_Box_4_Wheel_Drive_Denali-Collinsville-IL/2365572983

I'm shopping for a Yukon Denali for the wife and I can't get over how a 2500HD Duramax Denali is $10K cheaper than the Yukon Denali. WTF?

jasonvp · December 1, 2014

There are no 6" steps on the truck in the photo. These are standard on the Denali. Did the dealer maybe not install them or maybe removed them?

PDI'd and ready for me to drive it home... on Thursday. Steps and all.

AUTOGUY · December 4, 2014

I learned that the Power Fold Camper Mirrors are Standard on the 3500, but optional on the 2500. I have an Iridium/Black Interior 3500HD Denali Crew SRW 8'Bed on order. It was built last Monday, so it should be here soon. It will have the 18" 6 spoke chrome wheels.

I also learned that you can delete the 6" flat style running boards for a credit and either do your own or add the 4" Round ones from the factory for $650.00. I went with the 4" round. I think they look a lot better with the HD Trucks.