Why do motor dealers think we're still living in the dark ages and deprived of info ?

property.advert

I've been on the phone today to a few dealers, sometime talking about new cars and sometimes discussing a particular model I am considering second hand. I'm an easy sell, just front up a half decent price and I'm yours but why do they believe the internet does not exist, that forums such as this have not been invented and that we are all mugs out to be fleeced whilst they clutch onto their Glass's guide bible ?

If I believed their !!!! and bull stories, I could go buy a vehicle they say cannot be bought at XYZ price and sell it to them at about £2000 more than I paid, if they were to honour what they say they are buying those vehicles in for. Yet you tell them this in a polite way and still they state that their price is what it is, despite mountains of evidence that they are way off mark.

Is it really more profitable to wait for the mug punter, fending off calls and requests from clued up prospective buyers and wait for the big kill rather than shifting some product and putting a few pounds in the P&L account ?

And why do they think we are all stupid ?

worried_jim

I feel your pain. Have you tried just saying I am willing to pay x for it, do you want the deal? and let them say yes or no, if they can do that deal they should bite your hand off for an easy sale. good luck.

[Deleted User]

Because most of them themselves are still living in the dark ages. No tech in sight apart from their Auto Trader-run "website"

bigjl

Because property.advert they are in business to make money, if they sell a car for under their minimum margin then they lose money, which isn't business that is stupidity. They will have a specific time that they are prepared to hold a car in stock before they will drop the price, I take it most of your knowledge of the car industry come from Quentin Wilson or Honest John, the days of dealers trying to sell convertibles for half of their cost price in winter, just to get hem sold, are long gone, if they ever exisited. Though as car dealer might offer you less in winter on the off chance that you will bite, they will then store it or use it themselves until the summer.

You seem to want to create multiple threads about the same thing , when a post asks an awkward question you start a new thread, just so you know, a large dealership recieves hundreds of calls a day, but until you turn up at the dealership with money they will pretty much dismiss you as a time waster.

You also seem unable to comprehend that there are many levels to the car trade, one man bands selling cheaper cars from home or a small lockup, lower prices caused by smaller outgoings. All the way to huge companies with million pound turnovers, with everything else in between.

So, have you actually visited any dealer yet?

bigjl

What no reply from property.advert yet?

Why not start a new thread then.

Strider590

When I went looking for my last car, a dealer had one priced at £3995..... Far too much! that was around £500 more than top trade price for a mint motor. He wouldn't come down at all, tried to tell me that big cars were really popular (yeah right) and he could sell at that price all day long!! lol

I went off and bought a 1 year newer example for £3000.

6 weeks later, that car was still on his forecourt at £3995.

benham3160

Unfortunately, (I mean that) this is capitalism in action.

I worked for short time for an independent car dealer, (second hand, three-ten years old) and it's easier to wait for the buyer who wants THAT car, rather than haggle.

When you buy from a dealer, you have to pay the premium, I went car shopping this week and was fed a load of absolute nonsense about a particular car, however I just quietly walked away, shook his hand, took his business card and tossed it in the bin on the way out.

This is will be the case I'm afriad.

Regards,
Andy

property.advert

Strider590 wrote: »

When I went looking for my last car, a dealer had one priced at £3995..... Far too much! that was around £500 more than top trade price for a mint motor. He wouldn't come down at all, tried to tell me that big cars were really popular (yeah right) and he could sell at that price all day long!! lol

I went off and bought a 1 year newer example for £3000.

6 weeks later, that car was still on his forecourt at £3995.

Yeah, that seems the way. Always loads of buyers for the car you want at inflated prices.

property.advert

benham3160 wrote: »

Unfortunately, (I mean that) this is capitalism in action.

I worked for short time for an independent car dealer, (second hand, three-ten years old) and it's easier to wait for the buyer who wants THAT car, rather than haggle.

When you buy from a dealer, you have to pay the premium, I went car shopping this week and was fed a load of absolute nonsense about a particular car, however I just quietly walked away, shook his hand, took his business card and tossed it in the bin on the way out.

This is will be the case I'm afriad.

Regards,
Andy

It is no wonder that we hold them in disdain when they act like that.

motorguy

Strider590 wrote: »

When I went looking for my last car, a dealer had one priced at £3995..... Far too much! that was around £500 more than top trade price for a mint motor. He wouldn't come down at all, tried to tell me that big cars were really popular (yeah right) and he could sell at that price all day long!! lol

I went off and bought a 1 year newer example for £3000.

6 weeks later, that car was still on his forecourt at £3995.

Looking it at from the other side, there does seem to be an impression that there is some sort of fire sale going on whereby dealers *have* to sell cars at *any* price.

£500 might be all the profit margin the dealer had in that car, so he may not have been in a position to let the car go for that price - he'd rather wait for someone who would pay it. That may mean waiting six weeks or 12 weeks, but good stock is hard to come by so from his perspective it might be better to sit on a car he believes he can get £3995 for, rather than flog it off cheap and not be able to replace it on the forecourt.

Selling cars isnt a race to the bottom in terms of price.