Dealer won’t deal

[Ceeejay]

I’m in the mood for a change of bike, and didn’t want the fuss of selling mine privately, so I went to a franchised dealer to see what could be done.

The bike I went to see was still in prep, and its pictures hadn’t even made it to the website yet. They started by coming up with an offer on my bike, not what I would have hoped for but not hugely miles from what I was expecting…. They weren’t going to resell themselves so got an offer over the phone from a broker they use..

Then we started talking about the cost to change… which went straight to £9300…. The cost of the advertised bike minus my trade in value…. So I came back with let’s deal at 9k… the salesman had to take this to the boss apparently.. so off he wanders….

Comes back a few minutes later and says, they can’t budge…. I was a bit taken aback to be honest…. Ok just maybe the trade in price on mine meant no margin for them…. But they will have no doubt spanked the previous owner on the bike I was looking at and have a healthy margin…. I’ve used them for servicing ever since they opened, and I’ve had a used bike off them about 7 years ago, and a brand new one 5 years ago…. And now they won’t deal over £300….

Anyway I just said thank you , but if you aren’t willing to deal then I’m walking…. And so I left, and feel like I won’t be using them again, despite having to travel another 30 miles past them to the next dealer…

Are times really that bad in the bike industry at the moment… do they not care about customer relationships… cheesed off… felt like venting….

[FourGears]

Why should the dealer budge??

I agree it's frustrating but they don't have to.

I had one dealer refusing to budge when it had been in stock for over a year.

[paddy1970]

A £300 gap in negotiation should not be a deal-breaker for a dealer, especially given your loyalty and history with them.

Walking away was the right move. If they are not willing to acknowledge a reasonable offer from a returning customer, they do not deserve your business.

[Martylaa]

Ceeejay said:

I’m in the mood for a change of bike, and didn’t want the fuss of selling mine privately, so I went to a franchised dealer to see what could be done.

The bike I went to see was still in prep, and its pictures hadn’t even made it to the website yet. They started by coming up with an offer on my bike, not what I would have hoped for but not hugely miles from what I was expecting…. They weren’t going to resell themselves so got an offer over the phone from a broker they use..

Then we started talking about the cost to change… which went straight to £9300…. The cost of the advertised bike minus my trade in value…. So I came back with let’s deal at 9k… the salesman had to take this to the boss apparently.. so off he wanders….

Comes back a few minutes later and says, they can’t budge…. I was a bit taken aback to be honest…. Ok just maybe the trade in price on mine meant no margin for them…. But they will have no doubt spanked the previous owner on the bike I was looking at and have a healthy margin…. I’ve used them for servicing ever since they opened, and I’ve had a used bike off them about 7 years ago, and a brand new one 5 years ago…. And now they won’t deal over £300….

Anyway I just said thank you , but if you aren’t willing to deal then I’m walking…. And so I left, and feel like I won’t be using them again, despite having to travel another 30 miles past them to the next dealer…

Are times really that bad in the bike industry at the moment… do they not care about customer relationships… cheesed off… felt like venting….

And that is everything thats wrong with the industry, we'll be lucky to have anyone interested in bikes in the coming years. The dealers have it so one sided at the moment, they offer piss poor part ex valuations and refuse to even discount a bike they are selling. Fair play for walking.

[Caddyshack]

I have spoken to a few dealers who said that sometimes they only have £500 profit in a bike so maybe the numbers were just too tight on that deal.

Odd that they didn’t come back with £50 off, is the best we can do for a deal now….give the customer something???

I bought new today and no trade in….best I got was £100 off a labour rate for fitting some extras. He said the margins were “wafer thin”

[FourGears]

Martylaa said:

And that is everything thats wrong with the industry, we'll be lucky to have anyone interested in bikes in the coming years. The dealers have it so one sided at the moment, they offer piss poor part ex valuations and refuse to even discount a bike they are selling. Fair play for walking.

Dealers are going pop left and right.

[mikey_b]

Martylaa said:

And that is everything thats wrong with the industry, we'll be lucky to have anyone interested in bikes in the coming years. The dealers have it so one sided at the moment, they offer piss poor part ex valuations and refuse to even discount a bike they are selling. Fair play for walking.

If the dealers have it all so one-sided, why is there a thread running where loads of them have gone bust?

[Skeptisk]

mikey_b said:

Martylaa said:

And that is everything thats wrong with the industry, we'll be lucky to have anyone interested in bikes in the coming years. The dealers have it so one sided at the moment, they offer piss poor part ex valuations and refuse to even discount a bike they are selling. Fair play for walking.

If the dealers have it all so one-sided, why is there a thread running where loads of them have gone bust?

The problem is buyer and seller looking at it differently. For the buyer the £300 represents only around 3% of the price they are paying. However it could be 50% of the margin for the dealer. As above dealers don’t seem to be making hay at the moment and most likely need every bit of margin they can get.

[trickywoo]

I think the dealer reckoned you were hot to trot but overplayed their hand.

I’d imagine it wasn’t done with any finesse either.

I had an issue with a shop that wouldn’t price match a pin lock despite saying they did. I walked over £5. Not because of the money but the salesman was a dick about it.

I’d also previously bought a £500 helmet from them. Haven’t been back since.

[cliffords]

It's the same with cars right now .
I am buying a £10k used car , or in fact I am not as I can't get a deal.
No part ex and two dealers won't drop the price even £1.

What I don't get it the look of disbelief and insult they pretend .
I offered £9500 on a £9700 car and £8500 on a £8666 car both said no.
I was there in person after test drive and look at car and paperwork, no finance , pay today.

[the cueball]

I’ve spoke to a few recently and the mentality seems to be the price is the price, I’m not moving a £1.

All taking inspiration from the Merc advert a few years back where it was all, no hassle, no haggle this is the price and you’ll like it lump it????? (may not be a direct quote to be honest)

[Pit Pony]

FourGears said:

Martylaa said:

And that is everything thats wrong with the industry, we'll be lucky to have anyone interested in bikes in the coming years. The dealers have it so one sided at the moment, they offer piss poor part ex valuations and refuse to even discount a bike they are selling. Fair play for walking.

Dealers are going pop left and right.

Are they going bust because they aren't turning over enough stock? With a tiny profit on each. Or because they aren't making enough profit on the one bike they sold this week.

Would they sell more bikes at a lower price ?

Rather than offer a few quid off, could they offer something like free servicing, a new helmet, tickets to the TT ?

[bitchstewie]

I don't get how people get so anchored on getting a discount.

If the price to change was a "dishonest" £9600 but you got £300 off sounds like you'd probably go for it but if the price to change is an "honest" £9300 with no discount you'll walk.

Seriously?

Don't get too hung up on the psychology of the "win" of getting a bit of money off and just focus on if the price to change feels acceptable IMO

[Rubin215]

bhstewie said:

Don't get too hung up on the psychology of the "win" of getting a bit of money off and just focus on if the price to change feels acceptable IMO

It's the Donald Trump effect.

Everyone feels they have to get the final word, the very best deal, humiliate the opposition.

We get hung up on the tiniest of issues and lose sight of the bigger picture.


I very recently bought a used car, a dull and boring Skoda Octavia estate.

The seller wanted about £500 more than I wanted to pay and wasn't keen to move, eventually he came down by £100.

£100 off a £6k car isn't a lot, but the bigger picture was that the car was one owner, low miles, fsh and immaculate.

He then also gave me the full pack of Autoglym products he bought when he first got the car as he had never used them, about £90 worth.

He was happy, I was happy and we had a great chat about rugby.

[Caddyshack]

bhstewie said:

I don't get how people get so anchored on getting a discount.

If the price to change was a "dishonest" £9600 but you got £300 off sounds like you'd probably go for it but if the price to change is an "honest" £9300 with no discount you'll walk.

Seriously?

Don't get too hung up on the psychology of the "win" of getting a bit of money off and just focus on if the price to change feels acceptable IMO

Totally agree, ask for money off, push a bit, ask for something thrown in and if that doesn’t work you do the deal and know that you tried.

Equally the sales people seem to have changed or maybe lost a skill, you don’t seem to get follow up calls anymore to see if there is a deal to be done. I think this is due to email, text and volumes needed. With thin margins and the sales being bombarded with people ask “what’s your best price” they just let the buyer do the work and enough will buy but when its quiet they need to chase up each lead….i have been buying recently and many do not even ask for my name, number or email and follow up.

[Trevor555]

the cueball said:

I’ve spoke to a few recently and the mentality seems to be the price is the price, I’m not moving a £1.

It's been like this for a while now.

I was the same when I had my forecourt a few years back.

Sure, plenty of buyers walked, but every car simply sold to someone else.

[OldGermanHeaps]

I think with being able to compare prices on the internet, a lot of dealers have started listing at the lowest price they are prepared to sell at, where previously they would have padded it a bit to allow all the mike brewer wannabees to feel like they have achieved something.
If the price works buy it, if not dont.
Do you get your trolley to the checkout at tesco then walk away if they wont discount a jar of coffee?
I am sure if they could have knocked a bit off and it still being worth their while they would have.

[xeny]

cliffords said:

It's the same with cars right now .
I am buying a £10k used car , or in fact I am not as I can't get a deal.
No part ex and two dealers won't drop the price even £1.

What I don't get it the look of disbelief and insult they pretend .
I offered £9500 on a £9700 car and £8500 on a £8666 car both said no.
I was there in person after test drive and look at car and paperwork, no finance , pay today.

May be more scope to haggle if you take finance, there's probably some commission for them there.

[cliffords]

xeny said:

cliffords said:

It's the same with cars right now .
I am buying a £10k used car , or in fact I am not as I can't get a deal.
No part ex and two dealers won't drop the price even £1.

What I don't get it the look of disbelief and insult they pretend .
I offered £9500 on a £9700 car and £8500 on a £8666 car both said no.
I was there in person after test drive and look at car and paperwork, no finance , pay today.

May be more scope to haggle if you take finance, there's probably some commission for them there.

Taking finance I don't need just makes the car a crazy price. Car finance at dealers is the worst kind of finance short of pay day loans or credit cards.
It's for the very needy or people with no common sense. I can see it has a big place in our society.

[xeny]

cliffords said:

Taking finance I don't need just makes the car a crazy price. Car finance at dealers is the worst kind of finance short of pay day loans or credit cards.
It's for the very needy or people with no common sense. I can see it has a big place in our society.

Isn't there some strategy that involves paying it off essentially immediately?