Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all.

[silentbrown]

yajeed said:

My point was that you offered him a deal that you didn't want to do, which would have made no money but instead left you with a car that you feel would have taken longer to sell. Seems a strange strategy...

You realise the Yaris would have a higher sticker price than the trade-in value...?

[Butter Face]

silentbrown said:

You realise the Yaris would have a higher sticker price than the trade-in value...?

And the car sold with the Yaris as PX makes a profit, then selling the Yaris would have made a profit again (possibly )

That’s kinda how our business works. Sometimes though you’d rather have the car you’ve got than the one someone wants to sell you in exchange.

[Mexman]

yajeed said:

Mexman said:

Offered him a price I would be 'happy' to pay for it which was £5500 but given the choice I would rather own the car we have for sale on the pitch and wait for a different buyer.
At £6200, which is what he wanted, it was too much, would have cost us money to do the deal, as in returning him a cheque for £700 also.
The car we have, will sell quickly I believe, so I an quite happy to have not done that particular deal.

My point was that you offered him a deal that you didn't want to do, which would have made no money but instead left you with a car that you feel would have taken longer to sell. Seems a strange strategy...

I made an offer based on the fact that it's difficult to outright refuse to give an offer at all.
The Yaris has a retail value of £6995, which had I offered to do a deal at £6200 leaves very little margin to work with and you just know that you will end up having to reduce it in price as the weeks go by.
£7000 for a small auto is a lot of money for very little car.
And the bloke was a bit of an arrogant so and so, you just know that it would be a world of pain selling the bloke a car.
If he is like that now, imagine what he is going to be like if he has a problem?

Edited by Mexman on Wednesday 17th January 14:55

Edited by Mexman on Wednesday 17th January 14:56

[ghost83]

Why do some dealers have match prices and other won’t entertain it?

I’m currently looking at 6 cars to replace my current car and some bmw garages just won’t entertain discount at all even if you can get 9-12k off a car by using coast2coast and companies like that (tbh it’s mainly the ones that operate on carwow)

Also looking at an RS3 I can get one 300 mile away with 10% off the overall price but my local dealer (Wakefield) won’t entertain any discount at all

[Mexman]

ghost83 said:

Why do some dealers have match prices and other won’t entertain it?

I’m currently looking at 6 cars to replace my current car and some bmw garages just won’t entertain discount at all even if you can get 9-12k off a car by using coast2coast and companies like that (tbh it’s mainly the ones that operate on carwow)

Also looking at an RS3 I can get one 300 mile away with 10% off the overall price but my local dealer (Wakefield) won’t entertain any discount at all

Maybe they don't need to?
Perhaps their order bank is pootling along quite nicely without the need to give desirable stock that is possibly difficult to replace away.
Not every dealer has to give cars away with little or no profit if they are successful enough anyway.

[HTP99]

ghost83 said:

Why do some dealers have match prices and other won’t entertain it?

I’m currently looking at 6 cars to replace my current car and some bmw garages just won’t entertain discount at all even if you can get 9-12k off a car by using coast2coast and companies like that (tbh it’s mainly the ones that operate on carwow)

Also looking at an RS3 I can get one 300 mile away with 10% off the overall price but my local dealer (Wakefield) won’t entertain any discount at all

Lots of variables, as already mentioned maybe the dealer doesn't need to, they may have a certain allocation for the year of a particular model and don't feel the need to piss it away, some dealers trade on bonus money over and above upfront discount, we have had Carwow deals presented to us where the dealer is offering £800 more off over and above what can be offered using the standard margin, we will never trade like that, it's madness and desperation.

[papa3]

Mexman said:

Maybe they don't need to?

This, or they are unable to do so.

The franchised motor trade is not a level playing field.

For several years we represented a French manufacturer. on their base model our guaranteed margin was 7%. A major Scottish based dealer who trades in volumes that we cannot even comprehend negotiated a bulk purchase deal that gave him 30% regardless of his standards performance. There is simply no possible way we could compete.

[RRLover]

ghost83 said:

Why do some dealers have match prices and other won’t entertain it?

I’m currently looking at 6 cars to replace my current car and some bmw garages just won’t entertain discount at all even if you can get 9-12k off a car by using coast2coast and companies like that (tbh it’s mainly the ones that operate on carwow)

Also looking at an RS3 I can get one 300 mile away with 10% off the overall price but my local dealer (Wakefield) won’t entertain any discount at all

Six Cars ???
Seriously ?
I think for everyone's sake you should pin it down to one or two & then go on the hunt.
Its not a public service they are offering!

[Eyersey1234]

How did a franchised dealer know what vehicles were in the system somewhere before computers?

[andymc]

Mexman said:

ghost83 said:

Why do some dealers have match prices and other won’t entertain it?

I’m currently looking at 6 cars to replace my current car and some bmw garages just won’t entertain discount at all even if you can get 9-12k off a car by using coast2coast and companies like that (tbh it’s mainly the ones that operate on carwow)

Also looking at an RS3 I can get one 300 mile away with 10% off the overall price but my local dealer (Wakefield) won’t entertain any discount at all

Maybe they don't need to?
Perhaps their order bank is pootling along quite nicely without the need to give desirable stock that is possibly difficult to replace away.
Not every dealer has to give cars away with little or no profit if they are successful enough anyway.

they won't discount because they wont think you're serious enough

[talksthetorque]

Eyersey1234 said:

How did a franchised dealer know what vehicles were in the system somewhere before computers?

Windows?
If it wasn’t outside on the lot or a transporter, don’t phone the customers to tell them their car’s ready.

[Eyersey1234]

I wasn't meaning cars that were already at the dealership. In 1994 my grandparents bought a new Fiesta (which subsequently became my first car) and there were no computers on the salesman's desk then. Just wondered if a customer back then rang a garage to buy a car and there wasn't one at that particular dealer how the salesman could find out if there was one in a compound somewhere

[Pericoloso]

Eyersey1234 said:

I wasn't meaning cars that were already at the dealership. In 1994 my grandparents bought a new Fiesta (which subsequently became my first car) and there were no computers on the salesman's desk then. Just wondered if a customer back then rang a garage to buy a car and there wasn't one at that particular dealer how the salesman could find out if there was one in a compound somewhere

Probably had it all listed on that paper stuff but obviously bit slow to update if another dealer has nabbed one of them already.

[em177]

Eyersey1234 said:

how the salesman could find out if there was one in a compound somewhere

How did the salesman wake up for work on time without an alarm on his iPhone. How did he make it without his car sat nav telling him there was a traffic jam on the M6. Infact how did he even make it to the M6 without having to fiddle with the choke on his Cortina to get it started.

There was a world before tech

[Eyersey1234]

Maybe. I went with them to look at it and the salesman had a list of registrations on a pad to offer customers. My grandad said we would have to get a wax crayon as the one in the brochure was a different colour to the one he bought

[Torcars]

I remember those big registration number books. As a kid it was one of the many exciting things about getting a car.

We were usually at a Volvo dealer and their registrations containing model numbers, 340, 760 etc were always taken by the garage.

We've had our own plate for decades, but twice in recent years we've bought cars with normal registration numbers. Its still fun to choose.

[Torcars]

What about handover gifts?

The bunch of flowers seems to be a staple and has been for years.

Land Rover gave us the flowers, posh keyrings dust caps with logos on them and an off road experience.

I got a few nice bottles of wine once.

A little pack of branded cleaning products was popular with Rovers and Volvos.

Does the manufacturer dictate what gifts are offered? Is it down to the dealer or salesman? Does he cost come out of the comission, a slush fund or from the manufacturer.

[silentbrown]

Torcars said:

... dust caps with logos on them ...

Please, NO!

I was given these by my FIL, and the aluminium caps corrode onto the steel valves incredibly fast. On cars with TPMS you're not regularly removing the caps to check pressures - so you only realise the problem when you've got a soggy tyre and you can't remove the dust cap to pump it up.

Had to get all the valves replaced by a tyre fitter which cost noticeably more than the dust caps...

[Dan W.]

Mexman said:

Maybe they don't need to?
Perhaps their order bank is pootling along quite nicely without the need to give desirable stock that is possibly difficult to replace away.
Not every dealer has to give cars away with little or no profit if they are successful enough anyway.

Agree with Mexman, our garage works on this model, we do often have a customer come to us to see if we can price match a Carwow order and we refuse. whats the point of losing money on a car when we have already hit our target.

The used car one is where we make our money, If we have a desirable car and we know its priced well its not getting discounted.

[Dan W.]

Torcars said:

What about handover gifts?

The bunch of flowers seems to be a staple and has been for years.

Land Rover gave us the flowers, posh keyrings dust caps with logos on them and an off road experience.

I got a few nice bottles of wine once.

A little pack of branded cleaning products was popular with Rovers and Volvos.

Does the manufacturer dictate what gifts are offered? Is it down to the dealer or salesman? Does he cost come out of the comission, a slush fund or from the manufacturer.

Comes from the dealership.