Mercedes Benz UK bans dealer haggling!
Discussion
Stuart70 said:
CheesecakeRunner said:
f
k haggling. I’m not buying a carpet in an Arabian souk. I just want to know how much it costs, and that I’m paying the same price as anyone else buying it. If I can afford it, and I want it, I’ll buy it. Buying my Tesla was the most pleasant and painless car purchase experience I’ve ever had.
And how much did you overpay as a result?k haggling. I’m not buying a carpet in an Arabian souk. I just want to know how much it costs, and that I’m paying the same price as anyone else buying it. If I can afford it, and I want it, I’ll buy it. Buying my Tesla was the most pleasant and painless car purchase experience I’ve ever had. Given pressure is on demand side, then it is a sellers’ market for new cars, particularly EVs.
That makes it easier for the supply side to firm pricing.
When the market shifts, oversupply will mean price negotiation will be back on the table.
‘Twas ever thus…
Similar cars on autotrader aren't much less now with 10-15k miles.
RicksAlfas said:
A big part of it is people searching online for a car "up to £20,000".
Dealers can no longer advertise a car at £20,500 with £500 of haggle built in as it won't come up in the search.
Dealers stopped doing that 15-20yrs ago. These days £500 could be the difference between your car being on page 1 of auto trader or page 4 where nobody looks!Dealers can no longer advertise a car at £20,500 with £500 of haggle built in as it won't come up in the search.
Seems a fairly good idea to me, I like knowing I paid the same price as others not left wondering if I could have bought same item for less. If it cuts out people like carwow etc then hopefully average price will also be at least the average as these companies can't also then be making money for doing very little.
DodgyGeezer said:
the question is though if large organisations buy (for example) 500 cars at a time then they'll expect a volume discount - and that is what Carwow base their business model on surely?
Carwow don’t buy cars at all. They just put Joe Public in touch with the dealers who will do the most discount and charge the dealer for the transaction.But yes, there will still be fleet deals for Enterprise, Eurocar and Motability etc, but these are dealt with at manufacturer level anyway, not by dealers.
secret_stu said:
I wonder whether dealers will pre-register cars as a way around it? Once classed as a used car, the dealer would have discretion on pricing.
No real benefit to doing so. You only get paid the £500 (or whatever) handling fee, no other support so selling for any less money just loses you cash.This is assuming there aren’t any target incentives etc, the talk is they won’t be.
Portofino said:
LF5335 said:
Portofino said:
Reads suspiciously like price fixing to me.
Not sure you know what price fixing is. It certainly isn’t someone fixing a price for a product, otherwise every business in the world is guilty of it all the time with everything they sell. Think of how many crimes Sainsbury’s or Tesco must commit on a daily basis if it were. Mercedes will be telling the dealers the price across the network, no internet deals, no offers, no geographical differences etc. thus removing the supply & demand led price set by the free market.
Sounds like price fixing to me.
Price fixing is when a couple of competitors get together and set the price for the whole market and remove all competition. Mercedes do not control a market. They control a their product within a market. You can still go and buy a BMW, an Audi, a Porsche a Skoda and so on and negotiate a price if you want to. If you absolutely want a Mercedes then you are limiting yourself, but you go in knowing the price and that there’s no wiggle room.
Tesco set all their prices, it’s clear on the shelf. You can’t go to the checkout and negotiate, it’s a fixed price. If you want to negotiate then you have to shop elsewhere,although I’ve no idea where as it’s not a Turkish bazaar. Ditto when you buy fuel and so on.
The email only appears to apply to the channels they have defined. Carwow and the like could be treated as a different channel ( often the dealer response is from the business/fleet sales department rather than the retail side)
Reckon a carwow query on the 4th would still get a range of offers from dealers
Reckon a carwow query on the 4th would still get a range of offers from dealers
Chozza said:
The email only appears to apply to the channels they have defined. Carwow and the like could be treated as a different channel ( often the dealer response is from the business/fleet sales department rather than the retail side)
Reckon a carwow query on the 4th would still get a range of offers from dealers
Nope.Reckon a carwow query on the 4th would still get a range of offers from dealers
Dealers do not own the cars.
The price may be set but there is still a deal to be done.
On a car they are struggling to move it might be some services, or a few dealer fit options etc.
At the moment it might only be a tank of fuel and an umbrella but there is always something.
I'm too tight not want to ensure I've milked everything I can from any buying situation.
I don't want a Tesla as I like ICE and would loath it but I am sure there is some way to get a better deal than the last guy.
It doesn't need to be a confrontation, I've been a salesman all my life and a fun bit of negotiation is great.
On a car they are struggling to move it might be some services, or a few dealer fit options etc.
At the moment it might only be a tank of fuel and an umbrella but there is always something.
I'm too tight not want to ensure I've milked everything I can from any buying situation.
I don't want a Tesla as I like ICE and would loath it but I am sure there is some way to get a better deal than the last guy.
It doesn't need to be a confrontation, I've been a salesman all my life and a fun bit of negotiation is great.
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff