Should I haggle?

[Lady Elanore]

It is vastly reassuring that there are some people who understand what is involved with the job, I realise it seems very easy and for the most part it is, but like you say it can get pretty difficult to manage your time well.

Glad you managed to escape the trade, it's the most difficult job to leave!!

I miss the finance side of it all though and wouldn’t mind another crack at it someday perhaps I should get my head tested

[Allams Skoda]

They always say if you've been in this trade once you ALWAYS come back to it.

It's also interesting how people end up initially doing this job, it's almost always by accident.

[Lady Elanore]

They always say if you've been in this trade once you ALWAYS come back to it.

It's also interesting how people end up initially doing this job, it's almost always by accident.

Whilst at Peugeot I worked with a salesguy who was previously an explosives scientist !!!!! And having just sold my Sedici to a Fiat dealer I found I had worked with one of the salesmen there. In fact every dealer I go to now, I seem to know at least one of the staff. It’s a surprisingly small world out there.

[Richard Loxley]

I will always haggle hard but will happily stop short of the ultimate price, as if dealers keeps matching the prices of these brokers, who is going to pay for all the nice shiny demonstrators, the showrooms, and the trained technical staff with their expensive machinery?

I felt the same, and was happy to pay extra for dealer service compare to internet prices.

However what I got from my local dealer was not my idea of service.

On my first visit I hung around for about 10 minutes with no-one approaching me to offer to help. When I managed to get someone's attention they said they wouldn't have a salesman available for an hour. I arranged to come back an hour later, but then it was too late for a test drive. I booked a test drive for the following day, but the only demonstrator car they had was a 3 year old car from their second-hand lot. I was looking to buy a 2.0TDI Octavia Scout (4x4 estate) and all I could drive was a pre-facelift 2WD 1.9 saloon. So I was ordering completely unseen, just as I would if I ordered off the internet.

They told me that they had a special event on the following week, when the 'man from Skoda' would authorise additional special offers. I made an appointment for a specific time, and took the afternoon off work to go. When I arrived, despite having an appointment, the salesman was serving other people and kept me waiting for 45 minutes. Then, despite running this special event, they offered me nothing other than the list price. When I complained, they offered me £100 off.

So, yes, in general I like to see things in the flesh and get good service, and I am willing to pay for the privilege. Shame that the Bristol dealership didn't seem to offer any level of service for their price premium.

[RedDog]

I have bought a rather expensive car as it happens, thank you very much.

Are you going to enlighten us as to what model you've bought?

[wja96]

I've just spotted this thread coming back up and I think that everyone (James from Allams as well!) should remember that every DtD car is sourced from one UK dealer and that UK dealer is VERY profitable. They don't make a huge amount on any one car, but they sell an awful lot of cars and it's actually other Skoda dealers who benefit because OTHER Skoda dealers get the servicing work. I bought my Fabia through DtD and I got a hefty discount and DtD got their cut too. Despite what anyone says, there are still good margins on cars in REAL terms. When a top-of-the-range Mondeo cost £10,000 a 20% dealer margin was £2000. Now a Mondeo costs £30000 and a 10% margin is £3000.

Feel sorry for a dealer? Certainly not! If you can't make money in business, get out of a real business(wo)man's way!

Having just had almpost 5 months of will I/won't I on my attempted purchase of a Superb Estate, I eventually ended up in an Audi TT and now I'm looking to get another, more practical car as well. And it probably won't be a Skoda because there are better deals on theoretically more prestigious brands. Which is a shame as the folks who work in every Audi dealer I've been in recently are a right bunch of *******, so guess where my TT is getting serviced? Robinsons Skoda in Norwich! Crazy. They can't sell me a car, but I won't go anywhere else for service!

[Allams Skoda]

I've just spotted this thread coming back up and I think that everyone (James from Allams as well!) should remember that every DtD car is sourced from one UK dealer and that UK dealer is VERY profitable. They don't make a huge amount on any one car, but they sell an awful lot of cars and it's actually other Skoda dealers who benefit because OTHER Skoda dealers get the servicing work. I bought my Fabia through DtD and I got a hefty discount and DtD got their cut too. Despite what anyone says, there are still good margins on cars in REAL terms. When a top-of-the-range Mondeo cost £10,000 a 20% dealer margin was £2000. Now a Mondeo costs £30000 and a 10% margin is £3000.

Feel sorry for a dealer? Certainly not! If you can't make money in business, get out of a real business(wo)man's way!

Would you pay £30,000 for a Mondeo? I almost certain you'd and everyone would want a discount for buying a Ford. So that £3k quickly dwindles down to nothing. Plus the staff need paying, the rates are pretty steep as are the bills.

I agree that the dealer that supplies DtD does sell a lot of cars but every year there targets go up and up and there will come a point when they are relying soley on bonus money, like what happened to Saltdean they where knocking out taxis and DtD cars so there turnover was massive but profit was minimal.

But you're right, obviously we still earn money out of cars otherwise I wouldn't be doing it! It does make me laugh though when people ask me if salesman really get paid £500 for selling a car, I wish it was!!!

[Lady Elanore]

Would you pay £30,000 for a Mondeo? I almost certain you'd and everyone would want a discount for buying a Ford. So that £3k quickly dwindles down to nothing. Plus the staff need paying, the rates are pretty steep as are the bills.

I agree that the dealer that supplies DtD does sell a lot of cars but every year there targets go up and up and there will come a point when they are relying soley on bonus money, like what happened to Saltdean they where knocking out taxis and DtD cars so there turnover was massive but profit was minimal.

But you're right, obviously we still earn money out of cars otherwise I wouldn't be doing it! It does make me laugh though when people ask me if salesman really get paid £500 for selling a car, I wish it was!!!

When the Hummer H2 came out, the commission was capped at £1,000 I only sold one before I left and didn’t even get the commission owed :( Still £50 comission per £30K+, 350Z was wonderful ……………..NOT!