http://www.simpsonsskoda.co.uk/new-cars/rapid/

 

This is where I am getting my space back from. Without even asking he gave me £3500 off. Plus its interest free on PCP.

 

If you click on current offers. It says "grab an extra £3000 on your part exchange allowance"

 

Does this prove there are deals to be had if you take blinkers off.

Edited 8 September, 201411 yr by samTSI

The issue is "deals" themselves. A Skoda dealership is a retail shop, not a 3rd world country bazaar, where you have to haggle or otherwise you are deemed a tourist suitable to be ripped off. As most Skoda dealerships in Europe can demonstrate, there is nothing wrong with transparent pricing and price lists close to achievable purchase prices, European Rapid sales are doing very well, UK are average at best. 

 

In May 2014, SUK sold 652 Rapids, that includes both Spaceback and regular Rapid. In the same period of time, Skoda sold 7271 Rapids in Europe. Just to give you an idea on how poor these figures are for SUK, for the same period of time 2241 Fabias were sold in the UK vs 10084 in Europe.

 

UK sales of Rapid are less than 9% of European sales, and Fabia sales are over 20% of European sales. This clearly shows that over-inflated Rapid pricing in the UK is deterring customers from buying Rapid, and pushing them into Fabias and Octavias instead, or other car makes.

 

How many people do you think are aware of the amount of discount possible on this particular model? I suspect not many, most get fleeced at the dealer. Do you think it is right? If yes, well, everyone has the right to their own opinion. I for once believe in transparent pricing, without "special deals", tied offers or other salesmen tricks, and my belief is clearly supported by SUK's painful Rapid sales figures. And I still recall how I bought Mk1 Octavia instead of a Mondeo precisely because Ford had over £20k list price while being routinely sold for under £15k by dealers at the time (whenever I enquired about factory order at Ford dealerships, I'd be shown RRP list with 10% discount for cash purchase).

Edited 8 September, 201411 yr by dieselV6

That's just part of car retail culture in the UK I'm afraid.

It's very common knowledge that discounts are available if you buy at the right time and in the right way, and some people will always be better than others at negotiating.

Some will just walk in off the street and pay near list and others get very close to the maximum discount possible, and the first group effectively end up subsidising the second.

The good news is that it's not all that difficult to get into the latter group and you'll do a bit better than might have been the case if everyone paid the same.

 

Buy a new model and you'll struggle to get a discount, and then as the car ages and competitors seem more desirable the bargains start to appear. The alternative would be a list price that dropped each year.

 

With Skoda and their sometimes limited production capacity, varying the discount, finance and other offers are simply a way of managing supply and demand.
There are a finite number of cars that they can make in a year and it's a very delicate balancing act to make sure that they sell every one for the greatest profit. Drop the price too low and demand exceeds supply, and if you try and make a bit too much profit you'll end up with unsold cars.

The issue is "deals" themselves. A Skoda dealership is a retail shop, not a 3rd world country bazaar, where you have to haggle or otherwise you are deemed a tourist suitable to be ripped off. As most Skoda dealerships in Europe can demonstrate, there is nothing wrong with transparent pricing and price lists close to achievable purchase prices, European Rapid sales are doing very well, UK are average at best.

In May 2014, SUK sold 652 Rapids, that includes both Spaceback and regular Rapid. In the same period of time, Skoda sold 7271 Rapids in Europe. Just to give you an idea on how poor these figures are for SUK, for the same period of time 2241 Fabias were sold in the UK vs 10084 in Europe.

UK sales of Rapid are less than 9% of European sales, and Fabia sales are over 20% of European sales. This clearly shows that over-inflated Rapid pricing in the UK is deterring customers from buying Rapid, and pushing them into Fabias and Octavias instead, or other car makes.

How many people do you think are aware of the amount of discount possible on this particular model? I suspect not many, most get fleeced at the dealer. Do you think it is right? If yes, well, everyone has the right to their own opinion. I for once believe in transparent pricing, without "special deals", tied offers or other salesmen tricks, and my belief is clearly supported by SUK's painful Rapid sales figures. And I still recall how I bought Mk1 Octavia instead of a Mondeo precisely because Ford had over £20k list price while being routinely sold for under £15k by dealers at the time (whenever I enquired about factory order at Ford dealerships, I'd be shown RRP list with 10% discount for cash purchase).

So the UK accounts for more than 10% of the EU car market?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

UK sales of Rapid are less than 9% of European sales, and Fabia sales are over 20% of European sales. This clearly shows that over-inflated Rapid pricing in the UK is deterring customers from buying Rapid, and pushing them into Fabias and Octavias instead, or other car makes.

 

I'm pretty sure if you look at sales of dark and milk chocolate in the UK and Europe you'll find a similar pattern. This clearly shows...?

I'm pretty sure if you look at sales of dark and milk chocolate in the UK and Europe you'll find a similar pattern. This clearly shows...?

That different things sell differently in different places?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Plus look at the size of the UK compared to the rest of Europe. There is a lot more people.

 

I think you have to much time on your hands and making a mountain out of a mole hill.

 

Dealerships aren't going to bring the prices down if they can sell some at a higher price than to others. The prices are there to be had, its down to the individual to get the best deal they can.

That's just part of car retail culture in the UK I'm afraid.

It's very common knowledge that discounts are available if you buy at the right time and in the right way, and some people will always be better than others at negotiating.

Some will just walk in off the street and pay near list and others get very close to the maximum discount possible, and the first group effectively end up subsidising the second.

The good news is that it's not all that difficult to get into the latter group and you'll do a bit better than might have been the case if everyone paid the same.

Buy a new model and you'll struggle to get a discount, and then as the car ages and competitors seem more desirable the bargains start to appear. The alternative would be a list price that dropped each year.

With Skoda and their sometimes limited production capacity, varying the discount, finance and other offers are simply a way of managing supply and demand.

There are a finite number of cars that they can make in a year and it's a very delicate balancing act to make sure that they sell every one for the greatest profit. Drop the price too low and demand exceeds supply, and if you try and make a bit too much profit you'll end up with unsold cars.

I agree fully with you that this is today's picture. In my opinion we (Skoda car buyers, not sellers) would be better off if list prices were more realistic. But that's just my opinion.

You've provided me with an hassle free and easy to use website to get "normal" price in the UK, so for me problem is solved and thanks again.

However it still does not resolve the issue of missing options on UK cars. Rough Road package is easy enough to retrofit, but since I do a lot of travel at night, and Rapid headlamps are reflectors, I'd prefer to get factory xenons this time as HID retrofits are not viable. Available in Europe as an option for EUR350, but not here in the UK. Factory xenon retrofit is a major job (new wiring looms, level sensors as well as headlamp units themselves).

Edited 9 September, 201411 yr by TeflonTom

Well I've just done as you have and done the Carwow quotes, not on your model but the one I have in mind. At the moment I'm seeing savings approaching £4k on dealer full list prices.

 

At the moment I've still got a quote in place which I did some weeks ago which beats the best Carwow quote so far.

 

Having bought a new car via the broker route my thinking is, why go direct to the dealer but many still do. It's a security thing, safer option, but really you are still getting a car from a UK dealer, a factory order, not an import, you are the first registered owner etc etc.

 

I really agree with the OP, why should we have to do it this way? It would be interesting to know how many buy without haggling, doing a deal some how or check prices.

 

 

I've just bought myself a new mobile (ok off topic but relevent). I looked everywhere for the best deal but in the end I found if I bought the phone over 24 months (0% APR) which also enabled me to pay the phone straight off after the 1st payment I saved myself £55. I always buy my phones and then have a sim only contract, it was that good I bought my wife a new phone as hers is past it's best.

Well I've just done as you have and done the Carwow quotes, not on your model but the one I have in mind. At the moment I'm seeing savings approaching £4k on dealer full list prices.

 

At the moment I've still got a quote in place which I did some weeks ago which beats the best Carwow quote so far.

 

Having bought a new car via the broker route my thinking is, why go direct to the dealer but many still do. It's a security thing, safer option, but really you are still getting a car from a UK dealer, a factory order, not an import, you are the first registered owner etc etc.

 

I really agree with the OP, why should we have to do it this way? It would be interesting to know how many buy without haggling, doing a deal some how or check prices.

 

 

I've just bought myself a new mobile (ok off topic but relevent). I looked everywhere for the best deal but in the end I found if I bought the phone over 24 months (0% APR) which also enabled me to pay the phone straight off after the 1st payment I saved myself £55. I always buy my phones and then have a sim only contract, it was that good I bought my wife a new phone as hers is past it's best.

Yes, 4k discount is achievable but I've seen a max of 3.2k discount via Carwow on the Rapid - you've done well. My usual route is get a quote from one of the usual go to brokers - dtd, orangewheels, broker4cars, autoebid etc go to local dealers and see if they want the business with a price match. I do that simply as its more convenient ie more local to pick the car up. At the end of the day, the broker orders through their associated dealer so the car gets built in the same factory, in the same way and delivered to a proper dealer for pick up by the customer. No one I know takes a cars rrp as the price they are excepted to pay! After a house, the car is usually the second biggest purchase most people make so you naturally want to get the best deal possible.

Thread will be reopened shortly and people dealt with accordingly.

Topic reopened..

Listen up good folks, this flaming &. trolling and general trouble making stops here now, nobody cares where you do you weekly shop either, I suggest you try scn if you want to carry this puerile nonsense.

I suggest you try scn if you want to carry this puerile nonsense.

+1 lmao!

Topic reopened..

Listen up good folks, this flaming &. trolling and general trouble making stops here now, nobody cares where you do you weekly shop either, I suggest you try scn if you want to carry this puerile nonsense.

Can you clarify who is in the wrong here in the eyes of the moderators?

To be fair, I can kind of understand the point DieselV6 makes about pricing of cars in the UK but the reality is this isn't just a Skoda issue, it's the entire car industry. The route I took to get my car was a little different, it was a pre-reg (with 10 miles on the clock), discounted quite heavily to £11500 (list price for the SE at the time with full size spare & black magic paint was in the region of £15500 IIRC) because Skoda had revised the SE standard equipment list....

 

Then I managed to negotiate £1500 trade in for my 52 plate Fabia (which I'd bought for £2k and put 55+ thousand miles on, so in reality it didn't really owe me anything)

 

I've never successfully haggled for anything in my life prior to this, and I think the key to it was being prepared to walk away from the dealer - I went to have a test drive, was interested to hear what their finance offer was and the more I refused to put pen to paper there and then in the dealership the more their offer for the Fabia went up (the initial valuation was £250)... They blurted £1500 at me as I was walking out, I still walked out, then arranged the finance over that weekend and phoned them on monday morning telling them I'd buy it cash if the offer was still on the table 

Well done you! I remember walking out of a Ford dealer once because they had just changed the options that meant you couldn't have a sunroof as a/c was then made standard. I had absolutely no intention of doing it but I calmly thanked the sales guy and said I'll go across the road and buy the Astra from the Vauxhall dealer then... He literally talked to me all the way to the door, trying to convince me to let him try to ring the factory to see if they'd allow it. They did and I got the car with £4,600 off plus got an additional 2k off via a cheque in the post a fortnight later (a nationwide 'promotion' they did for customers that had just paid out before a 2k model price drop) so I was pleased I stuck that one out!

So the moral of the story, if you want to haggle, be prepared to walk away

So the moral of the story, if you want to haggle, be prepared to walk away

Exactly that!

I'm not blaming Skoda, although VAG have been instrumental in maintaining the manufacturers' cartel and rip-off UK pricing structure.   The Office of Fair Trading did give them a whipping a few years ago, and prices dropped a bit but now the disparity is widening again.

We had a web-site operator, "Autobytel", which still operates in the USA.   Volkswagen/Audi put Autobytel out of business in the UK by threatening its dealers with excommunication if they sold cars through Autobytel.   Since then, others have come along, "drive the deal" etc but they cannot break the illegal cartel the manufacturers operate here in the UK.

A VW Phaeton, in the USA, is cheaper than a VW Polo in the UK - and when you consider that VW's are shipped at a high cost to the USA and that all  US cars are automatic as standard, that is even more insulting to our intelligence!

The Office of Fair Trading will be looking into the cartels operated by motor manafacturers again very shortly I am told.

Edited 20 September, 201411 yr by bealine

There is nothing to stop anyone in the UK going to Ireland/Poland or even Belgium and ordering a RHD UK spec car, a few years ago it was common place. My Audi originated from Continental cars in Malta, but was never registered there, its a UK spec car first registered and used in the UK.

 

Where did you dig that up from?   The first question an insurance company asks is "Is it a grey import?" and then whacks up your premium.   Dealers will refuse to carry out warranty/recall work, unless it's a safety issue, and have been known to deliberately sabotage parts to ensure a breakdown occurs.   "Grey imports" fetch less on the auction floor as well - the chassis number is the clue to the men with the cloth caps!

Edited 20 September, 201411 yr by bealine