I really don't understand forecourt prices. My local Toyota dealer is particularly bad. For example, they currently have a September 2003 celica 1.8 (base model, no extras, matt paint), 20000 miles, for £15495.
This car lists at £16654, and drivethedeal are selling them brand new for £15051.
Now I've known people to pay silly money to dealers for used cars - it's amazing how many people will just stump up the asking price without really thinking it through. But in this case, seriously, who is going to pay £15495 for a year-old car when a brand new one lists at £16654? Even if you forget about drivethedeal (some people might not know it exists), it makes no sense that anyone would consider this deal.
No doubt some will say 'ah, but they have to leave room for haggling'. What a load of old nonsense, though. What kind of business advertises prices *above* what they actually intend to charge? It's bonkers.
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Sold a Primera to a dealer for £2700 It was advertsed the next week for £3995. Even if buyer knocked them down and they spent a
bit making it ready for sale Its a fair profit.
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Father-in-law sold a Mondeo ('96) to a dealer for £1000, they put it on the forecourt for £2495.
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Can't believe this thread.
Dealer makes profit - shock, horror !
Sell the car yourself then. You can't have it all ways.
I get totally fed up with this "we are being ripped off' mentality - people have to make money, companies have to make profits - deal with it !
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In some cases, and im thinking of the toyota above, dealers hold cars for a while with silly prices for the benefit of new car buyers, they see a year old car on the frecourt and think , hey! great depreciation. It will be shoved out to auction or something later.
imho
Mark
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I called in at the local Citroen main dealer in Derby earlier this year and they had a 03/53 C5 1.8i LX for about £9500. I asked for a test drive, as I had never been out in a 1.8i. The salesman was obviously keen to tell me what a wonderful bargain it was, saving so much on the price of a new one. They seem to think that nobody bothers to check up on the real world new prices of cars and I wonder if they do themselves. I pointed out to him that a brand new model could be had from drivethedeal.com, for not much more, but it didn't result in much comment from him.
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I'm not complaining....well - I suppose I am really but we sold a 24v 2.5 Mondeo years ago - or rather part ex'd it. For 5 grand. There was a motorbike dealer next door so when my Dad bought a new bike a few weeks later he saw, much to his surprise that it was up for 8,900. Being fair though, they had tarted it up and they need to make a profit I suppose.
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Adam
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I get totally fed up with this "we are being ripped off' mentality - people have to make money, companies have to make profits - deal with it !
Yeah, but the odd thing is that UK companies (or international companies operating in the UK) seem to be able to make more money here than other places. That's what's odd. I don't see it so much as companies 'ripping us off', but rather British people being prepared to pay too much for things.
One simple example - I was in Australia recently and noticed that metallic paint is $200 extra on most cars (around £80). So why do we pay £300 here? That differential can't be explained by tax differences etc. It shows that the underlying cost of metallic paint is not related to price, and that the companies are simply charging as much as the market will stand. Of course this is totally natural. If I was selling something I'd try to sell it for the maximum price. But the point is - why are British people prepared to pay £300 for metallic? (As an aside, I'm not, which is why I'll be driving red cars for the foreseeable future :-))
Normally what we'd expect to happen is that market forces would eliminate this practice - a new car company would come along and try to compete by offering cheaper metallic paint. But that doesn't seem to happen with the UK car market. I guess new players come along and see 'wow, these mugs will pay £300 for metallic paint - no way I'm rocking the boat', or whatever the equivalent is in Korean.
So next time anyone complains about 'rip-off culture', ask yourself if you aren't contributing to it by being prepared to pay inflated prices for things you don't need.
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I've a growing pile of car brochures next to my hi-fi chair* and have noticed that most manufacturers seem to offer two or three solid colours, usually plain awful, and a minimum of 8 metallics. The solid blue in the Touareg brochure is just nasty. And when did it become compulsory to only offer metallic and not solid black? All part of getting profit back into the UK retail motor industry as few if any fleets pay for metallic these days.
* The one that you can't get a decent view of the TV from but the stereo imaging from my hi-fi is spot on :o)
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I was in Australia recently and noticed that metallic paint is $200 extra on most cars (around £80). So why do we pay £300 here?
It's the same phenomenon as the The Great British Automatic gearbox ripoff. The price of an upgrade to auto is usually about £1000 extra here, but euro1,000 elsewhere in Europe, or $1000 in the USA -- that's about £600 elsewhere.
Even in Ireland, which is usually a rip-of, auto gearboxes are sold at the European price rather than the British one .. so it's nothing to do with LHD/RHD conversion costs.
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I have posted on here before about stupid prices in the UK.
To be fair, things have got better in the last few years. When my father and I were in the car business the guys at the 'top end' (i.e. Franchisees) were making a LOT of money. A friend of my father managed to get the local SAAB franchise in the early-mid 1980's - within five years he had made quite literally
millions. It was amazing to see him just roll the cash in. All the dealers were operating as a cartel with protected territories etc etc. I think those days are pretty much gone - largely due to the intervention of the EU, the Consumers' Association and not least in recent years, the Internet.
At the moment I am managing to make a little money 'on the side' by importing some automotive-related goods from the US and selling them on Ebay. Even with carriage, import tax and Ebay fees, I can still make about 30% without much effort.
On a similiar vein, I have noted how much cheaper general parts are in the US - or indeed parts are available there that are not available here. MB blower motor brushes tend to wear out. UK dealers do not supply them - you have to buy a complete motor at £250+ (last time I checked), however I can buy brushes from the US for about £20 delivered and have repaired a few motors this way.
My friend who runs an autotransmission rebuilding business imports a lot of his parts from an agent in Florida - the price differences are absolutely staggering (a factor of 10 for some parts!).
Similarly Nissan parts are far cheaper in the US. Gazza posted recently wanting a CDL remote control for his Nissan. I think they are about £127+VAT in the UK. Courtesy Nissan in Texas sell the same factory part for about $80 + about $10 delivery to the UK. The same difference applies to most other parts. I guess UK dealers could buy their stock at retail price from the US, pay duty, and STILL make a healthy profit!
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It's a free market. Put your energies into getting the best deal possible and go from there.
Mentioning my recent purchase of a van again, I was stagard at the price differences. The van was priced up at £14995 +vat. The dealer said he could do it for £12700+vat. After having done some research I managed to negotiate the price down to £10900+ vat. I see there are some low mileage 2nd hand ones on e bay for more that that!
So, whether its parts, cars etc shop around!
Aprilla, do you have any good web site addresses for the US suppliers you mention? If you do, please post them here.
Thanks
Hugo
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Oh come on! anyone who cant negotiate free metalic paint on their new car does not deserve to be in charge of a wallet.!
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Oh come on! anyone who cant negotiate free metalic paint on their new car does not deserve to be in charge of a wallet.!
Well, drivethedeal will only discount metallic paint by around 10% from what I've seen (e.g. on a yaris it's £270 rather than £300).
So I'd guess your 'free' metallic paint that you negotiate is really just eating into the discount you would otherwise get. In other words, you can get 'free' metallic paint but still be paying £300 more than you would for a flat colour. If you can give me an example where you've been quoted the same discounted price regardless of flat or metallic, I'd find your argument more convincing.
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Free Market Economy.
LOL!
Are there people around who really believe this!
After being in the motor business for a couple of decades I can tell you that there is nothing 'free' about the retail motor industry. 'Vertical control' from top to bottom is what the manufacturers want (witness the way so many, like Mercedes, want to run the whole show from factory to customer). A free market is the last thing they want! The EU is pushing at them through things like the ending of Block Exemption - trouble is they have so many paid 'lobbyists' (that's putting it politely) in government that progress is slow.
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Can't believe this thread. Dealer makes profit - shock, horror ! Sell the car yourself then. You can't have it all ways. I get totally fed up with this "we are being ripped off' mentality - people have to make money, companies have to make profits - deal with it !
Must say, I agree.
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