It has been stated in the forum that Vauxhall and Ford sell in huge numbers because majority of them are fleet buyers.
How cheaply do the fleet buyers get these cars? Why don't they offer same price to general public?
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And, if it is true, are the companies guilty of any competition laws? I wouldn't have thought that the EU would take kindly to what effectively appears to be dumping stock.
ISTR that certain Japanese manufacturers were accused of just this tactic not so long ago when they sold cars cheaply in Europe.
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Discount for bulk purchase surely this exists in just about every product.
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The more cars a dealer buys,the less he pays for each one.
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And the fleet buyer will be back with another large order before the individual will be back with a singleton.
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Of course if it's the same practice they employ in the States, the minute their cars cease to be desirable for whatever reason (EU mandates electric cars and Ford/GM have no options ready for instance) they'll go splat much more quickly than their competitors.
It's only the European (and Japanese/Korean) wings of these companies that are keeping them afloat currently -- GM would have been dead a few years back based on home sales alone.
Hence they [i]need[/i] the bulk sales. I'd be willing to bet though that the EU would kick them into touch within five minutes if they were to close the local factories.....
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I used to work for a car leasing firm about 8 years ago. Back then discounts of 20 - 30% were not uncommon for someone leasing a big fleet. Some car manufactureres would have specific terms for different end user companies, and some had specific terms for the leasing firm to pass on to the end user.
I remember the Rover 800 coupe being discounted by 45% or more.
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my fleet laguna was obtained at a 28% discount (someone left the paperwork in the car.....)
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Back in the days when British Gas was a single entity and owned its own garages it used to get a 50% discount on Vauxhalls (cars and vans) but it would take them in bulk (thousands) from the end of the production line transport them to BG depots PDI them and maintain them at its own depots.
Bit of a different market to retail buyers or even todays user choosers.
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Many manufacturers sold vehicles at a loss to big firms-BT,BSM,British Gas in the hope that normal punters would think if firms like that bought them,they must be good.
Edited by jc2 on 12/08/2008 at 18:16
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This practice has largely died out and been replaced by ?tiered rebates? in which the leasing company pays RRP and then receives back a set amount based on the model at certain intervals during the year. This supports the residuals of vehicles like the Focus and Mondeo for at least two years.
What it achieves is that dealers get a nice mixture of new and nearly new stock to shift. It should be said the van market hasn?t used this principle but is having to get used to it.
Basically very few manufactures give anything away as they can?t afford to and their state subsidy?s are long gone.
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There was a time my employer (80s/early 90s) used to replace company cars every 6 months. And they were all Vauxhall at the time. Just when people had run them in they got a new one with new problems ;-)
I suppose a nice problem to have. Our fleet is now mostly managed by Lloyds TSB with cars from before October 2007 being Leaseplan. So my October 2007 Mazda6 one of the last Leaseplan cars.
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I used to work for a very large company in the '80s. They had a fleet of over 600 cars and considerable numbers of vans and even several large trucks. I happened to get on very well with the fleet manager. ( like you do ) and he was often given cars to trial by brands touting for his business.
We who were favoured by him used to get reasonably long term use, often up to a month in fact, of vehicles which in modern parlance might be described as "well wicked" according to my son. The only deal was that you had to keep them well away from the director's car park as they were often "better" models than they had.
Many people look back on the '80s ruefully. I don't, I was having the time of my life !
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There was a time my employer (80s/early 90s) used to replace company cars every 6 months.
A neighbour of mine works for a big national company and he gets a Renault (he usually has either a Scenic or a Laguna Estate) but they have to go back with under 10K miles, so he gets a new car every 3-4mths.
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The way that an individual gets a fleet discount is by buying a 'nearly new' car at a car supermarket.
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