Neighbour has a Skoda - from Stirling to edinburgh area there were a number of dealers. Stirling (small), Bathgate (small), Edinburgh (2 x Chathams Privately owned, 1x AClark Mega dealer)
It is now Stirling (Privately owned) Bathgate Dealer now owns Chathams outlets ) & AClark.
Last few weeks has seen JR Weir MB+Others swallowed by AClark...............
If this goes on the choice for buying & negotiating / servicing will be approaching Hobson's choice unless yo travel a considerable distance............most people buy a car with 10-15miles of home. Our immediate family can travel 200/300 miles tracking down a deal!
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Is that really much of a problem. You can buy a new car on the internet - Drive the Deal will get you a car at a price that your locals dealer will find hard to beat and a lot easeir than driving 300 miles. These days cars only need servicing once a year so not too much of a problem driving a few miles.
Or you could move;-0
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Canny southerners are buying cars up north and saving substantial wads of cash.
My next door neighbour wanted a new Volvo V40 a few years back, the local dealer in Reading (now closed down oddly enough) offered 0% discount from list and a derisory trade in. A dealer in Yorkshire offered a healthy discount over the phone and a good trade in, without even seeing his old Mondeo. Order placed in Yorkshire, car delivered south.
A friend just last month wanted a second hand Honda FR-V for the ball and chain, he found the model he wanted at over £1000 less in Scotland than he could find the equivalent car in the SE, through an internet ad. Order placed in Scotland, and car delivered to Berkcestershestershire for £0 and no pence. The dealer also collected the lady's dead 1996 Micra which he gave £500 for in part exchange, despite being an MoT failure.
Distances to dealers are becoming less of an issue with the advance of the internet, I reckon my next car will be purchased thus, given the savings on offer oop north.
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Soon you can choose any dealer you like, as longs as its Arnold Clark or Lookers.
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>> Soon you can choose any dealer you like, as longs as its Arnold Clark or
>> Lookers.
>>
Not in my neck of the woods.
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I had to buy south to save a load of cash, the dealers in Manchester all wanted £7500 for a bog spec Panda, one in Birmingham wanted £6100, so I asked if they could deliver it to Manchester and they did!
Only downside is having to drive with a brummy plate!.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Tue 11 Sep 12 at 10:54
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Many years ago there was a man with a car transporter who made a living buying large cars in London and moving them North and returning with a load of small/town cars for use in London. Might still work today?
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South? Birmingham!?!!?
:-)
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Aside from the obvious need to make profit, there are a number of drivers pushing a dealership to sell a car in stock sooner rather than later. There are other pressures, but those apply to cars whether or not they are in stock;
-The dealer's stock is frequently financed, and the cost of that rises quickly
-It costs to store, care for and maintain stock vehicles
-If you're not selling, then you have no access to the Service and Maintenance revenue.
Consequently, you'll usually do a better deal on a car thats been in stock for a couple of weeks.
What may not work so well, is when a dealer checks his computer and tells you he can get just what you want from another dealer. Actually, they will frequently tell you its from some kind of holding store, it usually isn't. He just doesn't want you going direct to the dealer holding the vehicle.
The dealer holding that car is under increasing pressure to sell it for the cost reasons above. The dealer selling it to you is not under the same pressure. Ok, he wants to make a sale, but he's selling stock he has no investment in or any ongoing costs from.
Consequently he can beat up on the holding dealer, whereas you have limited beating powers on him.
Best you can do is find the holding dealer, speak direct and see what you could get it from him directly for.
Also, buy from stock whenever you can. The selling dealer has much less selling pressure on him for a car that he has neither received nor funded yet.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Tue 11 Sep 12 at 16:10
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I can see this being a problem in Scotland. Almost everybody lives in the central belt, so tie up Glasgow and Edinburgh and in population terms it's almost the whole country.
I'm sure Mr Salmond will set up a nice bureaucratic competition commission to deal with it ;-)
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>> I'm sure Mr Salmond will set up a nice bureaucratic competition commission to deal with
>> it ;-)
>>
Ah, something else English he won't be able to use, the list continues to increase.
He must really think the Scots are stupid.
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Is there a vicious circle here in that, in choosing to go with a non-local dealer (cheapest option = internet or a dealer many miles away perhaps) that we perpetuate the demise of dealerships until we are left with a few "chains/supermarkets" who control the majority of the motor trade?
Just a thought :-))
Rgds
zuave
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Yes. If the market is solely price driven.
Ironically of course, then prices will go up.
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Then people will start investing in car dealerships...like the hog cycle.
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Choice of dealers becoming an issue! - CGNorwich
