Conference terri::cars_uk

Funny you should ask this, there's an article in todays mail.......

Margins are 10-17.5%

If you pay cash, start at 10, and be prepared to come down to 7.5-8%

If the car is in stock, and on display, you should be able to get 10%

Don't expect any discount on a special edition model.

If buying on HP and low finance, then you won't get such a good discount, as the
dealer finances these.

If you are trading-in, don't expect a good trade-in, and a good discount

Heather

    Apparently, Ford dealers get 17.5% off, plus kick backs for finance (at
    normal rates).
    
    Audi dealers get 12% (or so they claim!).  I was offered 10% off a new
    (Mk III) Golf GTI or VR6 for cash around a week ago, and I think that
    if I went with dosh in hand I might be able to do a little better.
    
    Dave

    Has anybody tried these so called car supermarkets? They seem to be just 
    brokers who put you in touch with **desperate**? franchise dealers. 
    I asked for quote for a Citroen BX17 TZD with ABS, metallic 
    paint, 12 mths RFL and tow bar with twin electrics. 
    
    Basic cost before discounts, a tad over 15k their price 12865. Thats a
    discount of just over 14% 
    No deposit required, you just sign a contract saying you'll part with
    the necessary. They'll arrange delivery to your door at no extra cost 
    (if you trust them not to thrash it all the way from Inverness).
    
    If anyone is interested, there are lots of these companies who advertise
    in What Car, Autocar etc.
    
    I hav'nt placed my order yet, 'cos I'm skint after the esculated costs
    from the extention and garden work. :-(
    
    Dave 

.3> Has anybody tried these so called car supermarkets? They seem to be just 
.3> brokers who put you in touch with **desperate**? franchise dealers. 
    
    I had very good quotes ( about 15-16% off ) from this sort of company
    when I bought my first Golf GTi 3 years ago. Armed with the figures, I 
    went to the local dealer, had a test drive and started discussing prices. 
    He initially quoted list price and I said that I had a better quote - he 
    matched it immediately !
    
    So, I got the best price plus the advantage of having bought from a
    local dealer ( e.g. courtesy car when car is being serviced,
    invitations to test drive etc. ) even though I was looking for finance.
    Since then, we have bought two more GTis through this dealer and we got
    the same discount each time without even asking.
    
    Terry

    
    
    A friend of mine works in a Rover dealers and he says that once
    overheads have been covered the profit on the sale of a Mini is in the
    order of #50
    
    Richard

Re .5,

> once overheads have been covered the profit on the sale of a Mini is in the
> order of #50

This is a slightly misleading statistic.  If you take all the overheads
into account, that means a dealer which makes a slight loss overall for
a year is losing a certain amount of money on the sale of each car. 
This doesn't mean, however, that they would be unwilling to further
discount the cars.

The more cars a dealer sells, the smaller the proportion of its
overheads have to be borne by each sale and so the more likely the
dealer is to make a profit overall.  The marginal profit on selling the
car would be a much more meaningful figure.

Jon

    Persistence does pay off, although the discount available is ultimately
    dependent on the manufacturer, the model concerned, market demand and
    how fussy you are about colours and options. Most dealers need to
    meet their monthly quotas to keep their manufacturer's bonus, so the
    willingness of any dealer to haggle will vary depending on how many
    cars they need to sell at any point in time.
    
    Two examples, I have myself, from buying new cars for my family are:
    
    Aug 1991 Ciroen BX19TGD. 15% off list. Cash deal. Stock car. Bought
    from Sands of Burnham. They originally offered 12%, which was
    competetive, but increased the discount to 15% to match a dealer in
    Basingstoke who would sell me a stock car at fleet discount rates to
    shift stock.
    
    April 1992. Fiesta 1.1LX. Bought from a Leeds Ford dealer, after a
    telephone survey and visits to four different dealers. 15% off list for
    cash, on condition that the one in the showroom was bought, and it was
    delivered within a week, so that the dealer met his bonus target.
    (The dealer concerned claimed that, at this price, he was not making
    any money on the car itself, but that he needed to sell just one more
    Fiesta to meet a bonus target which was calculated on model mix, not
    just on number of units. His price was 150 pounds less than anyone else
    and 400 pounds below the "Yorkshire dealers special Spring sale price")
    
    Brian