Brett
Active Member
Works both ways - the "sticker price" is a guide as to what they are offering the car for, not what they are willing to accept. The sticker price on my E320 was £35k, Glass Guide reckoned it was worth £31.5k. I offered a more "realistic" £26k as I had folding in my hand. We negotiated and he accepted my revised offer of £28k.
No doubt the "stealer" went to the pub that night and ranted on about the guy that had just "stolen" one of his cars. Incidentally, I don't like the use of the word "stealer" as I don't feel it is justified.
Your dealer is offering your car for £5k more than he paid for it. Well, that is his job - to earn himself and his family a crust whilst making his organisation a profit. They are no different from the rest of us out there, really.
No doubt the "stealer" went to the pub that night and ranted on about the guy that had just "stolen" one of his cars. Incidentally, I don't like the use of the word "stealer" as I don't feel it is justified.
Your dealer is offering your car for £5k more than he paid for it. Well, that is his job - to earn himself and his family a crust whilst making his organisation a profit. They are no different from the rest of us out there, really.
IanA2
MB Enthusiast
I've only just discovered how the rep system works, would the kind person who gave me a neg rep on this thread on 22nd June at 6.01pm please identify themself and explain why they did so? I don't know what the rules are on this but it strikes me as a the sort of thing a Sneak or a Stealer would do.
Ian,
Don't pay any attention to the Rep points. This is the only MB BB which uses them & I think they are a disaster. I just re-read this entire thread & can see nothing which merits any neg. points from any poster.
I was recently the recipient of a blizzard of negative points for saying to someone whose car was nicked, "It's insured, you'll get a check. Buy another" after he whined over three different threads and about 10 pages about his loss. I was, apparently, insensitive. Amongst the (naturally annonymous) comments my opinion generated was "agree with nick - you are a dickhead".
I'm fairly sure I'm in for another dose of the same for my contribution today to the interminable drivel to be found at http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=19016&page=3&pp=15
In one's 'real' life one tends to associate with people of similar intelligence, outlook, morals, views, etc. On a BB any old hoi polloi could be rubbing shoulers with you.
Not that they're worth anything, but I'll give you some +++ points.
Neil.
Don't pay any attention to the Rep points. This is the only MB BB which uses them & I think they are a disaster. I just re-read this entire thread & can see nothing which merits any neg. points from any poster.
I was recently the recipient of a blizzard of negative points for saying to someone whose car was nicked, "It's insured, you'll get a check. Buy another" after he whined over three different threads and about 10 pages about his loss. I was, apparently, insensitive. Amongst the (naturally annonymous) comments my opinion generated was "agree with nick - you are a dickhead".
I'm fairly sure I'm in for another dose of the same for my contribution today to the interminable drivel to be found at http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=19016&page=3&pp=15
In one's 'real' life one tends to associate with people of similar intelligence, outlook, morals, views, etc. On a BB any old hoi polloi could be rubbing shoulers with you.
Not that they're worth anything, but I'll give you some +++ points.
Neil.
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2005
- Messages
- 7,612
- Location
- Cheshire, UK
- Car
- C270CDi Estate (late 2004 facelift model) - Bought 2005, Sold 2022.
The trick (surely) is to be the buyer of the car at this point, not the seller. I paid £23,500 for my 6 mth old 6000 mile car which would have listed at £33,000 new.Flash said:
Options are a *huge* rip-off - they cost the manufacturer a fraction of the list price, so they really boost their profits.
The other thing to do is buy cars which are properly equiped as standard. I used to drive Peugeot 406 Exec company cars - they actually didn't have *any* options. The only thing you could do was delete sat nav and save £600.
Ian,what mrE said in his post is correct.The only point to be added is that for most cars you are never going to get overbook (Glasses or cap) if they can buy in from other sources like auctions or other dealers at book.The guides are compiled from actual selling prices from all sources,it's not in any way price fixing.
A high PX price will always be clawed back on the other side of the deal in any case IE.less discount on the new car price.
adam
A high PX price will always be clawed back on the other side of the deal in any case IE.less discount on the new car price.
adam
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glojo
Hardcore MB Enthusiast
Rory said:
Expecting to get a decent price for options when trading in a car is simply not going to happen. You would expect to get a small amount above the 'basic' model but certainly not the full price.
I don't agree with your point though about these personal modifications as being a 'rip off'! No doubt the actual parts might be cheaper if you bought them from a private source, but try getting your vehicle upgraded once it has been supplied, this will really see money being spent!
There are a few very clever people on this forum that have the skills and ability to hard wire in options and make them look 'original', but if you lack these skills then it will usually work out more expensive than the factory 'fit'.
It is a shame that we have to pay out for items that might be fitted as standard on other marques, but if I thought other vehicles were as good or better than the one I own, then I would have bought it.
John
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2005
- Messages
- 7,612
- Location
- Cheshire, UK
- Car
- C270CDi Estate (late 2004 facelift model) - Bought 2005, Sold 2022.
I used 'rip-off' wrongly here - I actually don't believe anything is a rip-off unless you're forced to buy. Of course when buying a new car you always have a choice.glojo said:
It generally would cost more to after-fit (even non-original) upgrades, but I'm sure that, for example, telephone pre-wiring must cost MB next to nothing to factory fit especially if it was done on every car (how many people wouldn't want it?).
I'd love to know what MB pay for the COMAND unit - I'd be amazed if it's more than a few hundred euros (plus, say, 200 Euro's for the map disk), yet £1700 (inc VAT) to us, which of course also takes into account not having to fit the standard radio unit.
glojo
Hardcore MB Enthusiast
Rory said:
Hi Rory,
I think we are now getting down to the nitty gritty. It is always very easy to blame Mercedes-Benz.
US citizens blame Mercedes-Benz for NOT building an E-class 320CDI Estate??? Whereas in reality some very important person stuck away in an office somewhere in America has decided what US owners want. They have pre-wiring as standard and also........
A different glovebox that accepts bigger cup-holders!! Honestly, I joke not. The glovebox on Us E-class looks hideous (just my personal opinion)If we were all to complain\write to Mercedes-Benz UK and demand pre-wiring as standard, it would happen. Just remember any type of radio used to be an option.
I understand your point about the costs of these options, but in all fairness we must cost in all the research and development costs. Weigh the metal that makes a car and then cost it up?
Regards,
John
BonzoDog
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2005
- Messages
- 734
- Location
- Luxembourg
- Car
- 280 cdi Break S211 Avantgarde, B200 CDI, W245, Autotronic
Only 5K margin? Was he perhaps not over generous?
Do I understand this right, you walk in, say I would like a new car, will you buy this one from me? He buys it and not long afterwrads you walk out a happy man with a new car. He now has to find space to sell your car, tart it up, advertise it, pay staff, have capital tied up probably for a long time until he sells it.
I always thought that was called business and it amazes me that dealers manage to survive on such relatively small margins on the cars tehy sell.
Have you seen the margins in other industries?
No, I have nothing at all to do with the car trade.
Do I understand this right, you walk in, say I would like a new car, will you buy this one from me? He buys it and not long afterwrads you walk out a happy man with a new car. He now has to find space to sell your car, tart it up, advertise it, pay staff, have capital tied up probably for a long time until he sells it.
I always thought that was called business and it amazes me that dealers manage to survive on such relatively small margins on the cars tehy sell.
Have you seen the margins in other industries?
No, I have nothing at all to do with the car trade.
- Joined
- May 5, 2004
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- 8,450
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- Surrey/Cotswolds
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- W169 A, W205 C, R172 SLC, W447 vantastic
BonzoDog said:
Are you being serious?
Have you ever seen a 'poor' car dealer?
Its not right to compare margins across different industries as volumes differ, overheads differ etc. The only car dealers I've ever seen go out of business have been the crooked ones.
Our kids are all at private schools and believe me there are a fair number of other kids there whoose fathers are 'car dealers'. You want to see the cars they keep for their own use!
BonzoDog
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2005
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- 734
- Location
- Luxembourg
- Car
- 280 cdi Break S211 Avantgarde, B200 CDI, W245, Autotronic
Dead serious
The margin seems completely reasonable to me. The guy's in business for goodness sake. Would anybody want to do business with him if he looked like he was anything less than successful and going to stay in business? Now it doesn't apply to everybody but most businesses top up their costs with considerably more gross margin than the car dealer.
By the way I have never done a part exchange - I always do a private sale.
Alfie said:
The margin seems completely reasonable to me. The guy's in business for goodness sake. Would anybody want to do business with him if he looked like he was anything less than successful and going to stay in business? Now it doesn't apply to everybody but most businesses top up their costs with considerably more gross margin than the car dealer.
By the way I have never done a part exchange - I always do a private sale.