Hi all

See a lot of you guys all talking about the price you are willing to pay over invoice in the US etc. and it would seem that in the US the customer knows exactly how much the car costs the dealer and you are willing to give him something over this price, but not much.

In the UK this is a fact that car dealers will cling on to as if their life depends on it in order to squeeze the UK public for as much cash as possible.

Can anyone in the UK motor trade explainm why no one from the uk motor trade has turned Judas and started to disclose the secrets in the way they seem to be available in the US.

If we were able to walk in to the dealer and say "we know that car only cost you ?25k so I'm only willing to pay ?26k for it" then it would make life a lot simpler

Why and how are the manufacturers and dealers getting away with it over here

 

i think uk car dealers work on around 7.5 % but they also have targets for each model they sell so will get a bonus if they sell so many units a month, this means they could sell a car for less than what they pay in order to reach a target.

 

My understanding was around 8% too, but of course dealer fit accessories (tracker etc) have a higher margin and, as you say, there are monthly, quarterly and annual incentives as well.

 

Sorry to shatter any illusions you may have but UK BMW dealers have up to 16% on certain models once BMW GB quarterly sales bonuses are taken into account. That is why you should aim to go and negotiate your new purchase in late March, June, September or December as the last week in each of these months is the end of each sales quarter and if targets haven't been met, discounts increase to shift numbers.

I believe there is around 10% on most E60 models. This figure increases with optional extras which have additional margin in them.

 

Until the UK population generally starts to refuse to pay the full price, then we won't see US prices.

I wish I could buy a Porsche 997 for ?40K, instead of the list price of ?65K.

And BMW dealers don't break ranks, simply because there's enough people willing to pay the asking price. No-one's going to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

 

These days with competition from "grey" importers etc, we have a LITTLE more flexibility. But we, the UK consumers get royally shafted in everything we buy. If you try to compare anything, especially US to UK price, its freak time.
Out of interest for future reference, can we have a list of good or helpfull UK sites to help us?
I remember someone mentioning drivethedeal.com, where by he got a very good price, and got the dealer to match it.
I think a list of sites like above would come in handy.

 

I did exactly that & managed to get the dealership to almost match the discounts available from online brokers. I went tot he dealership armed with quotes from the various brokers & asked them - "I know what I can get from online brokers - what are you prepared to do?"

You may find the following links useful:

BMWbuyers

Broadspeed

Coast2coastcars

Drivethedeal

Autoebid

Motorlogix

netcardeals

uknewcars

Good luck

Going to the dealership in March/June/Sept/Dec doesn't always work.
I went at end of Jan-beginning ofFeb 05 - All March orders had already gone!
Unable to negotiate as aggressively as I'd hoped - but I think I did pretty well with 6.5% discount pluss some extras.
So mine will be April/May delivery!

 

Sory forgot to login again !

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