No Price Haggling

[eman]

Seems Mercedes is tightening their belts on everything. They have shut the Walsall dealership and merged it with Wolverhamton (same franchise). And the main Birmingham site has closed and have split it into two other dealerships (Erdington and Solihull).

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Mercedes and BMW have been slow to react to EV sales of new EVs represented 20% of cars sold in November and the fact that the unit price of these cars is high sucks some of the oxygen out of MB sales so yes belt tightening is the order of the day

 

[oigle]

Tesla started the practice. No dealers as such. Set pricing. Saved the dealer comm and thus was able to keep prices lower. Hyundai and Volvo have followed with their electic range. Dealers not impressed. Many more to follow to remain price competitive.

 

[Jasandjules]

Tesla started the practice. No dealers as such. Set pricing. Saved the dealer comm and thus was able to keep prices lower. Hyundai and Volvo have followed with their electic range. Dealers not impressed. Many more to follow to remain price competitive.

Vote with your wallet. I mean, I won't ever buy a new car anyways but those who can should vote with their wallets....

 

[lewyboy]

Vote with your wallet. I mean, I won't ever buy a new car anyways but those who can should vote with their wallets....

I wonder how it will go down at the dealer when I tell them I'm not prepared to haggle on my part-ex?

 

[rorywquin]

Vote with your wallet. I mean, I won't ever buy a new car anyways but those who can should vote with their wallets....

I purchased my car through CarWow 5.5. years ago. Got mine specced up to what I wanted (80k car) and paid my dealer what 2 year old used versions with lower specs were going for. They initially offered me a price that I rejected and I mentioned what I’d been offered by dealers on Carwow and they agreed to match them. Wasn’t stock, as I had to wait nearly 6 months for it to be made and delivered. Right time, right place I guess.

Be interesting to see how their new staretegy works for MB in the coming years.

 

[Jasandjules]

I wonder how it will go down at the dealer when I tell them I'm not prepared to haggle on my part-ex?

Indeed this is the thing... Buying a car is a two way street and people want a deal in the main...

 

[lewyboy]

Indeed this is the thing... Buying a car is a two way street and people want a deal in the main...

I argued about 10 years ago on the other MB forum that the car sales process needed re-writing. No one agreed.
There are few sales experiences quite as unhealthy as car sales, the whole thing makes you feel like you have taken part in some kind of seedy underworld transaction. They even have their own language, spend any time with car sales guys and you'll learn a whole new bunch of phrases: 'I bid him right in the bollocks' 'he wants all the money' 'drip him up' it goes on and on.

So now they want to be all above board and transparent when selling you a car but will, no doubt, be all Wild West when it comes to buying yours.

The last 2 years has gone some way to leveling the field because stock has been short and dealers have had to pay reasonable money, they survived so it was possible after all.

There's probably a solution out there which involves selling our cars via an auction where dealers can fight over new stock, I can't find the enthusiasm to think any further than that, one thing that would be welcome though would be a sales process that felt less like horse trading would have done 100 years ago.

 

[Albee]

I could'nt do it!
It's all part of the 'fun', whether it's new or used, you still feel good with yourself if youv'e done some negotiating!!!!

 

[rorywquin]

I could'nt do it!
It's all part of the 'fun', whether it's new or used, you still feel good with yourself if youv'e done some negotiating!!!!

They all load the prices so that we can negotiate and feel like we won. .

 

[Jasandjules]

They all load the prices so that we can negotiate and feel like we won. .

Of course, the same as some of the black friday "deals"... But we all still want to play the game... The "Take it or Leave it" usually means I will leave it (done it with houses too, much to the seller's surprise when they come back to me a week later)

 

[Wighty]

I am sure this would suite MB perfectly being able to dictate the price, in practice I dont see it working.
The market will always find its price, if the price is too high buyers will move to other makes.

That’s what I reckon , if BMW and AUDI don’t do the same , MB will lose out .

 

[sonic]

Seems Mercedes is tightening their belts on everything. They have shut the Walsall dealership and merged it with Wolverhamton (same franchise). And the main Birmingham site has closed and have split it into two other dealerships (Erdington and Solihull).

Interesting the Walsall dealership used to be independent. The Birmingham dealership is owned by the Chinese, & they also own the Tamworth dealership.
I have used the Wolverhampton & Stafford dealerships for the last 20 years, never had a problem with them.

 

[Woodleigh]

I was in my local dealership yesterday buying a couple of oil filters and while I was waiting, I got chatting with a salesman; apparently, there are absolutely no deals to be had on a new or used Mercedes anymore...that's the price take it or leave it. Furthermore, organisations like Carwow are now a thing of the past; if you want a deal, tough forget it, you are now dealing with MB UK.

To make matters worse if you see a used Merc in say London and it's not part of your local dealership group forget it, they cannot get this car longer; however, if it happens to be a brand new car; yes no problem sir we can get that motor up here for you tomorrow.
He added that prices are now fixed countrywide in the UK no matter if it's Scotland or Cornwall, that's the price.

As an aside he mentioned that thanks to new European legislation Park Pilot / Parktronic is either disabled or not fitted on newer cars. I said we are no longer part of Europe since Brexit to which he replied MB will no longer supply us cars with Parktronic !!

 

[Blobcat]

I was in my local dealership yesterday buying a couple of oil filters and while I was waiting, I got chatting with a salesman; apparently, there are absolutely no deals to be had on a new or used Mercedes anymore...that's the price take it or leave it. Furthermore, organisations like Carwow are now a thing of the past; if you want a deal, tough forget it, you are now dealing with MB UK.

To make matters worse if you see a used Merc in say London and it's not part of your local dealership group forget it, they cannot get this car longer; however, if it happens to be a brand new car; yes no problem sir we can get that motor up here for you tomorrow.
He added that prices are now fixed countrywide in the UK no matter if it's Scotland or Cornwall, that's the price.

As an aside he mentioned that thanks to new European legislation Park Pilot / Parktronic is either disabled or not fitted on newer cars. I said we are no longer part of Europe since Brexit to which he replied MB will no longer supply us cars with Parktronic !!

I’m sure it will work out just fine for them…

 

[DSK]

It will. The masses will fall deeper into that black hole of buying stuff on tick but only now at greater costs. Win win for dealers and the automotive tyrants.

Whilst they will have a firm stance, there are always deals to be done and a few will manage it but this new stance is for the masses.


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[Srdl]

And it's not just cars. I've just had my house insurance renewal from LV and they state that is their best price and none of their employees will be able to give any reduction.

 

[curious]

I was in my local dealership yesterday buying a couple of oil filters and while I was waiting, I got chatting with a salesman; apparently, there are absolutely no deals to be had on a new or used Mercedes anymore...that's the price take it or leave it. Furthermore, organisations like Carwow are now a thing of the past; if you want a deal, tough forget it, you are now dealing with MB UK.

After your post I put a new car request into Carwow for a £100,000+ specced Merc and, absolutely nothing has come back after nearly 24 hours.
(Previously I would typically have had 5 offers by now with the first one or two within minutes, even on a Sunday!)

Interesting times.

 

[Woodleigh]

After your post I put a new car request into Carwow for a £100,000+ specced Merc and, absolutely nothing has come back after nearly 24 hours.
(Previously I would typically have had 5 offers by now with the first one or two within minutes, even on a Sunday!)

Interesting times.

I'm not looking for a car at the moment, but I've just been on Carwow and requested a new Merc...Just for the hell of it. Lol

 

[DSK]

And it's not just cars. I've just had my house insurance renewal from LV and they state that is their best price and none of their employees will be able to give any reduction.

Until you leave and change and leave issuers.

Interesting I saw something in an email the other week from Chris Knotts stating that insurance regulators (or whoever they) won’t allow existing customers to be charged more than new customers.


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