Trade discount from a friendly dealer

[davidsl500]

Pardon me if this has been covered before but it occurs to me that, as a collective, we must have a reasonable spend on Mercedes Dealer Only Parts.

Has anyone considered approaching a dealer to negotiate a discount?

Naturally there would be carriage costs for mail order but a decent dealer discount could outweigh those charges.

Do we have any dealers reading the Forum that might like to start the discount auction?

 

[Myros]

it's a belting idea

I hammer my local MB-ship for all the MBOA discount they'll give me. We should be able to do it a bit like the co-op. Pay a reg/joining/good faith fee to the syndicate, and either have them order your parts and ship them to you, or have you contact Merc with an order number from them. Srtrictly fish-up-front, no credit, no returns. Of course, it will be a pig to organize, and will we ever be able to beat the convenience of GSF or Europarts and their £3 oil filter.

 

[davidsl500]

Granted there will always be a place for Motor Factors, GSF and Euro for common service items etc.,. But for all those specific parts such as trim the only real source is the dealer.

I dont think we need to make the setup more complex than it needs to be. Just need to get a dealer on board, sort a contact in the dealership thats au fait with the system and maybe quote some specific order reference when ordering.

I totally agree with the cash up front, no credit etc., Keep It Simple is the order of the day I reckon.

 

[andy_k]

Just go to your local dealers and ask for trade discount - a printed letter heading is usually all you need

Owners of older cars can also get a discount of up to 25% on spares, depending on your dealer.

Surprisingly enough the price of spares isn't set in stone by MB. according to our local parts department they are given an uppper and lower price and can charge whatever they like between these two figures so sometimes it can be worth haggling with them - before you ask for your trade discount

Andy

 

[davidsl500]

thanks for that Andy

I dont personally have a problem getting discounts off anything in my local area because most of them probably deal with me anyway with my business.

The point is if I walked into my local dealer and said "me and my 8,000 friends want to buy all of our bits from you" then I think the response might be a little different!!

 

[Myros]

only 8,000 friends

Well, just having returned from MB, where I have been charged £6 and some pennies for two bits of wire cable that look as though my hardware shop would have charged me 50p, I only hope we can get something doing. I bet Speed autotiele would deal with us. Their off the shelf prices already compare well with Euro and GSF, and are better than MB, and they are shipping from Germany over night. There's MBs own new and used parts set-up in Germany as well. I bet we could get something out of them. Perhaps it's time to see if the administrators would let us aproach people officially to sound out the ground.

 

[SLinKyjoe]

how do we ask...me and my 8000 friends would like to buy all our bits from you, would you be happy to arrange a decent discount?


or.

me and my 8000mates have selected you to sell us our bits for a huge discount, or else?


just imagining the face of the dealer when he finds out we want 8000 indicator bulbs at 50% off. and the same 50% off that one item that only you need....

 

[Junior]

Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems

Hi,

I have approached this Forum Moderators, to offer a 10% Discount, on ALL our Custom Built Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems, but no one has got back to me, this was about 2 Months ago.

Feel free to check our Website & call us, Quoting the Mercedes Benz Forum, and we will honour a 10% Discount for you.

www.topgearracing.co.uk

We build SS Exhaust Systems for several Mercedes performance Companys already.

 

[davidsl500]

Joe,

its an opportunity for the dealer to reach a market that would otherwise be very difficult for them achieve by other means.

Consider your local dealer. In his catchment area there is a certain amount of Mercedes vehicles and thus a certain amount of replacement parts sales that he can achieve.

The only way that he can achieve increased parts sales is if the concentration of merc vehicles in his area increases - or he widens his catchment area.

By supplying us he would effectively increase his catchment area to forum members UK wide. That would be the same as adding 8000 odd mercs to his local area.

The other way he could achieve more sales in his own area is by reducing prices to attract more people away from other sources - this is dangerous since globally lowering prices reduces his profit margin whilst he may not pick up sufficient sales to counteract the reductions.

By offering discounts to us he can leave his local prices where they are thus maintaining his margins - and sales to us, although discounted, would be additional profit which he would not normally have access too.

Additionally, he may be on a rebate structure with Mercedes on parts sales and thus we would help him to achieve that.

So there are a few discussion points that could be used to chat up a dealer - what we are really talking about is a loose form of a buying group where discounts are negotiated from a position of strength i.e my 8000 members ...rather than 8000 individual negotiations...

 

[SLinKyjoe]

okay. point taken....feel suitable chastised......have you been round to look for us then?

 

[davidsl500]

okay. point taken....feel suitable chastised......have you been round to look for us then?

I wasnt chastising Joe , I was merely outlining an angle of attack...

I actually havent been into my local dealer at all yet but will be visiting soon for a couple of bits and I will sound them out.

If anybody is friendly with their local dealer it might be worth mentioning that we are on the lookout. If anybody has sources outside the UK they are worth a look as carriage is not much more expensive from europe.

Would admin like to comment whether anything like this has been tried before or is in progress - dont want to tread on anybodys toes....sounds like a good way to get the membership up !!

 

[114 072 22]

Hi

I work at a MB dealer parts dept and would be more than happy to quote individuals with a good price that would be hard to beat by your local dealer.
That said, the comment about 25 % off for older cars could only be applicable to fast moving parts eg filters/service items etc as in reality the dealers cut is not as huge as some would believe.
let me know your requirements and I will give you a price

nothing to loose !!


thanks

 

[davidsl500]

Hi

I work at a MB dealer parts dept and would be more than happy to quote individuals with a good price that would be hard to beat by your local dealer.
That said, the comment about 25 % off for older cars could only be applicable to fast moving parts eg filters/service items etc as in reality the dealers cut is not as huge as some would believe.
let me know your requirements and I will give you a price

nothing to loose !!


thanks

Well thanks for that 114 072 22, can we call you 114 for short?

I will send you a list of the bits that I am currently looking for to start the ball rolling. Where in the UK are you - and can you do despatch by carrier?

 

[114 072 22]

Hello

yes please call me 114

We are in the deep south west and have a contract with a national courier so shipping costs sould not be excessive.
Let me know what you are looking for and I will see what we can come up with


many thanks

114

 

[peterchurch]

Hello

yes please call me 114

We are in the deep south west and have a contract with a national courier so shipping costs sould not be excessive.
Let me know what you are looking for and I will see what we can come up with


many thanks

114

A set of very elusive 330m front disks for a 99 SL320 would be a stonking start WDB 129.064 is the model reference I believe
and a black center glovebox as well while I think of it

Best regards,

Peter

 

[nicky]

Trade discount from a dealer is usually only 10% anyway,a lot of people think garages get massive discounts..

 

[davidsl500]

Trade discount from a dealer is usually only 10% anyway,a lot of people think garages get massive discounts..

True, but there is room for manouevre dependant on the product. Dealers tend to price in very mysterious ways. Garages tend to receive much higher discounts from Motor Factors on general components but of course this is often off equally strange retail prices that are unrealistic.

Anyway I think we can agree that 10-25% or so off an expensive item - especially if it is a "tied" part is still better than nothing.

 

[peterchurch]

I'm in on this if we can get it off the ground