GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk5 => Topic started by: cartmell on 15 February 2006, 13:48
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Did anybody get a good discount on their new gti from a UK dealer? If so where did you get it from? I have now made my mind up of what spec I am after and I am now waiting for the dealer to get back to me with any discount they can offer.
Thanks everyone. :smug:
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I got offered 6% by two dealers in Northern Ireland. Both cars were in stock therefore I was able to take immediate delivery. The car I bought has leather and metallic therefore retails at just under £22900, I bought for £21500. Got her last Friday and I love it!
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6% is really really good. Online brokers will offer 9%+ but can't get you a car. The initial rush has eased now on GTi and so delivery times are more realistic and dealers are starting to get cars for stock. Not that long ago when we couldn't get GTi for love nor money, we ordered as many GTis as we could regardless of whether or not we had customers to go with them. Most dealers did the same, as such there are now some dealers with Gtis on site or in their showrooms. Dealers can only keep them in stock for a certain time before they have to pay for them. If a dealer has four cars, that can be a hundred grand coming out of the bank account, hence discounts may start to creep in. Also N.Ireland dealers have the added problem of being accross the water from the mainland so people are less willing to travel to NI to collect a car so perhaps they have to be a bit more aggressive on price.
Just my thoughts..... :nerd:
VWmd
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I ordered a year ago, took delivery in June 2005, and got metallic paint thrown in. So about 1.5% discount.
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I've heard other people saying they got a 6% discount aswell. I wouldnt mind if my dealer gave me that. I'm just waitning to get an answer back from him. The car I spec'd was £22010 so a discount of 6% would make a saving of £1320. Not too bad. That would sway me more towards getting it from a UK dealer rather than imported or even going for a focus ST
VWmaindealer, have you been offering any discount?
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There is still a car in stock which is one of the ones I was choosing between when I got mine. It is a 5 door in Steel Grey, only extra is centre armrest. It could be purchased with at least 6% discount as I was offered it for £20000 and they told me if a little more was needed to strike a deal it may be possible. Car is in NI but with dirt cheap flights and even car transportation from NI to England is quite cheap at approx £150 this car could still be a bargain for someone. And the best bit of all it is in stock and ready to drive away. I, however, was tempted by my silver with leather in another local dealership and love it.
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Cartmell. The most discount I have offered any GTI customer was a Nokia bluetooth phone kit. Maybe, we've just been really lucky at my dealership but we just haven't had a problem moving them at list price. People often ask if there is anything we can do but almost immediately accept our explanation that the GTi simply doesn't need to be discounted. That isn't meant to sound complacent, but for as long as we can sell every GTI we can order, I won't be discounting! :smug:
VWmd
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I agree Main Dealer and hope most dealers continue to offer no discount as this keeps the residuals up, look at the new model Mini for a good example. However, if you can do as I did, buy at a discount when residuals are holding good then its a win win situation. I was surprised to be offered the discounts but happy!
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I have a friend who sourced a GTI through a VW main dealer with a £2,400 discount (mett paint and 18" - no silly options)
was through one of the car brokers, but he collected within 2 months from a UK dealer.
I will find how who it was if anyone interested
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Charri42, i will be intrested to find out who that dealer was. Thas an awsome saving, better than getting an import
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I'd be interested to know who the dealer was as well!!! :shocked: I hope they are not near me! :angry:
:grin: :grin:
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It was via one of the brokers that advertises on Honest JOhn
Who then arrange via a UK dealer - istr midlands.. But I imagine you would not get this deal direct from the dealer.
Perhaps 'maindealer' can shed some light on how these brokers work. Do they agree to take so many cars from a dealer? or is it based on dealers who need to meet monthly targets?
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Okey kokey here we go. Are we all sitting comfortably?
I know very well how these dealers/brokers work as I was supplying for one of them for six months.
Firstly, car brokers for VW will cease to be very soon. I'll explain why at the end....
Broker will have an arranged discount level with his dealer. Will be a proper dealer, usually organised through the fleet sales dept. The broker will also recieve a kick back from the dealer. For example, if the broker is advertsing Golfs at x%. The dealer will be supplying them direct to the end user at x% discount, and giving the broker a y% (usually 1%) handling fee. The dealer makes nothing out of it at all. The only benefit to the dealer is they turn the numbers over. The normal pattern is that you go to a brokers website, chose your car etc and give them your credit card details to order a car. Your card details then get passed on to the nominated dealer by the broker and the dealer then phones you to confirm spec colours and price and then takes a deposit from your card. The broker will then call the customer, make sure that they've ordered a car, then invoice the dealer for the handling fee.
I approached a big name broker a couple of years ago and had several pub meetings (thankyou John!) to discuss it all. We agreed on a percentage and a kick back and did some good numbers for a few months. I'll be honest, I couldn't care about the customers because I was earning next to nothing for each one, I never met the end users and they were all miles away. I used to speak to them once to confirm order, once to take the full amount and then just send our delivery truck to whereever with a car. Any problems on handover had to be sorted by the customers local dealer.ÂÂÂ
It all comes down to my favourite question. Do you want the cheapest car? or the best package?. If you just want the cheapest car, buy from the web. If you want a dealer who will say hi when you come in for service, remember you and your kids names, offer to bring your car in for a service, sort out any problems on handover or for the next few years for you because he feels compelled to because he knows you. If you want a salesman to answer your call and not divert you to his voicemail, if you want the salesman to actually give a sh!t when you call to say there is a rattle from the near side wheel, for the salesman to remember you when you come back in three years time etc etc etc,.........buy from your local dealer. They'll do you a deal, just BE HONEST with them. When I now come up against the car broker thing, I very quickly tell people that I will not match their quote. We all know where we stand then. I tell people that they must contact the internet man who you'll never meet to organise a test drive. (sorry but i've got a large mortgage and a kid to fund....) If you want two grand off your next car, you're going to have to put up with not visiting your dealer, not driving their fleet of demonstrators, not drinking their coffee or eating their biscuits. Aldi service or Waitrose service, It's your money and your choice. I know what i'd do.......
Incidentally, VW have changed the way dealers are paid for selling cars. It's no longer about numbers but about the results of customer satisfaction results. i.e There is no longer any benefit for ABC dealer to offer massive discounts and shift an extra 25% of cars for no profit. Hence VW are removing the need for dealers to sell cars for nothing and get back to creating positive customer experiences and great customer service. Afterall, if you want a cheap car, buy a fu(k1n9 Kia!
Rant over, I do apologise :angry:
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Firstly i'd have to disagree about UK Dealers. There are many people about now who will agree that they VW UK dealers are not providing the service/attention levels currently required. Secondly the service a lot of people are recieving now from the likes of euroimports and select is much better than a lot of the UK VW main dealers.
A thread here discusses this point http://www.uk-mkivs.net/forums/485462/ShowPost.aspx
Okey kokey here we go. Are we all sitting comfortably?
I know very well how these dealers/brokers work as I was supplying for one of them for six months.
Firstly, car brokers for VW will cease to be very soon. I'll explain why at the end....
Broker will have an arranged discount level with his dealer. Will be a proper dealer, usually organised through the fleet sales dept. The broker will also recieve a kick back from the dealer. For example, if the broker is advertsing Golfs at x%. The dealer will be supplying them direct to the end user at x% discount, and giving the broker a y% (usually 1%) handling fee. The dealer makes nothing out of it at all. The only benefit to the dealer is they turn the numbers over. The normal pattern is that you go to a brokers website, chose your car etc and give them your credit card details to order a car. Your card details then get passed on to the nominated dealer by the broker and the dealer then phones you to confirm spec colours and price and then takes a deposit from your card. The broker will then call the customer, make sure that they've ordered a car, then invoice the dealer for the handling fee.
I approached a big name broker a couple of years ago and had several pub meetings (thankyou John!) to discuss it all. We agreed on a percentage and a kick back and did some good numbers for a few months. I'll be honest, I couldn't care about the customers because I was earning next to nothing for each one, I never met the end users and they were all miles away. I used to speak to them once to confirm order, once to take the full amount and then just send our delivery truck to whereever with a car. Any problems on handover had to be sorted by the customers local dealer.ÂÂÂ
It all comes down to my favourite question. Do you want the cheapest car? or the best package?. If you just want the cheapest car, buy from the web. If you want a dealer who will say hi when you come in for service, remember you and your kids names, offer to bring your car in for a service, sort out any problems on handover or for the next few years for you because he feels compelled to because he knows you. If you want a salesman to answer your call and not divert you to his voicemail, if you want the salesman to actually give a sh!t when you call to say there is a rattle from the near side wheel, for the salesman to remember you when you come back in three years time etc etc etc,.........buy from your local dealer. They'll do you a deal, just BE HONEST with them. When I now come up against the car broker thing, I very quickly tell people that I will not match their quote. We all know where we stand then. I tell people that they must contact the internet man who you'll never meet to organise a test drive. (sorry but i've got a large mortgage and a kid to fund....) If you want two grand off your next car, you're going to have to put up with not visiting your dealer, not driving their fleet of demonstrators, not drinking their coffee or eating their biscuits. Aldi service or Waitrose service, It's your money and your choice. I know what i'd do.......
Incidentally, VW have changed the way dealers are paid for selling cars. It's no longer about numbers but about the results of customer satisfaction results. i.e There is no longer any benefit for ABC dealer to offer massive discounts and shift an extra 25% of cars for no profit. Hence VW are removing the need for dealers to sell cars for nothing and get back to creating positive customer experiences and great customer service. Afterall, if you want a cheap car, buy a fu(k1n9 Kia!
Rant over, I do apologise :angry:
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Nam, The point I was making was that there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a car from a broker but it just depends on what you want from the purchase.
Most people prefer to buy from a person face to face and have all the cars to hand to see colours, specs and drive the demonstrators. I'm of the opinion that within ten years manufacturers will have experience centres rather than retailers to allow you to drive cars and see specifications and discuss options with someone before going home to buy it off the internet. Mercedes were talking about this a few years ago!
In my experience most people are prepared to pay a bit more but have a face to face transaction. I can say most people with confidence because we know that in 2005 only 3% of new Volkswagens were bought through a broker (although it would be interesting to find out the percentages for the other big makes...).
Maybe my dealership just offers better service than most? (i'd like to think so! :smiley:)
VWmd
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IN my experience - most of the people I know want as little to do with the dealer as possible - as every visit seems to cost an indecent amount of £Â£Ã‚£ for often shoddy service. This seems especially true of the private motorist who will question servicing costs / big repair bills et - Less of an issuem when I am running a company car as I just day 'do it'.
Anyways, I think most sensible people would believe £2-3k for a 'personal service' is bad value. I would rather get my car cheap and see the dealer as little as possible. I may lose a few 'niceties' but surely it should not affect the level of customer service I receive for the important stuff (warranty work etc)
I find people pay full whack at dealers without using brokers through apathy and a misguided view that their is something dodgy about doing it this way. Of course I imagine the dealers wouldn't offer too tasty a p/x for a broker deal which will contribute to the very low figure - and of course the huge number of fleet sales.
VW Maindealer - I appreciate you explaining, and this is in no way a dig at you - I am sure you run a superbn ship! I just don't feel the need to PAY £Â£Ã‚£Ã‚£Ã‚£ for a smiley sales rep.. Oh, and I am probably one of those annoying peeps who drives your demo and buys elsewhere.... But I always give my local dealer the chance to match the deal (or get very close)
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Hey no worries, Don't worry I fully expected as a main dealer on this forum to get a fair bit of stick from time to time. :sad: :cry:
The original question was surrounding discounts on GTIs. In my opinion, any dealer who knocks two grand off a GTI is doing something wrong with the customers that walk in the door!. I haven't got any stock GTIs and every GTI i've got on order is sold. Why would I sell one for 2 grand less when I can sell it for list? I haven't had any personal experience with the brokers previously mentioned. I'm sure they are lovely people and make many customers happy. All I was saying is the vast majority of VW customers (97%) prefer to buy from their local dealer directly. I'm not suggesting that those 97% of people bought at list price, probably far from it but they obviously didn't use a broker for whatever reason.
I promised that I wasn't going to go down this we hate the dealer road when I joined up :rolleyes: but if most of the people you know have paid over the odds and had shoddy work done at their local dealer I shouldn;t worry because your dealer won't be there for long. My dealership (not actually mine you understand :wink:) has an enormous amount of repeat business. If all our work was shoddy and overpriced, maybe it's the customers who are stupid? :huh: I hope not!
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My local dealer in Cumbria gave me no price discount but threw in the 18" wheel upgrade and met paint which I thought was good deal, most others I enquired at wouldn't give me jack s**t, I added winter pack, folding door mirrors, centre arm rest and multi function s/wheel and c/c, car is superb so much better than my old Golf Anni
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:smiley:Beleave me I did ALL the homework.... finally decided after doing 500 miles here there and no where visited motor provider www.motorprovider.co.uk at there showroom at sheffield. I looked at a few cars they had on display that put my mind at rest that the car I was bying was identical to the one I had looked at VW dealer but £3500 cheaper. They showed me a list of different cars ie colours and specs and I went for a car with a few options.. 7 days later I was in my car driving it.... I would have waited for a dsg car but went for manual as i didnt want to wait 3 weeks.... proper people no complaints at motorprovider....
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GTIMANIA - Two posts so far and so far two posts exactly the same advertising motorprovider. Good Show!. The three and a half thousand pound discount (really?) was subject to you promoting their name through various forums?
You drove 500 miles hunting for the best price? You are keen. You should be in one of their adverts. Oh wait, you are! :smiley:
Can you mention their name again, I didn't catch it the first time. :wink:
VWmaindealer - the guy who does all your test drives.......
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I went to three local dealers in Nottingham and was offered a discount of 5%, 3% and nothing, although I had to play the dealers off against each other. The 5% beats all the online brokers and the salesman was very helpful and was keen to do business. One for the dealerships I think! :smiley:
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Do motorprovider (will i get a discount now i have mentioned their name!) use UK registered cars or are they euro imports? :huh:
Surely with euro imports they may be cheaper but are worth less when you sell (if you can tell that is?? Does it state this on the V5??)
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Surely with euro imports they may be cheaper but are worth less when you sell (if you can tell that is?? Does it state this on the V5??)
That would be interesting to know. I know imports do not sell for so much and can be harder to shift but then you save up front. I would normally steer clear but I am just about to pick up a GTI, full UK spec sourced directly from the factory by a Dutch dealer for over a 17% discount. I thought for this saving, it was worth a try! Ask me in a year when I come to sell it if its a good idea or not! V5 might have an impact...
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Well its pretty obvious if you sell in the first 3 years due to the warranty :laugh: Also the original receipt gives it away somewhat :grin:
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It doesn't normally mention anything on the V5. It will show up when the car is HPI'd and initially it wont appear on the Volkswagen Dialog system but I beleive you can contact VW (possibly thru the dealer actually) and have all the details inputted. It's worth doing this straight away to save any grief later on.
VWmd
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So does that mean you can in effect 'hide' the origins of an import GTI? :angry: If I was buying a 2nd hand one, I would want to see the original main delaer invoice and receipt. There is no way I would pay the same for an import. :angry:
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So does that mean you can in effect 'hide' the origins of an import GTI? :angry: If I was buying a 2nd hand one, I would want to see the original main delaer invoice and receipt. There is no way I would pay the same for an import. :angry:
You can pay what you like...
...but no where would anyone suggest paying the same for an import. However, if the V5 is the same as a UK car and if the car is on the VW system (thank you very much VWMaindealer) then it is easier to explain to someone that the car is totally identical to a UK sourced car.
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Even though the car is on the VW system, it will state clearly on there that it's an import. It will say PI) before the model and spec. Also, I wouldn't expect many people to privately buy a GTI without HPI checking it first where it will become clear (either by saying so or the fact that half the info is unknown). A dealer always HPI checks a car before valuing it. Main dealers are also legally obliged to point out to a potential buyer that the car is an import.
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Even though the car is on the VW system, it will state clearly on there that it's an import. It will say PI) before the model and spec. Also, I wouldn't expect many people to privately buy a GTI without HPI checking it first where it will become clear (either by saying so or the fact that half the info is unknown). A dealer always HPI checks a car before valuing it. Main dealers are also legally obliged to point out to a potential buyer that the car is an import.
Thanks again for the info. Rest assured I will be telling any purchase that it is an import (it is stamped as such in the service book for the PDI) - this is really just an experiment to see what happens in 6 to 12 months time when I sell it. Whatever happens I will loose far less than what I usually have to swallow so can only be relatively good news
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Hi Virage... sorry but I never meant you specifically in my post - in fact I didn't even read the context of the thread before posting... it was just a general statement and I hope you get what you want for your V5 :wink:
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It is a Golf V5 that you are selling isn't it? Or is all that talk referring to the V5 Log Book - I'm getting well confused now! :huh: Best shut up :lipsrsealed:
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Hi Virage... sorry but I never meant you specifically in my post - in fact I didn't even read the context of the thread before posting... it was just a general statement and I hope you get what you want for your V5 :wink:
Thanks! We shall see...only had one other import before (one of the first Z3 2.8's in '98) which I managed to sell back to the place I bought it but all the other dealer said "no way". I have always said to people "never buy an import" and I have always bought cars from UK main dealers before...so just not following my own advice :shocked:...we shall see! I will not doubt post here with what happens in time!
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Getting back to the original question - I live in Sussex, and we first looked at the GTi about a year ago. Found all the dealers would not offer any discount whatsoever, not even on their demonstrators! :shocked:
This surprised us, so we thought would leave for a while, until supply of the GTi's improved, and demand dropped.
Went back 12 months later, and situation hadn't changed!!! As VWmd has said, why on earth should they discount when they have people lining up for the cars? If people didn't want them at that price, they'd go elsewhere and demand would soon drop, but it hasn't.
This reassured us that the cars should hold their value well - we went and tried the Focus ST when it came out, which is no doubt a bargain, but I was amazed to find these cars being heavily discounted from day 1 through various websites. What it that going to do to thier residuals?
In the end we did manage to get one of our options for free, but feel satisfied that the cars are not being over-supplied, and we have not been ripped off.
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I think you've done alright with that fella, we got about the same and with the PX on the Audi fixed it helps make a better deal.
One of my mates is looking at an ST deal, there are discounts on them which i find strange for such a new motor.
The VW is just sooooo good, ok so it may not have the power (pub talk) but the handling is sublime. I see both the R32 and Gti holding their values like the MK4 R32, solid!!!
Just to add a little something. BMW top brass are concerned that the VAG has overtaken them in the prestige sector, very interesting!!!!