Indeed not, I don't think you're over-cynical. It was exactly what I was thinking myself.
No garage is going to take out a full-page ad in the local paper pushing its rock-bottom lowest price! You walk in and begin haggling with the list price as a starting point. You don't know how far they can be driven down. You pretty much have to play one against the other - I remember doing it with my first Fiesta, way back when. Who knows if I got the rock-bottom deal?
Now a lot of people will only go to their local dealer. If there are two reasonably close, then they might visit both, but most people who are near a particular dealer will see that garage as the inevitable source of their car. Also, Brits are uncomfortable haggling, and playing sellers off against each other. The Western VW dealership were very very nice to us when we went for the test drive. My mother repeatedly said what a nice young man that was, and was I going to place the order, she wouldn't really like not to when they'd been so nice. I said nice was all very well, but £2,000 was a lot of money. But I still feel bad about deserting them after getting the test drive there.
I think there are a lot of people who are reasonably satisfied with maybe a £500 discount, and don't really push it beyond that. Maybe they'd even be embarrassed. Of course the dealers don't want to telegraph to these people that they'd go lower.
DealDrivers are probably very good for dealers prepared to do a sweet deal. The anonymity of the web site allows them to advertise their best prices and draw in buyers from far afield who wouldn't otherwise go near them. But at the same time it allows them to continue getting the routine small-discount business from the relatively unpushy buyers, with no real danger that their "best deal" prices will become common knowledge in the neighbourhood.
It was obvious to me that the Verve salesman backed down very very rapidly when he realised I was shopping round seriously. And I think I had another advantage. I'm not a 25-year-old bloke flashing his money around. Maybe it's not fair, but I think some salesmen don't always see younger men looking at high-performance, relatively expensive cars as serious buyers. Just as many people make a hobby of visiting show houses in building developments, some guys make a hobby of going round car showrooms. No dealer is going to take the trouble to put his best deal on the table for someone like that.
I think if you've definitely made up your mind exactly which car you want and that you're definitely going to buy it, and the salesman realises that, you're going to get a much more serious offer than if you give the impression you're just casually shopping around. Someone like me, with an 11-year-old car ready for the scrappage scheme and an exact list of options already selelcted, is obviously buying. Someone with a relatively new car already, who is being a bit vague, might be a lot harder to call and might just be dismissed as a tourist.
I think, anyway.
Rolfe.
