If all the local dealers fail to discount, no matter what brand they are selling, it leaves you will little choice what to do. Either pay the going price, go without, or go to a far off dealer. Once one dealer "cracks" and starts to discount, then they all will discount. This is a common tactic in the automobile industry also. All the dealers sell for a fixed percentage discounted price off list and don't negotiate the deal at all. They even pay the salesman a fixed salary for selling, and don't pay commissions based on profits. All the "local" dealers are making better profits by not discounting.
There is a old saying in retail.... "raise your prices by 20% and you can afford to do 50% less business". I don't subscribe to this philosophy, however I know a lot of retailers that are doing it. Even with strong competition in the area, they are still doing business, just less of it, and making the same profits with less turn over of merchandise, fewer employees, and less operating expenses. One thing that is often misunderstood, is that even the least expensive store only wants to be "slightly" under the competition and they still want to maximize their profits. When I had my store across from the big giant retailer, I raised my prices in response to their lowering theirs to be under my price. They then raised their prices to be closer to my higher price. They wanted to make a profit also. I was able to successfully compete against them with better service and still made a fair profit, even with a loss of volume in some categories. Just because they buy for less, doesn't mean that they want to sell for less.
The dealer that I purchased my tractor from gave me a very fair price for the package that I purchased, but once the sale was made, he will not discount any accessory items such as snow blower or sweeper. He wants full list price for these items. Another dealer that is even closer to me has given me much better prices on these accessories and will now get my business. When it is time to purchase another tractor, I will definitely go with the new dealer in town. He has definitely earned my loyalty.
