Dealer prices

[beenthere]

Why?
No offense meant to anyone looking for the best deal, but I often wonder why people think dealers owe them a price break. They are in the business to sell and make a profit. Without a profit, they don't stay in business.
We don't go to the gas pump and wait for a price reduction before we buy gas. We decide if we will pay it, or leave without it.
Again, I am just wondering out loud, and don't mean to offend anyone.
But why?

 

[rockyridgefarm]

When I ask for quotes on a particular package and there is a $3000 spread between my local dealers, I seem to think something's up...

 

[Bob_Skurka]

beenthere . . . I agree!!! I've seen a couple threads like you are referring to.

But I suspect that many people probably equate buying a tractor to car shopping.

With a car the "invoice" price is posted all over the internet, there are websites like Edmunds.com and Kelley that give all sorts of car cost comparisons. None of that seems to exist with tractors. But then again, tractors are NOT cars. A typical tractor dealer is selling 100+ tractors a year. A small dealer maybe up to 80 tractors. A big dealership over 150 units. But those numbers are dwarfed the numbers a car dealership sells, heck within a block of my office are 5 or 6 car dealerships, the Ford dealer next door must have 500 cars on its lot at any given time, the Chevy dealer probably 350, the Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealer probably is close to the Chevy dealer in inventory level. A good size tractor dealer will have 10 to 20 tractors on his lot??? No comparision.

So margins must be different, business models must be different, and it really doesn't matter if my tractor dealer made $500, or $1000, or $1500 on my most recent purchase, what matters is I got a good price in my market that is competitive with other similar tractors of different brands, AND that he is able to stay in business to service me when I need it.


Mike. . . Individual dealers need to be competitive, but I still don't think I need to know the invoice cost, their floorplanning allowances, kickback, etc. If those things even exist.

 

[beenthere]

Rocky... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I would too (think somethings up..), and would check out where the differences are, and if one dealer is missing something, would note that it wasn't in the deal, and if the other was high, I wouldn't buy from him. Beyond that, I couldn't fault a dealer who 'didn't want to cut a deal'. I just wouldn't buy from him. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[rockyridgefarm]

Well I pretty much have figured out that one of my loacal dealers is sky high., And their service isn't as good as some of the others...

BUT, I agree that price is a small factor. You want to have a Win- Win situation where you aren't gouging, or being gouged. The dealer wants to see you come back, and you WANT to go back.

What gets me are the folks you see everywhere who always seem to find these crazy high price quotes on brand 'X" to justify the supposed deal they got on 'Y'. Those type comparisons are supposed to just be for Skurka to tell MrsLovestly, not for general fact finding... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[ByronBob]

There is a threshhold everyone has where price begins to play a larger part of the equation. For most people I would think a few hundred isn't the issue. But a few thousand starts getting peoples attention.

Only the person involved knows what that delta number is. But we can't make people change "how" they make the decision they do. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[BillyP]

<font color="blue"> Why? </font>

Probably the biggest reason is most dealers jack the price up so they can come down. It's just human nature to haggle over prices and dealers know that. You can't blame the dealer for trying but you can't blame the consumer for trying either.

 

[SonnieP]

Personally I don't think the dealer owes me anything other than good service if I buy from that dealer.

As far as shopping prices... I'll call all of them within the distance I'm willing to deal and whoever gives me the best price I'll shop with provided I am comfortable that I can get the proper service I need. That's how I did my shopping anyway. I didn't haggle, I just called and the prices eventually got lower. My dealer claims the price he sold to me for will be the price for everyone... provided no price increases and obviously based on rebates and incentives being factored in. He has a certain margin that he wants to make and as long as he gets it then he'll sell for that price.

While I say I don't or didn't haggle, I had told Mr. Helms at Helm's and Son that I really liked his price and he had the best price thus far. He and I were very close to making a deal before I called that one last dealer that quoted me a whopping $1300 less for the same identical setup (actually $900 + QA which we figured at $400). Out of respect for Mr. Helms and the time he talked with me, I did call him back and let him know what was up and he ask me to allow him an opportunity to see what else he could do. Ultimately he decided if he came down that low he would be below his minimum margin and just didn't feel comfortable selling at that price... it would be lower than he'd sold anyone else. However he stated he knew of the other dealer and felt like they would be a good dealer for me and also offered to service the tractor, do warranty work if needed, etc. Very nice dealer who sells more than one tractor brand.

 

[MikePA]

I have enough to do with managing my own finances, I don't want to manage the dealers finances as well. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

The Customer knows (hopefully)
1. What they need
2. What they want
3. How much they have to spend

The Dealer knows
1. What he needs to make on a sale.
2. What he wants to make on a sale.

I don't like it when a salesperson asks me, "How much do you want to spend?" so I don't ask the dealer "How much are you making on this?"

If I don't like the price, I can;

1. Increase what I want to spend.
2. Eliminate my 'wants' and get a price for my 'needs'
3. Find another dealer, same brand
4. Find another dealer, different brand.

I learned a long time ago that the price of an item does not always reflect what it's worth. However, it always reflects what someone is willing to pay. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif