Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - The Decline of Car Dealers?...

* Disclaimer - rant ahead, if you don't feel like reading one, click away now!

In recent years, I've noticed a trend at mainstream dealerships, possibly worse at large chains who have various brands and locations within their group. The trend seems to be to offer the We Buy Any Car price as a trade-in value on the owners car rather than looking at what they could retail it for themselves, less prep costs and margin they want to make.

In the past, dealers seemed to rely on Glasses Guide, etc, for valuations, but now they simply put the reg of the trade-in into WBAC and get a rock bottom price (the WBAC price generally being what they believe they will get at auction + £500)

In January, I called a few dealerships and discussed the option for trading my daily driver in for a, used, year-old version of the same car. After jumping through the hoops where the person on reception asks for all your information, stopping just short of waist size and trouser length!, so that the dealership can market to you (even when you ask them not to), you get put through to a sales person. I've done the dance enough times that the 'their car you called about is wonderful but in spite of being similar, your trade-in is less than ideal' has become old and tiring. However, the 'new' valuation process seems yet another backward step in the automotive industry. For reference, my trade-in was one owner, always serviced at a main dealer (with a full service history) and, albeit older, the type of stock they still appear to retail.

The most recent call resulted in the dealer coming back with an offer of 30% less for my car than the sticker price of a similar car they are retailing, with higher mileage, at a different branch of the same dealership chain. When I popped my car into WBAC, sure enough, I got the same price they had offered, and of course, not a pound off the car they had in stock (which they hadn't even depreciated to a level that compensated for the loss of the VAT when the car was registered new). Before calling him back, I popped their car into WBAC and the silence on the phone when I told him what the price to change was on WBAC price to WBAC price was amusing. Needless to say, no deal was done and they've just prompted me to stick with what I have.

I'm a realist, I know dealerships have to make a healthy margin but offering rock bottom trade price on a trade-in, when it is obvious they can sell it just seems lazy and a state of the automotive industry.

I know manufacturers are moving towards the 'Tesla' business model of online purchase, at a fixed price, and a dealership, staffed with one person, handing the car over when you collect the new vehicle, is the vision they'd all like to move to. Great for the manufactures selling new cars, less so for dealerships, who will get a one off handling fee and then rely on servicing, and (one would have thought) used car sales, to make profit.

However, where does that leave the pre-owned car market? I do understand that mainstream dealers may not want to hold stock in this economy but I've always felt that if you've got a cared for trade-in, which isn't from the ark, it must be worth them retailing it rather than putting it into the trade; however, recent experience, on two cars (one less than two years old and being sold on behalf of a family member) would seem to imply differently.

I can't decide if it is the desperate cash grab of commerce (try it enough and they'll get lucky and buy cars cheap!) or whether it is a move towards carrying less stock and therefore reducing the overheads of the business. Perhaps it also feels like one more step to automation; akin to being at a supermarket and one of the staff working the check-out pointing at the 'self service' terminals and say "it may be quicker if you use one of those..." ...less staff, less overheads, clearly defined and regimented processes, hence more 'round peg into a round hole', all done by one single person who doesn't have to think but simply pushes buttons?

There's a definite spy in MS OS - I posted try "Motorway" further back in this thread, my MSN feed has now showed two links to "exchangemycar.co.uk"

The robots are listening...

The situp and beg Ford Pop had a basic 1172cc side valve E93A engine. Later versions with lower profile body used a 100E engine. This latter development, although still side valve and same capacity, had adjustable tappets (earlier version amazingly didn't), better bearings and sported an integral water pump, E93A relying on thermo-siphon cooling. Both had a bleed of inlet manifold pressure with the resultant vacuum (when available on light throttle) stored in a tank which in turn drove the matching wiper motor - an infamous system when ascending a hill in heavy rain when blades slowed to a stop.

Was having up-market high-roller dealers like the mainstream luxury brands a hiding to nowhere? (How the London one keeps going with their overheads and attitude I don't know.!)

They're in a pickle ... they've moved on to cars that need specialist dealers to maintain and repair without the volume to support such a network ... with the older trads they could have handled sales direct from the factory and had owners rely on any general garage to service and repair .... is that viable for CX cars and above? .... maybe one service/repair centre per country with a few discrete covered transporters for pick-up and drop-off ala Rolls? ... and sales from the factory sold as 'bespoke' and developed as an experience in itself along the lines of being suited and booted in Saville Row ?

K

Merz & Pabst has already been bankrupt once before in 2017. At the time, they had allegedly carried out a corporate core sanation and found new investors. Therefore, it cannot be said how much of the new bankruptcy is ‘homemade’ when it is already the second one. In any case, our economy is not helping. Yes Richard, M&P was there for a very long time. Supposedly they want to continue somehow, I wish them the best.

I think that in the medium term, the traditional dealer will disappear. You will be just as likely to buy your new car via Amazon as via a local garage in the same way that you buy any other domestic appliance. Maintenenace, what little is needed , will be at multi brand maintenance depots because the complexity of modern vehicles plus government restrictions will mean that backstreet services wont be practical or allowed.

In any event it is likely that there will be far fewer brands of cars and that the process of the merging together of designs will continue. One fridge looks just like any other. So do the 3 and 5 door hatches.


TalkMorgan is a club of motoring enthusiasts. In the early days of motoring, the huge majority of motorists were enthusiasts. Nowadays we are a minority and a shrinking one at that. After all , when you are driving your standard 3 door hatch in a queue of other such cars down a potholed road with a 20mph limit and speed traps all over the place how much enthusiasm can you raise?

Buy a boat. There at least there is freedom and variety. No jams. No scameras. At least for the moment.