Are dealers profiteering?

[Rob Turner]

If you say so...

I do say so!
What hurdles did you come across??

 

[Langtoftlad]

I do say so!
What hurdles did you come across??

.. for starters

 

[Rob Turner]

View attachment 405110
.. for starters

View attachment 405110
.. for starters

It’s not a problem at all, it’s only form filling and takes no time and a saving of £25k.
Like I said, what problems did you find when you imported?

 

[Langtoftlad]

First & only problem is the Motorhome I wanted isn't available in Germany



As I said "good for you"

[...but obviously it can't suit everyone as otherwise no-one would be buying anything from a UK dealership, we'd all be popping over to Germany]

 

[Rob Turner]

It doesn’t suit everyone no, but believe me, I’ve not had a problem, I’m not sure how my next van will pan out when we have left the EU, we’ll have to wait and see.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Barclaybasher]

Does anyone expect any dealer to survive without them making a profit?

Most businesses have been closed for 3 months..... making losses, so the market changes and all of a sudden they can make some money.............

Most on here will have seen the value of their MHs increase....why not the dealers?

 

[Crazylegs]

I don’t have any specific knowledge about Motorhome dealers, but our company provides a service to car dealer groups. We are hearing almost daily about either rumoured or confirmed job losses.
This is today’s helping of bad news.

Sources reveal Jardine Motor Group set to axe more than 500 jobs as it looks to close head offices – Car Dealer Magazine

Jardine Motor Group is believed to be making 521 redundancies as it moves to close its head offices in Milton Keynes and Colchester. A source told Car

cardealermagazine.co.uk

The motor trade ain’t in a great place at the moment.

 

[Thombocol]

So, anyone, how are MH dealers finances different to those of car dealers ? Car dealers seem to operate on thin margins and are very keen to keep turning over their stock, new and used, especially at certain times of the year. MH dealers seem to hold stock for months on end, not dropping their asking prices at all, even if the stock has been on the site for months, how can they afford to operate like that, financially ? They have costs/overheads like car dealers, yet dont seem keen to shift stock, used MHs especially. People say it's Supply and Demand, but it doesnt look like a free and competitive market to me.

 

[peterc10]

So, anyone, how are MH dealers finances different to those of car dealers ? Car dealers seem to operate on thin margins and are very keen to keep turning over their stock, new and used, especially at certain times of the year. MH dealers seem to hold stock for months on end, not dropping their asking prices at all, even if the stock has been on the site for months, how can they afford to operate like that, financially ? They have costs/overheads like car dealers, yet dont seem keen to shift stock, used MHs especially. People say it's Supply and Demand, but it doesnt look like a free and competitive market to me.

Huge difference in scale and type of operation. Just compare the number of cars sold worldwide with motorhomes sold. Also each site of the dealer is only aligned with one make, and there is much more rigid agreement with the manufacturers, and a lot more help offered as well.

Industrial scale versus cottage industry.

Edit. Hymer are the largest manufacturer in Europe. Between 1961 (when they first started making motorhomes) and 2014 they had sold 150,000. Compare that with the number of cars the major makers sold in the same 53 year period. I don't know the answer, but it will be considerably more. ,

 

[Simon Select]

Just an observation, I reckon the greediest motorhome vendors are private individuals NOT dealers

I bet Simon Howard gets toe-dropped a lemon of a px more times than I’ve had a hot dinner

PROFIT is not a dirty word, if you don't like a price don't buy it.
If you are happy with your negotiated price...cool, you have done well,but I guarantee someone would have bought cheaper AND someone will have paid more

You would be amazed at the amount of times a customer has told me his or her or toaster or non binary or gender neutral's motorhome is in forecourt condition.
I had one bumper held together with duck tape and was in about 14 pieces who told me it was just a little scrape.
Vans full of damp coming in which we then spend a fortune trying to put right. The best thing with some of those would be to set them of fire but they would be too wet to catch a flame!
Vans customers have "Customized" that I have spend a fortune putting back to normal! No one ones a pissing spice rack fitted to a toilet door!
Also tiger stripe graphics are just never ok!
The real heroes in all of this are my valeting team. Vans coming in with skid marks in toilet pans, all sorts of strange fluids in the van, pretty sure most are biological..........
We have vans coming in that are dangerous and have failed carbon monoxide tests, electrics that were built incorrectly from the factory!

As a dealership we do sometimes need to make a bit of money. We will put the vans right then do as my original on here in terms of a proper level of prep etc then stick a warranty on it. Sometimes we end up losing money on a deal as the part ex was far worse than we thought. Its not like I can ring a customer who has a new van and say by the way the van last week is actually rotten although you said it was perfect. As nowadays it would take seconds to be on social media that I has called said person a liar!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[peterc10]

Of all of the people who complain about how much money the dealer is making, I do not see many putting their money where their mouth is. If it is that easy and profitable why not start a dealership up yourself? Only need a bit of waste land and a portacabin

Or, if you want, you could rent one of the many empty second hand car lots. The way the market is at the moment the freeholder would probably give you a 2 year rent holiday on the lease, so when all the money starts rolling in you can put some of it towards paying the rent after the two years.

This time next year you will be a millionaire, as one of the countries leading entrepreneurs used to say to Rodney.

 

[WESTY66]

You would be amazed at the amount of times a customer has told me his or her or toaster or non binary or gender neutral's motorhome is in forecourt condition.
I had one bumper held together with duck tape and was in about 14 pieces who told me it was just a little scrape.
Vans full of damp coming in which we then spend a fortune trying to put right. The best thing with some of those would be to set them of fire but they would be too wet to catch a flame!
Vans customers have "Customized" that I have spend a fortune putting back to normal! No one ones a pissing spice rack fitted to a toilet door!
Also tiger stripe graphics are just never ok!
The real heroes in all of this are my valeting team. Vans coming in with skid marks in toilet pans, all sorts of strange fluids in the van, pretty sure most are biological..........
We have vans coming in that are dangerous and have failed carbon monoxide tests, electrics that were built incorrectly from the factory!

As a dealership we do sometimes need to make a bit of money. We will put the vans right then do as my original on here in terms of a proper level of prep etc then stick a warranty on it. Sometimes we end up losing money on a deal as the part ex was far worse than we thought. Its not like I can ring a customer who has a new van and say by the way the van last week is actually rotten although you said it was perfect. As nowadays it would take seconds to be on social media that I has called said person a liar!

I hope my van wasn’t in that list
I have to say I knew the background to my deal and I will say in all honesty you passed a fair chunk of your profit into getting me into my moho, and bent over backwards for other stuff, for which both Val and I are grateful. Without your FairPlay we could not at this time bought the Moho off you, cheers.
So NOT ALL dealers are greedy!!

 

[Sapper520]

You would be amazed at the amount of times a customer has told me his or her or toaster or non binary or gender neutral's motorhome is in forecourt condition.
I had one bumper held together with duck tape and was in about 14 pieces who told me it was just a little scrape.
Vans full of damp coming in which we then spend a fortune trying to put right. The best thing with some of those would be to set them of fire but they would be too wet to catch a flame!
Vans customers have "Customized" that I have spend a fortune putting back to normal! No one ones a pissing spice rack fitted to a toilet door!
Also tiger stripe graphics are just never ok!
The real heroes in all of this are my valeting team. Vans coming in with skid marks in toilet pans, all sorts of strange fluids in the van, pretty sure most are biological..........
We have vans coming in that are dangerous and have failed carbon monoxide tests, electrics that were built incorrectly from the factory!

As a dealership we do sometimes need to make a bit of money. We will put the vans right then do as my original on here in terms of a proper level of prep etc then stick a warranty on it. Sometimes we end up losing money on a deal as the part ex was far worse than we thought. Its not like I can ring a customer who has a new van and say by the way the van last week is actually rotten although you said it was perfect. As nowadays it would take seconds to be on social media that I has called said person a liar!

We ended up ordering a new van (from a dealer 3 hours away from us), as we got fed up of travelling miles to view Private ones for sale, having been sent photographs and being told it was in immaculate condition.

Photographs do lie, and without saying we were told ‘untruths’.........some people’s idea of immaculate was far from ours.

 

[Thombocol]

Huge difference in scale and type of operation. Just compare the number of cars sold worldwide with motorhomes sold. Also each site of the dealer is only aligned with one make, and there is much more rigid agreement with the manufacturers, and a lot more help offered as well.

Industrial scale versus cottage industry.

Edit. Hymer are the largest manufacturer in Europe. Between 1961 (when they first started making motorhomes) and 2014 they had sold 150,000. Compare that with the number of cars the major makers sold in the same 53 year period. I don't know the answer, but it will be considerably more. ,

Thanks, I see that part, but how can MH dealers sit on stock, especially used, for months and months, without reducing asking prices, after all they have fixed costs to service - or so I would have thought. Are they all sitting on piles of cash at the bank, so they dont need turnover ?

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Thanks, I see that part, but how can MH dealers sit on stock, especially used, for months and months, without reducing asking prices, after all they have fixed costs to service - or so I would have thought. Are they all sitting on piles of cash at the bank, so they dont need turnover ?

Finance Stockplan?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[peterc10]

Thanks, I see that part, but how can MH dealers sit on stock, especially used, for months and months, without reducing asking prices, after all they have fixed costs to service - or so I would have thought. Are they all sitting on piles of cash at the bank, so they dont need turnover ?

I don't think they do that in my experience. In a normal year dealers start to get twitchy in the late Autumn when the next year's stock starts to arrive, and that is when the prices start to tumble. After some negotiations I managed to buy my new 2015 Hymer with 19% off list price in November 2015. Next to it on the forecourt were 2016 models with little or no reductions. So they do reduce prices in my experience. As for second hand stock I got about 10% off the asking price of my previous motorhome when I bought it second hand. When I p/xed it for the Hymer I got a very good deal, only loosing £2,000 in two and a half years and 15,000 miles. It went on their forecourt with about £6000 added to it and it sold within a few weeks.

But this is not a normal year and at the moment there are few if any deals to be had, and I suspect that will continue over the winter. It is a sellers market with dealers confirming lots of sales because of people's reluctance to fly on holiday any more.

I don't know how dealers fund their stock, but I would guess that there would be many ways to possibly do that. For example I know that some dealers take out loans for their stock secured on that stock. My guess is that some manufacturers may be willing to offer generous credit terms for them to stock their models. Or maybe they are a well run organisation that has ploughed profits back into the business so that they can afford to fund a large stock list.

But it seems to me that it is no real difference to the car trade. As with motorhomes, some makers are less likely to reduce much than others. In my experience you can get a lot more off of the list price of a Ford or Vauxhall car than you can off of a Toyota or Honda. And as for our local dealer for Bentley and Lamborghini, I doubt that many buyers would even ask what the price was!! After all if you have to ask, you can't afford it.

 

[Otter Spotter]

OK - how's this for a 'Bargain'

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-...0001&campid=5338547443&icep_item=293632419674

God I hope they get their asking price, because if they do I should be able to sell mine in 7 yrs time for double what it’s cost me