Hi all

Looking at a car on the forecourt priced up at £31850.

It's a 62 plate FL2 HSE, with the new style interior, 2500 miles on the clock.

What type of margin would the dealer have at this price?

Jim

Perhaps James at HG can answer this one but he might be giving his secrets away. I am lead to believe its about 2-2.5k per vehicle.

Could be as much margin as £3000 or as much loss as £3000.

It will vary wildly from car to car, why its in stock and how long its been there.

Contrary to popular belief, dealers don't buy a car an put £x margin on top.... Some you by cheaply, some you make a mistake, some don't require much in the way of preparation whereas others can be expensive.

The market dictates the screen prices, otherwise no one would buy/sell anything.

James  Follow us on Twitter: @GrangeBarnetJLR

Thank you James.

Thanks guys

After a day of haggling the dealer offered my £500 off the screen price. I thanked him for his generosity and told him that I will look elsewhere .......

Jim

Last edited by jim4244 on Wed May 15 2013 7:52am. Edited 1 time in total

From my limited knowledge of car sales, but having been about trade for over 30 years the dealer will try taking five grand out of the deal if you are trading in. Non franchise dealers @ £3000. They will defend this with costs of warrantee and car prep but its really pure greed when they knock huge chunks off car price on trade in to cover "prep" when in most cases, all they do is wash and polish then fix what a buyer picks up on.
Sorry for skeptical view and generalising, but not had good experiences buying used cars from dealers over the years  2x TDV6. SE and HSE. Both returned to sender with issues👀
TDV8 Sport HSE...... Gone. Loved it but it didn't love me!!
Now rolling in MY10 Fullfat TDV8 Vogue. Slammed it to go round corners🙈
Cruising daily #56 mph in a Volvo V8. 😱
Lots of other toys in the cupboard...😜

Interesting post and something I have often thought about when viewing used cars.

Out of interest, what sort of volume would a dealer turn over in a week? And what would be classed as a good week for a singe salesman?

I would imagine it would have to be a fair few to cover overheads & still turn a profit.

My recent problems lead me to believe what simple1 is saying is quite true, they tell you its fully serviced ect but all they do is top up the levels and give it a wash

I know there are some good and some bad dealers out there but at the end of the day they have to make a living and so have to make a profit. We can't expect a vehicle to sell for the same price as the trade in price, it is just unreasonable. If the price is too high then it simply will not sell and he will have to adjust price accordingly. The market/buyers dictate the price in the end by what they are willing to pay

Dealers sell 40 cars plus a week in trade and retail judging by cars we used to do bodywork repairs to. Discounted volume warrantee sales and lower labour rates oil the wheels.
I expect a well healed salesman makes 40-50 grand a year with manufacturer and dealer bonus for hitting targets. But gets a car and fuel card for his/her pleasure  2x TDV6. SE and HSE. Both returned to sender with issues👀
TDV8 Sport HSE...... Gone. Loved it but it didn't love me!!
Now rolling in MY10 Fullfat TDV8 Vogue. Slammed it to go round corners🙈
Cruising daily #56 mph in a Volvo V8. 😱
Lots of other toys in the cupboard...😜

The main franchise dealers earn good money with bonus and commission etc, independent dealers however don't have those extras so have to price well and do what they can as they don't have the 'main dealer' advantage

Simple

It's warranty or warranties .....if you mean the guarantee type Gone - 2008 Stornoway Grey RRS 2.7 TDV6
Gone - 2009 Buckingham Blue RRS 2.7 TDV6
Gone - 2010 Alaska White RRS 5.0 V8 Aspirated
Gone - 2017 Chawton White RRS 5.0 V8 Supercharged
Current - 2010 Java Black RRS 5.0 V8 Aspirated
Current- 2024 RRS P400 SE Dynamic