4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

Why are they not the same? How is it efficient to have $40k vehicles sitting around on a lot for months at a time. The dealer is paying for insurance, cleaning, financing, overhead, and all of that is built into the price of each car that every single customer is paying for. Cars would be cheaper without this inefficiency. Why cant i just put in an order myself straight to the maker like I'm buying something online.

Would it make sense for Best Buy to have 100 washing machines sitting in each of their stores waiting for someone to buy them? Or does it make sense to only have a display model and ship it from a central warehouse when someone orders it? Its even worse for cars that can have 100s or 1000s of possible different combinations of options and colors. Dealership model isnt there because its the most efficient its there because of state laws that make it illegal for consumers to buy directly from the factory.

coolsaber

Thats available with BMW and Mini but most vehicles dont sell that way since customers dont want to pay sticker. You special order vehicles, you also pay sticker, which honestly you can do at the present. I think the only exception is the current LC

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

i see it not just because you can't be objective, but because you selling your own home would be a big distraction from income producing opportunities so basically it's not worth it. as a web developer i can't be objective about doing my own website either, but i'm not going to farm it out to someone else. lol.

no, they sell direct because they CAN and they balance that in a non-competing way with the lower profit from selling through agents. car makers should be able to do the same!!! can you not concede even that?

i've no idea what you are talking about - they don't give up any part of their commission. the credit is a promo from disney or someone else, to incent the agent to close more business. the commission stays the same.

that IS the point relative to this actual thread subject, that they can choose to compete or not, they're not legally blocked from doing so. that should be true for car makers too.

gengar

Yikes! Special ordering cars absolutely does not mean paying sticker... you can negotiate special orders just like you can negotiate cars on the lot.

Gojirra99

​​​​​​I agree, I have had substantial discounts every time I factory order my cars.

mmarshall

I will, too, on my factory-ordered new one, though I don't know exactly how much......Buick hasn't even announced final pricing on it yet, nor have I had my old car appraised.

I hope your new Mercedes is doing well. You must have shelled out some good cash for it, even at a discount.

SW17LS

Its because I can't be objective. Your website is not the disposition or acquisition of your largest asset. Lets ask this question, who has more experience with real estate transactions, you or me? I've been a part of ~ 500 of them, I would not represent myself lets just leave it at that.

The bottom line is you don't understand the issue because you don't understand or recognize the serious nature of the representation and counsel I give to my clients, which is fine. I'm confident in it, and like I said I need that representation and counsel from a neutral third party when I am involved in a personal transaction too.

So you cede my point that in this scenario purchasing this trip through Disney vs a travel agent makes Disney more profit, and costs the consumer more.

If car manufacturers will allow franchised dealers and sales through competing dealers AND sell directly to the public, I wouldn't have an issue with that no.

You are incorrect, my cousin in law is a travel agent, and I've discussed with her at length how the business works. There are incentives from the provider that they can pass on to the consumer, but routinely TA's do create incentives out of their own compensation package from the provider to create a better package and lure the consumer away from booking direct. If this "$250 shipboard credit" was a Disney incentive, you would likely get the same incentive if you booked through Disney. That does happen, thats not what patglim was talking about...that was a $250 credit from the TA, you only got that if you booked it from the TA. Disney did not provide that credit, the TA did out of their commission on the trip.

For instance I have a TA I've used to book cruises, there are graduated bonus programs that come FROM THEM the more cruises you book FROM THEM. Those credits come out of the TA's end of the trip, not from the cruise line. The last cruise we took I got a $600 shipboard credit from American Express because of my Platinum card, Royal Caribbean gave me $200 and the TA gave me $350. Had I booked direct with Royal Caribbean I would have gotten $200. Had I booked through American Express Travel (a travel agency), I would have gotten $600 plus the $200 from RC, so $800. Because my TA was able to also loop in the Platinum AMEX credit, I got that $800 plus $350, so $1,150 shipboard credit. I paid the same fare for the cruise I would have by booking direct from RC.

So using the TA saved me $950. Even if all the credits came from RC as you say and not out of the TA's compensation, what do I care? I still saved $950 over booking it direct.

If manufacturers are still going to allow independent dealers to sell alongside their own factory direct operation, than I have no issue with that. Competition always benefits the consumer. Unless I'm mistaken thats not what Tesla wants to do, they want to control the whole retail process, and I am confident that increases costs for the consumer.

patgilm

This is correct, my travel agent called Disney and asked about them getting me a shipboard credit after I talked to another TA down in Florida that was offering the credit and Disney said they don't give shipboard credits and the TA themselves provide it out of their commission.

As it relates to auto manufacturers I don't have an issue with them selling directly to the public alongside dealers but by eliminating dealers entirely, I just don't see how that will benefit the consumer with lower prices but who knows maybe it would.

jadu

iTrader: (42)

Interesting discussion. This brings up the question, does TESLA limit the sales of their cars to 1 individual????

For example, I have the funds and buy 10 Model TESLA Model S. Can I buy 10 Model S's and simply resell them and HOPE to make a profit off them? AKA reseller. if i had a reselling license, I wouldnt have to pay tax. the person I sell to pays the sales tax.

SW17LS

And on top of that I didn't have to do any research, do any shopping. They did it all for me and they even got me upgraded to a grand suite at the last minute for very little cost because one became available right at the end, which was awesome. Any changes we wanted to make just required an email. Booked our dining, etc.

Service means a lot to me, I will pay more for better service, and I will certainly pay less for better service which I did there. To some people service has no value which is fine. What's funny is they're always the first ones to complain when they get poor service, the people who aren't willing to pay for good service lol. That's why we don't discount our services, if you just want the cheapest people that's not us.

Toys4RJill

Some bizzare arguments going on in this thread. I support the comments that some will pay for certain services and I also respect that not everyone​ wants to pay for certain services. If I were selling a house, I would absolutely advise to have a real estate agent. They are the ones that are trained and have experience in that field. It would be a very unwise and poor decision not to retain one. As for travel agents, they have their place. If I were going ok a long trip across Europe or accross Africa, why wouldn't have a seasoned professional advise and help you find the way.

Toys4RJill

Sure you can buy 10. But I highly doubt you will be able to sell them for a profit.

Toys4RJill

You have it completely wrong. It actually is more efficient to have a good supply of vehicles. Most car buyers do not know what they want, what they can afford etc etc. The larger supply, the better chance that a buyer comes into the dealer and finds a vehicle and then leaves with it. The shorter the transaction, the better. Not having the cars on the lot and making buyers wait for them is not at all efficient. Making a buyer of a car wait for it because it needs to come from the factory is not all a good idea.

Too much inventory or too little inventory is not efficient. You want to have the perfect supply. And the auto business calls in "Days on Hand" if I am correct.

MattyG

Hmm... I'm not sure what you mean by this. Are dealers not the suppliers of cars to the public at the retail level? Independent dealers can sell a variety of cars but usually do so under the "family" umbrella. So they sell Cadillac, Buick and Chevy maybe. I'm thinking you meant to say that some states are not allowing Tesla and like minded companies to direct market to the public because of strong dealer association lobbyists.

That's a manufacturer to dealer supply chain issue. Nothing to do with Tesla. You're still implying a black and white situation. An either/or equation backing a view that Tesla's entry into the market as a direct retail seller is a doomsday ending. Again, you can have a variety of manufacturers competing on several retail channels. I don't think that manufacturers artificially dumping supply onto dealers with incentives is somehow the dealers giving a good deal to the public. That's the manufacturer giving a good deal to the public. The dealers just do what the car makers are telling them to do.

MattyG

And there were many who would have happily told you this:

Lemme get this straight. You want to start up some sort of internet thingy where people take pictures of themselves and then post them online and then they...

What do you mean that you'll get people to write in a sentence that only has 140 characters in this online thingy called the internet? Who in this world communicates like that?

You want what??? You want private space flight and trips for tourists in outer space? Deliver private satellite payloads and stuff? Nonsense.

You can't have $99 airfares. Impossible.