RIP dealers. The sooner this country outlaw’s price fixing across all retailing the better it will be for everyone. I get the bit about warrant work etc, but you have paid for most of it with the £70 - £100 for an hours labour the dealers charge, do they pay the mechanic £100 per hour? I think not lol.
Of course they do and I suppose Tesco pay the checkout girl 50p for every 50p tin of beans she sells! Ever run a business?
Firstly, price fixing was outlawed years ago under Bloc Exemption legislation, prior to this several dealers had been prosecuted for forming "price cartels". VAG were fined One Billion (yes Billion) Euros for breach of Bloc Exemption rules about 9 or 10 years ago.
I have to say that the naivety and misconceptions of the general public concerning the motor trade are astounding.
A one man band plumber will charge you £50 to £75 for a call out and the first 15-30 minutes of his time, his overheads? A 5 year old Vauxhall Combi van and a phone line! A main dealer will charge £65 upwards (we charge £65) per hour, for every technician employed there will be on average at least one and a half people employed behind the scenes in admin, service reception, a car cleaner etc therefore out of a every hour at £65 you have 2 and a half peoples wages plus the overheads of running a dealership (mortgage, rates, utilities, insurance, stocking and bank charges, etc etc) that has to comply with an extensive manufacturers "compliance standard".
A company called ASE (also known as Trevor Jones Accountancy) are the world's leading automotive industry accountants, they analyse the efficiency and profitability of every main dealership in the UK ranging from Proton to Rolls Royce, their latest figure show that the average main dealer in the UK is making 0.6% net profit against turnover, that equates to £6,000 for every million pounds.
It is the lowest figure of any major industry in the country.
Gary you are so out of touch with reality and your knowledge of retailing is wide of the mark. If you have worked in car sales through your career this would explain why. Jezyg is spot on and I am sure a lot of other people would agree. I will give you a few examples. I go to buy a new car; the garage will make around 20% on the new sale around 20% on my trade in (then make me feel better by giving me an extra grand to make the deal). The garage will then have me by the short and curlies, they will charge you a “Fixed” price for servicing and use an adequate oil filter etc. I am sure if you went to a local garage that you trusted and specified the oil filter etc. it would be a lot cheaper but you wouldn’t have your warranty. As for the 0.6% profit I know a car salesman and he brought home 6k for March of this year so maybe the new car sales needs a real shake up. Most people on here call them the “Stealers” maybe someone should start a poll and find out what customers really want and do not get from dealers.
No I don't take your view personally, in fact I find it quite amusing. I have a mere 35 years in various types of retailing varying from footwear to timeshare but more years in the motor trade than I care to remember. This business is like no other retail environment in the world and that's why I commented on the naivety of outsiders particularly those in other forms of retail who really think they know best and base their assumptions on parameters that are more in keeping with Neverland than they are in the motor trade. As we're a family (I'm the son-in-law of the owner) owned business I get to see exactly what goes on in the business and the motor trade as a whole.
But hey, if you think I'm wide of the mark based on your extensive (?) experience of the motor industry try the link below, you can of course say that ASE Trevor Jones Accounting are also so out of touch with reality and that their knowledge couldn't possibly compete with your own, I mean, they only operate in 34 countries in 29 different languages specialising solely in the motor industry, perhaps they're even lying!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.ase-global.com/downloads/ASE-Driving-force-24.pdf