Dealer Relationship
So my conundrum is that our local dealer, who is big by the way, their prices for Voyager 574 MH are £6400 more than 3 dealers between 60 to 90 miles away.
Do I have to return to where I purchased the MH to get it serviced or doesn't it matter? Is it important to buy close to home to be able to return to them for any upgrades or issues?
I feel I don't want to pay way over the odds just to be close to where I buy it from.
Or is it a must?
Hope that makes sense and thanks again.
Comments
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there are two parts to your servicing, base vehicle servicing and habitation check. The main issue is maintaining your warranty, the terms of which will vary between new and used vehicles. The base vehicle needs servicing at an appropriate garage. Some dealers have that facility eg my dealer is also a Fiat professional garage, whereas a previous dealer was not and sent vehicles to a garage elsewhere in the city. In terms of the hab check, fundamental to maintaining warranty, and some dealers will check vans from other dealers and some won’t. You can only ask the local dealer where you might want to take the van. The closer the dealer the better for getting any problems solved. Only you can decide where that distance lies. I have to say that having my dealer 20 mins away on an easy road is much better than the previous dealer which was 40 mins away on a difficult journey. Incidentally my current dealer was willing to take on our previous van including any warranty work. They are also sole stockists for one make so do have people bringing vans several hundred miles.
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Have you been proactive and talked about the price with your local dealership. As a large dealership they will have big overheads but will probably get new stock at an attractive price and have some flexibility on price. Explain how three competitors are undercutting them by £6400 and how you really would prefer to stay local..
Colin
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That would be my starting point for a new outfit as well, local is better, but only if the dealership has a good reputation for after sales services, such as checks and being pro active if (when☹️) you come up against any issues with a new outfit. You need to make sure you are looking at the exact same outfit spec regarding pricing, as that does seem a hefty difference, and then go hardball with your negotiations. Haggle, then haggle some more. Don’t just haggle on price, make them think about a couple of years free warranty checks, get some extras thrown in if you can one way or another. But above all, check out reviews, independent feedback on any dealer you buy from around servicing, putting right any faults, and see what kind of timescales are mentioned. Dealers happily sell outfits, but then don’t always deliver on after care. And make sure all the pre delivery check are done yourself, don’t trust them.
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If you feel you have a reliable dealer it certainly gives you peace of mind. When we changed to a motorhome it was important that the selling dealer was able to provide both cab and habitation servicing. It's surprising how many main car/van vehicle dealers can't handle motorhomes because of lack of space for large vehicles even when you see vans on their forecourt. Often dealers are often unwilling to work on vehicles not purchased from them. Perhaps we were lucky but we found our dealer looked after both van we got from them.
David
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I’m in agreement with TTDA 👍 You’re in a strong position as I’d have expected sales to slow going into the winter and as you’ve sensibly done you’re homework with the price, have you’re game face on and return to your local dealer (if that’s who you prefer to deal with) and haggle, haggle, haggle! As nice as a salesperson is when there’s a deal to be made, as my good old mum used to say, they’re not your friend! Check what the other dealers were willing to include as well 👍 Good Luck 🤞😂
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very good point from @Wherenext about Approved workshops.
I am the utterly ruthless family Member when it comes to buying a vehicle. We do as much research as possible, checking prices, warranties, dealerships, after sales etc…… We work as a team in terms of choosing and buying, then OH leaves it to me to see what things I can get in terms of discounts, servicing, length of warranty (if buying used) and then if there’s any extras required that we fancy. By the time I have politely done, the dealers are glad to get rid of me.
It is a buyers market at the moment, so don’t accept first, or even second offer, get extras like a service pitch set up thrown in, wastemaster if you need one, hassle for a roll out canopy, or a bike/box rack, fit a solar panel, etc……. And don’t be afraid to walk away first time. Don’t show too much interest in anything in particular, keep an eye on things and then go back and hit them with what you want.😈
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We were told by a major dealership that if they still haven’t sold stock they have by 3 months, they have to start paying interest on it, so it starts costing them to hold onto it. This doesn’t necessarily refer to demo models, they could be new and stored in their compounds 👍
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We have only ever bought one vehicle/outfit from brand spanking new, and still consider it the worst decision we ever made. An MG Metro back in the 1980’s. Fantastic little car, but you just lose so much being the first buyer, etc…… Plus with a mortgage rate of 17.5% to contend with, we made a mistake. OH has a deep love of classic cars, and has the skills and fitness to maintain them, so we moved over to classics for a good number of years. Ran all sorts of LR models, as we needed 4x4 for towing caravan and horse box, and had an MG sports car alongside. Drooled over a new Jeep Wrangler whilst on holiday in Cornwall, while living with an LR disaster of a Freelander, but we found a gorgeous second hand Wrangler for a superb price instead. OH had bodged up the back inside of our LR Discovery after the dogs had eaten through the plastic inner rear wheel arches, so he built out the back in some wood, nicely worked and shaped, looked really good. Then we PX-Ed it for a Jeep Patriot, dealers thought they had got some sort of customised shooting Disco🤣 We kept our faces straight🤭
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