{"id":2046,"date":"2012-08-22T15:02:18","date_gmt":"2012-08-22T05:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/?p=2046"},"modified":"2020-06-20T01:43:07","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T15:43:07","slug":"the-worlds-priciest-car-wash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/home\/the-worlds-priciest-car-wash\/","title":{"rendered":"The World's Priciest Car Wash!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Death of the Car Dealer<\/a> article last month evoked much comment, including that of \u2018Jerry\u2019 who bitterly complained about the \u2018farcical dealer delivery charges’, in Australia. This is the item on the invoice usually labeled \u201cPre-Delivery Charges\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cynics call this just an \u2018expensive car wash\u2019<\/strong>, so let\u2019s look at what it means and how much we are asked to pay.<\/p>\n

Dealer delivery is a real cost and imposition on the new car dealer, as there is work to be done and money to pay out after the car arrives at the dealers, but before you collect your shiny new car.<\/p>\n

Work and costs involved include:-<\/p>\n

1. Freight charges from the manufacturer or importer to the dealer.<\/p>\n

2. Time taken to register the vehicle<\/p>\n

3. Affixing the number plates<\/p>\n

4. Completing the paperwork.<\/p>\n

5. Inspecting the vehicle for faults and imperfections,and doing a full mechanical check.<\/p>\n

6. Downloading software and programming electronic equipment.<\/p>\n

7. Car wash and detail.<\/p>\n

8. Filling it with fuel..<\/p>\n

So how much do you think this would cost the dealer?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see if we can make a fair estimate.<\/p>\n

Delivery to the dealer is possibly as much as $500, an hour or two getting the car registered and doing the paperwork, a couple of hours in the workshop, then the body shop and car wash bay for another couple of hours, and that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n

Dealers like to talk about holding costs, showroom expenses, fitting extras, costs of arranging finance and the like, but then we reckon these are covered by the profit margin and commission given to the dealer from the suppliers.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s be generous and say that a reasonable cost recovery (with a bit of profit) could be up to $2000.<\/p>\n

However, most new car dealers around the world will incur similar costs, but their charges to the purchaser amount to far less. In the USA the customer is imposed a pre delivery charge of about $750 to $950. It\u2019s slightly less in the UK, and stays around this mark throughout Europe.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a very different matter in Australia…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We made a few phone calls asking the delivery charges from separate dealers in different states for exactly the same car, with exactly the same specifications.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need to second guess us, as you can expect a wide variation, but even we were surprised to get quotes varying from a very acceptable $1995 to a serious request to pay and extra $5000!\u00a0 And this dealer was not alone in asking for more than 150 percent more than some of his counterparts, as one also quoted $4995.<\/p>\n

Is this a disgraceful rip off from the unsuspecting purchaser, especially when some salesmen claim that this is \u2018non negotiable\u2019.\u00a0 \u00a0So is this just another case of buyer beware?<\/p>\n

Well, yes and no.<\/p>\n

Clearly the car dealer has to make a profit to stay in business, but an exorbitant profit is certainly not justified. Yet it\u2019s a free market, so virtually anything goes, huh?\u00a0 Yes, and that goes back to negotiating the final deal.\u00a0 \u00a0It really doesn\u2019t matter where the dealer makes his profit. It\u2019s the bottom line that really counts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Let us explain:<\/p>\n

Suppose you want to trade your trusty family car for a brand new four wheel drive.
\nThe recommended retail price (excluding dealer delivery and statutory costs, as they say) of the new vehicle is $40,000, but, by the time you\u2019ve paid the dealer delivery fee and on-road costs, dealer A quotes $47000, including pre-delivery charges of $3450.\u00a0 But dealer B only charges $2250 for pre-delivery (so the total cost is only $45,800).
\nSo you\u2019d go to Dealer B, wouldn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

Of course you would – unless\u2026..suppose dealer A wants to pay you $10,000 for your trade in, but dealer B reckons the best he can give you is $6,000.
\nNow what? \u00a0Well, to hand in your old car for the new one from dealer B will cost you $39,800 (dealer quote of $45,800 less $6,000 trade in).<\/p>\n

Dealer A, however, quoted you $47,000 for your new car, but will give you $10,000 for your trade in. That means you\u2019ll pay less, $37,000 versus $39,800, so dealer A should get your business.<\/p>\n

The moral of the story is that it is the changeover price that matters<\/strong>. Clearly Private Fleet is well aware of all these dealer tricks, so it\u2019s second nature to us. But it\u2019s a minefield for the private buyer that is unnecessary and unwarranted, and makes what should be a pleasurable and exciting task, frustrating confusing and, all too often, unrewarding.<\/p>\n

In fact, it is clearly such an issue to the buyer that regulatory authorities have tried to impose drive-away pricing throughout Australia. But that has its own problems as there are substantial variations in state taxes throughout Australia that make a uniform \u2018National Price\u2019 impossible.<\/p>\n

‘Drive away- no more to pay’ is another example which can erase the pre-delivery rort, and this is where the manufacturer imposes a final drive away price for a particular car in each state. But, sadly, this only applies to selected cars on the dealer lot. \u00a0As we said, at Private Fleet we are very aware of these cost impositions, but that really doesn\u2019t matter to us, as it\u2019s always the final cost that matters, no matter how it\u2019s arrived at. But for the unwary it can be an extra under-the-table revenue maker that just shouldn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

Do you think that these charges should be controlled, contained and specified by the maker, or should it be a free market?
\nHave you paid the pre delivery as a \u2018non-negotiable charge\u2019? Have your say below. http:\/\/credit-n.ru\/offers-zaim\/moneza-online-zaym.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Death of the Car Dealer article last month evoked much comment, including that of \u2018Jerry\u2019 who bitterly complained about the \u2018farcical dealer delivery charges’, in Australia. This is the item on the invoice usually labeled \u201cPre-Delivery Charges\u201d. Cynics call this just an \u2018expensive car wash\u2019, so let\u2019s look at what it means and how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2046"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12262,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046\/revisions\/12262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}