Why do (Skoda?) car dealers...

[space-godzilla]

...only seem to want to pay wholesale prices on used cars?

Following on from my earlier post, I have been shopping my RS around at various dealers and they have all offered rather low trade in prices.

I have only focused on dealers that sell the Skoda brand. Obviously, a Mercedes dealer (for example) isn't going to want a used Skoda on their lot so they would probably just send it to the auctions. In that case, I accept that their trade in price might be $10,000 below what another dealer could sell it for (taking into account some profit for the Mercedes dealer, the auction house, and the dealer eventually sell the car). But based upon the trade in prices that I have been getting, I think that even the Skoda dealers are simply quoting the lowest value from Redbook (or whatever) without putting any thought into it.

A typical example was an exchange with Rockdale Skoda (Stewart Automotive). I described my car (2008 RS, diesel, wagon, DSG, 42,000 kms, new Michelin tyres) and e-mailed them some photos and the salesman came back with a value of $15,000. But at that price, there's no point in selling the car. Plus, they have a 2007 RS (petrol, hatch, manual, 57,000 kms) on their website for $26,888. Even with a generous $10,000 mark-up on my car, you would expect that they would list it for more than $25,000.

Can anyone shed some light on why this seems to be? Is it just the path of least resistance (laziness)? That is, just send my Skoda to the auctions.

Based upon the various quotes, $15-17,000 seems to be the going wholesale price. Of course, I am not expecting $25,000 for it but I would jump if a Skoda dealer (intending on reselling it themselves) said $20,000.

[Transporter]

We got $20,000 for our Golf5 2.0L TDI DSG Trendline with 45,000km, sold on Carsales. com in reasonable time.

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[brad]

I can't see how any dealer could give an accurate trade-in without seeing the car in the flesh. Also, that's there starting point for tyre kickers. Go to the showroom, show you are serious & the trade should come up.

My oldest friend's Dad has been in the car business for ~60 years (ran Stewart Toyota for a fair while, + half a dozen other dealerships). His advice to me was to disregard both the Trade-in price & the sales price of the car & know how much change over you were willing to pay.

If you want a HUGE trade-in then try somewhere like Australian Fleet Sales. They'll give you $30k for your Skoda........ providing you buy the 2010 Omega with 100k on it for $35k that they have in stock (and paid $10k for).

[space-godzilla]

I can't see how any dealer could give an accurate trade-in without seeing the car in the flesh. Also, that's there starting point for tyre kickers. Go to the showroom, show you are serious & the trade should come up.

My oldest friend's Dad has been in the car business for ~60 years (ran Stewart Toyota for a fair while, + half a dozen other dealerships). His advice to me was to disregard both the Trade-in price & the sales price of the car & know how much change over you were willing to pay.

If you want a HUGE trade-in then try somewhere like Australian Fleet Sales. They'll give you $30k for your Skoda........ providing you buy the 2010 Omega with 100k on it for $35k that they have in stock (and paid $10k for).

All fair comments but I am in Canberra and am therefore subject to the tyranny of distance. I cannot simply spend a leisurely Saturday afternoon visiting 3-4 Skoda dealers (to prove that I am a legitimate potential buyer and) to see who will give me the best deal.

To be accurate, the salesman from Stewart subsequently said that $15,000 was a starting point. But if I had come in offering $5,000 below the asking price, he probably would have said that I wasn't serious about buying the car. So him offering $5,000 below what would be a decent trade in value came across as not being serious about selling the car.

It's a bit of the chicken and the egg thing, I guess. Many dealers apparently don't take internet enquiries seriously because maybe 99% of them are from tyre kickers. But if they don't take all of them seriously, legitimate potential buyers (like me) will be turned off. I mean, why do dealers have "e-business consultants" and why does Carsales have an option to describe your trade in?

I have bought three cars with trade ins via Carsales, one in Canberra but two others from interstate. The best experience was dealing with Bruce Lynton on the Gold Coast when I wanted to get rid of my Discovery. They had the Prado that I wanted and being a Land Rover dealer, they wanted my Discovery. So immediately after my first e-mail enquiry, the salesman offered me $10,000 over the other trade in values that I had been getting. We spoke once or twice but the deal was done pretty much all thru e-mail.

I did take the Discovery to someone who the salesman knew in Canberra to have them check it out and my father-in-law lives in Brisbane so he was able to have a quick look at the Prado. I deposited the change over amount into their account, they sent the Prado down on the back of a truck, and then took away the Discovery for the return trip. Everybody was happy. And it showed me that where there's a will, there's a way. I just wish that all dealers and salesmen would put in as much effort.

[K1W1]

You and the rest of us owners are paying for the weak willed Skoda dealer network and the lack of demand being generated by Skoda Australia for new vehicles. When they are discounting the pants off new cars there is no way anybody will get a decent trade in figure. As mentioned in the other post the changeover figure is all that counts and if dealers are dropping their pants at the top (new car) they must keep them firmly belted up at the bottom (trade in).

[Lucas_R]

My advice - sell your current vRS privately. Dealerships either won't /will be very cautious on valuing a car site-unseen.

If you want a new Skoda, call my brother Mitchell at Newcastle Skoda. They are #2 Skoda dealership in the country at present. He prices very aggressively and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

[phantomcamel]

1. SKODAS resale value is not quiet on par with VW in Australia - you'll find that SKODA is much more popular in Europe..
2. Without seeing the car most valuers work of Redbook minus a few grant
3. private sale will always return the best result

[VAG newbie]

A good compromise between private sale and trade-in, is Pickle's Auction. You probably will get some where in the mid red-book value. Of course it depends on the demand.