The mists are clearing around Yeti sales (or lack thereof)

[woofy]

My issue with servicing there is mainly they have been pushing the price up repeatedly and it took a big jump when they were resold. I've had one small rattle never fixed there, but everything else has been fine. I don't find consistency in their pricing though, it changes every time I ring.

[K1W1]

I have never had a problem with the quality of work for servicing at Richmond and I don't believe that their prices are excessive even though I agree that they have risen since Zagames took over. I've always had a pleasant experience with the service guys even the SA guy and Vito seems to know what he is doing now and actually followed up on something he promised he would do at my last service and got me a warranty replacement of an item that was perhaps a bit marginal as to whether it was covered.
If you want to see excessive pricing try Melbourne BMW or any Land Rover dealer.

BTW: I got Australian wine.

[woofy]

I have never had a problem with the quality of work for servicing at Richmond and I don't believe that their prices are excessive even though I agree that they have risen since Zagames took over. I've always had a pleasant experience with the service guys even the SA guy and Vito seems to know what he is doing now and actually followed up on something he promised he would do at my last service and got me a warranty replacement of an item that was perhaps a bit marginal as to whether it was covered.
If you want to see excessive pricing try Melbourne BMW or any Land Rover dealer.

BTW: I got Australian wine.

I got nothing, but I did get good service at the time. It wasn't until after I had left with the new car I realised it was the first dealer who didn't make much fanfare although they did take a pic of George with the car. Despite Hyundai getting good customer reviews, after buying their most expensive car I also got less than nothing and barely any fuel to drive out of there. Their service guys are very good though and that was the main reason I went with the dealer I did.

[RSwag]

Yeh, but K1W1 have you seen their demo prices? Sometimes they're reasonable but often they are higher than the new drive away pricing advertised in the same newspaper. It's possible these have extras, but at least on face value most people wouldn't bother (me included). Richmond seems to be worse than Brighton on this for some reason.

My car was a Richmond demo, and I can promise you it was advertised at a sensible price or I wouldn't have gone near it. Mind you, that was back in the George days, when things were more sensible there.

The biggest issue with demos Vs new car in a driveway program is the fact that the new car would be getting significant factory bonus's on top of the existing margins. The demo is no longer the manufacturers problem it is now owned and is the sole responsibility of the dealer. Manufacturers only want to sell cars but not to you and me, they want to sell them to the dealers, the rest of the glossy fancy advertising is just to get us to buy from the dealer so they can sell more to the dealer.

Demos cost more in these sorts of campaigns as the dealer has to purchase the vehicle and then pay the on roads (or at least allow for them in the costings). Unless the manufacturer is providing an allowance for demos they become a dealer nightmare and need to have funds allocated to them to bring the costs down, they are essentially a loss.

A dealer will also accept the lose as they can make more new vehicle sales by saying to someone "why buy the demo when i can sell you the new car cheaper right now?!" They would in turn sell more new cars which would in turn reap a greater volume bonus. When things calm down and sales resume "as per the norm" they can look at what demos are becoming a nightmare e.g. 77TSi and tear up the prices to move them on.

This was generally how my brother explained it to me but as i've said he is a Honda dealer not Skoda so it may vary?!

If i am right then for Zagames to have so many demos at such stupid prices it appears they have done the right thing by Skoda to support the brand and to get numbers up and Skoda HQ have left them high and dry.

I think your right either way KIWI, i think they went backwards in April compared to March and i've heard that Yeti & Fabia saved them. Year on Year sales figures for all other models would have been been lower for April, very very concerning because that suggests Yeti and Fabia will go the same way when the initial launch hype wears off.

[VAG newbie]

I think your right either way KIWI, i think they went backwards in April compared to March and i've heard that Yeti & Fabia saved them. Year on Year sales figures for all other models would have been been lower for April, very very concerning because that suggests Yeti and Fabia will go the same way when the initial launch hype wears off.

Do you have the sales figure for Mar and Apr? If what you said is true, it is certainly very concerning, especially they have always increasing steadily in terms of sales figure in the past few years.

But I'm afraid you are right, by looking at my local dealer, who has recently filled up half of his car yard with non Skoda used cars is a sign that they are not doing well. So instead of ordering more cars in stock, he'd rather take orders to save him costs, and try to make the losses by selling used Toyotas and Kias.

[BluChris]

I'm sure you're right RSwag and I wasn't so much disagreeing with K1W1 as pointing out that Richmond had no hope of shifting their demo's at the money they were asking. They will lose money on them, as we all do. Like private owners, they also need to set the vehicles at a price that interests the market. Example? Local Mazda dealer had a Mazda 2 demo at about 15% discount to current new drive away price in probably the most popular colour. Went the same weekend. So that would mean a Yeti 77TSI demo for about $23k. Yet to see that.

As for Skoda sales, I concluded some time back that a slow boil is the very best case scenario. They won't price them cheap enough to gain massive interest, don't market enough and probably couldn't get supply if they did. Then once you buy you discover servicing isn't cheap and dealers are still few and far between in most places. Like lots of forum members I hoped for better, now I don't.

[VAG newbie]

I'm sure you're right RSwag and I wasn't so much disagreeing with K1W1 as pointing out that Richmond had no hope of shifting their demo's at the money they were asking. They will lose money on them, as we all do. Like private owners, they also need to set the vehicles at a price that interests the market. Example? Local Mazda dealer had a Mazda 2 demo at about 15% discount to current new drive away price in probably the most popular colour. Went the same weekend. So that would mean a Yeti 77TSI demo for about $23k. Yet to see that.

Many dealers advertise a car, demo or brand new in stock, at ridiculously low price just to attract customers to come to the car yard. So they sell one car at a loss, then when people turn up, they would say the car was sold, and use the opportunity to sell them another stock car. They will make you feel that by just adding a couple of $1000, you get a brand new car rather than demo, and make you feel good when you drive the car away. I fell into that trap once.

Since Skoda doesn't have that many stock cars, that sales pitch doesn't really work, and that might explain why Skoda dealers tend not to advertise their demos at ridiculously low price. However, I seriously doubt any dealer would refuse any genuine reasonable offer on a demo, if they really want to get rid of the demo. (Occasionally, dealer don't want to get rid of demo as they need it for test drive purposes). I think $23000 on a demo Yeti is easily achievable.

As for Skoda sales, I concluded some time back that a slow boil is the very best case scenario. They won't price them cheap enough to gain massive interest, don't market enough and probably couldn't get supply if they did. Then once you buy you discover servicing isn't cheap and dealers are still few and far between in most places. Like lots of forum members I hoped for better, now I don't.

I wonder if Matt Wiesner is reading this forum at all. If they would like to establish a "prestige" image on Skoda by pricing them too high, then they should emphasize its association with VW and Audi more. Even VW Aus should train their sales person in Audi/VW to refer customers who are interested in Audi/VW, but can't quite afford it (Audi), or needs higher equipment level at the same price (VW). I thought these are the people they are targeting for. Otherwise these people will go Japanese or Korean.

In terms of service, I don't see why they can't simply form an alliance with all VW dealers, that all Skodas can be serviced at any authorized VW dealer. Both are owned by VW Aus, both are mechanically identical, and I am sure all VW dealer will be happy to have extra business. Its a win-win situation! I know it can be done, as my local dealer, who also deals with VW, is happy for me to book my car for service in their VW service centre, which is closer to my home.

---------- Post added at 12:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 PM ----------

I'm sure you're right RSwag and I wasn't so much disagreeing with K1W1 as pointing out that Richmond had no hope of shifting their demo's at the money they were asking. They will lose money on them, as we all do. Like private owners, they also need to set the vehicles at a price that interests the market. Example? Local Mazda dealer had a Mazda 2 demo at about 15% discount to current new drive away price in probably the most popular colour. Went the same weekend. So that would mean a Yeti 77TSI demo for about $23k. Yet to see that.

Many dealers advertise a car, demo or brand new in stock, at ridiculously low price just to attract customers to come to the car yard. So they sell one car at a loss, then when people turn up, they would say the car was sold, and use the opportunity to sell them another stock car. They will make you feel that by just adding a couple of $1000, you get a brand new car rather than demo, and make you feel good when you drive the car away. I fell into that trap once.

Since Skoda doesn't have that many stock cars, that sales pitch doesn't really work, and that might explain why Skoda dealers tend not to advertise their demos at ridiculously low price. However, I seriously doubt any dealer would refuse any genuine reasonable offer on a demo, if they really want to get rid of the demo. (Occasionally, dealer don't want to get rid of demo as they need it for test drive purposes). I think $23000 on a demo Yeti is easily achievable.

As for Skoda sales, I concluded some time back that a slow boil is the very best case scenario. They won't price them cheap enough to gain massive interest, don't market enough and probably couldn't get supply if they did. Then once you buy you discover servicing isn't cheap and dealers are still few and far between in most places. Like lots of forum members I hoped for better, now I don't.

I wonder if Matt Wiesner is reading this forum at all. If they would like to establish a "prestige" image on Skoda by pricing them too high, then they should emphasize its association with VW and Audi more. Even VW Aus should train their sales person in Audi/VW to refer customers who are interested in Audi/VW, but can't quite afford it (Audi), or needs higher equipment level at the same price (VW). I thought these are the people they are targeting for. Otherwise these people will go Japanese or Korean.

In terms of service, I don't see why they can't simply form an alliance with all VW dealers, that all Skodas can be serviced at any authorized VW dealer. Both are owned by VW Aus, both are mechanically identical, and I am sure all VW dealer will be happy to have extra business. Its a win-win situation! I know it can be done, as my local dealer, who also deals with VW, is happy for me to book my car for service in their VW service centre, which is closer to my home.

[BluChris]

Totally agree you should be able to get a Yeti demo for 23K, I'm suggesting to get people who are not Skoda oriented to look at them you need to advertise demo's at that. This was in response to K1W1's suggestion that there were a lot of demo's around. Zagame puzzle me as they are the only dealer here that advertizes constantly, but always at prices that look bad against the Skoda 'factory' ads.

Like I said, I gave up on hoping Skoda/VW Aus would do what so many of us want; they either don't listen, don't agree or are otherwise being constrained from doing more. Don't really care any more. My Octy suits my needs but as time passes I am less and less invested in the brand, and frankly if it costs me too much to run or gives trouble it goes and I buy another brand.

I get my car serviced by a VW dealer now the warranty is out.Their attitude is a bit ambivalent - happy to service but reluctant to get involved in sourcing parts. In one case I had to get the part myself from a Skoda dealer as the VW dealer didn't want to talk to them. WTF????

[woofy]

I get my car serviced by a VW dealer now the warranty is out.Their attitude is a bit ambivalent - happy to service but reluctant to get involved in sourcing parts. In one case I had to get the part myself from a Skoda dealer as the VW dealer didn't want to talk to them. WTF????

Probably don't want to talk to them as they are competition, I wouldn't either. VW were supposed to help service the cars and orginally it was announced any VW dealer could service them. That never happened, either as they didn't want the business, or more likely, the SKoda dealers wanted exclusive rights as its a more regular and ongoing revenue stream for them. I could be wrong but my memory has always been that servicing is where most of the $$ comes from with cars. You can buy a car once every 15yrs but you still always need it serviced...

[BluChris]

They were OK with a turbo intercooler pipe but then that's a VW part so probably got it from VW. The Skoda part was the issue, and I get maybe a degree of discomfort, but really what is the big deal? Talking to a parts guy from another dealer? Can't really see why; if it was a used Skoda on their lot that needed it what else would they do?

When I dropped in, the parts guy was super helpful, not only remebering me but when I mentioned another issue that might need a part he tracked the number through my VIN and printed out part and diagrammatic info - all in the knowledge that they wouldn't get the business since I said I was locating the part from eBay.