[sanojrawap]

Originally Posted by Porcupine

Thanks for clarifying that out. In that case I'd assume the official dealership would do the A.S.S. since the car has been 'sold to the end user', right?

Yep, I would imagine so, as the car would still have its own warranty from the manufacturer, and when it comes to general servicing most official service centres seem to service any car no matter where it was bought from, probably due to the huge margins they make serving luxury car owners

I do however remember a post on the forum about a Volvo dealer in Delhi posting a notice in the newspaper stating that people should avoid buying their brand new Volvos from BBT. I can't recall what that was about though

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

I completely disagree with you Sir, in this day and age you cannot treat any lead with such cavalier attitude. If someone can't take you seriously, then you can't consider that business to be worthy of your money. I can personally attest you a recent incident where we were buying a car in the family. Volvo lost out on a sale of the S90 because they simply couldn't get the test drive car to us (lack of co-ordination) and Mercedes with the new LWB E-Class (because they were too snotty to send over a car). Ended up getting a 5'er.

Unlike low-value items where there is high-cost sensitivity, high value or luxury items are bought by people for whom time is of paramount importance. They just simply can't be bothered about trying to find a 'contact'. They are not selling a car but a service.

In fact, I visited BBT for the first time yesterday itself, I was attended to very well. But I was just browsing and the only car he could offer be was a 2012 XKR (68 Lakhs) while I enquired about something like a CLA45 in the 30-40 range. The price is almost 2x the logical resale of that car, which leaves no room or basis for a continued conversation. In my books, they are better suited for people who have an insane amount of extra cash and like to change cars often, and not salaried petrolheads.

The key here is market segmentation, Any business is free to choose (and they do) the segment they like to operate in, let me give you an example. If you lookout in the market the previous gen BMW 3 series is available for 4 lakh onwards for petrol and 7ish lakhs for diesel, you genuinely don't want to buy a car from a guy who had to think twice while getting his car serviced at an authorized BMW service center, and instead he goes to some workshop of repute to get his car serviced, its not done because he thinks BMW are incompetent, he does this because he cannot afford their service costs. Its a no-brainer that petrolheads usually look for a firecracker of a deal, but would you buy this particular car in question?

Another example would be a doctor driven car(to me its just cow dung) but people prefer that because they know doctors have the money to get them serviced on time, you are basically shifting from a lower segment market to an upper segment market while the car remains the same. People might disagree with me here(everyone is free to do so) but as a premium customer I demand a certain service and that comes only when they know I am a premium customer, drive down to their showroom in a Lamborghini and I am sure they would try to sell any car to you at a reasonable price (or atleast you will feel its reasonable since you went in a Lambo ). When the conversation starts with an assumption that the buyer is just kicking tyres they don't talk in a reasonable way, I am sure everyone understands what I am trying to say. Big buyers don't really haggle, so its indeed a very different market.

Pramod

[abhi182]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

Big buyers don't really haggle, so its indeed a very different market.

Pramod

I think you have got that totally wrong!
More often than not, it's the other way round
You won't find a first time buyer for a Alto or Kwid haggling for much except maybe some overpriced accessories for free (in some cases they may even feel embarrassed to haggle)

A mid segment buyer in the 10-20 L range expects and usually spends more time trying to get a discount ( A little less perturbed about haggling but somewhat perturbed still)

The 30-60L bracket usually sees a lot more protracted negotiation
As for uber expensive cars, let's just say that the kind of negotiation you do would make the difference of getting you a bunch of extra mid segments..
If you think this segment is not price sensitive, why do you think so many of such cars have a JH (or similar) registration?

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by abhi182

If you think this segment is not price sensitive, why do you think so many of such cars have a JH (or similar) registration?

That's a completely different thing, JH, PY registrations are applicable to new cars and yes the difference is huge. My point is simple, you walk into a Bentley showroom in Delhi in a pair of cargo shorts and they might treat you well, the story changes when you get down at the same showroom in a pair of ganjis driving a Porsche or a lambo.

I will tell you my experience, Triumph organized a test ride in our town, 99% of people were turned down and were not given test rides but I got one cause I made a triumph owner call the sales head and he called me and told me about the test ride, I was given exclusive access to their old inventory at extremely discounted rates and was pushed to ride models I was not at all interested in, another guy whom I know personally came down to test ride the bonnie which he wanted to gift it to his dad, he had the cash in the bank and just because he is 22 they refused to give him a test ride and he went ahead and bought a benelli instead.

Another instance, I was looking at a E class couple of years back when our services startup bagged a huge contract, I was given a test drive and an exclusive invite for their A class launch, but they took the liberty to verify my financial capability without my knowledge, That E class buy didn't materialize but I hope you get the drift. I didn't get a single invite post that

Pramod

[Porcupine]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

That's a completely different thing, JH, PY registrations are applicable to new cars and yes the difference is huge. My point is simple, you walk into a Bentley showroom in Delhi in a pair of cargo shorts and they might treat you well, the story changes when you get down at the same showroom in a pair of ganjis driving a Porsche or a lambo.

I think you're making two different points here. Them taking you seriously or not and haggling or getting discounts are completely different things and mutually exclusive occurrences.

For example the Maserati showroom in Mumbai won't allow you to even test drive a car unless you already own an S-Class/7 Series or an equivalent 'big name' car; and yes they actually ask you what you currently drive. This is the same case with a number of other luxury brands such as Ferrari and Rolls Royce in Mumbai, and I'm saying this from personal experience.

However, neither of them have any problems with you actually purchasing the car if you're able to and Maserati even quoted me a 20 lac discount on the two Ghibli's in stock, without any negotiation on my part before I had even taken a test drive. And mind you, I wasn't dressed in anything special, nor did they see what car I drove there in.

And I understand I'm not talking about used cars here, and maybe your point is valid in used car showrooms. But I'm just trying to say who/what you are , or the dealers perception of you, has nothing to do with discounts; generally speaking.

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

Another example would be a doctor driven car(to me its just cow dung) but people prefer that cause they know doctors have the money to get them serviced on time, you are basically shifting from a lower segment market to an upper segment market while the car remains the same

I would just like to add something here about this doctor driven thing. What you imagine in this case is a 45+ year old doctor who is a sedate driver and has a decent income to get the car serviced where he bought from.

But this ignores something really important(and which I have seen from my personal experience), time!! A doctor with the money to buy an expensive car will not have time, read almost a full day to devote to get it serviced! Yes there are pickup/drop services but I see better not to depend on these, just look at the way they drive cars

Another thing to consider is, if you're looking at something like what BBT sells, sporty and fast you can throw out the "doctor driven" thing out of the window. Clearly somebody else was having fun even though the doctor bought the car, nobody buys these for sedate and comfortable drives.

[ToyotaFan]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

I would just like to add something here about this doctor driven thing. What you imagine in this case is a 45+ year old doctor who is a sedate driver and has a decent income to get the car serviced where he bought from.

But this ignores something really important(and which I have seen from my personal experience), time!! A doctor with the money to buy an expensive car will not have time, read almost a full day to devote to get it serviced! Yes there are pickup/drop services but I see better not to depend on these, just look at the way they drive cars

What you said is perfectly true and have seen this happening with most of my parents colleagues. Their drivers take the car for service and they just pay the bill like an annual regimen. They don't know anything about what was changed or what did the ASS do to their cars. For them it's more of a comfort A to B transport vehicle with a bit of snob value thrown in.

I have myself experienced this doctor driven bias and we have always got a better deal while selling our cars than the market but I feel more than doctors a petrol head who cares for his cars (for eg. A bhpian) are the best people as they give you preworshipped cars rather than pre owned cars.

Love for cars is what matters as till today my dad inspite of being super busy for 6 days still takes out a day 2 times every year to get our Innova and Fortuner services personally at the Toyota dealership. He has been doing the same for all his cars he has owned in the last 35 years. Profession bias is thus unwarranted while buying a pre owned cars rather than a car whose owner takes good care of it. Just my experience.

[pramodkumar]

Let's all agree to disagree, the point I am was trying to make is simple a company can choose its customers period.

If you think something is unreasonably priced, walk away, there might be a better deal awaiting you period.

I personally know the effort one puts to build a firm like BBT especially in this sea of used car dealerships, if triumph offends you buy a benelli, case closed.

Luxury items like perfumes, watches and cars have an addiction factor associated with them. So when something give you a guaranteed high, it all depends on how badly you want it. For someone with that extra cash any itch can be taken care of. For the ones who can't, well to start with choose your parents wisely
If that fails try again to choose your inlaws properly, if that to fails, welcome to the millionaire dreamers club, now pray your lottery wins or else make your businesses pay for the luxury you want in life. For people like me, I am happy with a corvette logo on my Cruze

Pramod