Ring the Dealer and tell them you live X miles away. Tell them you have another deal (or maybe 2) on the table (at a more reasonable price), but you really like the bike he's got for sale. Ask if it's their final price, or is it negotiable and therefore worth your time going to see him/the bike ? You have to be prepared to walk away if you think it's overpriced. If you don't think that (and it's the bike you want and he won't negotiate), go and pay his asking price.
Works both ways, your bitchin as they won't cut the price, and they are bitchin coz you won't pay the asking. Loose loose. If you want it, you'll pay.
If time is not and issue then wait a few weeks and go in a few hours before they close up for Christmas and stick to your guns to do the deal "today before you close up". Not many dealers can resist putting a few K in the bank ready to pay their bills in the new year when it's often quite lean due everyone paying off Christmas and New Year. Could be worth a go.
Another thing that is worth a go is to have a think about what goods the dealer could throw in with the bike (or discount massively) that you really want. You are still saving money (if you were going to buy them for full price anyway) and the dealer isn't losing anything (in that they are "sales" additional to the bike). This is the sort of tactic that the book suggests - trying to get to a position where everyone "wins" rather than insisting there be a winner and a loser. As it stands, the dealer won't sell to you if he thinks he can get a better price from someone else, and you won't buy if you think you can get a better price from someone else. I once wanted to buy some Dainese leathers - which I had tried on and liked but hadn't been intending to buy until that moment. I asked if they'd do a 10% discount (which most shops would on a large ticket item). No they wouldn't. But they'd do 5% off, wouldn't they? No they wouldn't. So I went away and bought them over the net for CHF 500 less. Shop's loss, my gain. Or maybe shop's gain too, if they could sell all the Dainese leathers they could get their hands on for full price. They still lost me as a customer for other stuff though.
Having said that don't take the total piss out of a seller or you will just get their back up. I had my vW Beetle up for 3 grand . This twat came round and said my wife said I can spend a grand and I'm not to come back without the car .. Was really arrogant and rude. He then started trying to pull the door rubbers off my car .. While still giving me a load of bull.. He put my back right up and I told him to F off! The idiot seriously thought I would drop 2 grand off a 3 grand car!!! In the end I had crazy amounts of people wanting to buy but this one woman travelled miles several hours to view the car .. She told me what plans she had and had a mechanic look it over . I dropped £300 off the car she was happy and my car got a nice owner and we stayed I'm touch for ages ... The other bloke was such a dickhead to me I'd not drop the price 50p for him!
god, reminds of when I used to work in a shop selling wood flooring. We used to dread the days when a "consumer programme" was aired. The next day we'd have gurning idiots coming in saying "what's your <confidential smile> best price". Usually for some tiny room where we'd be practically making a loss on the fitting. What are you offering me? Can you seed the deal? bought a few books on hols and saw one I wanted that was too expensive for me (even if at market price). Bought a few others, cash. Then "hmmm, those railwasy books are good aren't they? Bit keenly priced though" - result £10 off a £50 book. Can you show him comparable deals (not the exact same or he'll tell you go away and get that)? But yes, phone, maybe buy something else and pay up front. Is it an enthusiast dealer or a just a shop? chatting about their bike/race team never hurts. Not suggesting you spend weeks wooinghim, but if a punter from nowhere emails asking for money off, it's a lot less credible than a bloke you know to be honest and reliable offering readies/bank draft from a high-street bank making a persuasive offer with evidence.
I run a design business, you should hear what my client's say to me, I think this will give you a reasonable idea of the conversations I have:
...and the moral of the story is...Everything is negotiable except when it's not...good point, you don't go in to W H Smith's, or the barbers or MickeyD's and haggle do you? How much are your 3p doughnuts?
A little bit of haggling when the seller and buyer are happy with the deal is good.I bought an ex demo SF last year from a dealer,I had also seen another similar one at another dealer that was cheaper.I wanted to buy from the first dealer as they had given me good service on my bikes,so I negotiated a slight reduction in price with the first service free as part of the deal. Everybody happy and a nice friendly deal done and a loyal customer kept.
You can't haggle in Smiths, because there is no one empowered to haggle with. I did haggle in Timberland once. I wanted a jacket in a sale, and they had 2 that I liked. Suddenly I was happy to buy 2 jackets. So I asked the guy (who asked the manager) if I bought 2 jackets whether he could do anything extra as I hadn't planned on buying 2. He reduced the second one (already in the sale) and told me to choose whatever accessory I wanted, so I ended up with a pair of excellent leather gloves for free. It was a great deal for me. I reckon it never hurts to ask, they can only say no. You'd be amazed how easily people will reduce your bill by 5% or 10%. It all adds up. Surprisingly, I never haggle on my bike purchases. I'm only ever prepared to buy them from one place and I reckon my dealer will do what he can for me without ruining himself anyway. Plus if I drove him down, I bet he'd get it back on the services over time. Why create bad feeling?
Drives my other half mad when I try & get a discount in a major chain shop, sometimes works, just be polite & patient
I'd never haggle on a bike bill ... Or mechanic Just not right . If someone makes or does something I value that work .. Just me ..
