Dublin car dealership accused of price fixing

-Chris-

edwardh55 wrote: »

you are a sales man??
Advertised price and selling price are two different things in the motor industry..... especially if you are just emailing around and looking on car zone, there is competition there and always will be

What is the difference between selling cornflakes and cars? apart from the obvious

As i said before price fixing/ price alignment exists, i'm not denying it but to say its a cartell where every single garage in the motor industry gets together to basicly watch eachothers back is just mad

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I work in sales in Dublin, and I have many friends doing the same job - either in the same franchise or other franchises.

I've always been told, very strongly and in no uncertain terms, to never discuss discounts with any of my friends/contacts; either regarding a specific deal or as a general topic of conversation.

If I did so and was caught, I would be fired and could face jail-time.

I've also been told never to give prices, discounts or quotes over the phone, as it could be a competitor calling and checking our discounts. I'm surprised you got discounted quotes from so many dealers with so little work!

You may find similar prices from dealers because people think in round numbers e.g. you call a dealer looking for a car and you want a straight price or quote and all the dealers give you the same price. If you have a look at the prices you may find that they all gave you €2,000 discount or 4% discount or gave you a purchase price that left €1,000 profit in the deal. That's not price fixing, that's just someone giving you a generic discount.
I'm sure if you were sitting in the seat opposite the salesman you could get those generic figures changed to specific (and probably unique) figures quite quickly!

All that being said, there probably are people out there fixing prices, but they're very much in the minority. All the rest of us who work hard to be ethical and professional in our business dealings are glad if they're caught, and are offended by the negative light that their shady dealings cast on the rest of us.

If there are any convictions out of the current investigations, all well and good, but I think it's unfair to comment on specific cases like these until they've run their course through the courts. Everyone is innocent until proven otherwise.

meathstevie

[/QUOTE]I was in the situation as while ago about thinking of importing a brand new Honda CRV. Honda UK were giving £3,000 off the price of a new one (to shift old stock) and it if I paid full VRT it will would have worked out about €5,000 cheaper than buying here. However, the whole VAT rule above, meant I would have to pay VAT in the UK and VAT here. There's protectionism in full flow. Two fingers to the whole lot TBH.[/QUOTE]

Not fully correct. You could get an export invoice in the UK ( VAT Exempt for export ) or reclaim the UK VAT after having paid VAT here