Vw moving to a direct sales model

No as I see it..... taking the example of our local vw dealer. They have a car supermarket adjacent.

Supermarket buys returning pcp vw direct from customer if for some reason vw dealer isn't allowed to. They write a check a fair trade price and settle the finance. Offer should easily beat vw offer if people think they will be offering poor value to the point of dealers still being able to buy off vw after them swallowing up a couple of grand.

Customer buys new vw online.

The only way vw could counteract this is to offer extra discount to vw returning customers so either way, value to customer should remain.

What about "goodwill" for work done outside warranty.

There was often a bit of wriggle room with dealers.

Will it just be "computer says no" dealing directly ?

Goodwill is controlled at importer level, not dealer level in general and VW have a global goodwill platform for determining any goodwill offers to customers for issues experienced.

Also dont forget the move towards single spec models but locked by subscriptions, this is what vw and others are really after, where the long term income stream will be. Dealers will just get a few to deliver and pdi etc, maybe a cut of any subs subsequently "sold" to the customer and that's it.

I'd certainly prefer to be eyeballing the dealer rather than trying my luck with someone in a call centre.

Consumers that don’t shop around or ever considering haggling will potentially benefit, but everybody else will see higher costs. The dealer has to be paid and now VW used car sales division will also need a cut to cover their extra costs so it’s actually adding a layer not taking one away

You sure? My understanding was the dealer would still need the fancy showroom to display the cars

i am talking about in 2026 - you cant play them off each other

well I went into one dealer last week looking for a price and was shown the price on the online sales configurator. So they’re obviously getting on board with the direct sales model already🙄. I went elsewhere and they lost a sale.

I had no trade in. Salesperson just couldn’t be arsed.

Clearly they didn't need the sale. It was a take it or leave it attitude. Sometimes sales people need to sell to reach targets, other times they've reached them already and there's nothing in it for them. In which case they should be upfront about it.

It's disrespectful to the customer. Traditionally people expect a little negotiation on price, extras etc. If they weren't in a position to do this, they should have been honest and said - sorry not at the moment, can you come back in xyz months and we can fix you up etc. You were right to walk out. The customer is always king. Always. The day a business forgets that is when it's heading for decline.

The bottom line here is that VW are moving to the same model as any other online retailer - the price is the price barring any variables like trade-in or maybe promotions. Think of it like buying from Amazon.

While this won't suit those who like to go in and haggle or who like to shop around to get themselves what they think is the "best price" (a phrase I can't stand personally when I see it on the likes of Adverts - if I wanted less, I'd have priced it at less!), it will suit those who just want to buy a car as easily and transparently as possible. Not everyone LIKES or is good at haggling, and not everyone wants to waste the time and effort of trying to play one seller off another for the same product which BOTH are ultimately just reselling themselves.

Those who want to negotiate and satisfy their bargaining skills will still be able to use independent/second hand vendors I'd imagine.

The discount sellers in UK don't buy in bulk they are just agents and find dealers who are willing to do good deals. Thry don't hold stock