Easy come, easy go huh - another Sydney Skoda dealer goooone?

[buzuki]

there is another skoda dealer opening in parramatta and possibly alexandria

[wai]

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Apparently Rick Damelian Skoda is the only section of the dealership to not be placed into receivership.

The problem for the Rick Damelian brand name is "who will be the first to put down a deposit on a car from them"? I know I would not. That's the problem when you have these mega dealers handling multiple brands. Failure of even just one brand affects all the brands of the dealership. Maybe manufacturers will take the lead and force them to operate completely independently with unique dealership names.

By the way, this is what has affected Clive Peters after Harvey Norman bought the remains. The name was tainted.

[Jake02]

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The problem for the Rick Damelian brand name is "who will be the first to put down a deposit on a car from them"?

I know and I agree, I'm just saying that they're not in receivership weirdly.

And Buzuki, really?

[icgreen]

Looks like they've already removed Rick Damelian from the dealer network on the Skoda Australia website. Lucky, as I was about to order a DSG RS from them in August but ended up buying an immediate delivery Manual from Northshore.

[buzuki]

I know and I agree, I'm just saying that they're not in receivership weirdly.

And Buzuki, really?

\

Yes. I work for the company that is opening it. 1st will be parramatta in roughly a month or so. They came to our dealership to see how things run and what they need to get the ball rolling.

And alexandria is a maybe.

[Inego]

And alexandria is a maybe.

Surely this collapse, if Skoda eventually goes from Damelian's too, makes Alexandria more likely? As it is, if Damelian's aren't servicing any longer, my next service trip (luckily not til January) may be to Rockdale....

[Darth]

Trading out means that they sell cars to NEW buyers. Unfortunately, that's the way it works.

I take your points however ccording to today's Herald, Ferrier's have said they will honour orders taken by Rick Damelian.

In any event, it would not make sense to not honour orders unless the deposit exceeded the gross margin on the car. Nor do I believe the major car distributors involved would allow consumers to be out of pocket having ordered one of their products as the reputational implications could be quite severe (eg if you order an XYZ you could lose your deposit).

Cheers
Darth Veyron

[MarksVRS]

My rego, CTP and therefore service is all due in Sept. I was so close to booking it in to RD because they are on the way to work and I know the CFO. I'll have to give him a call to see what's happening.

It's a shame, as there is no-one around the Concord area. Parramatta might be OK I guess.

[bluefrog]

well I'm bloody glad I read this thread, I was about to entrust my dealer with my trade-in car (swap with their loan car) approx. 3-4 weeks before receiving my new Occy, all in the name of keeping the quoted trade-in value ... well no way are they getting my car without a lease payout now thankyou very much! : )

thanks for the words of warning guys.

[pologti18t]

Why would there need to be a dealer in Alexandria if there is one in Rockdale?

[brad]

Why would there need to be a dealer in Alexandria if there is one in Rockdale?

Indeed. Given the low volumes, I'd think the catchment for Rockdale would be from the Harbour Southwards & West out to the Hume Hwy. In many ways Rockdale is a bit far East but there are a lot of folk from the ocean strip that wont venture beyond Canterbury rd.

In many ways, Skoda would be a good test of online marketing where people make an enquiry & the sales guy comes to them with a demo vehicle.

[Inego]

Say what you like, but Rockdale is psychologically the other side of the world for people north of the Bay/Cooks River. I used to get my Honda serviced at Rockdale, so know where it is, but Alexandria is now a known quantity for the eastern suburbs and inner west, with almost all prestige brands having a presence in or near it.

[wai]

Why would there need to be a dealer in Alexandria if there is one in Rockdale?

Because the car manufacturers/distributors collect a franchise fee from every dealer.

On my way down to Bendigo, there was some discussion on this on the radio (ABC News Radio with Debrorah Cameron). Apparently dealers MUST also undertake a major refurbishment amounting to millions of dollars ($3M was mentioned by one disgruntled dealer) and then this gives them the right to sell new cars of that brand for 3 years. This means that they first have to recover $3M over that 3 year period before they can make any money to pay wages or turn a profit.

It is not long before they go under at that rate. Apparently this is why you get these mega-dealers so that they can defray this huge cost over a number of brands.

[buzuki]

we did little to no refurbishment at our dealership?

Although we are soon to be building a new dealership so we can also have vw passenger cars. Already have commercial vw and skoda

[wai]

On the radio piece, there was no mention of VW requiring this, just that this is what one dealer called in and told of his experiences.

But then it is the same when it comes to shopping centres. Lease holders are required to undertake a major refurbishment at least every 4 years whether it is needed or not, and then the refurbishment must be approved by centre management. If it is not a big enough change, they will not approve it.

With car dealers, it can be expensive. Take a look at the change in image Holden made when they went for the new "plastic" look for dealerships. All dealers had to make the change and this was at the dealers cost. The same goes for other areas of the dealership.

Each manufacturer is different, but it only takes a very few to make things difficult for the multi-brand dealers.