Interesting comment about Skoda in todays newspapers

[bluefrog]

not that its related to this thread, but I wouldn't call any dealer service departments specialists. Fckn hopeless is a much better description in my experience, and I'm not being brand-specific here. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I don't think I've been lucky enough to find a half-decent dealer service department yet.

[hmoon101]

Lack of dealerships does the Skoda brand harm too - have mentioned this before.

Look at dealers in Melbourne - Essendon (good for North West suburbs), Epping (northerners), Richmond (good for city folk), Mentone (good for the south east on the bay) and Frankston (southerners).

No one in the East, North East, South East or West - nearly half of Melbourne's population.

Put a dealership in Werribee, Burwood/Nunawading, Bundoora & Dandenong (even Doncaster or Glen Waverley) and the sales will follow. People won't buy cars if they have to drive half of Melbourne of look at one or to service it - some VW dealers can service your Skoda but they aren't specialists. Personally I cannot understand why they have Mentone & Frankston as they are close to each other, yet have massive gaps elsewhere.

Doncaster area sounds great to me.

Other than Brighton area, Doncaster is almost like a automobile shopping mall having all major brand sitting next to each other.

For example, alongside the Doncaster Rd, right next to Westfield, there are Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Land Rover, Bentley, Subaru, Honda, Audi, VW Service and Citroen, all within 500m radius. And 1-2 km down the road eastbound, there are Merc, BMW, MINI, Holden and Ford.

If Skoda can manage to have a little bit of share in this area, preferably right next door to Audi, I think I will help them exposure to massive customer base.

Even without any dealer network in that area, I see 4-5 Skodas are parked on street and about same number driven.

[K1W1]

For example, alongside the Doncaster Rd, right next to Westfield, there are Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Land Rover, Bentley, Subaru, Honda, Audi, VW Service and Citroen, all within 500m radius. And 1-2 km down the road eastbound, there are Merc, BMW, MINI, Holden and Ford.

Which is effectively three or four businesses.
The MB, Ford, Holden, BMW and Mini are one company. Alfa, Volvo, Land Rover, Bentley and I think Citroen are one company. I'm not sure who owns the Honda but it may well be the same company as VW service, Audi is Penfolds and Subaru is Subaru Australia as all metro dealerships are.

[aslsw]

Sorry to be late to this thread...

For me, the quality of the dealer should be paramount. I just want to back up the previous comment about Colin in Canberra - his style (low key, not pushy, happy to loan a car for extended test drives) made the difference.