The mists are clearing around Yeti sales (or lack thereof)

[K1W1]

I just got an email from Zagames about 2.8% financing on Yetis and Superbs. The email listed their demo Yetis - all 8 of them including several 2011 registered units!

Eight demo Yetis for a two yard Skoda dealership says to me that sales figures have been fudged and that now the chickens are coming home to roost.

[BluChris]

Yeh, but K1W1 have you seen their demo prices? Sometimes they're reasonable but often they are higher than the new drive away pricing advertised in the same newspaper. It's possible these have extras, but at least on face value most people wouldn't bother (me included). Richmond seems to be worse than Brighton on this for some reason.

My car was a Richmond demo, and I can promise you it was advertised at a sensible price or I wouldn't have gone near it. Mind you, that was back in the George days, when things were more sensible there.

[K1W1]

The issue is that they have 8 Yetis registered as demos not what configuration they are or what price they are advertised at.

[BluChris]

Yep, I get that and I agree it isn't a good sign. All I'm saying is they might have fewer demo's (and new stock) if their pricing were better. Stands to reason, if the demand is not there drop your prices to the point where the demand is.

My decision was price driven - I'd only risk a Skoda (3 years ago) if it was very cheap because (a) unknown brand with little track history recently in Oz (b) probably no resale and hard to unload again (c) if not cheap, there's lots of competition with better service backup.

I might add my car was around for quite a time advertised at $5k more than when I bought it. No way I'd have gone there for that money, for the reasons above. It had to be much cheaper than the competition to compensate for the risks and downsides.

I still think that's where Skoda is at and why they have demo's and new stock. Same with Fabia. Too expensive for the perceived risks to customers in a very conservative and somewhat status conscious car market.

[aware]

Not surprised at all K1W1. Most car companies seem to do this, although Skoda seems to be very good at it as they seem to post huge sales increases, and the number of Skoda's on carsales seems to jump very quickly. I'm disappointed as I'd like to see Skoda do well, but Skoda don't seem to be doing themselves any favours.

I'd like to pickup on the point that BluChris has made. We took the plunge with the Skoda because we have a safety net - we hand it back in 3 years. That may sound stupid, but for a $55k + car, we'd have preferred a bit of certainty with dealers etc - obviously any new car is a risk in regards to reliability and longevity. We've had a few comments regarding our decision because of the cost of the Skoda, the unknown brand and why didn't we pick something more mainstream. Skoda will struggle unless they change the pricing structure. Too close to VW, and if you don't like VW, there are plenty of other alternatives on the market.

[woofy]

I'm not surprised how many Yeti demos, as if any of them are demos, they just registered everything they got in to boost numbers. The Superbs are surprising, why have so many demos?

I really find Richmond has completely lost touch with reality though, many times they have said the SKoda dealership team is the training ground for new sales staff before moving into more expensive Marques. You need more experience not less when trying to bring a new brand in. The arrogance I have found at times annoys me as well. George once found out about a comment I had made to me by one of the other sales guys one day and hit the roof...not surprisingly he left a short while after.

Short story, I didn't buy a Superb in the last round and got a Santa Fe instead, but am planning on looking seriously at another RS when the time comes to switch again, just want a dealer who does things right.

[K1W1]

The arrogance I have found at times annoys me as well. George once found out about a comment I had made to me by one of the other sales guys one day and hit the roof...not surprisingly he left a short while after.

George was there when there was different ownership, management and culture. Comparing Richmond Skoda today to when George was there is like blaming Geoffrey Edelsten for any current problems that might exist at the Sydney Swans. Don't take that as an endorsement of the current management at Richmond Skoda either.

[woofy]

It was already in decline before zagames took over, the same tool that made that comment still works there.....

[BJ75]

So, is the Richmond Skoda bashing limited to their talk of Yeti sales numbers? Or is it related to servicing or sales or both?

I'm more interested in an answer regarding the servicing since I've already bought my Yeti from them, and want to know whether to service the car there as well. A guy I know who owns a VRs wagon said I should avoid servicing there mainly due to the pricing. But from memory his suggested alternative was quite a ways down Sth East and probably not worth the hassle if it's just a question of saving $100 or so. Plus I wasn't sure if the 5-yr warranty deal I struck with Richmod was reliant on servicing it with them (doesn't say so in the books, but haven't done a search for any fine print).

FWIW my sales experience with them was pretty good. No f**king around, a VERY generous trade-in value, a reduced price, some free extras, no sleazy disinfectant-worthy after-sales-person schpiel about paint protection and and a box of wines on delivery*.

* granted - they were Italian wines, and I'm part of the minority who think Australian wines kick most European wines to gutter, but these were nicely boxed anyway.

[BluChris]

For me, servicing cost plus now lengthy delays to book in since Bayford pulled out. Haven't been in recent times but I would also say they used to be competent on servicing but not much use on minor issues such as rattles - hit and miss.

The feedback around here seems to be that cost is not massively more than other Skoda dealers but is still noticeably more. Booking in well in advance may be OK for you, problematic if there is something that needs fixing more urgently. You'd have to try to negotiate an earlier date if you could.

[woofy]

My issue with servicing there is mainly they have been pushing the price up repeatedly and it took a big jump when they were resold. I've had one small rattle never fixed there, but everything else has been fine. I don't find consistency in their pricing though, it changes every time I ring.

[K1W1]

I have never had a problem with the quality of work for servicing at Richmond and I don't believe that their prices are excessive even though I agree that they have risen since Zagames took over. I've always had a pleasant experience with the service guys even the SA guy and Vito seems to know what he is doing now and actually followed up on something he promised he would do at my last service and got me a warranty replacement of an item that was perhaps a bit marginal as to whether it was covered.
If you want to see excessive pricing try Melbourne BMW or any Land Rover dealer.

BTW: I got Australian wine.

[woofy]

I have never had a problem with the quality of work for servicing at Richmond and I don't believe that their prices are excessive even though I agree that they have risen since Zagames took over. I've always had a pleasant experience with the service guys even the SA guy and Vito seems to know what he is doing now and actually followed up on something he promised he would do at my last service and got me a warranty replacement of an item that was perhaps a bit marginal as to whether it was covered.
If you want to see excessive pricing try Melbourne BMW or any Land Rover dealer.

BTW: I got Australian wine.

I got nothing, but I did get good service at the time. It wasn't until after I had left with the new car I realised it was the first dealer who didn't make much fanfare although they did take a pic of George with the car. Despite Hyundai getting good customer reviews, after buying their most expensive car I also got less than nothing and barely any fuel to drive out of there. Their service guys are very good though and that was the main reason I went with the dealer I did.

[RSwag]

Yeh, but K1W1 have you seen their demo prices? Sometimes they're reasonable but often they are higher than the new drive away pricing advertised in the same newspaper. It's possible these have extras, but at least on face value most people wouldn't bother (me included). Richmond seems to be worse than Brighton on this for some reason.

My car was a Richmond demo, and I can promise you it was advertised at a sensible price or I wouldn't have gone near it. Mind you, that was back in the George days, when things were more sensible there.

The biggest issue with demos Vs new car in a driveway program is the fact that the new car would be getting significant factory bonus's on top of the existing margins. The demo is no longer the manufacturers problem it is now owned and is the sole responsibility of the dealer. Manufacturers only want to sell cars but not to you and me, they want to sell them to the dealers, the rest of the glossy fancy advertising is just to get us to buy from the dealer so they can sell more to the dealer.

Demos cost more in these sorts of campaigns as the dealer has to purchase the vehicle and then pay the on roads (or at least allow for them in the costings). Unless the manufacturer is providing an allowance for demos they become a dealer nightmare and need to have funds allocated to them to bring the costs down, they are essentially a loss.

A dealer will also accept the lose as they can make more new vehicle sales by saying to someone "why buy the demo when i can sell you the new car cheaper right now?!" They would in turn sell more new cars which would in turn reap a greater volume bonus. When things calm down and sales resume "as per the norm" they can look at what demos are becoming a nightmare e.g. 77TSi and tear up the prices to move them on.

This was generally how my brother explained it to me but as i've said he is a Honda dealer not Skoda so it may vary?!

If i am right then for Zagames to have so many demos at such stupid prices it appears they have done the right thing by Skoda to support the brand and to get numbers up and Skoda HQ have left them high and dry.

I think your right either way KIWI, i think they went backwards in April compared to March and i've heard that Yeti & Fabia saved them. Year on Year sales figures for all other models would have been been lower for April, very very concerning because that suggests Yeti and Fabia will go the same way when the initial launch hype wears off.

[VAG newbie]

I think your right either way KIWI, i think they went backwards in April compared to March and i've heard that Yeti & Fabia saved them. Year on Year sales figures for all other models would have been been lower for April, very very concerning because that suggests Yeti and Fabia will go the same way when the initial launch hype wears off.

Do you have the sales figure for Mar and Apr? If what you said is true, it is certainly very concerning, especially they have always increasing steadily in terms of sales figure in the past few years.

But I'm afraid you are right, by looking at my local dealer, who has recently filled up half of his car yard with non Skoda used cars is a sign that they are not doing well. So instead of ordering more cars in stock, he'd rather take orders to save him costs, and try to make the losses by selling used Toyotas and Kias.