Vancouver Area Group Buy

[Ikaros]

That's why we are doing this group buy thing. If we went in alone it would be almost impossible to get a deal on this car right at launch. But if we went in as a group, the sales rep we are dealing with might be a little more open to giving us deals because we are giving him a whole lot of commission. Now I have never worked at a dealership before but most of the time companies have competitions to see who can have the most sales, so on top of just giving him commission, we might be giving him that little push he needs to win a contest. Plus the increase sales benefits the dealership too.

[bneale]

Hey Guys,

I just saw this thread and since I'm at work, I haven't had much time to read through all of it.

But throw my hat into the ring for the group buy. I've got the number 6 spot on the waiting list at OpenRoad Toyota in the Automall.

Count me in considering i'm already on the waiting list.

bneale

[Ikaros]

OK, I added you to the list. Who did you put your deposit down with?

[bneale]

Originally Posted by Ikaros

OK, I added you to the list. Who did you put your deposit down with?

Ryan Snel.

Edit: ** just looked at his business card to correct his name.

bneale

[Dimman]

Originally Posted by Ikaros

That's why we are doing this group buy thing. If we went in alone it would be almost impossible to get a deal on this car right at launch. But if we went in as a group, the sales rep we are dealing with might be a little more open to giving us deals because we are giving him a whole lot of commission. Now I have never worked at a dealership before but most of the time companies have competitions to see who can have the most sales, so on top of just giving him commission, we might be giving him that little push he needs to win a contest. Plus the increase sales benefits the dealership too.

This is true, but it's a bit hard to judge how much of the hype will affect the supply/demand relationship and in who's favour.

We should be gathering as much information on dealership operations in the meantime.

Stuff like, sure one sales rep may get excited by the prospect of 10 sales in a single day (commission on ~$260,000!!!), but will the manager over-ride him?

If demand is much higher than supply, will the manager give the rep an un-movable price, since there are even more people waiting in line? (What's 10 orders at a 5% discount when you have 15 cars and 100+ people waiting to pay full price?)

Do the managers operate on an annual performance bonus system like many corporate retail stores? If so, what is the cut-off? This could affect purchase timing. Is it a dollar amount? A vehicle amount? Is it for individual dealerships or regional areas? This could affect who we want to negotiate with. If this is the case, timing a group buy to boost a manager's personal performance bonus could result in a huge win-win (he heavily discounts just above break-even to boost numbers that pays him personally). Sucks for the little sales rep, though...

Stuff like that.

The fact that they sell cars below MSRP means they are still making money on them.

Knowing all the ins and outs of the system would be a huge advantage. But not something they'll want to share...

[Mr.Jay]

thats the thing though while there is a lot of hype about this car in media and around certain groups and circles I've noticed that about 80% of people who I mentioned this car too don't know what it is or think it will fail cause of the numbers

is there really that much hype out there? or are we hyping the hype?

either way doesn't hurt to give it a shot

[mkit]

Never mind group buy, I've never bought a car before. But it's high time i kick my dads used corolla to the curb. I'm in. Let me know what needs to be done on my end, i'll need the guidance.

[Dimman]

How is Scion doing overall in Vancouver, anyways? I really don't notice too many.

They had a bit of a (terrible) radio blitz last year; "Built by Toyota. Customized by you!" Plus they are the 'event car' for Jimmy Pattison's 100.5 FM Peak radio station.

Maybe start posting up what kind of discount/benefits you guys want/are expecting, too.

I would start with dealer covers all fees (destination, enviro, admin BS, etc...), free extended warranty (like the standard US package with roadside assistance), and $500 under MSRP out of principal.

Thoughts?

[Ikaros]

That sounds like a great deal, and sounds like we need to set that as the goal we are aiming for

[Mr.Jay]

Originally Posted by mkit

Never mind group buy, I've never bought a car before. But it's high time i kick my dads used corolla to the curb. I'm in. Let me know what needs to be done on my end, i'll need the guidance.

Go put down a deposit in Richmond under Ahmed

talk shows interest

deposit shows intent

when we do a final count we will know how much ammo we really got

Originally Posted by Dimman

How is Scion doing overall in Vancouver, anyways? I really don't notice too many.

They had a bit of a (terrible) radio blitz last year; "Built by Toyota. Customized by you!" Plus they are the 'event car' for Jimmy Pattison's 100.5 FM Peak radio station.

Maybe start posting up what kind of discount/benefits you guys want/are expecting, too.

I would start with dealer covers all fees (destination, enviro, admin BS, etc...), free extended warranty (like the standard US package with roadside assistance), and $500 under MSRP out of principal.

Thoughts?

They aren't doing amazing since the general lack of scions just about anywhere but he do pretty decent with Tc sales since I do spot those here and there however scion is still considered the "cheap brand" and I think will have a hard time selling the 5k extra to sway most regular joe considering the tc is better equipped. This car should really only appeal to a certain group for how basic and bear it is while still being the higher market car.

I also think its really lame that with all this hype for this new scion car its all been from scion USA Scion canada hasn't done anything really and the maintainability itsnt standard is lame.

[Ikaros]

Scion just started up here in Canada like a year or 2 ago. So the brand hasn't really found solid grounds in the market yet. The FR-S might even bring more awareness to the brand than the advertisements they've been trying to push. All they have to do is get tonnes of FR-S out there so people will start having more interest in their brand.

[Pb_Foot]

@Ikaros I put my pre-order in with Valentin. He seems like an alright guy, but if I have to switch to Ahmed for a better deal, then it is what it is.

[Shimmyshake]

Ikaros - I'll try to see what I can scoop out after the show.

[CoryUyede]

My preorder spot at Scion Richmond is #8

I've preordered through Angelo. I don't know if i could switch my pre-order to Ahmed, how awkward is that?..lol

Our Best scenario for having a chance at this is if there are much less pre-orders than what's actually coming in for stock, and at least 7 or 8 of us can unite and say "Give us a deal or we'll go to (insert dealer) instead". THIS also lessens the issue of who the salesmen you've pre-ordered with is.

It seriously depends on numbers, if they're only going to get say 12 for a whole year, they'll gladly wait it out and tell us "no deal". If they're getting 40 ( a stretch maybe?) and there's a possibility at all they'll sit on the lot, we have a good chance.

An additional scenario is if they're getting a such limited number, BUT putting all of our SOLD cars through in such a short amount of time puts them in the Scion Canada system as a priority when it comes to 2nd/3rd batch size or extra unallocated units.

I would personally love to take the Helm on this Group Buy. I'm only 29 years old, but i've purchased 4 Cars NEW,3 USED,and helped family and friends quite a few times in negotiating.

The only thing holding me back is my #1 Deposit spot at Richmond Subaru too. If Subaru Canada messes up the pricing though, i'm all Scion.

Just as an FYI, Even if this group buy doesn't go through take note: When you're in the Business Office,finalizing things and they Start adding on the "Administration Fees" or "Documentation Fees" and they come out to be 4 or 5 Hundred, Usually if you complain about it, they will Waive it or they will at least reduce it. Customers usually don't do it because by the time you've made it into the business office, you've messed around with the salesmen/manager for so long you don't have the energy to bother and just wanna get out of there. They bank on it.