More "major European car manufacturer" madness

[Andy665 0]

Although I normally with "a certain manufacturer" dealers on the sales side of the business I sometimes get involved in conversations relating to aftersales and what I heard today from a Brand Manager defies belief.

 

Every dealer has to carry a minimum stocking of parts (typically 250k worth), most of these parts will be paid for when either (a) they are sold or (b) when they have been in stock for a set period of time.

 

Now this is pretty normal and I already knew this, what surprised me was that dealers are required by "a certain manufacturer" to "skip" parts after they have been in stock for a set period of time - even if the parts are still current and in perfect condition.

 

I was shown today a huge pile of parts that a dealer has to dispose of - sets of alloy wheels, trim parts, engines parts etc - this particular site tries to dispose of as much as possible via E-Bay before the due date but admits that a lot of stuff is still binned.

[s.g 0]

can you not step in and have some of these parts?

[Supercharged 2]

Yep - VW are one of the worst for this - 2 years is the period I think!

[dr_mat 0]

Surely there's gotta be a law covering this ??

[Andy665 0]

Its part of the contract that exists between the manufacturer and the dealership, if the dealership operates outside the contract then they risk being terminated.

[dinkus 10]

It is pretty mad - surely there's got to be a better way to do things.

 

A website that you could use to search all of the dealerships for these parts on would help a lot.

 

They could sell the parts at a substantial discount and everyone would be happy :)

[Andy665 0]

I think hanging around a dealers skip in the evenings on a regular basis would seem to be a good idea

[Jim 1]

Too right!

[Yandards 0]

I am pretty sure that there are a fair few people that do hang around skips for this sort of stuff.

 

It is bloody annoying though.

[Tempest 0]

Almost sounds like the EU policies on agricultural products, such as butter. Tons of butter destroyed each year, just to keep the prices artificially high. Crazy, and even more so very annoying for us car enthusiasts.

 

Tempest

[CoxyLaad 0]

how does butter mountains annoy the car enthusiast?

[dinkus 10]

I like butter.

 

It's not as nice as cheese though.

[A-J 0]

I wonder how many of the discontinued parts we have all been looking for have ended up in a skip. What a waste!

[Lippy 0]

surely the employees would be getting stuck into that pile - i know I would

[Yandards 0]

surely the employees would be getting stuck into that pile - i know I would

 

I think some of them do but probably pass it on to third parties for resale.

 

I know I would be putting stuff in the bin, and then taking it out again :wink:

[Tempest 0]

how does butter mountains annoy the car enthusiast?

 

Quality :lol:, but that's not how I meant it. Try reading my post again :lol:

 

Personally I prefer margarine, however, healthier.

 

Right, I will now start camping outside my local dealership, right next to their skip.

 

Tempest

[dinkus 10]

make sure you take enough butter/marg with you :lol:

[DEL VR6 0]

Bertolli. We use that now. its lovely.

 

Never thought i'd post a comment like that on a Corrado Forum. I think im still drunk from last night.