Year of Greed and Impudence: the way our car dealers increase prices for new cars

The technology of deception was studied by the correspondent of "Novye Izvestia".

Victor Levin

The severity and mass character of the problems of "dealer special stages" became so acute that in October Rospotrebnadzor banned car dealers from selling cars without additional equipment and services unnecessary for the client. However, it is known that there are no fortresses that would not take greed and arrogance, especially in the automotive business. Do you want to take a car with our markups? Then "your" car will come in six months. Or it won't come at all!

It is worth, of course, to make a reservation that dealers of super-luxury brands and brands of humiliating little things such as imposing rugs or installing Chinese alarms do not bother. And why, if in just a year the cost of a cool car with two hundred factory options has grown, say, from 11 to 18 million rubles ?!

Traders from the mass segment are another matter.

The other day, the readers of "NI" sent us an amazing list of "options" that one of the dealers clocked on the Skoda Kodiak with a total cost of 791,772 rubles (the price of the car itself, without dealership fees, is 2,352,000 rubles).

Let's break down this opus point by point.

Let's start with the simplest and most understandable - floor mats and trunk mats.

In the dealer's list, they are categorized under three counts. The first is a carpet in the trunk for 9235 rubles. Is it expensive or not so much? In two clicks in the Yandex search engine, we find an analogue for Kodiak for 2,270 rubles. We fix the dealer's first cheat - 6965 rubles.

However, just taking four prices for one polyurethane rug seemed a little too small. And therefore the dealer designates the fee for INSTALLING the mat in the trunk - 3000 rubles.

As a person who had two dozen cars, I can authoritatively testify: it takes exactly 5 (five!) Seconds to install a piece of molded rubber on the flat bottom of the trunk. And the dealer estimated such labor costs at 3000 rubles.

Is it a lot or a little? We consider: in one minute we have 12 times for five seconds, in one hour 60 minutes. We multiply all these data and we get the cost of a standard hour in installing a rug in the trunks at 2,160,000 - two million one hundred sixty thousand rubles.

Thus, on one mat in the trunk, the dealer ripped off 9,965 rubles from the client.

And we are looking at point 2 - "carpets of the salon (rear, rubber)" - 3651 rubles. Plus installation - 2750 rubles and 70 kopecks.

In this position, astounding and seminar-worthy, how did dealer economists calculate the cost of an installation to a penny? And why is this cost 49 rubles and 30 kopecks lower than a 5-second installation of a mat in the trunk? After all, the rear mats are not one, but two, and, according to elementary logic, the installation simply must be twice as long!

But it is not even this extremely scrupulous meticulousness that surprises most of all. After all, only blondes at the wheel do not know that car mats are sold in sets, that is, the rear mats together with the front mats in one "bottle". Where are the front ones?

Do not despair! See point 10 from the list of "special stages". The front rubber mats are a separate item for 3890 rubles with an installation cost of 3000 rubles.

Simply adding up all the interior mats (except for the trunk) gives the sum of 7,541 rubles.

We are again looking for an analogue in Yandex. And then we find excellent, Kodiak-shaped carpets for 2830 rubles.

The dealer's net profit is 4711 rubles at the price of rugs + the cost of "installation" 5750.7 rubles = 10461.7 rubles.

Go ahead and run into point 3 - "cargo securing net in the trunk" for 3680 rubles.

Here is the same story with multiple wrapping at the price of the net. Online stores offer an incredible amount of such nets, costing from 200 to 800 rubles, and everything that is more expensive is already whole "organizers", wardrobe trunks and other devices for storing and fixing luggage in the rear of the car. But it was not the grid itself that struck us, but the installation cost... 25,000 rubles!

Yes, yes, attaching a net to the factory rings from a dealer is the average monthly salary of a teacher in the Ivanovo region. True, we already know how much a standard hour costs at a Skoda dealer. Therefore, a minute's work for 25 "mowers" should not shock. Nevertheless, it is impossible to assume that among the buyers of Skoda there is at least one who willingly and willingly wants to pay SUCH money for such, forgive me, CRASH, it is impossible. Well, perhaps under torture or ... threats to sell a scarce car to another client.

However, further this very torture by the fantastic, in no way and in no way justified labor expenditures of the dealer acquires a mocking and mocking character.

Do you want, gentlemen, buyers, moldings of the right and left thresholds with a total cost of 141,740 rubles ? No, you are not mistaken, these are not wonderful and very expensive electric thresholds. These are all-overlays for standard sills. Yes, on Avito we saw these for two thousand rubles. And here - 75 times more expensive.

As a consolation for the "gold" moldings installed rear spoiler deflectors for only 4309 rubles. And here - everything is fair! Even online stores offer this accessory for 4070 rubles. An overpayment of two and a half hundred is a trifle that is not worth talking about. But the installation of deflectors will cost already at the usual rate - 28,523 rubles. For this money, the genius of the dealer service will glue two plastic crap on the rear window of the Kodiak crossover, using either 3M double-sided tape or auto-sealant. The main thing is not to inform the contractor that for 15 minutes of his working time the salon will receive his 10-day salary. Otherwise, the master runs the risk of hearing profanity or getting in the eye with a callous working fist.

The same recommendation from a social psychologist applies to the installation of overlays noted in the estimate. Two of them, at a cost of 8,064 rubles, must be screwed to the brake and gas pedals with self-tapping screws, and the third ( 1706 rubles) - to the platform for the left foot. The total cost of this exciting "tuning" in every sense is 63,000 rubles ! For comparison: the average pension in the Russian Federation is 17,500 rubles, or only 25 percent of the cost of installing three pads in a Skoda dealership.

Nevertheless, the dealer did not stop at improving Kodiak's pedal assembly. In his view, the roof rack of a by no means small (note!) Car, a child seat (including for childless parents) and a refrigerator on the eve of the long Russian winter are vital things for a car buyer. These three positions have added 133,000 rubles to the crossover price. And if the Skoda dealer had a golden toilet bowl that could somehow fit into the car, he would definitely install it!

But alas, the car dealer doesn't have a toilet. There are aluminum rims on the tuning 20 inches. They, of course, were also put on the car, estimating the disks themselves at 142 thousand rubles. True, we found a similar product from another car dealer - "Rolf" - for 104 thousand. But an attempt to find offers comparable to the given payment for INSTALLATION of DISKS in 97,144 rubles ended in complete collapse.

Wherever you look, and the replacement of some wheels with their balancing and putting on rubber on others is nowhere more expensive than a few thousand rubles. And there is no difference of 20-30 times for tire fitting even on Rublevka.

Thus, the replacement of wheels added another 240 thousand rubles to the price of Kodiak. At the same time, potential buyers are unlikely to ask: where are their native wheels - the same ones on which Kodiak arrived from the factory? They are completely new, and also cast ... And why is their value not taken into account by the dealer?

But the astonished buyer will not have time for uncomfortable questions. The apotheosis of "improvements" and dealer options is crowned at last by the figure ... of a mountain bike "Skoda MTB 2920" for 100,392 rubles.

Kodiak's two-wheeled cousin is not a gift. Not a present for the lucky owner of a new car. This is a symbol of greed and arrogance, open humiliation of people who suddenly wanted to buy a car from an authorized dealer of a famous brand...

By the way, we were not going to "nightmare" Skoda. Similar tricks are used by ALL or almost all car dealers in Russia. Nevertheless, it was interesting to find out from the official representative of the Czech-German concern - how do car manufacturers feel about cheating their dealers?

Timur Aliyev, head of the press service of the Skoda representative office in Russia, secretary:

- For the given price list, which we received from you, we have not seen anything like it. In general, the situation is such that our relations with dealerships are regulated not only by dealership agreements, but also by Russian law. For our part, we can set a maximum resale price for cars, for some other things, but not for everything. The price list that you showed is one example of the fact that we cannot influence everything as a representative office, because in our case, as in the case of the overwhelming majority of Russian companies operating in Russia, sales are carried out by dealers. Dealers are legal entities completely independent of us with their own management and structure. I would recommend, if you have doubts about the correctness of the price list, contact the hotline.

As a car company, we have the ability to order a car directly from the manufacturer in production. And you can choose exactly those options and those devices that would suit you, including at their cost.

- Every buyer who comes to the dealership and finds out this disgrace must go to the dealership?

- No. You come to the dealership. If you are not satisfied with the cost of the car presented in the showroom, you need to keep in mind that you have the opportunity to order a car directly from production. This is done by the same dealer. When a car is ordered from production, it is ordered without the range of options that shocked you. In addition, there is an opportunity to see the cars that are on the way. In addition to those cars that are presented in the showroom, there are cars that have already rolled off the assembly line, but have not yet reached the dealer. If the dealer says that there is this particular car, and when the next one will be, he does not know - this is a reason to contact the hotline. Any authorized dealer of the Skoda brand has the ability to order a car directly from production. The dealer cannot impose a specific vehicle.

- How long does it take to get a car out of production?

- It depends on which model you have chosen. If the vehicle is on its way, it can take several weeks. If the car is ordered from scratch and in an exotic configuration, then, of course, the waiting time will take longer. But in any case, the client will be relieved of the need to pay for unnecessary options or accessories.

- In order to bring the dealer to consciousness, can the client contact the antimonopoly service? Who can influence the dealer?

- We here do not have the right to restrict the client to apply to those authorities that he considers competent. But today the legislation, if we apply it to this specific price list, our tools are limited.

- Do you think that such behavior of the dealer denigrates the good name of the manufacturer?

- Of course, this is not good.