Motorhome Gross Profit Margins (1 Viewer)

Andrew G M

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Out of interes, does anyone know the gross profit margin dealers typically make on ther sale of new motorhomes ?

AGM
 
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Andrew G M

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It's on here somewhere, try Search if you don't get a reply.

Not sure i am using the search facility correctly (being a wannabe newbie) but not obvious.

Alot about Tesco though !!

AGM

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rainbow chasers

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Depends on dealers - I have known some to put up to 10k on top of trade.

It sounds like alot, but when you are talking the amounts a motorhome can cost, the premises required, the staff and costs of repairs to motorhomes, servicing and 'dead time' (may sit on the forecourt for quite a while!) - they probably only make a couple of grand profit max.

Is no different than buying a car.....you may pay 10k for a used Merc, never seen a Merc get over 5k at auction yet.:thumb:
 

johnp10

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What does it matter as long as the punter gets what he/she sees as a fair deal with VFM?
Surely the profit margin is the dealer's business?
 

rainbow chasers

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What does it matter as long as the punter gets what he/she sees as a fair deal with VFM?
Surely the profit margin is the dealer's business?

That is quite right! They do the work, and take the risks so you don't have to.

People are frightened of buying a car at an auction....imagine buying a motorhome without be permitted to look inside for damp etc!
 
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Andrew G M

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What does it matter as long as the punter gets what he/she sees as a fair deal with VFM?
Surely the profit margin is the dealer's business?

I am looking at buying a nearly new MH privately, and an idea of the original GP margin, will help me with my best offer, compared to what the dealer may buy it back in.

AGM
 
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Andrew G M

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Hi Dave

Thanks for the pointer, but no clear info in the posts.

Would I be a million miles away to assume an average GP of 25% on new van sales from an average sized typical dealer.

Thanks

Andrew

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hilldweller

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Hi Dave
Thanks for the pointer, but no clear info in the posts.
Would I be a million miles away to assume an average GP of 25% on new van sales from an average sized typical dealer.
Andrew

Be careful what you assume, the big problem is that the manufacturers seem to use their dealers as the final assemble shop in the production line so what might look a healthy margin can be far from it with the problems the dealers have to sort out.
 
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Andrew G M

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Be careful what you assume, the big problem is that the manufacturers seem to use their dealers as the final assemble shop in the production line so what might look a healthy margin can be far from it with the problems the dealers have to sort out.

I have no issues with margin, be it 10 or 50%. We all have to make a buck and feed the kids.

I am just trying to establish the credibility of an offer that an alleged dealer has made on a nearly new privately owned MH I am interested in.

Andrew
 

eddie

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I have no issues with margin, be it 10 or 50%. We all have to make a buck and feed the kids.

I am just trying to establish the credibility of an offer that an alleged dealer has made on a nearly new privately owned MH I am interested in.

Andrew

Buying from a dealer is not mandatory. No one is forced to used a dealer so the profit made is academic. Surely if your interested in a motorhome, you'll either be prepared to pay a price or your not. Don't beat yourself up about the ethics of a third party.

It is more likely the vendor telling lies about an offer from "dealer x" :roflmto:

Eddie

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haganap

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Simple realy.

Ring a dealer that offers to buy vans, there is plenty of them in MMM. Pretend it is you trying to sell the van you are wanting to buy, age exact model, owners etc etc, and see what they offer you.

They will give you a rough guide of what they would pay subject to seeing it.

Then you will have some idea of the offer IRO made to your seller.
 

rainbow chasers

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You will lose a good chunk as soon as you drive off a forecourt, so 10k loss on retail for a 7 month old van is not unusual and is to be expected.

For arguments sake, lets take a 10 year old c-class, reasonable condition.

Owner wants £16995 as he has seen them go for 18k online.


Dealer wants to pay around £12,000 absolute tops. It needs a little repraying, valeting and servicing, habitation servicing etc. He is looking to retail £17995 with 3 year warranty, making £2500 profit assuming nothing drastic goes wrong with it.

As a buyer, you have a choice, you can 'save' a couple of grand and do the work that the owner cannot see yourself - or choose to live with the imperfections, lack or warranty and servicing or get it done yourself at extra cost.

Or you could spent a couple more and have it all ready done and like a 'new' vehicle, serviced and 3 years peace of mind for your extra 2k.
 
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Andrew G M

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Buying from a dealer is not mandatory. No one is forced to used a dealer so the profit made is academic. Surely if your interested in a motorhome, you'll either be prepared to pay a price or your not. Don't beat yourself up about the ethics of a third party.

It is more likely the vendor telling lies about an offer from "dealer x" :roflmto:

Eddie

Eddie



I beleive you are absolutely right 'the vendor is telling lies about an offer from dealer x.'

An idea of the original profit margin would confirm the above.

I am sure the alleged dealer offer to buy back the used MH I have been quoted is more than the dealer would pay for a new mh from the manufacturer in the first place.

All part of negotiating - all is fair in love and war !

Andrew

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Terry

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Hi Andrew it's hard to say how much simply because some makes allow the dealer to discount and others don't -Some dealers will give almost all profit to secure a sale.What you can say is 20% is vat and stright away that will come off any price as soon as it leaves the forcourt.Yep dealer only pays VAT on his proffit so it cancels itself out to the dealer but joe public has it to pay (end user)
terry
 
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A dealer on e bay has a van priced at £17999, i bid him £12500 and he accepted. Was well overpriced at £17999 though. BUSBY.
 

jennyp19

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A dealer on e bay has a van priced at £17999, i bid him £12500 and he accepted. Was well overpriced at £17999 though. BUSBY.
It had to be worth a try!!!! Supply & Demand - obviously there wasn't a demand - probably better to turn something around, & get money out of it, so that you can buy something else & make money on that instead - its called business.
In the end, something is only worth to you what you are prepared to pay for it, and so it is with anything.

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motor roamin

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With all due respect it matters not a jot what the dealer is or isn't offering..........if you are interested in it bid what you are prepared to pay end of the seller then takes your offer or you look for another one........at the end of the day it is worth what you are prepared to give for it no more no less.

All the best Rick
 
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There must be some people who save for 40 years ,being very careful, then when they see that (dream) MH, common sense melts into the dealers pocket.

There are dealers who can spot a older, heavy laden cheque book customer, who is itching to buy a MH a mile away.

I talk to some people, and it scares me what the difference is between what was bought/sold for :Eeek:
 

eddie

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A "value" is only a guess until some one is prepared to pay the price. Until then it remains a guess, only that.

Once some one is prepared to pay the price, it becomes the correct price for that transaction.

Regardless of whether you would or wouldn't pay the same price is immaterial, some one wants to sell and some one wants to buy.

Eddie

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motor roamin

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A "value" is only a guess until some one is prepared to pay the price. Until then it remains a guess, only that.

Once some one is prepared to pay the price, it becomes the correct price for that transaction.

Regardless of whether you would or wouldn't pay the same price is immaterial, some one wants to sell and some one wants to buy.

Eddie

It seems some people find it hard to grasp that concept........when I was dealing there were some vehicles that I lost well into 4 figures on but then again they don't count do they :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: as you say the true value of anything is what someone is prepaired to pay :thumb:

All the best Rick
 

wasp

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Dealers are there to make money ,how much depends on how much they buy in for,the amount of work needed to bring a vehicle up to sell spec.Then stand it on the forecourt for some muppet to come along and nick stuff out of it that`s not fixed, break handles off cupboard doors, you know the little things that cost money to fix, and then give the punter a warranty on said vehicle. There are some overheads that have to be taken into account,wages,rent, rates, electric and gas bills, Jesus I am feelin quite suicidal now:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
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New motorhome retails £65k, Dealer does a deal cos everyone expects it and sells it to Jo Bloggs for £60K this includes VAT at 20% = £10k, so the dealer actually gets 50k, so the dealer has no doubt paid £40k net to the manufacturer for that = £10k profit.

Jo Bloggs arrives back 7 months later and ask's the dealer for a price and he offers £45k which is £15k less than Jo Bloggs paid.

The dealer puts this on sale at £52950 and VAT is due on the profit which is £7950 of that £1395 goes to the VAT man leaving the dealer with a profit of £6625.

And thats the way it works, the dealer may have to fund that money outstanding for months if he does not sell it very quickly, he may service the base vehicle, he may have to fix a few small faults, he may have to give it a full valet, he may have to habitation service it and so on...... Oh and add to that punishing UK business rates which are just about the highest in the world !

It amazes me that more dealers have not gone bust as as we all know lots of caravan and MH dealers have had financial problems and more will follow.

And no I have no friends or relations in the trade
 

Peter JohnsCross MH

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New motorhome retails £65k, Dealer does a deal cos everyone expects it and sells it to Jo Bloggs for £60K this includes VAT at 20% = £10k, so the dealer actually gets 50k, so the dealer has no doubt paid £40k net to the manufacturer for that = £10k profit.
J


In my dreams:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Peter

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Teepee

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A freind of mine bought an auto trail for 20ksix months later a dealer offered to sell it on his behalf. The dealer advertised it, serviced etc etc. sold it for 32k gave my freind 26k like it or love it, that's the way it is. There's a buyer for anything and everything reguardless the price. Do you want to pay that price? The choice is only yours.
 
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Andrew G M

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New motorhome retails £65k, Dealer does a deal cos everyone expects it and sells it to Jo Bloggs for £60K this includes VAT at 20% = £10k, so the dealer actually gets 50k, so the dealer has no doubt paid £40k net to the manufacturer for that = £10k profit.

Jo Bloggs arrives back 7 months later and ask's the dealer for a price and he offers £45k which is £15k less than Jo Bloggs paid.

The dealer puts this on sale at £52950 and VAT is due on the profit which is £7950 of that £1395 goes to the VAT man leaving the dealer with a profit of £6625.

And thats the way it works, the dealer may have to fund that money outstanding for months if he does not sell it very quickly, he may service the base vehicle, he may have to fix a few small faults, he may have to give it a full valet, he may have to habitation service it and so on...... Oh and add to that punishing UK business rates which are just about the highest in the world !

It amazes me that more dealers have not gone bust as as we all know lots of caravan and MH dealers have had financial problems and more will follow.

And no I have no friends or relations in the trade



On the above, would a dealer pay £45k for a used mh, when the new one from the manufacturer only cost £40k - this is where it gets interesting !!

AGM
 

Scout

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On the above, would a dealer pay £45k for a used mh, when the new one from the manufacturer only cost £40k - this is where it gets interesting !!

AGM



He might if he was selling another new van and taking some of the profit from that sale and offsetting it against the px, but if he was just buying it in for stock without a sale then he would not, he could not do it as it is not financially possible.

There are a few exceptions

one being new vans has gone up in price by a large % and so the used van then becomes more profitable to buy.

another being the dealer has a sale already lined up for the van and the customer does not want a new one,

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