manufacturers discounting?

Hi Guys As I have mentioned on this site earlier I am about to build a car wash here in Australia and I have decided to use Coleman equipment via the local Coleman distributor . No sign of any sort of a discount though and am a little concerned as I believe discounting is common in the US due to the GFC and the poor state of the industry there. Should I be hitting these guys up for a cut, trouble is the car wash industry is still in a strong growth phase here and all distributors speak of being very busy. Also are you fellas able to buy direct of the manufacturers such as Coleman , as this would not be possible here.All the advice I have received from some of you on this site has been invaluable and very much appreciated Thanks Glenn

Almost anyone can sell Coleman equipment. They have no protection for their distributors, if you can hang a sign, you can sell their stuff. I imagine the same goes for buying direct. I honestly don’t know though, since I live in Houston it only makes sense that I can go over to their parts department and pick stuff up.

The distributor buys the equipment from Coleman most likely at a pre determined discount that is based on their buying power. The distributor you are buy this from, are they a large company? Do they own more washes (if any) than they have built for customers? Chances are if that’s the case they don’t get that large of a discount themselves, and will make the money up on chemical, parts and labor. So the point being you may not get a discount because there wasn’t one there to give. On the other hand if they are the only game in town, then chances are they have a lot of buying power, and could stand to give you a little something. Glen, you seem to be really set on using Coleman, so wouldn’t you agree it’s hard to pay to much for something you really want? However, it is kind of odd that no discount is mentioned, did you receive any other bids for your wash? If they had any kind of discount on them you could use that to your advantage when dealing with the Coleman distributor. I assume you did get other bids, right? Even if you didn’t, It never hurts to ask for a discount, or some kind of other perk. What’s the worst thing that could happen? They could say no.

On another note, no to alarm you but the rumor mill around town is that Coleman is bankrupt. Even if they are I wouldn’t be to worried, they would “reorganize” and continue to do business. I give it a 50% of being true, its just hearsay, and the car wash business seems to be full of it.

Tyler

Just out of curiosity, but why would you expect to get a discount just because the economy is bad?

Don't ask, don't get.......

But the distributor knows that there will be a lot of hand-holding going on since you are new to the business, so don't expect too much.

BTW, there are several show related specials going on right now. If you are ready to buy, you could save money.

http://www.jcolemanco.com/washblast/2010/jcc/webspecials/icaShowSpecials/images/2010_ICA_Show_Specials_for_WB.pdf