Last week, I spotted a brand-new, almost £100,000 car discounted by around £24,000. But before you take the bait of this amazing ‘deal’, you need to think it through properly.
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Ask yourself if the car could ever justify its original RRP of almost £100,000? Was that just a crazily ambitious figure that the manufacturer plucked out of the air in the hope that at least a few mugs might be daft enough to pay it? Possibly. Also, could the heavily reduced price tag be closer to the true value of the new car? More than likely, I’d say.
Whether we’re talking train tickets, electrical goods or some (not all) new cars, the prices consumers are initially hit with can be knowingly and unreasonably exaggerated. If manufacturers, service providers, retailers and others eagerly offer to heavily reduce their official prices, they’re in effect admitting that they were over the top to start with.
Some might argue there’s nothing wrong with presenting exaggerated and obscenely high RRPs to would-be customers in the hope that they’ll pay them. And when they don’t, the heavy discounts are applied and true, honest, real-world prices are paid.
But my counter-argument to firms trying to charge you too much goes like this: Stop trying it on. Abandon your fictional pricing policies. Keep reminding yourselves that there’s no need to resort to heavy discounts if the RRPs are right, fair and proportionate from day one. Besides, new-car discounts play havoc with resale values.
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