Have any of you horse traded with dealers you bought rolling stock from. Just wondered if they will deal on the prices of items you are interested in. Or is the listed price locked in stone.

Some dealers who value moving stock and making profit on volume, rather than single sales, will give a discount on volume. The dealer mark-up is usually 40-50%, so unless they have a very high overhead, they do have room to “Horse trade”.

I know of at least one or two dealers who won’t budge for love nor money, and have equipment sitting on their shelves at EXTREMELY high prices, and won’t drop a dime to move it. They are just tying up their money in inventory that hardly moves…and they wonder why people won’t buy from them.

There are some dealers that buy in volume and get higher discounts, so they can pass on the savings to their customers…

I find them more willing to move on used stuff which is all I buy. Why pay for new when I’m going to replace the couplers, roofwalks, grabs, trucks, and repaint it anyway. Something to think about if you plan on doing the same. I’ve scored really big at flea markets.

Yea, it depends on the dealer, and your relationship with them. One store I deal with will bargain, especially when I am buying several pieces. But another store I shop at is like Fred said. High prices on older stock that was new when it was placed on the shelves, but the stock wont move at those prices and the owner won’t deal.

I have to Aristo Craft E-8’s and want to start purchasing passenger cars to pull behind them. Fred said he would paint them to match the units he painted. I just wondered if USAT or a dealer will horse trade on their passenger cars if I purchase 5 of them. I have a passenger car already.

Telephone a dealer and actually speak to the manager/owner, and you will soon find out.

Trying to bargain using the internet is not the way to go…JUST PICK UP THE TELEPHONE AND ASK…no-one here can speak for a dealer…!!

I find that people will cut me a deal for being a regular customer. I tend to focus my sales on just a few dealers. Surprise, I take care of them with sales and they take care of me with price.

Greg

Greg, its getting to be soon we will only have a few dealers to choose from.

But yes, the relationship you develop with your dealer is very important. Some still wont make deals, some will. I know the shops I used to frequent would not even consider dealing with certain customers. The relationship was that bad.