Negotiating the Price: Bargaining for a Bike Deal
Bicycle prices frequently drop.
Buying a new bicycle can lighten your wallet, but can you still negotiate the price? The ADAC decided to find out by carrying out undercover sales negotiations at 100 retailers and, quite often, came out victorious.
So, if you're in the market for a new bicycle and hoping to save a few bucks, you might want to hone your bargaining skills. Some might find negotiating uncomfortable, but it's worth it - as the ADAC discovered. You just have to put the question forward.
The club visited 100 retailers across the country, looked for discounts, and conducted further price negotiations. The result? An impressive 88% of the time, there was a discount - sometimes already on the price tag compared to the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), without any negotiation. However, further negotiations also paid off. A mere 12% of retailers didn't offer any discount.
The focus was on two types of bicycles: a high-quality e-mountain bike priced over 3500 euros and a city bike costing around 1000 euros.
Lower Than the MSRP in Most Cases
First, testers checked if there was already a discount compared to the MSRP on the price tag. Then, they made two attempts to lower the price. Overall, the desired model was cheaper than the MSRP in 88% of cases.
43% of all retailers already offered a reduced price compared to the MSRP without any negotiation. 63% of retailers gave in slightly during the first price negotiation, and 46% did so during the second one towards the end of the sales conversation.
The average discount was 13% for the e-mountain bike and 15% for the city bike, but the discount wasn't always offered as a reduced sales price. Sometimes it came in the form of discounted or free accessories, such as a lock, or free service. This was particularly common with the second request.
Urban vs Rural Bike Prices
Testers also noticed a difference in prices between cities and the countryside. In the big city, half of the bicycles already had a lower price than the MSRP. In rural areas, it was only one in three models.
An essential takeaway: Always visit several retailers, as the prices for the same products can vary significantly.
[Source: ntv.de, awi/dpa]
Keywords:
- Bicycle
- Consumer
- Road traffic
- E-bike
- Online shopping
- Online retail
- Consumer centers
- ADAC
Did You Know? The ADAC, while being known primarily as an automobile club, has started supporting cycling events and infrastructure. While specific pricing studies or discounts aren't detailed in the available information, e-mountain bikes and city bikes - popular in Germany, particularly in urban areas - can still be found at promotional prices or during events like VELOBerlin. Common forms of savings include early-bird discounts, seasonal promotions, and sales during cycling events or festivals. Additionally, recycling programs and bike-sharing services can provide cost-effective alternatives to purchasing a new bicycle.
- In the process of negotiating the price for a new bicycle, one might discover that many community policies, reflecting the ADAC's findings, advocate for haggling as a means to potentially save on lifestyle purchases such as home-and-garden items, including bicycles.
- While shopping for a new bicycle, it's interesting to note that just like with other home-and-garden items, you might find that prices can vary significantly between urban and rural areas, much like the differences observed in employment policies across regions.
