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From time to time my boss asks me why, if we're leasing cars, do we have to negotiate with the car companies? Isn't that the job of the leasing firm?
I agree, but the car companies play it canny. They won't give the leasing firms the best discount rates because that way they'll lose all contact with the end-users: fleet managers like me. And if they do that, they risk losing my loyalty.
The discounts we negotiate are instead relayed to the leasing company and the monthly rates are built up from that. It'd be interesting to know what the original rates would have been, but I've long since tried getting a straight answer about hypothetical rates from my lease firm; I'm sure they do get discounts, just not the best ones.
It's time-honoured, this system, but I do wonder whether it adds up to anything much in the long-run. In effect, by maintaining the relationships with a select group of car companies I'm allowing them to sell to me. Interactions along the lines of test cars, days out and the like are useful, but perhaps not as useful as I proclaim to anyone who wonders where I was last Thursday.
Maybe all the lunch meetings, email to-ing and fro-ing and the micro-managed negotiations should all be brought to a halt. I could certainly use the time more productively. Long-standing though the relationships are with some of the fleet reps, perhaps it's time to close the door and concentrate my time elsewhere.
Of course, I'd finally be able to check the negotiated rates against the standard figure quoted by the leasing firm for particular cars. But I'd always wonder. Could it have been even better? Was that price hike really the outcome of lower residuals and a manufacturer blitz on discounts? I wouldn't really know.
More gallingly, I'm self-aware enough to understand I like being sold to. Deep down. Vain as I am, I've probably become rather attached to the attention, to the flattery, to the freebies. Like an addict, I say I can give up any time but there's a huge gulf between saying and doing.
But that's not the official line. I'm saving the company money, and that's why this lunch is so important. Right, must be off.
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