HI all. Looking around at new vehicles namely a Toyota or Isuzu 4WD pick up. Have been into a few dealers

who have given us price lists and I see some pricing on their web pages. Is there room for negotiation on these

prices apart from getting some free insurance etc or its pretty much it?

If I buy a Toyota or an Isuzu from say a dealer in Bangkok, am I likely to get the same level of after sales service from

my local guy up country?

Very little room for negotiation. You'll usually get free insurance for the first year and they will throw in as many accessories as you can negotiate.

Service upcountry even in Pattaya is crap. In my experience anyway.

Discounts are available, as are freebies. But it all depends on the dealer and the brand and the model. You wont get much on the latest model that was recently released, or a Ford when they had delivery dates of more than 6 months, but you may get 100KB or more discount on one that is at the end of its production life, like the Triton recently.

When I bought my pick-up 3 years ago several brands had delivery times of 2 months or more, presumably due to the effect of the government new car discount scheme. Asking in Pattaya most of those brands would give nothing away. The brand I went with was more generous, offering a free liner, free insurance, various bits of trim, window film and spoilers, mats, wheel lock and a reversing camera but no discount and offered delivery in about a month. Asking in Bangkok about the same vehicle got me the same offer of freebies and a 20KB discount, which I then talked the Pattaya dealer into matching (it took a long time and involved phone calls to his "boss"). Bangkok had the vehicle available for instant delivery, but I was in no real hurry and preferred to match the offer locally.

In general I found the Pattaya dealers to be uninterested in making a sale and unwilling to negotiate. Complete non-salesmen in fact. Now that more dealers have opened up just outside of town I would be prepared to try them for a new purchase to see if they are more flexible. I certainly get much better service from the new dealer I go to in Na Jomtien for my in-warranty servicing than I ever got from the in-town dealer I bought it from, and they wont ever be seeing me again.

Failing that for a new car I would just go straight to Bangkok where they were immediately much more prepared to negotiate to make a sale. Dont hesitate to play one dealer off against another.

Moved to the Motor forum.