Question #2 - Can you haggle a piano dealership?

[jayadams]

I'm getting the impression that buying a piano is much like buying a new automobile.  Is this considered poor etiquette?  If "Sale" price is 10K, how much lower could you go?

[zheer]

This guy was trying to sell me a £79.000 Bluthner piano, by lowering the price. You can imagin what was going through my mind. Anyway where would i put the F/?@#ing thing even if he gave it to me.

[Floristan]

Here in the U.S. dealers expect haggling.  How low they are willing to go depends on lots of factors -- the brand (e.g., they don't have to discount Steinways much because they have such huge brand equity), the size of the dealership (larger are usually more willing to haggle more because they have larger inventories), how motivated the dealer is to get rid of pianos in stock (just like car dealers though less intensely, they sometimes need to push product out the door to make room for new product), whether one is paying in cash, etc.  Dealers will, of course, try to negotiate "extras" rather than just discounting the price -- tunings, longer warranties, the next size up, etc.  It's all very much like buying a car.

The rule of thumb in the U.S. is that it's reasonable to expect a 20% discount off list, and that discounts of up to 40% are not unheard of.  So it's always wise to haggle and see what happens.

[gkatele]

Although the auto-buying analogy falls apart in some aspects, there's one thing that I've read that is similar.

Don't fall in love with one piano (or at least don't let the dealer know that you have), and be prepared to walk out without a purchase.

"Gee, this Fazistein is really nice, but, I can get a REALLY nice Yamwai down the street for a lot less money. I think I'll go take another look."



George