Citroen dealer network

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Richard_C
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Citroen dealer network

Post by Richard_C »

Not sure if this is best in this forum or off topic chat - admins feel free to move. I have stuck with Citroen (except company cars and the odd excursion to SAAB) for years, partly because they were 'interesting' and more recently because we live near a very good local dealership, Duxford Motors.

Main dealers No more. They are still authorized Citroen service agents but no longer Citroen dealers - they retain their Mitsubishi franchise and can obtain new cars via another dealer. Presumably if they are no longer selling new ones there will be fewer traded in ones second hand. I can still go there for service and parts and its still the same people so will continue, but it got me thinking. I read in another forum that Luffield in Loughborough are no longer taking orders but for now are still selling new from their current stock, I think from what someone said that the Letchworth dealership is no more, Marshalls in Cambridge site is due for redevelopment soon, I wonder what their future is?

Is this part of a cull of smaller dealerships to leave a few impersonal giant ones, or is it just smaller businesses finding that they don't have enough sales volume to keep going? Maybe the Citroen/DS split - still due to happen by June this year - has made some of them decide its not worth carrying on.

Has anyone else lost their local dealership recently - is there a pattern emerging?
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Re: Citroen dealer network

Post by GiveMeABreak »

I've moved it out of the Technical Forums Richard.

I called into my local Citroen Dealer the other day to pick up a part I ordered on back order - and asked the Service Manager I know how things were - VERY QUIET on the new car sales front - as I think it has been in general - interest rates starting to rise and some uncertainty. The forecourt, although relatively small, was crammed with vehicles - so it looks like they are really trying to shift stock and utilising every bit of space.


DS as a Marque has already split, although still under the PSA group - some franchises maintain both Citroen & DS marques as I suspect there is not enough demand / throughput to warrant a completely separate site and infrastructure when it is basically the same as the rest of PSA in terms of paperwork, ICT service and parts systems etc. It won't be viable I suspect - and this seems to be the pattern with other places having 2-3 brands - sometimes completely different in the same dealership. It's a sign of the times - too many vehicles flooding the market and more people opting to buy nearly new and keep them on the road longer perhaps.
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Re: Citroen dealer network

Post by wurlycorner »

People buying nearly new rather than new?
Not wherever I see... What I see is a never ending stream of new cars appearing on the road because people are now stuck in hire purchase agreements where after 3 years they have to hand over an absolute fortune to keep the car (to pay off the remainder of the loan that they've basically only been paying the interest and servicing costs on) or hand it back in and take out a new loan on another brand new car.

I lost my local, very very long standing Citroen dealer (Helix) about 10 years ago. Nearest one at that time then being Great Dunmow (miles away and a small village in the sticks). A few years later a Vauxhall dealer in Braintree then picked up Citroen as an extra franchise on the same site, before then adding it to their satellite Vauxhall dealership in Maldon (also a small village in the sticks and miles away from anywhere!) who have no knowledge of hydraulic citroens - I never even saw a c5 for sale in their show room, just the plain vanilla models (c2, c3, c4 etc) alongside the Vauxhall range.

With PSA's determination to make Citroen a budget brand and their total lack of after market parts supply, I don't know why they don't just ditch all their remaining dealers, do a deal with Car Giant and flog their new cars through their showrooms!
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Re: Citroen dealer network

Post by Richard_C »

I've done a bit of digging about since my first post.

Marshalls will end their Cambridge Citroen franchise and become an authorized service business only - that's the last of their Cit outlets.

Citroen who, as Marc has said have already separated the DS and Citroen brands have chosen their 100 or so DS outlets, some all new like a store in Westfield but others run through existing franchises. Up and running from April, but no dealer will be 'allowed' to sell DS alongside C from June this year unless they have what will be called a DS Salon.

Citroen are also rolling out fixed price online sales in some markets and hope to have it in UK later this year.

So - with dealers being de-selected from DS (I guess the DS3 was sold in decent numbers and was reasonably profitable) and the manufacturer competing with them directly, no wonder that some are wondering 'why bother'. Add to that the twice yearly survey of dealer satisfaction with the manufacturer - see link - which puts Citroen in penultimate place, we might see a lot more change.

www.am-online.com/news/market-insight/2 ... the-winter

So Cambridge, not the biggest of cities but expanding and relatively affluent, no dealer presence at all once Marshalls have gone. I guess they know what they are doing....
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Re: Citroen dealer network

Post by Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur »

I notice in my local area that

....the Citroen main dealer is gone. It looks suspiciously like a Supermarket build is under-way

...its getting harder & harder to spot a Peugeot on the frontage of what used to be the Pug Main Dealer; I think they're still doing Pugs, but seem to be focusing more on Kia and Seat.

In the course of a conversation with a fella at a recent show, who I had no reason to disbelieve when he said used to run a Peugeot dealers; he told me that it'd got to a stage whereby they attracted so many warranty claims that his profit was going down the swanny; his viewpoint on the marque was far from flattering. I'd like to think that its not true what I hear about modern PSA's but I've heard it a number of times now from un-connected sources.
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Re: Citroen dealer network

Post by Gibbo2286 »

The French car makers still haven't learned how to lie ( propagandise ) like the Germans. :)
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Re: Citroen dealer network

Post by wurlycorner »

Really confused by what Pug_XUD... was told and a reason to be giving up a dealer franchise... A warranty claim should have no cost impact on the dealer - costs of the repair covered by PSA UK, surely?
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Re: Citroen dealer network

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Not necessarily Iain - Standard warranty is 3 years' warranty only on new cars sourced from Citroën UK Limited. 2 years' unlimited mileage manufacturer's warranty and 3rd year dealer provided warranty, up to a 3 year total of 60,000 miles.

So if it goes toes up after the 2 years it will be down to the dealer.

Before I took out my extended warranty - I had a catastrophic Tyre Pressure Sensor blow out (the whole thing, core valve, stem - the lot leaving a gaping hole in the alloy) going down a dual carriageway. Drove to my dealer 500 yards away and kicked up hell. They potched about saying it was a wear and tear thing - to which I got on the phone to Head Office, saying this is a known issue with the reactive materials used in the brass core and alloy stems - and if this had happened in the high street a small child could of been blinded or worse.

Head office got in touch with the dealer immediately and told them to get on and replace the lot without question for the new types.

The dealer will always hesitate and faff if they think they are going to have to foot the bill - but no contest in this situation.
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Re: Citroen dealer network

Post by wurlycorner »

OK, so I've not done this lot (never bought a car that see or from a dealer :lol: ) so I don't know this for fact, but...
A) The extended warranty costs, yes? So there's some income there.
B) My expectation is that the extended warranty they are offering (if not Citroen uk/psa backed) is actually backed off to a third party insurers (in the same way an independent used car dealer does). So they still wouldn't be incurred costs themselves, but paid for the work?
I can't see them running that kind of scheme as self-insured, surely... (or if they are, then they are less savvy than the aftermarket independents?!)
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Re: Citroen dealer network

Post by GiveMeABreak »

I can’t say about the third year is a new car main warranty Iain, but my subsequent Citroen approved car warranty has been renewed by me in year 4, 5 & 6 as I had under 70k. That was a Citroen PSA warranty and that was underwritten by a third party as each claim I had was usually subject to an external insurance assessor, but very good and never had a claim refused. Steeeing Rack, full window Regulator / Motor, suspension pipe. A/C compressor, Condenser, New Wiper motor and ECU, front and rear height correctors, crankshaft seal and clutch and some other things.
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