Originally Posted by
StanSeven
It's okay to haggle over auto prices because that's the way their market is set up. That's the model of their industry. Do people here haggle with your doctor, dentist, lawn service, grocery store, etc? From what I see, just about every good LBS sells current year bikes at MSRP. They make deals later in the year when new models come out. As Psimet said, the margins aren't that much. Accessories are a different thing.
In the UK you don't pay the doctor directly, and I haven't been to the dentist in years. The grocery store (along with other big-chain stores) employs people who aren't empowered to give deals so that's a different story.
If I'm buying anything big-ticket I look for a discount on MSRP. If you don't ask you don't get, and I've worked hard enough for the money I have that I don't want to just hand it over when I could be handing over less. When I bought my camera gear I got a nice discount, when I bought my car I got a discount on the screen price, when I bought my bike I got a discount on the sticker price, heck I even negotiated with my accountant this year and got a discount on his normal fees.
To the guy who said people who haggle are trying to get more for less, you got it buddy. Not sure why it's a problem, everybody wants to get more for less.