Whats the best source for HRE?
-looking for pricing on 19 inch 597Rs

 

Hre largest dealer here if you like i can ship from miami and save you sales tax let me know how i can help thanks ! Ben

also what car and specs just might have them in stock .

 

Shoreline in HB is where I got mine.. Or just call Marc at HRE and he'll give u a dealer near you..

 

Got something more worth it....pm me

 

wow, nice thread jack.^^^^

I say go with Alan at Wheel Enhancement, they are very knowledgeable and can show you the wheels as well as other HRE's

Marc

 

I got mine from Dan at VividRacing. Smooth transaction and fast as well.

 

HRE is really bad about patrolling and enforcing a minimum price... indeed it is a violation of the safe harbor laws, so they do it by verbally pressuring their dealers and being punative if folks sell for under what they allow.

Be cool, talk directly to a principal at a company. Buy from outside your state- why spend 9% for nothing?

Everyone will say "most I can give you is 10% off", which is what HRE demands. You can do better but protect your seller- and let them know that you know the game.

 

We enforce our pricing to protect those dealers that offer the service and support that is in line with HRE's expected levels. If we just sold our wheels to the dealers that had the lowest prices it would hurt our ability to ensure our customers are getting the experience they deserve. It costs real money to provide the advice, service and support you should get when buying HREs. Trust us on this, we get the same amount of money regardless (our prices to the dealers don't change if they lower their prices) and we actually get MORE sales if we let our dealers drop the price, so it seems completely counter intuitive to NOT let our dealers drop their prices.

In the end though, we'd be out of business because we'd end up only selling through people that have no service or support which will reflect poorly on us as a company OR we'd be forced to sell direct which is what a lot of companies do to keep their prices low and this is not a long term solution that works for us with our volume and the type of high end product we provide. We simply cannot expect to be able to touch each and every customer directly and provide the quality of service they deserve. This is why we have dealers and why we'll protect them.

As for us being really bad about enforcing our policies, things have changed recently and we no longer look the other way with ANYONE. Ask around. HRE is not the same company it was even 6 months ago so you may think you're able to "protect your dealer" but HRE no longer waits for a smoking gun to take action. If we just think it is happening we'll act in order to "protect ALL of our dealers" which in the end will ensure our customers get not only the highest quality wheels, but the highest quality service to go along with it.

As for it being illegal to uphold pricing, the Supreme Court in June of 2007 looked at this exact situation and found that it was in fact legal to enforce a minimum price in cases where allowing price discounting could have a harmful effect on the consumer by making it uncompetitive for other dealers offering high quality service. So to be clear, HRE is not playing any games here with the law and never would. http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06pdf/06-480.pdf

 

Thanks for the reply.

The supreme court didn't decide "it is OK to set minimum prices"... their decision overturns the Per Se rule and requires a rule of reason argument. Selling 'parts' via mail order, and stating that somehow this turns into a service relationship between selling dealer and consumer might not reach that level. I suspect the rule of reason will need to demonstrate tangible benefits, not just seek to carve out a high priced niche.... but we will not settle this here. I suspect a good many cases before the reason argument is defined.

It is, of course, your business and your decision- and I can attest that you make fine wheels and a great product with great support from HRE as a company. Zero issues there, truly.

There are many retailers in CA, and unfortunately I get hit with 9% tax. Buying for outside CA is an instant discount for me, which puts me (and I assume fellow CA residents) out of reach for the CA retailers.

A

 

You are absolutely correct. Our legal team has reviewed the decision and think we meet the reason argument with the high levels of service required for tires, fitment, installation, etc. (we are talking 6 figure cars here) but we realize we need to show we're not creating a situation that hinders competition, but in fact helps it. We are confident once again that we're good here but you are correct and time will tell as this decision gets tested further. For sure if we were selling coat hangers we wouldn't be so confident, but then we wouldn't need to worry about it either.

As for CA state tax, it is painful for all of us. Shipping back and forth across the country can also be painful as we now only drop ship in very special cases and supporting your local dealers is also something to be weighed as most of our customers have developed or want to develop personal relationships with shops in their area. We understand this and so do our CA dealers.

It's a choice. If you know exactly what you want and you're going to do everything yourself then you'll buy where ever. We understand this and there is nothing wrong with it. For people that are unsure, want or need service (most of our customers), it is usually best to stay local and our dealers have to compete against others in their area and others outside their area with their service and frankly, most do a good job of winning it not just for a single HRE sale, but for all the customer's business. People like to have that relationship and dealers that succeed at this are the kinds of dealers HRE wants promoting our product. It is a reflection of us so we need to know our dealers can uphold the same level of service and support that we provide directly. If we thought the service side were unnecessary for us, we'd just sell everything direct but that's just not who we are and isn't the HRE experience.