buying directly from the importer?

Hi
I was wondering if anyone can give some insight into referral fees,
importer-dealer relations etc:
-Is it possible for a big purchase(say 20, 6-wheel 'heavy' trucks)to go
directly to the principal instead of his ditributor, in hope he can
offer a discount of X(=?)%
-what is a typical referral fee for getting in touch with the
principal?
thanks in advance

wrote: <brevity snip>
> -Is it possible for a big purchase(say 20, 6-wheel 'heavy' trucks)to go
> directly to the principal instead of his ditributor, in hope he can
> offer a discount of X(=?)%
-----
No. The distributor -is- the manufacturer's sales dept. You can't
circumvent them.

And 20 trucks is a very small purchase comparatively. Many companies
contract to buy 50-100 or more trucks a year for 5 years.
-----

- gpsman

Actually you can. But then you'd be responsible for all the import
fees, paperwork, and all the other stuff that needs to be done.
By the time you do that, you'd find out it would be cheaper dealing
with the distributor.

thanks
I guess you are right about that although it is possible that the
manufacturers rep. office is taking care of the imports and then the
distributor takes over...

however I did not have in mind circumventing the dealer altogether in
this case he will be probably the one in charge of the warranty
services,
what I meant is if I go to him first he might not be 'eager' to offer
discounts I could perhaps count on but know nothing of if I do not talk
to the principal?
(the purchase I am looking at is actually 50% bigger for starters)
Another thing since I want to return a favor to a former partner by
having him collect
the referral fee from the seller, I'd like to know how much it would
amount to
and would it affect the total discount offered to me? (vice versa -if
the fee is a % of the price I pay then it grows smaller with the
increase of my discount)