One careful owner and many unhelpful sellers

[ProgRocker]

Interesting arcticle from Autocar...

 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/motoring/one-careful-owner-and-many-unhelpful-sellers

[spike60]

Like a lot of the good folk on this forum I have a fair turnover of cars at the lower end of the market and rough cars and rough people usually go together and the motor trade has some of the roughest. When seeing a private car I can usually tell whether I'm likely to buy from the the postcode if local. I like BM's and Merc's but have yet to buy one from a rough estate, I'm no snob but I like cars that have been looked after. Saves me grief and £'s!

[mercrocker]

some good value advice there.   Most dealers seem to neither know nor care about the majority of their stock in trade, the only attributes of a vehicle likely to interest them is turnover potential.   And I look at post codes too!   The best Mercs I have bought came from middle class boroughs, locally, and had fatter service histories for it.   Older folk too, the kind that still believed in buying the best and paying for correct maintenance....Unfortunately these owners are passing into history just as surely as decent Mercs themselves.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

The $64,000,000 question is

Would you buy a car from you?

Now I know it's difficult to answer that question on a forum you might want to move some hopeless old shite onto someone who might read this, but would you?

I probably wouldn't buy a decent car from me, not posh enough, not giffer enough (getting there though) and definitely not the reams of service history I look for when spending proper money.

 

Whilst I agree with the nice people/nice car correlation, one of the worse stitch ups I've encountered was from the nice ,middle class ,architect ,first owners of an Audi 100 Avant years ago.

[brickwall]

Word of mouth is good too. I got my Accord by chapping on the door and the guy said he hadn't cleaned it or serviced it yet as it was filthy as it had been sitting. I said that is absolutely no problem. Drove it, bought it. I used to bump into him now and again and we'd blether away.

 

Same with one of the KIA Mentors I procured. He said it has a starting problem and was going to sort it before he sells it. No problem...I sorted it, drove it, bought it.

[mercrocker]

I wouldn't buy a car from me....They are all shagged and I have got no money

[Junkman]

A Junkman owned and maintained car you can buy sight unseen.

You could even transport nuns and kittens in them.

For this reason, my P6 V8 will never be for sale.

It is possessed by an evil spirit and I couldn't live with the accountability.

[Negative Creep]

No bastard ever buys a car from me anyway

[nigel bickle]

I did

[anonymous user]

I would buy a car from me, I used to enjoy buying cars, but have always hated selling them. I don't like having to deal with people at the best of times, so I always describe cars I sell as accurately as I can which hopefully puts people off with unrealistic expectations; my ebay feedback usually says car better than expected.

 

The last few cars I have either scrapped if they are old clunkers with age related minor issues, or traded in back to the main dealer just to avoid any hassle. The last car I tried to sell was a three year old Panda which I had bought new, with full service history, new mot and new tyres on it, put it on an ebay classified at trade price; the only enquiries for it either asked for huge discount (without seeing it) or random questions about the spec which were all in the advert. I gave up and sold it to WBAC for slightly more than I had been asking, subsequently seeing it for sale with a local dealer who had it up for about £800 more, so not a lot in it for them as I assume WBAC would have taken a cut on it, with an attractive* finance deal. (That's where the money is made, the finance deal over five years would mean the new purchaser would end up paying more than I had for it new)

[Micrashed]

The $64,000,000 question is

Would you buy a car from you?

Yes, and I would buy my caravan from me as well.

 

Spent the morning trailing round looking at bloody 6 berth vans, covered about 150 miles today and whilst one van was very nice at a nice dealer, it was top whack and then the damp meter test found one wall showing 40% by a window that has clearly been out recently and had some sealant stuck round it. Now if the seller had been open about it, fine, but they were not.

 

One I had spoken about on the phone and the seller had completely failed to mention that the motor mover it was advertised with didnt work, or one of the walls was nice and spongy reading 35% on the meter.

 

My own van is dry, the most I can get on a meter reading is 12%

But it has seen better days and its looking a bit tired in places inside. Im a realist about what price I can get for it though.

 

I dont mind buying something with issues if the seller is up front about them and factors that into the price instead of hiding things.

 

Hey ho.

[Negative Creep]

I did

 

 

Good point, although it was managed without any face to face interaction whatsoever

[Lord Sterling]

Good article. It brings together all the experiences of buying cars that we might have to go through looking for cars through the 'normal' channels.

 

I could be completely wrong here but I do hear of a lot potential customers almost being "told off" by car salesman. Thier attitudes seem far more aggressive than before and many seem to be made to feel like you're actually inconveniencing the salesman. Of course, let me make it clear; this isn't true with all salesman. There is a large amount of them who couldn't be more helpful.

 

I get the feeling though that those who are aggressive seem to like judging potential customers and treating them with utter contempt, as in; Judging a book by it's cover, is that really a potential customer or a penniless dreamer wanting a test drive?

 

Would I buy a car from? Yes, I most probably would. Personally I'm happy to yog some money on a shitter because I know that older cars do need more looking after than your average newer bland-mobile.

[nigel bickle]

Perhaps that's the best way?

 

 

 

Face to face interaction?      Oooooohhhh, matron!     

[Junkman]

[Bren]

The ads in the daily newspapers used to annoy me such as "mondeo from £2999".

 

You would visit said establishment and be pointed in the direction of a beat up old shitter of an example that had done more miles than Alan Whicker and had no wheel trims and little tread on the tyres.

 

I used to laugh at people that bought from car craft, their cars were above average mileage and priced above book to allow a "generous" P/X. And generally shit all round.

[Station]

If it has an aftermarket stereo and pound land carmats (with 'tubing' a completely different colour to the colour scheme) and hasn't been hoovered on the day of sale I'd say it hasn't been treated well recently.

[Micrashed]

Jesus wept - another caravan dealer and another "cant be arsed" attitude towards the sale of a caravan.

 

Me - (dealer forecourt has no order, rhyme or reason to it but they are advertising on the web page two vans that fit our search criteria and budget but I cant find them) Im looking for a 6 berth with fixed bunks and my budget is £9000 what have you got?.

 

First Bloke - (looks up from magazine) No idea mate, go and ask at the service desk....

 

(at the service desk) Me - I notice on the website you have a couple of 6 berth vans with fixed bunks and my budget is £9000 can you show me them please?

 

Second Bloke - Oh no, the cheapest we have got is £11K but we could probably do it for ten and a half, we havent had anything in like that for ages.

 

I mean FFS, presumably they want to sell things and make some money so that the business doesnt go bang. But for Christs sakes with that attitude why the hell would I bother going back? And this is 9 bloody grand Im looking at parting with - not 200 quid on a barely MOT'd shitter.

[EssDeeWon]

When looking for my BMW 330 last year I would also look at the location of advertised car if private, and if a dealer I usually hung up after about 1 minute with all the usual spill like 'its only just come in' and 'got someone interested' etc etc regardless of what the car was like I would decide straight away I was not even gonna view it because of having to meet the annoying second hand car dealer.

 

Often when a dealer says its just come in I would state that the price has been reduced already from 3995 to 3695 so did you reduce the price after one day? Or if the dealer said someone else was interested just say 'Oh right well I best leave it then' 'Don't want to get involved and take time to view if someone else already wants it' and that backfires nicely

 

I prefer buying privately but all my 3 BMs have come from dealers that have actually been ok, and fairly straight up and said 3 cars have all been good'uns.

 

Would I buy a car off me? Yes because I maintain the bloody things regardless and always have stacks of FSH and receipts which is exactly what Iook for when buying.

 

Oh and another annoying dealer thing is saying a car has FSH, which often means a new MOT certs and a receipt for some new tyres about 4 years ago!

[mercrocker]

I got the elbow from a motor caravan specialist for daring to ask if he got any camper vans from  time to time.   He pretty clearly insinuated I was wasting his time with my non-resthome-sofa-upholstered enquiry.    I notice  he went tits up a year or so later.   I still have my camper van....

[dieselnutjob]

In my experience 90% of cars that used car dealers are selling have something seriously wrong with them.  I have met occasionally met one that I liked but mostly they seem to be selling broken c&&p in the hopes that a buyer won't notice.

[garbaldy]

 

Whilst I agree with the nice people/nice car correlation, one of the worse stitch ups I've encountered was from the nice ,middle class ,architect ,first owners of an Audi 100 Avant years ago.

 

I would also be very cautious of the wealthy as I have worked for three family's since leaving school and not one of them looked after their motors.

My present boss I would definitely not buy a motor of, 

They bought a brand new car in 08 for dog and plant hauling duties, it has been serviced once in 68k miles, it has never been cleaned at all and is a health hazard,   this you may think is a one off well nope they have three cars and all are treated the same I told him he has a brake light out and he said it will get fixed at mot, its only two year old ffs so that will be driven for a year with a brake light out.

 

the focus estate they traded in for the new car was a tip until the mobile valeter arrived and made it look new with all his bullshit sprays.

its 80k service history was none existent but they got a reasonable trade price for it after he threw the booklet in the bin and bull shited the sales guy. 

 

buyer beware I say no mater what posh house a cars parked outside

[TimothyClaypole]

I'd buy any second hand car and just assume upfront there was something wrong with it.

[Spiny Norman]

In my experience 90% of cars that used car dealers are selling have something seriously wrong with them. 

 

It's over 10 years since I bought a car from a dealer and I doubt I ever will again. I simply resent some of my hard-earned lining the pockets of a middle man who, 9 times out of 10 these days hasn't even cleaned it properly from the part-ex/auction site state.

 

I'm far happier buying a car from bods on forums like this one, you might still get a snotter but it's usually advertised as such in the first place. It's peeling through the layers of deceit & BS I really can't be arsed with when you're dealing with a trader, particularly one who assumes you're as clueless about cars as most of them are.

[philsford]

I don't buy off traders unless I am after a certain model or engine size and cannot find one private. I have viewed traders cars in the past and every time I do I think to myself I will never ring a trade ad again. My problem with them is when you ring them and ask about the condition they tell you anything rather than telling you the bad bits, then if the car has 89k on the clock they advertise it with 80k which boils my blood. I  went to look at an 05 plate mondeo a couple of years back where the trader told me it was mint and had only done 50k. I got there and every panel had issues, I walked round it once and said thanks for your time which led him to raise his voice and tell me there was nothing wrong with it. My reply was I have projects at home and don't need a resto project. I was on his property about 60 seconds. They always want top money for what they have and 90% of the time seem to be selling auction tat which I am quite capable of buying from auction myself. 

 

I would buy off myself. I am stupid and spend money on my cars to sell them to get them to where I would be happy at the price I want. Sometimes I have got a car ready for sale and think to myself it's a shame to sell it now.

[Doctormop]

My wife bought a 4 year old Honda Jazz from a Honda main dealer 3 years ago, the Salesman was a fat, arrogant obnoxious tw*t who spent almost an hour trying to talk us into a one year old Jazz priced at more than we could afford. I pointed out the fag burn on the driver's seat of the car we eventually bought and his attitude was, don't be a cheapskate buy the newer one, against my better judgement the older vehicle was purchased, much to his (and my) displeasure. He then tried 5 times to sell us 'superguard' protection at £400 insisted on showing us a video "by law I HAVE to show you this" which was complete bollocks no law insists you have to sit through 11 minutes of OMG your new car will disintegrate if you don't pay us 400 quid for a basic wash and polish but hey ho the deal was done, trade in arranged and a fixed appointment was arranged for the handover. We were warned not to be late as punctuality was of the upmost importance.

 Fast forward 4 days, we arrive 10 minutes early to do the deal, are shown to a desk in an office and wait and wait and wait, after 15 minutes I emerge and find a salesperson they are sorry but the new vehicle liason executive is tied up, after 25 minutes said person arrives and explains that he was busy with his previous client who pitched up 30 minutes late and took longer than expected but she was buying an 18 grand accord so what could he do??????

 Feeling less than valued we waited outside for our new car to be brought round, all is well then, no, the car had no parcel shelf and no ashtray, apparently they had been liberated to go with previously collected Jazz's that had been pilfered themselves, we then wait a further 20 minutes while all other Jazz's on sale are searched for required missing articles and they are fitted to our car.

 The entire experience was embarrassing, infuriating a and downright painful, I almost felt for the after sales type person who really tried his best against insurmountable odds and, as we were about to drive off at 4.25pm got a sandwich out of his pocket my wife tried to be cheerful and hoped he enjoyed his tea he replied, "this is my lunch, its the first chance I've had to eat it"

[dangerousdave]

ive always bought private and always judged it on area till I bought my range rover it didn't look the best of areas but it had been very well looked after with service history and a folder full of receipts and the seller couldn't have been more helpful

[Joey spud]

I am currently looking for a Honda Accord estate 2.2 cdti and have a budget of about £4k and the ones i have seen so far have been all been a disapointment,the dealers have all had a ''take it or leave it' attitude to car sales.

I want to px the focus in against it too as selling privately really ain't my thing.

 

There must one out there the colour and spec i want not being sold by a total mong ...

[Stroller133]

When looking for a car last year at used car dealers, I got the impression that most of them neither knew or cared what condition the cars were in. At least 2 Saab 9-3 TiDs had engine lights on. The one dealer actually laughed at me when I said that was what was putting me off. "We can get that turned off for you" he said! He didn't even pretend they would look into what caused it.

[Steviemillar]

In my younger days, my home town had three franchised dealers and only a couple of used sales places. One of them sold cars in the 4-10 year old range - we bought two cars from him, a MK2 Astra which was decent and a 205 Dizzel that wasn't. However, over the years I got friendly with him and one time he spoke about how he does his business. Most cars were auction fodder and the majority had faults so he would shine them up and put them out on his forecourt without repairing anything. So if a car had ten faults, it would be sold as is and if the customer came back complaining of, say, four faults, he would sort these and that would usually be the end of it he said. I haven't bought anything from him since.