One careful owner and many unhelpful sellers

[mattblack]

I don't know, I'd liked to have seen both sides of the conversation to be honest. It sounded like he was going out without much cash, but still looking for a car with full service history. For all we know he was poking around the part-exchange row with £400, asking a load of questions and generally being a bit of a time waster. It turned out a private seller was alright, it could have turned out they weren't also. It just seems like a bit of a vague ramble about nothing.

 

This.

 

People moan that private buyers want the moon on a stick when buying a cheap car, but a dealer, who is OMG! MAKING A PROFIT!, has to valet/service/put 4 new tyres on the old chod they're selling.

 

Also, if this guy is such an expert/enthusiast/ex-trader, why isn't buying on condition rather than this mythical FSH?

[ProgRocker]

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.

 

Honda really seem to have lost focus with their used car sales around this time.

 

Back in September 2010 on a Saturday afternoon I visited my local Honda dealer (Holden - a big franchise). As I had anticipated, they had nothing on their used forecourt inside my £5k but the moody youngster with a trendy haircut who approached me asked me to come inside and he would take my details should anything suitable come in.

 

Walked into the showroom where there were other young suited guys loitering around a desk like flies around shit. At this time of day, they had probably given up on potential customers visiting the forecourt. They soon scarpered as we walked to this desk.

 

I gave the guy my contact details but I never heard a thing. I thought that a 5 year old Civic or Jazz  trade-in may have prompted him to call me to guage my interest.

[laser wheels]

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"

 

That reminds me of when my old man bought his 2.2 Accord Sport - the Rover 600 ones - in the late '90s. It was a 'nearly new' ex-Honda approved used 1 year old low miles jobby. As you would imagine being an ex-Honda car it appeared immaculate and the history was spotless and compete. Perfect!

 

A few weeks after taking delivery a van reversed into it, so new rear wing, lights, etc. Father goes to collect from the body shop doing the work, whereby the gaffer needs to give it the once over before releasing it. After inspection he comes back and informs Mr Wheels Snr that he couldn't possibly release the car in that state as he wasn't happy with the paint job on it. Calls the lad over who did the paint and points out what's wrong. Paint lad agrees with gaffer - 'but I didn't paint that side, I painted this side'.

 

On further investigation, turns out that the 'immaculate' Accord with the full and spotless history had had the back end smacked in then stuck back out for sale as 'used/approved' after being repaired.

 

Anyway, the old man got his money back and got himself a brand spanking new 2.0 Chrysler Neon which he loved and in 14 years only ever needed a new exhaust!

[HH-R]

I've never bought privately off a stranger, bought three cars privately but they're been off family or friends.

 

I usually use traders because whatever I'm selling, I'd rather trade in because I never want to see or hear about again! I can imagine selling privately to a stranger is a nightmare with them threatening to put a sledgehammer through your brain because they got a puncture on the way home or something.

 

I've always had good experiences to be honest, even when I've been buying sub £1500 stuff I've been treat with just as much respect as a customer with money. Even my Rover 75 that was only a grand, they MOT'd it and fixed all of the advisories. For that price though I'm expecting cars with missing/no handbooks or service history and usually one key. I try to go for local places that have been there for years, I live in a small place and a bad reputation gets round quickly so they tend to keep the punters happy.

 

One thing I have learnt though is that if you say "well I want it, but there is ____ wrong with it", they say oh no problem, that will be fixed for when you pick it up and it never bloody is. I bought a car that was pulling to the left and they said they'd sort it... was still trying to go on every curb when I picked it up. Just needed the tracking done too, I think next time I'll try and knock cash off for whatever the problem will cost to fix. I even bought a £1600 Rover 45 once that suffered HGF a fortnight later... they took it back and fixed it gratis. I felt a bit sorry for the trader, I can't imagine he made much on that sale.

[Hendry]

One thing I've found with the general public from working in main dealers is that the majority are smelly, dirty manky bastards who don't give a fuck about their cars and treat them like mobile skips, would hate to see their houses. Yet they expect top dollar for the p/ex and lowest price possible on their new car, ok so every one of us would like that but these people genuinely become offended and annoyed that the dealer offers them a crap price for their filthy unloved car with no service history, 4 kerbed wheels, 4 bald tyres, and more hits than the Beatles. Because A he is running a business and has to make a profit on a car after prep costs. B because their car is shit and undesirable and will have to be auctioned because nobody in their right mind will buy it at retail even sorted out C it is so fucked it isn't worth it to sort it out.

 

They think dealers are all Dick Turpin because the car they traded in in a complete mess is now up for £1200 more than they got in p/ex and that they're being ripped off or that the dealer should've given them closer to that or should be selling the car cheaper because they clearly don't realise the dealer has to pay the wages of the valeter to clean it, the mechanic to fix it and the salesman to sell it, the valeting chemicals, the cost of prepping servicing and mot-ing it so someone else will buy it or the fact it needs 4 tyres, new pads and discs all round, drop links, track rod ends and all the service items it needs plus wheel refurbs, paint less dent repairs/smart repairs, I've seen a few cars where I used to work getting a £1200 mark up and us only actually making £200 because of all the work needing done and even some cars the only money made was the finance commission. It's no wonder that dealers are sceptical and treat the general public with such contempt when people treat them the same, not saying you don't get dodgy dealers and rip off merchants or those selling faulty cars but they get an unfair press IMO on the whole,

 

The only thing I've ever encountered with a main dealer to be a complete con is the Evans Halshaw £99 fee on top of the cars price for an HPi check and Independent mileage check, because any dealer worth their salt will have already done these checks prior to buying the car/taking it in as a p/ex so don't need to do it again and charge you for it, all the ones I've been to also won't negotiate on price saying their cars are cheaper than elsewhere as they've checked and priced lower and even try to show you printed examples more expensive elsewhere and when you find an equivalent car elsewhere cheaper they either make excuses about it being a less desirable colour e.g. Lime green when theirs is black or silver, higher miles or doesn't have the upgraded alloys etc or just says if that cars cheaper elsewhere just buy it elsewhere or tries to tell you if the other dealer is willing to offer you money off the price when they can't it must be because thei other car is overpriced to begin with.

[richardmorris]

The one and only time I've tried to p/x a car with a main dealer left me completely, well I'm not sure, but didn't leave with the car. I went to buy a 2006 C5 2.0 HDi exclusive with 20,000miles in 2008 at £8k. Not a bad price, but it had a few scrapes on each corner and had been smoked in, a lot. It also had a faulty radio and a non working cruise control (they all do that sir). They offered £1200 for my C5 exclusive( FSH, 50K and in perfect condition at 6yrs old). When I pointed out the parkers guide trade in was £3500, the salesman said well that's owned by woman's world (or something). When I showed him my Glass's guide at  £3300 he said nothing but went to speak to his boss. Came back at £1600 and a deal on the recent service their dept. had done explaining that their cars were very well priced (which I agreed it was). I said no, but £2500 would be ok ( I also had  a£500 voucher my dad had given me which was valid off any car in the dealership). They said not a chance and the voucher is only valid off new car. OK, would they call me if another came in at a bit less? Yes, not a problem  -I'm still waiting after nearly 6 years. My Dad has bought another car from them in the meantime. Their service dept. is ok - they replaced the entire engine wiring loom of my c5 without charge and gave the bill to citroen as a training item, but their sales is useless.

 

I have bought three cars from "dealers" - first was a citroen cx from the cx centre in 1999 (new years day actually which was probably excused by a hangover), second was above C5 from same guy who took my 2nd cx in p/x (thank god someone did), and third the current german tank from a citroen car club acquaintance who helped start the cx centre who took the c5 in exchange. I fully acknowledge dealers have to make a living and if both parties are happy then there's not much wrong.

 

Actually Patrick who I got the merc. from has occasionally featured on the ebay tat pages as he specialises in the older citroen models and does like to eulogise about them in the adverts (a la The Doctor). He is a real old car fan but has just retired suddenly under doctor's orders and also stepped down from the citroen cx club chair as well- a shame as he's not a lot older than me.

[londonm]

I can actually remember watching that when it was first broadcast.

[Bren]

Back in 2003 my mate had a really ropey W plate golf tdi - it was an utter lemon ( purchased from car craft so no surprise). Carpets sodden inside, problems with the gearbox, then he caught the sill on a bollard.

 

Fed up with the faults, he saw an R plate Volvo v40 diesel in a local garage ( in warrington ) it was up for an extremely salty price - around £3300.

 

To cut a long story short he got the Volvo in a straight swap - trader was happy with the deal, however a few days later the trader rang my mate and gave it him with both barrels over the condition of the golf and the fact he had not mentioned the problems with the car and how he would have to spend on it. Unfortunately, my mate felt guilty and gave him some folding - I bollocked him for this, telling him that the guy was so fucking greedy that he hadn't bothered to ask why anyone would want to swap a 2000 golf for a 97 Volvo.

 

I appreciate that the trade have to put up with occasional tossers who want a brand new motor for £500, however a lot of traders are like the proprietors of gambling establishments - they seem to think that the public cannot go home "up".

[panhard65]

My dad has just had a nightmare with a supposed trader. This muppet runs a paintshop and offered my dad his mother in laws golf plus at a steep 4k. I told him not to buy it but he insisted he wanted a golf so bought the poxy thing. Next day the battery is flat so back it goes and has a secondhand battery saying it hasn't done it before must of been bad luck. A couple of weeks later the battery dies again. My dad like a muppet goes out and buys a new battery £100 !!. He didn't even mention this to me until it went flat again. This time it went back to them again to sort it properly. 2 weeks later they have done something to it and it is stuck in gear (dsg gearbox) and won't start. Eventually a mobile electrician I know went round to it and got it going in 15 mins. They had the cheek to charge my dad for this but he just wanted the car back so it could be traded. In the end he took my advice and a trip to the local Honda dealer. We went to look at a Jazz which was 1 of only 2 cars they had in our price range. The salesman tried really hard to flog him it and seemed a bit put out to show my dad the slightly dearer Insight. The Jazz was a shed and the old man really liked the Insight. It had just been reduced by £500 so we didn't haggle the price just said we would do a deal if he gave us the 4.5k we buy any car had offered. He checked the golf over and we got the deal. He did pay extra for the paint protection and insurance for the costs if it got written off within the first 3 years. As my dad is getting on and never really looks after his cars properly this seemed like a good idea. The salesman then told him that the golf had been a write off but they would still honor the deal. Moral of this story is if you can afford it a main dealer is worth the extra and don't buy a poxy VW from a friend in the pub. The twat even had the cheek to moan to my old man a few weeks later that the passat he traded against the golf needed a clutch

[DodgyBastard]

I hate selling cars, mainly because the cars I own are worth £500 or less, Just had a guy on Facebook message me about my 240 saying:

 

 I'm intrested in Volvo but need it cheap as I want to sell on

 

Also had nothing but timewasters who can't seem to read the advert, and one guy asking about the timing belt, has it been done? at 239k miles I'd certainly hope so....

[srad34]

We have recently used a local 2nd hand car dealer to me to buy my BMW Dizzler, got a decent warranty and I would recommend/use him again, but on the whole as ex-trade, I would avoid used car traders for many of the reasons already stated..... 

 

I guess there are some genuine used car traders out there!

[eddyramrod]

I like to buy privately, and preferably from a Shiter as my experience so far has been positive.  However, we did get the modern blob from a local dealer.  It's six years old, I don't expect it to be perfect, but it's good enough.  It's just done Peterborough and back twice, as two day-trips, which I thought was pretty heroic of it.  I was happy enough with the trade-in he gave me for the Blazer too, given that he put 12 months MoT and six months tax on the Tacuma.

You may also remember I bought a cheap part-ex 406 from another local dealer a bit over a year ago, and was delighted with that.  I think as long as the car isn't life-threatening, then simply adjusting one's expectations to fit the budget should cover most things.  Mind, I haven't spent an arm and a leg on something nearly-new yet, it could all be different at that level.

[Sloth in a bowl]

I hate selling cars, mainly because the cars I own are worth £500 or less, Just had a guy on Facebook message me about my 240 saying:

 

 I'm intrested in Volvo but need it cheap as I want to sell on

 

Also had nothing but timewasters who can't seem to read the advert, and one guy asking about the timing belt, has it been done? at 239k miles I'd certainly hope so....

 

Surely you can tell him it's a non-interference motor so you only do the timing belt when they go twang (proper shiteist style). I'm sure my parents 240 was a non-interference job.

[Stroller133]

 

 

I'm intrested in Volvo but need it cheap as I want to sell on

 

[/size]

That just made me angry, it's just such a lazy approach. He is not saying its not worth the asking price, just he wants it for less so he can make a profit. I would have more respect for low life scum who made something up, like I need it cheap as I've just lost my job and need a car to take my sick child to hospital etc. at least that show some initiative.

[srad34]

I like the way some dealers will deny any knowledge of common faults* Particularly if there is nothing stating its been fixed in its history....

 

 

*BMW N57 Timing chains & Swirl flaps, Porsche RMS seals, Jaguar V8 tensioners and gearboxes just 4 examples I have seen! 

[DodgyBastard]

funnily enough, I just had a guy contacting me saying he's disabled etc and needs to get to and from the hospital but only has 3-400 to spend. He seems like a bit of a mong but he probably isn't disabled, he asked me: wot can u tell me about the car that you didn't write in the advert?

 

Should i agree to sell him the car without the tax as he would need to retax it when changing it to disabled...

[cort16]

Any car dealer who is rude or sells shit stock won't last. Due to the internet and social media woe betide anyone who gives anything but great service because the second something goes wrong the buyer will be tweeting it, face booking it and bad mouthing them on mumsnet. The first thing people do now is google a company before dealing with them so any shit bubbles up.

The well established successful dealers either provide a great customer experience or are cheap.

 

 

Dealers don't have it easy anyone who s worked with the general public will attest to this.

[drum]

Fact is most people will only buy from a dealer. And most people wont haggle. To avoid phoning a stranger on a classified ad, the majority are happy to pay 30% more from a forecourt.

 

I almost always buy privately.

[The Moog]

Last few times I have been to dealers they have actively ignored me. I guess it is because I want the cheap cars at the back.  I did go to view one car that was advertised on Autotrader.

 

No price on it when I got there (it was up for £500) and so I asked. Que dealer telling me it was £800. It was a rusty bucket of shit as well (Micra) that had to be jump started. I thought that if he had been honest up front and said £500 I might have taken a punt but by trying to gouge me on the price he could FRO.

 

I think last few years cars have pretty much come from on here or Blue place. In fact Missus will moan if they arent because whilst they might be shite, they are fairly honest shite.

[EssDeeWon]

Whenever buying a car whether for £500 or £3500 I just find being patient helps, buy either from a reasonable sounding dealer but ideally private with good SH and has been owned for more than a fortnight! I like buying and looking around for the right car, but selling cash to the great unwashed can be a PITA. If I sold the BM for say £2500? I would be worried someone would land me with fake notes or do something to it on a test drive and leave me lumbered! Selling an M-Sport I can imagine all the 'WANT SWAPZ MATE? 'TAKE 2 GRAND TONITE BRO? 'HOW MUCH 4 BIMMER CASH MATE?' 'SWAPZ FOR ASTRA SRI? etc etc..So that is what makes me just wanna keep it.

 

QQ. Does anyone think about winning the Lottery and going to a top end showroom in your daily rags to see how your treated before pulling out cash and then walking away after terrible service?? I do LOL!!

[Lukas]

My granddad had a friend who owned a huge factory where windows and doors where built. He was a very rich man, even for austrian standards.  But he was very modest too. You could not see that he was very rich, he looked like an average worker in his factory.

 

One day when he was on a business-trip in Vienna, he decided to go to a Mercedes-Benz-dealer and order a SL65 AMG. Just because he wanted one. He was wearing casual clothes, nothing special. When he went into the dealership, not one of the salesmen did even look at him. He asked about the SL65 AMG and a salesman told him he will not be able to buy it and time is money so he should go out to the used cars in the back.

 

After that, he went to the BMW-dealer two streets away and bought a BMW Z8.

 

It´s a shame the salesmen at the Mercedes-Dealer never knew that.

 

L

[EssDeeWon]

I would have to go back and show the Merc salesman, could not resist!

[beko1987]

That's always been my lottery winning dream, even if I dont want the car anyway. Dress up like a farmer with £250k in cash on me and see what happens! Rub a bit of horse shit on my trousers beforehand etc, chew some hay and whatever farmers do!

 

I'd make sure I went back and complained after being thrown out though!

[EssDeeWon]

A story I was told from the 80s from a guy I worked with used to sell Finance at a Mercedes showroom in Essex, a potential customer had enquired over the phone about a nice but used Merc SL on the forecort, later a guy comes in but dressed like a painter and decorator. None of the sales guys would go over so eventually someone had to just to be polite, the guy had a sports bag full of cash and turns out his the guy who called up earlier, he paid straight up for the Mercedes, the look on the other sales guys faces who couldnt be arsed was apparently priceless.

 

Also there was a story in the paper some years ago about a lotto winner who was turned away from his local Porsche dealer. He did end up buying one elsewhere and did go back to the original dealer to show them all that he had bought, a new black 911.Good on him.

[Skizzer]

^ I tried this out once.  When I bought a Cayman back in better paid and more foolish times, I pitched up at Porsche Cardiff in scruffy jeans and an old jumper having not shaved for a couple of days.  Frustratingly they were all very friendly.  I suppose they'd heard the stories too.

[EssDeeWon]

^Two of the above listed cars in Skizzers collection exceed my want list scale, one is a BL wedge and the other a German rag top 

 

Back to topic......

[New POD]

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 ...

 

Have you been to Typeaccord.co.uk ? Decent owners forum.  Get one that's had a new version of the exhaust manifold, or knock £400 off the price if it's still got the original.

 

I spent 4 weeks looking for a saloon, (which I still have 2.5 years later...only fault is a cracked exhaust manifold), but I only visited 2 dealers in the end.  A simple phone call was enough to know that I wouldn't deal with most of them.

One of those dealers behaved like a mong.  I phoned up....I could pay a refundable deposit over the phone....no thanks, I go past your door on my way home.  I went in had a look, said I'd like to test drive it. Not now, come back tomorrow, make an appointment...The following morning about 18 hours later, with wife in tow (difficult getting her out of bed on a Saturday), we got there, and it's 'sold' .  When ? About 1 hour after I gave them my details. Why couldn't they phone me ? ...blank looks.

 

A week later I was on the way home, and I passed the garage and it's still there.  I drove in, and asked about it.   Yes it's still for sale, the buyer they had lined up hadn't been able to get the finance.  Would I like to test drive it ? not really, I've bought an identical car for £500 less, and I point at it. and point out that if anytime in the last 7 days they'd phoned me, I might have come in for that test drive.

2 months later they phoned to see if I'm still looking for a 2.2 accord ? Nope.