Kerbed alloys on a dealer car

Randell Floyd · 8 Dec 2011 at 21:13

Just a very quick question.

If you where purchasing a used car from a (Honda) dealership, and the alloys have been rather badly scuffed, one being very disappointing would you expect them to have been refurbished before taking ownership of the car?

Also if when purchasing the car, you had stated you wanted all the scratches to be dealt with, and the sales person stated it will all sorted, would you assume that cover the alloys too?

Tbid · 8 Dec 2011 at 21:18

Until you have a signed agreement don't expect anything I'm afraid.

Rotty · 8 Dec 2011 at 21:18

I would have specifically agreed abiut them

[TW]Fox · 8 Dec 2011 at 21:26

I'd specifically mention what my expectations were. I'd then expect to have to argue with them about it on pickup day, so get it in writing as well.

Fr0dders · 8 Dec 2011 at 22:34

dealers rarely if ever refurbish alloy wheels, especially on average cars like Honda, Ford etc.

I think you'd have a hard time shifting a £100,000 ferrari with kerbed wheels. But not a honda. Most of joe public simply don't care.

Howard · 8 Dec 2011 at 22:36

MrLOL said:
dealers rarely if ever refurbish alloy wheels, especially on average cars like Honda, Ford etc.

I think you'd have a hard time shifting a £100,000 ferrari with kerbed wheels. But not a honda. Most of joe public simply don't care.

I disagree. And I would certainly state my expectations whilst I was looking to make a deal. The dealer can take it or leave it.

Wizardskills · 8 Dec 2011 at 23:04

MrLOL said:
dealers rarely if ever refurbish alloy wheels, especially on average cars like Honda, Ford etc.

I think you'd have a hard time shifting a £100,000 ferrari with kerbed wheels. But not a honda. Most of joe public simply don't care.

Disagree here, I got all 4 of mine done when I purchased my z4.

To the op, make sure you get it all in writing as they will try and get round it.

Kenai · 8 Dec 2011 at 23:25

I think MrLOL is probably right, most of joe public probably wouldn't care about a little bit of kerbing, at best they'd ask for £100 off because of it.

People who post here regularly such as the above two posters aren't 'joe public' they're car enthusiasts.

alexisonfire · 8 Dec 2011 at 23:28

I would have said that the aesthetics of a car would have been high up the priority list for joe public. From my experience, the people i know that aren't really interested in cars, care mostly about what the car looks like.

PMKeates · 8 Dec 2011 at 23:43

A franchised dealer will almost always refurbish wheels when they are anything other than very good condition; they get refurbs for peanuts so it's pointless not to.

Randell Floyd · 8 Dec 2011 at 23:47

When we picked up the car, the salesman we've been dealing with has been off due to an injury, we dealt with another salesperson who agreed that due to the severe weather we are having it would be impossible to check the car in the darkness with no cover. She therefore agreed not to tick the check list for car inspection, and for us to check the car in the morning, we managed to check the car whilst at the petrol station later this evening.

My only worry now is they might say that alloys aren't really classed as a part of a car that they 'fix' before selling used, I just assumed it would since I mentioned the condition of them. I should have got that in writing too but I was slightly side tracked getting geo, service, tyres etc done.

Having purchased used cars from dealers in the past, the cars have always been ready to buy when I've seen them, where as this had only just arrived and so hadn't been prep to sell, and so the fact that it would be up to standard for my picking up three weeks later.

Will see how they reply, as they might agree from the word go, and no problem will be had!

Fr0dders · 8 Dec 2011 at 23:52

Wizardskills said:
Disagree here, I got all 4 of mine done when I purchased my z4.

To the op, make sure you get it all in writing as they will try and get round it.

asked them to do ?

Or had them done for you without asking.

I was implying that unless you asked, most dealers of normal cars simply won't bother. If you say "i hope the wheels will be done" then of course, as keates says, it costs them very little, so they will have them done. But in my experience, dealers will try everything to wring out the last £ out of the sale, including seeing if you will notice the wheels are kerbed.

Randell Floyd said:
When we picked up the car, the salesman we've been dealing with has been off due to an injury, we dealt with another salesperson who agreed that due to the severe weather we are having it would be impossible to check the car in the darkness with no cover. She therefore agreed not to tick the check list for car inspection, and for us to check the car in the morning, we managed to check the car whilst at the petrol station later this evening.

My only worry now is they might say that alloys aren't really classed as a part of a car that they 'fix' before selling used, I just assumed it would since I mentioned the condition of them. I should have got that in writing too but I was slightly side tracked getting geo, service, tyres etc done.

Having purchased used cars from dealers in the past, the cars have always been ready to buy when I've seen them, where as this had only just arrived and so hadn't been prep to sell, and so the fact that it would be up to standard for my picking up three weeks later.

Will see how they reply, as they might agree from the word go, and no problem will be had!

Dealers usually have a valeting / smart repair company on the books who keeps their stock in good conditon. As such they can get things like this done very cheaply.

Go back complain, if they dig their heels in and you feel you are not getting anywhere, ask if they can arrange for them to be done by their bloke at the price they'd normally pay in the trade. Should be < £100 the rates they pay.

Wizardskills · 9 Dec 2011 at 00:01

MrLOL said:
asked them to do ?

Or had them done for you without asking.

I was implying that unless you asked, most dealers of normal cars simply won't bother. If you say "i hope the wheels will be done" then of course, as keates says, it costs them very little, so they will have them done. But in my experience, dealers will try everything to wring out the last £ out of the sale, including seeing if you will notice the wheels are kerbed.

The sales man asked me to look round the car and we both went through the things that I wanted sorting. I had a couple of stone chips repaired, all four wheels refurbed and the headlight washer cap replaced. They didn't argue with any of these things. I forget what the dealer called this process but it apparently happens with all BMW used car sales at BMW dealers.

Fr0dders · 9 Dec 2011 at 00:11

would have been interesting to see what they would have done had you not pointed them out . Although maybe bmw are more scrupulous than the ford / vauxhall / honda / mazda dealers i've dealt with.

NeverWinter · 9 Dec 2011 at 08:17

Dealer sorted them out on mine, did a terrible job however and had to be re-furbed several times within warranty before I took them to a proper wheel specialist.

[TW]Fox · 9 Dec 2011 at 08:39

MrLOL said:
would have been interesting to see what they would have done had you not pointed them out . Although maybe bmw are more scrupulous than the ford / vauxhall / honda / mazda dealers i've dealt with.

They claimed to have refurbished the wheels on the 335i, and I had not previously seen the car.

lordrobs · 9 Dec 2011 at 09:41

It sounds like the buying experience from a franchised dealer is much better than I experience a few rungs down the ladder with the independents and small car supermarkets.

It always goes the same way, I point out stuff I'm not happy with (sometimes what I would consider major things cosmetically), dealer asks me "what do you expect it is a (3-5) year old car", I point out the condition of my 9 year old car and say "how about we use that as a starting point", dealer goes silent / gets shirty, I leave.

In fact the last one I saw the dealer said that the wheels had been refurbished, I pointed out that slapping touch up paint on the scuffed lip of the wheel wasn't a refurb and we start the whole "what do you expect" cycle again.

Moral of the story... I guess I need to spend more on buying a used car!

Howard · 9 Dec 2011 at 10:04

lordrobs said:
It sounds like the buying experience from a franchised dealer is much better than I experience a few rungs down the ladder with the independents and small car supermarkets.

It always goes the same way, I point out stuff I'm not happy with (sometimes what I would consider major things cosmetically), dealer asks me "what do you expect it is a (3-5) year old car", I point out the condition of my 9 year old car and say "how about we use that as a starting point", dealer goes silent / gets shirty, I leave.

In fact the last one I saw the dealer said that the wheels had been refurbished, I pointed out that slapping touch up paint on the scuffed lip of the wheel wasn't a refurb and we start the whole "what do you expect" cycle again.

Moral of the story... I guess I need to spend more on buying a used car!

Pretty much. I've lost count of how many shoddy looking cars I've gone to see at smaller independent traders, that look good in the photos. And in most cases, I've been happy with the cars I've seen at franchised dealers. Much more so. It's worth paying a little bit extra for, IMHO. When my dad bought his car recently, the Honda saleswoman seemed gobsmacked that we would want to take it away "in that state", i.e. not been properly washed or detailed, and she was surprised when I said I'm happy to do it and enjoy doing so

MrFunex · 9 Dec 2011 at 10:05

The condition that some dealers will put a car on their forecourt never fails to amaze me.

I know they have various pressures placed upon them to shift cars as quickly as possible, but some cars are seemingly put up for sale in exactly the same condition that the previous owner dropped the car off in.

At local main dealers (Southampton area) I've seen cars taking pride of place at the front of forecourts with huge bumper scrapes, smashed foglights, wingmirrors with no glass or sometimes completely missing, massively kerbed alloys, illegal tyres, bits of trim hanging off and mouldy (eugh!) interiors.

This wouldn't be acceptable even at Bob's garage, but I'm talking about Ford, BMW and Mercedes here. When obvious faults are pointed out in the "stunning / must be seen to be believed / immaculate" car, you're always met with an indifferent attitude and the "what do you expect, it's a 5 year old car" especially annoys me. Even worse are the suggestions that if a deposit were to be put down on the car, only then would negotiations start on replacing bits of trim etc.

This stuff plagues all ends of the market.

Adam · 9 Dec 2011 at 10:47

I was looking at a Fiesta ST at a Ford garage with my girlfriend a few months back, primarily so she could drive the car rather than it being the one she wanted. The salesman was the biggest **** I had ever come across, he annoyed me from the moment he first opened his mouth asking me if my girlfriend was a girl racer. I should have walked away then!

The car had marks on every single panel, it was in an absolutely shocking condition and way over priced. I said to him openly that if we were to consider the car every imperfection would need to be addressed (there were scrapes, dinks and scratches everywhere as the spoiler practically hanging off). He replied that it wouldn't be a problem, we can simply reinvest the money we negotiate off the car having the imperfections put right. What a great deal for us hey?