Dealing with dealers

Zillio

Zillio

Zillio

Associate
Joined
12 Jan 2005
Posts
129
I am hating the whole hard sell of finance and addons car dealers try and sell you. Went in to buy a VRS Octavia for 10k, after salesman had finished price was 23% higher. The car was not even in that good a state, couple of dents scuffed paint and one badly chipped alloy. I had been hoping to get money off it, you should never pay the list price right?

Dealer said they would fix the car up if I took the "dent cover" but I was thinking it was a ploy to get me to sign and the repair would probably never look that good. I walked out, shame as I liked the car, if the price was dropped a bit to compensate for the cosmetic damage.
 
Indeed, I find smaller dealers a lot better. My new car came from a dealer with a decent sized forecourt. We haggled a bit on the price to a point I was happy and I bought the car, no hard sell for extras. They asked once if I'd be interested in buying a longer warranty but I declined and it wasn't mentioned again.

If the dealer is an arse, go elsewhere
 
Zillio said:
I am hating the whole hard sell of finance and addons car dealers try and sell you. Went in to buy a VRS Octavia for 10k, after salesman had finished price was 23% higher. The car was not even in that good a state, couple of dents scuffed paint and one badly chipped alloy. I had been hoping to get money off it, you should never pay the list price right?

Dealer said they would fix the car up if I took the "dent cover" but I was thinking it was a ploy to get me to sign and the repair would probably never look that good. I walked out, shame as I liked the car, if the price was dropped a bit to compensate for the cosmetic damage.
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What was he charging the extra £2300 for? If it's in a poor cosmetic state walk away it is unlikely it has had much care in its life. How much are similar cars going for? How old is it?
 
I never really understand when people complain about dealer extras. It's annoying getting the hard sell but you can (and I do) just say no, when I bought my car I had zero extras other than the overall cost of finance on top of what I agreed to pay for the car.

If it's things like cosmetic repairs then if the dealer actually wants to sell the car they'll have to sort those out anyway (unless it's particularly cheap)
 
They earn more money by you financing the car therefor it is in their interest to push it. If you were paying the 10k then I would expect the dealer to sort any chips or little dents out paying less than marked price take it as is.

Where did the extra 23% come from?
 
Was a petrol 2010 VRS, with 46k on the clock, 10K seemed a good price, you are looking at 12k ish for one with half the mileage.

23% extra, was gap, paint, dent and upholstery cover, which I did not want and a 10% apr finance deal I not really want either. I told them I did not want any of these things, and was unsure about the car due to the couple of dents and a badly curbed alloy if I wanted these fixed I was told I needed to take some of the cover they were offering. I was not used to the whole haggling thing and faced with a persistent salesman decided to walk out.

Car was nice to drive though so the VRS is definitely on my to buy list, would ideally like one with parking sensors though.
 
Car supermarkets are infinately worse. Apart from blatent lies, they are impossible to just buy a car from.

My car was sold to me as a one owner car with full BMW service history and a brand new MOT. They insisted that I sit down and watch their "diamonshine" special offer for only £200 and that I was taking a big risk with the paintwork not having it. They also insisted that I sat down and went through the finance figures "just to compare" how much easier it would be to pay the finance, which would "give me more cash in my back pocket"

The car had 4 previous owners, had its last service done by their own "mechanic" who had managed to put in half the oil required and not changed the filter, broken handbrake, the rear brakes needed new disks and pads and in between paying and picking it up, had an extra 210 miles on the clock. I complained as you do and was told that the extra owners wouldn't have affected the price I would have paid for the car. My reply was that I wouldn't have bought the car. Their reply was in a nutshell sue us or get stuffed. Each time I went down to see the customer services manager she was surprisingly unavailable.

So if you are thinking of buying from the carsupermarket in Cardiff, I wouldn't bother.
 
Zillio said:
23% extra, was gap, paint, dent and upholstery cover, which I did not want and a 10% apr finance deal I not really want either. I told them I did not want any of these things, and was unsure about the car due to the couple of dents and a badly curbed alloy if I wanted these fixed I was told I needed to take some of the cover they were offering. I was not used to the whole haggling thing and faced with a persistent salesman decided to walk out.
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They wanted you to take out 'extras' because the cost of them would easily subsidise the cost of fixing the problems you told them you wanted sorted.

Just expect to say no, to pretty much anything you don't actually want. But don't be afraid to be clear on what you do want.

You: I'll buy the car for £xx, but I want xyz fixed first.

Dealer: Yeah no worries we can do that if you take out our super-duper overpriced cover, that entitles you all sorts of pointless things.

You: No thanks. I'm happy to pay £xx for the car, but only if you can address these issues first.

Dealer: How about...

You: No....

I think you get the idea. They'll always try to come up with an alternative, which means they make more money. What you've got to do is decide whether your offer is 'fair'. If you think it is, then stick by it and don't back down unless you feel they've come to a point which you're willing to accept.

No harm in walking away if things don't feel right.
 
Zillio said:
Was a petrol 2010 VRS, with 46k on the clock, 10K seemed a good price, you are looking at 12k ish for one with half the mileage.

23% extra, was gap, paint, dent and upholstery cover, which I did not want and a 10% apr finance deal I not really want either. I told them I did not want any of these things, and was unsure about the car due to the couple of dents and a badly curbed alloy if I wanted these fixed I was told I needed to take some of the cover they were offering. I was not used to the whole haggling thing and faced with a persistent salesman decided to walk out.

Car was nice to drive though so the VRS is definitely on my to buy list, would ideally like one with parking sensors though.
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this wasn't in the East was it ? just I was going to look at a VRS for 10k with 46k miles on it this weekend (Dark Silver one) and if its in condition you've described you've saved me a 2 hour round trip :)
 
Buckster said:
this wasn't in the East was it ? just I was going to look at a VRS for 10k with 46k miles on it this weekend (Dark Silver one) and if its in condition you've described you've saved me a 2 hour round trip :)
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Yep it was, but it was not the car per se that was the main issue, I would not write it off without taking a look. Question if I made the right move walking away myself, should have made more of an attempt at haggling probably.
 
thanks Zillio

I was getting frustrated with 10 plate cars today anyway - as phoned one dealer

the 10 plate, I got 1 year warranty, but MOT would be due April
the much cheaper 2nd car an 06 plate,you get 1 year warranty, and 1 years MOT

I know a car should sail its first MOT - but should is the word
 
Zillio said:
couple of dents and a badly curbed alloy if I wanted these fixed I was told I needed to take some of the cover they were offering.
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I'd have laughed in their faces at that. If i'm spending five figures on a car I expect it to be perfect, overpriced extras or not.

mejinks said:
Car supermarkets are infinately worse. Apart from blatent lies, they are impossible to just buy a car from.

My car was sold to me as a one owner car with full BMW service history and a brand new MOT. They insisted that I sit down and watch their "diamonshine" special offer for only £200 and that I was taking a big risk with the paintwork not having it. They also insisted that I sat down and went through the finance figures "just to compare" how much easier it would be to pay the finance, which would "give me more cash in my back pocket"

The car had 4 previous owners, had its last service done by their own "mechanic" who had managed to put in half the oil required and not changed the filter, broken handbrake, the rear brakes needed new disks and pads and in between paying and picking it up, had an extra 210 miles on the clock. I complained as you do and was told that the extra owners wouldn't have affected the price I would have paid for the car. My reply was that I wouldn't have bought the car. Their reply was in a nutshell sue us or get stuffed. Each time I went down to see the customer services manager she was surprisingly unavailable.

So if you are thinking of buying from the carsupermarket in Cardiff, I wouldn't bother.
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Had experience of one of these types in Exeter. I only use them for browsing cars but even then I find myself harassed to take out 25% finance on something stupid like a 1.2 Corsa. I find it laughable that they think i'd give them a penny.
 
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Buckster said:
thanks Zillio

I was getting frustrated with 10 plate cars today anyway - as phoned one dealer

the 10 plate, I got 1 year warranty, but MOT would be due April
the much cheaper 2nd car an 06 plate,you get 1 year warranty, and 1 years MOT

I know a car should sail its first MOT - but should is the word
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Tell them you want it done now, problem solved
 
^^ thanks - but I thought the first MOT couldn't be done early ?

btw Zillio - how do the VRS's look in that dark Silver ? from photos it didn't suit the car very well, blue, green and white ones look far better IMO
 
Course it can, people dont do it for obvious reasons but im not aware of anything to say it cant happen At the very worst they can run an mot test on it and tell you of it would pass or fail even if it cant get a certificate until after another test in march (cant see it though)
 
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