Is this standard for a car dealer?

AHarvey

AHarvey

AHarvey

Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2008
Posts
10,085
Location
Stoke area
So, we've been looking for a replacement car for a couple of months now and the wife found a 2011 Audi A4 Avant with 78k on the clock, 2.0 TFSI, so went to look at this today at a dealership called Outpoint Motors Ltd in Coalville.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107295593697?make=AUDI&include-delivery-option=on&price-to=12000&model=A4 AVANT&advertising-location=at_cars&sort=relevance&price-from=10000&postcode=tf91rl&fuel-type=Petrol&radius=1501&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=Used&page=1

Did a check on the MOT history a few days ago using the reg the dealer sent over GL11 XTB and noticed that in January it had an MOT and had a couple of advisories:

  • Stone chip in centre area of windscreen
  • Offside Rear Shock absorbers light misting of oil or has limited damping effect (5.3.2 (b))
  • Nearside Rear Nail in tyre ()

Wife had emailed either a couple of days before or the day before and asked a couple of things about it, he'd responded quickly but within 20 mins of her emailed the price on Autotrader went up by £500 to £11,990, which the wife picked up on, checked his website and the price had gone down to the old autotrader price and she took a screenshot. 10 mins later, both are showing the higher price.
⁠
Checked it was there this morning before setting off, said we'd be there around 2:30 and drove the 90 mins to see it.
⁠
Turned up and Kurt, the salesman came out and unlocked it. We had a nosey around it, a few paint chips on the front which is expected with age, 2-3 wheels needed a refurb and 2 dents in the rear bumper under the driver side rear light but nothing major. Inside was spotless and the engine bay was clean too, a couple of spots of rust on a couple of mount bars that head towards the radiator but nothing major.
⁠
The engine had been run and was warm which always makes me a little suspicious. Headed inside and the fun started.
⁠
Claimed to know nothing about the price change, then when shown a screenshot he said he'd honour it told us we'd already got a £500 discount on it. Then when questioned about 2 advisories on the MOT in January 2021, the stone chip and a misted shock absorber, that had both disappeared on the one he'd just had done on it at the start of the month. "yeah we had the windscreen repaired not replaced, and the garage is an indy garage I use all the time, they didn't notice the misting but if it appears on the mot next time you have it done, well, there's nothing we can do as they are an independent entity to us!"
⁠
We asked to take it out for a drive, and he refused unless we agreed on a price... We could have agreed on a price and the car been awful to drive, or great and we'd have been tempted to spend more for it.
⁠
We said the highest we'd go was £11k and with 3 wheels needing reconditioning, a rear bumper replaced and sprayed (£100 according to Kurt) and the stone chips it was fair. No, he wouldn't budge from £11.5k. So we said we'd walk, "let me check what I bought it for and see what I can do!"
⁠
Picks up his calculator and starts tapping away, £11.2k... nope. He stayed polite when we said no but was noticeably peeved and as we left he locked up and tore off revving the balls of the Type R that he's also got for sale.
⁠
Basically, playing with prices and saying it was a discount, not letting you test drive a car before agreeing on a price and it seems like working with a local garage to remove advisories on MOT's to make them more attracitve.

I normally buy private but is this kind of nonesense normally for smaller garages?
/rant
 
Answer is to find yourself another car from a better garage. Small dealers are all different - some are superb and really care about what they sell and others are worse than Arthur Daley. There is a lot of choice out there and I would look for something better from a more reputable dealer. Also, what car dealer only has 5 star reviews? Very sus.
 
Regarding the MOT advisories, they can often change due to difference of opinion in testers. The shock absorbers are a prime example, the shocks on many VAG cars 'sweat' out some oil, it's super common and causes no issues whatsoever, I rarely advise on them now unless it's worse than usual. But many other testers will advise it if any sign of oil is leaking.

Same story with windscreen chips really, that's often down to opinion on whether it's bad enough or in a location to be worth advising.

There's no excuse for the messing around with the price of the car though, that's just silly tactics. As above small garages can vary from the best to the worst. Personally I'd look elsewhere. Where I work they would have refurbished the wheels and sorted the bodywork before it went on sale, I've no doubt you can find somewhere similar or at least find a car in better condition.
 
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I've been car hunting recently too, I ended up screenshoting adverts to avoid messing like this, I've seen price changes, wrong descriptions etc

Just keep looking until your happy tho :)
 
AHarvey said:
So, we've been looking for a replacement car for a couple of months now and the wife found a 2011 Audi A4 Avant with 78k on the clock, 2.0 TFSI, so went to look at this today at a dealership called Outpoint Motors Ltd in Coalville.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107295593697?make=AUDI&include-delivery-option=on&price-to=12000&model=A4 AVANT&advertising-location=at_cars&sort=relevance&price-from=10000&postcode=tf91rl&fuel-type=Petrol&radius=1501&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=Used&page=1

Did a check on the MOT history a few days ago using the reg the dealer sent over GL11 XTB and noticed that in January it had an MOT and had a couple of advisories:

  • Stone chip in centre area of windscreen
  • Offside Rear Shock absorbers light misting of oil or has limited damping effect (5.3.2 (b))
  • Nearside Rear Nail in tyre ()

Wife had emailed either a couple of days before or the day before and asked a couple of things about it, he'd responded quickly but within 20 mins of her emailed the price on Autotrader went up by £500 to £11,990, which the wife picked up on, checked his website and the price had gone down to the old autotrader price and she took a screenshot. 10 mins later, both are showing the higher price.
⁠
Checked it was there this morning before setting off, said we'd be there around 2:30 and drove the 90 mins to see it.
⁠
Turned up and Kurt, the salesman came out and unlocked it. We had a nosey around it, a few paint chips on the front which is expected with age, 2-3 wheels needed a refurb and 2 dents in the rear bumper under the driver side rear light but nothing major. Inside was spotless and the engine bay was clean too, a couple of spots of rust on a couple of mount bars that head towards the radiator but nothing major.
⁠
The engine had been run and was warm which always makes me a little suspicious. Headed inside and the fun started.
⁠
Claimed to know nothing about the price change, then when shown a screenshot he said he'd honour it told us we'd already got a £500 discount on it. Then when questioned about 2 advisories on the MOT in January 2021, the stone chip and a misted shock absorber, that had both disappeared on the one he'd just had done on it at the start of the month. "yeah we had the windscreen repaired not replaced, and the garage is an indy garage I use all the time, they didn't notice the misting but if it appears on the mot next time you have it done, well, there's nothing we can do as they are an independent entity to us!"
⁠
We asked to take it out for a drive, and he refused unless we agreed on a price... We could have agreed on a price and the car been awful to drive, or great and we'd have been tempted to spend more for it.
⁠
We said the highest we'd go was £11k and with 3 wheels needing reconditioning, a rear bumper replaced and sprayed (£100 according to Kurt) and the stone chips it was fair. No, he wouldn't budge from £11.5k. So we said we'd walk, "let me check what I bought it for and see what I can do!"
⁠
Picks up his calculator and starts tapping away, £11.2k... nope. He stayed polite when we said no but was noticeably peeved and as we left he locked up and tore off revving the balls of the Type R that he's also got for sale.
⁠
Basically, playing with prices and saying it was a discount, not letting you test drive a car before agreeing on a price and it seems like working with a local garage to remove advisories on MOT's to make them more attracitve.

I normally buy private but is this kind of nonesense normally for smaller garages?
/rant
Click to expand...

Why would you want a high mileage 10 year old car anyway ?
 
Yeah, that's absolutely not the kind of dealer you want to be buying a car from.

There are a lot of cowboys out there. If I spot a hint of dishonestly, I walk away.

Find another.
 
Not all dealers are bad, but they don’t sound good. Warmed up, and not letting you drive it are the two big warning signs.

MOT wouldn’t worry me, but I wouldn’t entertain the dealership based on the above.

Surely there’s an example
 
I've never bought a car that's not passed an MOT they've put on it, just before you're going to hand over the cash....funny that.
 
What if any advantage from a dealer will you be getting over just buying private for this age, mileage and type of car? You’d probably be getting lesser of a car for more money………
 
Dealer in question: https://goo.gl/maps/CFcp3ahKJAnXGMq66

The problem is these backstreet dealers are arguably the worst of both worlds - you pay a premium for it being a trade vehicle, but without the protection you might get from a main franchised dealer that have to adhere to certain standards and have potential escalation paths via the manufacturer. Or in other words:
Private = Cheap, very little comeback so need to do your research and be confident in the car, prepared to walk away if necessary
Franchised Dealer = Expensive but with some piece of mind, may have good access to stock
Backstreet Dealer = Expensive with some dodgy 'warranty' they won't want to honour

Given what you've said there's no way I'd be handing over a 5 figure sum, a 10 year old A4 Avant isn't that unique or special.

That's not to say there aren't legitimate small businesses out there just making an honest living but if you are paying a premium you want a bit more than what most offer.

Finally the price going up £500 could be down to used car prices rising for some models, rather than anything too sinister.
 
Unless it's a particularly unusual car which is hard to find then just walk away. Tapping into a calculator is a well known ploy to make you feel they simnply can't go lower due to some specific cost. "They would love to reduce it for you but unfortunately they simply can't because you're asking for something unrealistic". He will have known his lowest price before he picked it up. He tried it on with the "forgotten price reduction" and then used that to make you feel you already had a discount when the truth is the car didn't sell at the higher price and still may not do at this.

But the walk away moment for me would have been when trying to get you emotionally invested in the car at an already agreed price before allowing a test drive. These are all psychological ploys to manipulate you. I personally would not trust the salesman or the garage. In fact I'd love someone to try it on me and I'd happily tell them what I think. I caught a salesman out recently on a Fiesta at a franchised dealer; on one hand he said the car had only just come into stock and on the other hand when I made an offer he said he couldn't lower it any further because it had just been reduced the previous day. I made the rest of the conversation quite difficult for him before walking away (and then buying a better Mini from a great salesman at a non-franchised dealer for less money).
 
cars are hard to find at the moment for dealers. They also have overhead and all that jazz. Some cars are incresing in value check the WBAC thread for example, so he may have just been doing the routine price check. Not defending but its his car to sell how he wants, its never going to be perfect.

I buy and sell used plant (diggers) and literally every phone call involves what's the best price, the last price, how much discount can they get and all that. It drives me insane as we literally have nothing to replace the stock with so why would we mug it away.

The dealer sounds like a tool mind you
 
[TW]Fox said:
Is that the going rate for those now?
Click to expand...

That's the real shocker from this post, i know used cars are expensive at the moment but that seems a mental amount of money to spend on a 10 year old car. Plus they were never that reliable in the first place, i really wouldn't want to buy into one at 10 years old.
 
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