Part Exchanging a Car with Scratch

[gamerTM21]

I've agreed with a Honda franchise dealer on a price for a part exchange of my vehicle for a Civic, although unlike the majority of the other dealers, they didn't ask at all about condition of the vehicle or any issues/marks etc. Just took down the mileage and registration and gave me a value based on that.

Now the initial valuation was low, at £1200, £200-£300 less than other dealers, so I think it might be based on them having to put some work into it? And as they have servicing and MOT in-house, I suppose it's not a massive burden to them. But after discussion, he gave a good will of £200 more.

The main issue with my car is a scratch down the paint on the bonnet, roughly 4-5 inches in width, which happened while a mechanic bent the bonnet back into shape after having a shunt with someone. Body shops have quoted £300+ to respray the bonnet, so it's not a route I really want to take if I'm selling.

The dealer I'm looking to buy from is a 2 hour drive away, so I just want to make sure that the trip is actually worth it, and nothing unexpected happens. I also don't want to specifically bring up the mark if it's not an issue to them, as it'll give them an excuse to lower the valuation.

Just looking to gauge some opinions, on if a place doesn't ask at all about condition, and confidently giving a specific valuation, then does that generally mean they're willing to accept it in any condition.

 

[gamerTM21]

They’ll try and not offer you full price with the damage but because you’re part exchanging it’s easy to haggle a few hundred quid. They’ve pretty much made a sale already, they’re not going to let you walk away over a few hundred quid. Even more so if you’re taking out finance with them.

It'll be a cash buy. But that was my line of thinking too. If they added on £200 + extras onto the sale with only a little persuasion, i don't think they'll want to lose out on a £11k sale for the sake of a few hundred quid.

 

[gamerTM21]

They won't care at all. Enjoy the anxiety before you get that confirmed though - I've had it on every car I've returned bar my last one

It'll just end up on a BCA transporter and shipped god knows where.

Don't let it worry you.

Thanks for for reassurance. I would be a lot more anxious if it was one of those snake oil local dodgy dealers, but the fact its manufacturer approved makes me think it'll be a bit easier.

Saves me a good amount of time and money doing it this way too.

 

[gamerTM21]

Well that's the thing, unless they plan on putting it on the forecourt there will be very little interest beyond 'does it run and drive' and 'does it look like a car worth £1200 or is it a shed'.

If you are going to a main dealer odds are it is a decade older than it needs to be to make it onto the forecast as an approved used car.

It's not something I'm proud to admit but when I returned my XF it had considerable body work oddities and a missing piece of trim. It was a PCP swap for a PCP. The gods shone down on me and made it a ridiculously rainy day when I went to do the swap so the check over was about 2 seconds glance that it was a car that matched the make and model

You've made me feel better about mine

That's about the only noticeable bit of damage on my car outside of the usual wear and tear. A couple of small cracks near the headlights where the impact happened, but not noticeable unless you're up close. Also popped off the trim piece for the door mirror adjustment when previously replacing a door handle, but don't think that should be a massive job for any handyman.

 

[gamerTM21]

How old is the civic? I got £1k px on mine with the gearbox on its way out, a massive dent in the door (thanks typical Birmingham driver ) and no reduction in the offer despite the ~10k extra miles on it by the time I actually handed it over! As others have posted, the offer is probably a token ballpark figure for the age/mileage, and as long as it runs and isn't falling apart, the actual condition is likely irrelevant

The one I'm buying is a 2017, my Ibiza is a 2010. I live in Birmingham too, and on street parking, so also a bit anxious about owning a newer nicer car!

Agree with this. The px value is low anyway.

OP which new Honda are you getting?

It's a 2017 SR. Only 1.0L with the turbo, but anything more powerful was over my budget. This one is especially £300-£400 lower than other Civic SRs in the same condition, so with the extra service etc. I'm quite keen for it.

 

[gamerTM21]

Sods law isn't it? I bought a laptop ex-display for £100 off the £300 list price. Thought I could get a bargain with a £30 quid replacement screen from eBay. Wound up getting a massive crack in my windscreen on the way to collect the laptop screen

Essentially how I got this big scratch and cracks etc. In the bumper. Bought my house just over a year ago, and went to pickup some free table and chairs in mint condition, right bargain.

On the way back i think I didn't account for the extra weight in the car and went into the back of someone at about 15mph, bending the front a bit. On good terms with a mechanic who replaced the cracked light and bent the metal back into place, but now left with this big scratch and some extra little bits of damage, which of course affected the value of the car. Oh, and I had to pay the driver £100 to avoid going through insurance when his Audi barely had a scratch!

 

[gamerTM21]

My bad, misread it

This was due to someone in the right hand lane of a roundabout deciding to turn left, whilst I was in the left lane going straight on at the same time...



If you were to follow through with this then would you not potentially lose any deposit you've paid? You have a contract to give them the agreed PX in the agreed condition - if it's substantially different then wouldn't they have an argument of breach of contract? Obviously in this case its unlikely, but if you were PXing a newer car in "perfect" condition then it might different

Sounds like typical Birmingham, I have to honk or brake suddenly due to someone's idiotic behaviour almost every time I go out. Has given me invaluable experience though. Im planning to get a dashcam for my car for this very reason too.

About your 2nd point, that's the thing with this situation. They didnt ask at all about condition or marks etc so they have nothing to gauge it on. My car could be in perfect condition or could be on its last legs in their eyes, which sort of makes the point that people were saying about it being shipped off even more believable.

 

[gamerTM21]

That’s what we have, it’s a fantastic car, it amazes me for 1.0 engine and the chassis is sweet as a nut.
What colour? Ours is Silver.

Ah, good to hear. Only heard good things about the car considering its price point. This one is red, which is nice, but I do really love the all black and white/black ones.

how long have you been searching ? in so much that a 2hours drive 100miles? is non-trivial if you have any warranty problems,
recent thread about someone who was negotiating problems remotely with Arnold clark (maybe it was nearer 200 miles.) not sure I'd consider more than 40miles.

A couple weeks. I've become familiar with what the prices of these should be and what's high and low etc. This one is a fair bit lower then the next cheapest. Many SEs around the same price bracket as this.
Assumed as it'll be a manufacturer warranty, can't it go to any honda dealer for warranty related things? Obviously if its misadvertised that's a different story, but hoping that's all okay if its getting a service and MOT before I take it.

Although I'm assessing other options now, as even though I wanted to talk logistics and get a video of the car this morning, and emailed later afternoon, I've had no reply... Although any other decent SR is £1000 more, damn...

 

[gamerTM21]

Warranty will have expired.
It will be a dealer warranty only.

I'm fairly sure that I read when buying any Honda from an approved used dealership, it comes with a 12 month Honda warranty with breakdown cover too.

 

[gamerTM21]

Not too promising with this dealer in the end. Time and again over the last 2 days I've contacted the branch to ask to progress and for a video of the car etc. And have been told that they've just seen my email and will get it done ASAP, yet they go silent for the rest of the day.

Bit unfortunate that the best deal I've seen so far is with this branch, as speaking to other branches of the same company, I've been sent videos within the half hour and had them calling me back to try and progress things etc. Although that may be why such a cheap car is still available.

Funnily enough, the other branches and other Honda approved dealers have all asked me about the condition of the car, and any damage etc.

 

[gamerTM21]

There’s usually a reason somethings cheap in my experience are you going to disclose your budget?

That's exactly it, and I'm sort of at the point now where I'm not sure if it's better to wait until everywhere opens in just over 2 weeks.

What do people think will happen when showrooms open again, will demand and therefore prices rise, with less room for negotiation, or is the opinion that it will be a safer option?

I'm only really looking at the SR now, rather than the SE, as the extras really make it worth for me, and after part exchange, I'm looking to pay no more more £9500 cash really..

I've just had a chat with someone quite far away about a car similarly priced as the one that ghosted me, except he's quite keen to push a deal, has accepted £9200 + my car, and offered to deliver it for free.
I'm going to question a bit more and make sure that I can get a 12 month warranty etc. And it all looks fine, as they're an approved vauxhall dealer, but have honda dealerships around too.

 

[gamerTM21]

Ours is a 2017 SE.
I’ve fitted SR wheels myself

The SR is the model to have in the ideal world.

Yeah I've figured that it's worth the extra £1000 or so to have a camera, electric mirrors, autoplay, auto wipers etc. If I end getting the SE now, I reckon ill be quite disappointed about missing out on those things and won't enjoy it as much.

 

[gamerTM21]

Absolutely ridiculous, these dealers.

About that dealership that ghosted me for ages, another branch managed to take it on for the same agreed price, and I've put a £500 deposit down with an agreed collection date of Friday.

They wanted photos of the scratch (salesperson initial email did say they're fine as long as the car is in 'average' condition), and now they're trying to add an extra £150-£200 on top of the agreed price... They have tried to say there's structural damage to the bonnet (there isn't), and also noting the small crack alongside the headlight.

I've sent a strongly worded email stating that without the scratch, this would be a very good condition car for it's age, so it should definitely meet the average condition criteria as it is, and I am not willing to add any extra money on top.

Think its more trouble for them to refund me the deposit, readvertise etc. For the sake of 1% of their car sales value.

What does everyone think? Scratch below:
https://ibb.co/X25hWYq

 

[gamerTM21]

Just get a SE and put wheels on it.

edit: you will get a lower mileage car and have more choice.

edit: edit: or just pay the extra £200 and be done with it.

How many miles has the SR done?

I think I have my heart set on the extra electronic features of the SR, although it's true that I could probably get an SE for closer to £9k + my car.

It's done over 26k miles. Would be willing to pay £200 more if I found one with 18-20k on the clock.

That clearly isn't a scratch...

What would you call it though? If they ask on the phone about condition?

it does look like a bonnet crease ... was it recent since there's no rust ?
so with that plus bumper, they're unlikely to be able to make much in an auction.;
maybe bodywork/interior/engine-bay will cause them to reconsider the £150 additional they want ... depends on your negotiating skills

Yeah it was originally a bonnet crease from a low speed shunt, had a local garage guy I'm on good terms with bend it, and hence the paint flaked off. But it seems pretty in line with me and purely paint damaged. This was just over a year ago now.

take the 150 hit it would cost more to repair and call it a day, not worth the hassle, but the car you get had better not have any faults


prep fill and repaint as well as probably bumper removal and repair would cost way more than 150 so if they only knock 150 to 200 off then its a good deal.

That's why I'm a bit apprehensive about it, so close to showrooms opening. There's no guarantee without seeing and testing the car that there are no issues, so there is always a small risk.

Main reason I have tried to stick to my guns is that with the previous dealer, I had a valuation of £1200 (which is obviously on the low side, without viewing my car), and then an extra £245 was added on as good will, so I considered that extra money to cover these issues.

 

[gamerTM21]

It's not a scratch its a crease. The bonnet doesn't even look aligned properly.

I don't really understand why you're messing around, the car looks like it needs a new bonnet and bumper to me. It would cost a lot more for those issues to be sorted than what you seem to be haggling over.

So it's a crease if the metal was originally bent and put back into place with the paint cracking as shown?

Also are you talking about misalignment from the bonnet to the grill? That's nothing to do with the bump it took, that's just how these model years were manufactured, really bad QC I know, but if you check other ones on Google it looks exactly the same. When I first got the car I had to get my boss to double check it with me because I thought the bonnet wasn't latching down properly!

I'm messing around a bit because I don't really want to commit more money without having actually viewed or driven the car. Maybe if I were to view it and find it in immaculate condition and running perfectly etc. I'd be more inclined to negotiate some extra, but at this stage if it's not a complete bargain, I'm okay with waiting a couple more weeks for lockdown to end and checking these cars out properly. Also won't be any confusion if I bring my car at the same time.

 

[gamerTM21]

just to put it into perspective daughters boyfriend had a 2014 ibiza and about 3 months ago traded it in for a 2017 model both 1.2s no real difference i think pretty much the same shape , his 2014 model had just under 40k on the clock always serviced and mot by the dealer he got just under 1600 pounds in p/x with no bodywork or issues... i know i was spitting cause i would have had it in a heartbeat but the deal was done within hours. he turned up at the dealer and noticed the newer one and the salesman got him grrrrrrrrrrr.

so either prices for secondhand seat is not good or he got mugged i tend to think the latter but it makes your price with damage look good.

personally with the damage on your bonnet and bumper and possible further panel damage ive bought salvage with similar or less damage on it.

Well I've had many a discussion with dealers all around and with general wear, they would be willing to give up to £1600/£1700, and mines 4 years older and with double the amount of miles as the one you're talking about!

I've also had another valuation of £1300 after showing photos of the damage.

Also mine on Autotrader seem to be listed at between £3000-£4000 (obviously without the damage I have).

 

[gamerTM21]

Also, Apologies to all in the thread about calling it a scratch. For some reason I had it in my head as the way to describe it, but understand it should be more like "paint damage due to a crease being repaired"