OK so I was asked to try and source a nearly new car as my company car replacement. I've not bought a car from a used car dealer since 2004 when I paid £3.5k for a 306. How bad can it be I thought... the answer, pretty bad!
Firstly I need an estate and for every 5 crossover / SUV type things there is maybe 1 estate. Since when did nobody want a regular hatch with a bit more space?
Then there were the cars themselves. Now my budget was tight but I was looking at a well regarded nearly new car centre and approved used stuff and the presentation of the cars was appalling! Polish smeared all over, bodywork damage, missing bits, interiors covered in enough food and coffee stains to keep a rodent fed for life. Honestly I was shocked how they thought it was fine to show them like that with the screen prices in question. Amazingly when you questioned it the car that had pride of place on the forecourt was all of a sudden "awaiting preparation". Funny that when you've had it for months and recently reduced it
Then there were the salesmen. Outright lies, inconsistency and BS were the order of the day. To their credit they were seamless with the bi-polar flip between talking about the £##k car you are buying and the £#k car you are trading in. "Well, its used so it's going to have some marks on it" to "oooh *sucks through teeth* that's a nasty stone chip". The main dealer was a real eye opener for me. I can't quote exactly what I heard when I walked in otherwise I'll get a ban so use your imagination to fill the blanks. "**** OFF! HAHAHAHA! **** YOU!" "You do know there's a customer over there? *LOL*" *giggles and runs off* I'd be strung up for acting like that in front of a customer.
Oh well, rant over and thankfully Carwow has saved the day and I managed to find a new car within £450 of my budget for a nearly new one so we'll hopefully go for that and I can put off going to a dealer for another decade or so.
Firstly I need an estate and for every 5 crossover / SUV type things there is maybe 1 estate. Since when did nobody want a regular hatch with a bit more space?
Then there were the cars themselves. Now my budget was tight but I was looking at a well regarded nearly new car centre and approved used stuff and the presentation of the cars was appalling! Polish smeared all over, bodywork damage, missing bits, interiors covered in enough food and coffee stains to keep a rodent fed for life. Honestly I was shocked how they thought it was fine to show them like that with the screen prices in question. Amazingly when you questioned it the car that had pride of place on the forecourt was all of a sudden "awaiting preparation". Funny that when you've had it for months and recently reduced it
Then there were the salesmen. Outright lies, inconsistency and BS were the order of the day. To their credit they were seamless with the bi-polar flip between talking about the £##k car you are buying and the £#k car you are trading in. "Well, its used so it's going to have some marks on it" to "oooh *sucks through teeth* that's a nasty stone chip". The main dealer was a real eye opener for me. I can't quote exactly what I heard when I walked in otherwise I'll get a ban so use your imagination to fill the blanks. "**** OFF! HAHAHAHA! **** YOU!" "You do know there's a customer over there? *LOL*" *giggles and runs off* I'd be strung up for acting like that in front of a customer.
Oh well, rant over and thankfully Carwow has saved the day and I managed to find a new car within £450 of my budget for a nearly new one so we'll hopefully go for that and I can put off going to a dealer for another decade or so.