Discussion
Megaflow said:
Fore Left said:
Looks like they're about to appoint administrators according to this this thread on Reddit;
https://caseboard.io/cases/48d62ae0-58b6-4244-995b...
It does not surprise me. A car is typically the second most expensive purchase people make, even second hand, who is going to do that without actually looking at it first?https://caseboard.io/cases/48d62ae0-58b6-4244-995b...
ChocolateFrog said:
Megaflow said:
It does not surprise me. A car is typically the second most expensive purchase people make, even second hand, who is going to do that without actually looking at it first?
I got the impression you could just send it back within a week or 2 without paying a penny. Imagine shipping a car 100's of miles over 2 days for no money. I always assumed it was those sorts of coats that sunk it.
buyerandseller said:
Hugo Stiglitz said:
I bought a BMW motorbike privately a couple of weeks ago completely on a few pics and trust!
I caught two trains to pick it up. All good.
Had you fully paid for it before seeing it though. there's a big difference. I caught two trains to pick it up. All good.
It'd have been a long walk back
A lot of nieviety - buying cars without viewing from private sellers and auctions and expecting all to be ok
Even buying from decent Dealers can be problematic let alone the shady ones
IME at least 10% of cars have problems or aren't as described
I'm a Dealer as was my father - as he got older he bought sight unseen and had a few horrors delivered and bought several problem cars from auctions - one being a £40k Bristol with a cracked block
Even buying from decent Dealers can be problematic let alone the shady ones
IME at least 10% of cars have problems or aren't as described
I'm a Dealer as was my father - as he got older he bought sight unseen and had a few horrors delivered and bought several problem cars from auctions - one being a £40k Bristol with a cracked block
KTMsm said:
A lot of nieviety - buying cars without viewing from private sellers and auctions and expecting all to be ok
Even buying from decent Dealers can be problematic let alone the shady ones
IME at least 10% of cars have problems or aren't as described
I'm a Dealer as was my father - as he got older he bought sight unseen and had a few horrors delivered and bought several problem cars from auctions - one being a £40k Bristol with a cracked block
As I said above it's very dependent on appropriate due diligence Even buying from decent Dealers can be problematic let alone the shady ones
IME at least 10% of cars have problems or aren't as described
I'm a Dealer as was my father - as he got older he bought sight unseen and had a few horrors delivered and bought several problem cars from auctions - one being a £40k Bristol with a cracked block
ninepoint2 said:
As I said above it's very dependent on appropriate due diligence
You think my father, a self employed car dealer of 60 plus years, wasn't diligent ?Most have got away with it because they've only bought one or two whereas he bought over 100 a year
If you're on the trade forums, you only have to look at all the complaints about BCA and their mis descriptions of their online auctions
ChocolateFrog said:
Megaflow said:
It does not surprise me. A car is typically the second most expensive purchase people make, even second hand, who is going to do that without actually looking at it first?
I got the impression you could just send it back within a week or 2 without paying a penny. Imagine shipping a car 100's of miles over 2 days for no money. I always assumed it was those sorts of coats that sunk it.
Megaflow said:
ChocolateFrog said:
Megaflow said:
It does not surprise me. A car is typically the second most expensive purchase people make, even second hand, who is going to do that without actually looking at it first?
I got the impression you could just send it back within a week or 2 without paying a penny. Imagine shipping a car 100's of miles over 2 days for no money. I always assumed it was those sorts of coats that sunk it.
ks though.Cazoo had many issues as a business. They paid over the odds for stock and failed to build sufficient margin into the stock they were selling. Doing free returns is also financial suicide. We charge £2+vat per mile both ways and the same again usage just deters messers as much as we legally can. As a small business I get to make the call if we think we have a space cadet trying it on ar which point I will refuse a delivery. We get to pick and choose who we deal with.
At the end of the day Cazoo was never a proper business in the trade we all knew this as soon as you look at margins they were not functioning as a business they were trying to buy market share to the detriment of all of their staff and share holders. It was all going to come to and end when the money well dried up. They had absolutely masses of cash to burn through and I'm amazed it took them as long as it did to go pop.
Selling cars is a complex over regulated pain in the arse business this is why there are still so many small operators surviving in a world where everything is dominated by big corporates. It's just not a business thats scaleable in the way Cazoo hoped for. If anything they fluked the timing of their launch with Covid which gave them two years of perfect trading conditions they would never have got at any other time. Even Constellation group that actually run several "proper" businesses struggle to make any money.
At the end of the day Cazoo was never a proper business in the trade we all knew this as soon as you look at margins they were not functioning as a business they were trying to buy market share to the detriment of all of their staff and share holders. It was all going to come to and end when the money well dried up. They had absolutely masses of cash to burn through and I'm amazed it took them as long as it did to go pop.
Selling cars is a complex over regulated pain in the arse business this is why there are still so many small operators surviving in a world where everything is dominated by big corporates. It's just not a business thats scaleable in the way Cazoo hoped for. If anything they fluked the timing of their launch with Covid which gave them two years of perfect trading conditions they would never have got at any other time. Even Constellation group that actually run several "proper" businesses struggle to make any money.
Mojooo said:
It is a legal requirement to offer free returns for distance bought goods (of the cheapest delivery type normally available). Cazoo offered rights over and above what the law allows so it could get a bit confusing.
The law is different for car sales and a charge can be made as I set out in my previous post. If you get a pair of shoes it's 5 quid the supplier is down on a return where a car delivery can run to £100s. If we couldn't cover costs there's no dealer in the country would do remote deliveries. fridaypassion said:
Mojooo said:
It is a legal requirement to offer free returns for distance bought goods (of the cheapest delivery type normally available). Cazoo offered rights over and above what the law allows so it could get a bit confusing.
The law is different for car sales and a charge can be made as I set out in my previous post. If you get a pair of shoes it's 5 quid the supplier is down on a return where a car delivery can run to £100s. If we couldn't cover costs there's no dealer in the country would do remote deliveries. 
I made a mistake in my post
I meant they have to cover the cost of the original delivery out - not the return (which is the bit Cazoo did over and above the law).
If you sell a car online and charge £100 to deliver it then you run the risk the consumer cancels the car and you have to pay that £100 back.
The consumer is responsible for RETURNING the car if the business doesn't want to pay for it.
If the car is not as describe or faulty then the CRA 2015 applies and the consumer is not liable either way - I imagine this would be the reason most people would return a car rather than a change of mine under distance selling laws.
Clearly what Cazoo were trying to do was encourage people to buy and hope they don't return
I meant they have to cover the cost of the original delivery out - not the return (which is the bit Cazoo did over and above the law).
If you sell a car online and charge £100 to deliver it then you run the risk the consumer cancels the car and you have to pay that £100 back.
The consumer is responsible for RETURNING the car if the business doesn't want to pay for it.
If the car is not as describe or faulty then the CRA 2015 applies and the consumer is not liable either way - I imagine this would be the reason most people would return a car rather than a change of mine under distance selling laws.
Clearly what Cazoo were trying to do was encourage people to buy and hope they don't return
Here is a reference for anyone interested - with scenarios. Cars are subject the the distance selling rules.
https://www.themotorombudsman.org/distance-sales-f...
https://www.themotorombudsman.org/distance-sales-f...
A shame. I sold them a car and looked to buy one from them (I didn’t in the end). They were a lot better to deal with than the traditional motor trade I’ve had the misfortune to deal with. I do however accept that their business model was not right in terms of margin but I imagine they hoped to kick start the closure of traditional bricks and mortar. There are decent dealers but in my experience they are the minority.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjq55333xg9o
It’ll be interesting to see if anyone else can succeed with a similar concept.
It’ll be interesting to see if anyone else can succeed with a similar concept.
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff