Buying a McLaren - WARNING!
Discussion
Not a good situation but sounds like that shouldn't happen again.
It might just be me but I've noticed prices on used 650's appearing seem to be quite strong. Perhaps it's a result of the production coming to an end and limited stock around (hence being able to pay good money for this car OP), also maybe McLaren/dealers are trying to tackle this reputation for bad depreciation.
I hope the underlying message here is a good sign for owners. Not so great if your looking to buy
It might just be me but I've noticed prices on used 650's appearing seem to be quite strong. Perhaps it's a result of the production coming to an end and limited stock around (hence being able to pay good money for this car OP), also maybe McLaren/dealers are trying to tackle this reputation for bad depreciation.
I hope the underlying message here is a good sign for owners. Not so great if your looking to buy
Don't think there was any mention of it being a 650 or a 12c but poor show by the sounds of it.
Whatever the car it must have been seriously good value as it appears from the classifieds that McLaren have enough of a problem shifting existing stock without adding to the problem, which I imagine the OP finds even more annoying.
Whatever the car it must have been seriously good value as it appears from the classifieds that McLaren have enough of a problem shifting existing stock without adding to the problem, which I imagine the OP finds even more annoying.
100 IAN said:
Having seen a McLaren for sale privately that I was interested in, I spoke to the dealer who had last serviced it to verify its history and to check that I'd be able to extend its warranty when it ran out. (The car's 2nd annual service had been carried out 5 months late)
Surely the car is at least 29 months old !!
The OP's intention to buy was almost certainly not public infomation, so the dealer was in possession of material inside information and acted on it. In the finance world this behaviour can get you and your company in deep trouble, i.e. big prison terms and whopping fines, and the onus is very much on you to prove you acted honourably and in good faith. Did the salesman contact his compliance department and make them aware he was in possession of inside info? Did the compliance dept prevent sales from buying? If the car dealer was a bank (hopefully) compliance would have blocked the purchase.
This to me sounds like a very strange situation...
How many 12cs or 650s in the classifieds are actually sold privately? None is the answer!
Although OP is not giving any information away, this must have been most likely a 12C Spyder. It cant be a 650s as they only appeared in Spring 2014, and hence none yet would have missed a 2nd service by now. Also virtually all 12c Coupes are either 2011 or 2012, so all now out of the 3 year warranty.
So OP finds a 12C Spider and agrees to buy it at Trade Price. So we are talking £110k...for a 2013 12C Spider!! It has to be at such a low price otherwise the Dealer would not have been interested in the deal.
Before however i can make up my mind as to who is blame, there is one very important question that the OP has to answer:
Who told the dealer how much OP was paying for the car? OP or the Seller??
How many 12cs or 650s in the classifieds are actually sold privately? None is the answer!
Although OP is not giving any information away, this must have been most likely a 12C Spyder. It cant be a 650s as they only appeared in Spring 2014, and hence none yet would have missed a 2nd service by now. Also virtually all 12c Coupes are either 2011 or 2012, so all now out of the 3 year warranty.
So OP finds a 12C Spider and agrees to buy it at Trade Price. So we are talking £110k...for a 2013 12C Spider!! It has to be at such a low price otherwise the Dealer would not have been interested in the deal.
Before however i can make up my mind as to who is blame, there is one very important question that the OP has to answer:
Who told the dealer how much OP was paying for the car? OP or the Seller??
TP321 said:
This to me sounds like a very strange situation...
How many 12cs or 650s in the classifieds are actually sold privately? None is the answer!
Although OP is not giving any information away, this must have been most likely a 12C Spyder. It cant be a 650s as they only appeared in Spring 2014, and hence none yet would have missed a 2nd service by now. Also virtually all 12c Coupes are either 2011 or 2012, so all now out of the 3 year warranty.
So OP finds a 12C Spider and agrees to buy it at Trade Price. So we are talking £110k...for a 2013 12C Spider!! It has to be at such a low price otherwise the Dealer would not have been interested in the deal.
Before however i can make up my mind as to who is blame, there is one very important question that the OP has to answer:
Who told the dealer how much OP was paying for the car? OP or the Seller??
Surely the seller would at least go back to the private buyer and say "by the way I've now had a trade bid on the car of £x do you want to up your offer"How many 12cs or 650s in the classifieds are actually sold privately? None is the answer!
Although OP is not giving any information away, this must have been most likely a 12C Spyder. It cant be a 650s as they only appeared in Spring 2014, and hence none yet would have missed a 2nd service by now. Also virtually all 12c Coupes are either 2011 or 2012, so all now out of the 3 year warranty.
So OP finds a 12C Spider and agrees to buy it at Trade Price. So we are talking £110k...for a 2013 12C Spider!! It has to be at such a low price otherwise the Dealer would not have been interested in the deal.
Before however i can make up my mind as to who is blame, there is one very important question that the OP has to answer:
Who told the dealer how much OP was paying for the car? OP or the Seller??
No deposit was given or contract agreed so who is to say the seller didn't as a sense check get a trade bid on the car.
I know I would certainly get 3 or 4 bids on any car and wouldn't accept £30k behind retail from a private buyer
Think there is more to this than meets the eye and the full facts are not necessarily being disclosed.
RamboLambo said:
Surely the seller would at least go back to the private buyer and say "by the way I've now had a trade bid on the car of £x do you want to up your offer"
No deposit was given or contract agreed so who is to say the seller didn't as a sense check get a trade bid on the car.
I know I would certainly get 3 or 4 bids on any car and wouldn't accept £30k behind retail from a private buyer
Think there is more to this than meets the eye and the full facts are not necessarily being disclosed.
My gut feeling on this, is that it was an absolute steal.....No deposit was given or contract agreed so who is to say the seller didn't as a sense check get a trade bid on the car.
I know I would certainly get 3 or 4 bids on any car and wouldn't accept £30k behind retail from a private buyer
Think there is more to this than meets the eye and the full facts are not necessarily being disclosed.
TP321 said:
Before however i can make up my mind as to who is blame, there is one very important question that the OP has to answer:
Who told the dealer how much OP was paying for the car? OP or the Seller??
I told the dealer what i had to spend. They had a couple of cars within budget, older and higher mileage and i told him of the car i'd seen privately that was obviously a much better deal, but i wanted to verify its history. Who told the dealer how much OP was paying for the car? OP or the Seller??
The dealer's comment was "if you can get it for that you'd be doing incredibly well" followed by "buying from us gives you peace of mind, McLaren warranty" etc (the car still had 6 month's of warranty on it anyway and i specifically asked if i'd be able to extend that in the usual manner)
100 IAN said:
I told the dealer what i had to spend. They had a couple of cars within budget, older and higher mileage and i told him of the car i'd seen privately that was obviously a much better deal, but i wanted to verify its history.
The dealer's comment was "if you can get it for that you'd be doing incredibly well" followed by "buying from us gives you peace of mind, McLaren warranty" etc (the car still had 6 month's of warranty on it anyway and i specifically asked if i'd be able to extend that in the usual manner)
So you "one way or another" told them how much you could buy it for. That was the mistake - you should have told them a much higher figure, because by not doing so, you made your keen deal public knowledge. What if the dealer didn't buy the car himself, but got a mate or a very good client who was looking for one to buy it? You simply let the cat out of the bag...The dealer's comment was "if you can get it for that you'd be doing incredibly well" followed by "buying from us gives you peace of mind, McLaren warranty" etc (the car still had 6 month's of warranty on it anyway and i specifically asked if i'd be able to extend that in the usual manner)
Yes they did not act honourably, but you did put temptation in their way...sorry.
RamboLambo said:
Surely the seller would at least go back to the private buyer and say "by the way I've now had a trade bid on the car of £x do you want to up your offer"
No deposit was given or contract agreed so who is to say the seller didn't as a sense check get a trade bid on the car.
I know I would certainly get 3 or 4 bids on any car and wouldn't accept £30k behind retail from a private buyer
Think there is more to this than meets the eye and the full facts are not necessarily being disclosed.
Yes the seller did come back to me after being contacted by the dealer, offering me the car at a higher price but wanting a commitment there and then, without me being able to verify its history.No deposit was given or contract agreed so who is to say the seller didn't as a sense check get a trade bid on the car.
I know I would certainly get 3 or 4 bids on any car and wouldn't accept £30k behind retail from a private buyer
Think there is more to this than meets the eye and the full facts are not necessarily being disclosed.
I was then caught in a catch 22, buy the car without any verification of history (remember it was 5 months late on its 2nd service which is unusual, as is one of these being sold privately - had it been damaged/repaired and hence the reason why it wasn't being sold by a dealer?, i didn't know) or i could wait and see if the dealer completed the transaction in which case it would be too late.
NB. I had asked the dealer to verify the car's service history and they committed to do so once they had got the owner's approval - They never sought the owner's approval and have never come back to me on this point - The General Manager on this point says "....they should have got back to me in a more timely manner but due to staff illness were extremely busy" - Oh Yes!, but not too busy to view the car and buy it for themselves!
TP321 said:
So you "one way or another" told them how much you could buy it for. That was the mistake - you should have told them a much higher figure, because by not doing so, you made your keen deal public knowledge. What if the dealer didn't buy the car himself, but got a mate or a very good client who was looking for one to buy it? You simply let the cat out of the bag...
Yes they did not act honourably, but you did put temptation in their way...sorry.
You're completely right, and we all live and learn by our mistakes, that's why i started this thread.Yes they did not act honourably, but you did put temptation in their way...sorry.
Ian - sorry to hear about your misfortune, all for businesses turning a sensible profit but not by turning over their client base!!
I'm keeping an eye on 12c coupe prices with interest and about to go see my local McLaren dealer in Cheshire to appraise the car and the dealer network attitude as an alternative to the other obvious Ferrari.
I note you're based down south and wondered which two dealerships you might recommend I visit first 😉 - is Cheshire a good (safe) start?
Presume it was a franchise dealer not a specialist you dealt with?
Hope McLaren investigate and ensure any appropriate action is taken with the dealer - and at the very least sort you a VIP factory visit and Macca experience / test or such like.
You'd like to think Mr Dennis was a man of principal and would sort this once all the facts are known.
I'm keeping an eye on 12c coupe prices with interest and about to go see my local McLaren dealer in Cheshire to appraise the car and the dealer network attitude as an alternative to the other obvious Ferrari.
I note you're based down south and wondered which two dealerships you might recommend I visit first 😉 - is Cheshire a good (safe) start?
Presume it was a franchise dealer not a specialist you dealt with?
Hope McLaren investigate and ensure any appropriate action is taken with the dealer - and at the very least sort you a VIP factory visit and Macca experience / test or such like.
You'd like to think Mr Dennis was a man of principal and would sort this once all the facts are known.
TVR4500cc said:
Ian - sorry to hear about your misfortune, all for businesses turning a sensible profit but not by turning over their client base!!
I'm keeping an eye on 12c coupe prices with interest and about to go see my local McLaren dealer in Cheshire to appraise the car and the dealer network attitude as an alternative to the other obvious Ferrari.
I note you're based down south and wondered which two dealerships you might recommend I visit first ?? - is Cheshire a good (safe) start?
Presume it was a franchise dealer not a specialist you dealt with?
Hope McLaren investigate and ensure any appropriate action is taken with the dealer - and at the very least sort you a VIP factory visit and Macca experience / test or such like.
You'd like to think Mr Dennis was a man of principal and would sort this once all the facts are known.
It is certainly interesting that Shmee150 buys all his cars from the Manchester dealer given that, as far as I can tell, he lives around <3km away from the London dealer.I'm keeping an eye on 12c coupe prices with interest and about to go see my local McLaren dealer in Cheshire to appraise the car and the dealer network attitude as an alternative to the other obvious Ferrari.
I note you're based down south and wondered which two dealerships you might recommend I visit first ?? - is Cheshire a good (safe) start?
Presume it was a franchise dealer not a specialist you dealt with?
Hope McLaren investigate and ensure any appropriate action is taken with the dealer - and at the very least sort you a VIP factory visit and Macca experience / test or such like.
You'd like to think Mr Dennis was a man of principal and would sort this once all the facts are known.
Vixpy1 said:
I would be furious, but not half as furious as the seller when he finds out that he sold his car at probably less than asking price to a dealer when he had a genuine buyer waiting, that the dealer knew about!
But at that stage it wasn't a genuine offer on the car was it, just an interested party asking for further details of the car.The offer from McLaren must have been good enough for him to accept and not bother with holding out for a possible higher offer from a private buyer, which may or may not have been forthcoming.
If you needed the cash and had a good offer from a main dealer I suspect most people would take it given you could be pretty confident that the sale would go through quickly with no issues about scammers or funds bouncing etc.
A bird in the hand etc..
I still don't think that excuses the dealers behaviour though.
100 IAN said:
Yes the seller did come back to me after being contacted by the dealer, offering me the car at a higher price but wanting a commitment there and then, without me being able to verify its history.
I was then caught in a catch 22, buy the car without any verification of history (remember it was 5 months late on its 2nd service which is unusual, as is one of these being sold privately - had it been damaged/repaired and hence the reason why it wasn't being sold by a dealer?, i didn't know) or i could wait and see if the dealer completed the transaction in which case it would be too late.
NB. I had asked the dealer to verify the car's service history and they committed to do so once they had got the owner's approval - They never sought the owner's approval and have never come back to me on this point - The General Manager on this point says "....they should have got back to me in a more timely manner but due to staff illness were extremely busy" - Oh Yes!, but not too busy to view the car and buy it for themselves!
I'm surprised the seller couldn't wait a few days for a few extra £k. Must have needed the money desperately!!I was then caught in a catch 22, buy the car without any verification of history (remember it was 5 months late on its 2nd service which is unusual, as is one of these being sold privately - had it been damaged/repaired and hence the reason why it wasn't being sold by a dealer?, i didn't know) or i could wait and see if the dealer completed the transaction in which case it would be too late.
NB. I had asked the dealer to verify the car's service history and they committed to do so once they had got the owner's approval - They never sought the owner's approval and have never come back to me on this point - The General Manager on this point says "....they should have got back to me in a more timely manner but due to staff illness were extremely busy" - Oh Yes!, but not too busy to view the car and buy it for themselves!
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