Unbelievable

Author
Discussion

Willy Nilly

12,511 posts

167 months

Monday 10th June 2013
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Someone a few hundred yards down the road from me appears to have had a new Toyota every year in the 11 years since I have been here. First it was Corollas, then on to Auris and now a Yaris, all on his personalised 'plate. I don't know how much he uses them, but he looks circa retirement age, must have cost a fortune, but keeps the used car market ticking over.

Mum and dad had a late 08 Fabia 1.9Tdi. Decent little car, quick enough, enough toys and stupid economical. In late January/February they had a major service on it that came to £600 or so THEN decided to trade it in for a new one. A new one of the right spec was found and the dealer duly phoned to say it was in and when would they like to collect it. Did they wait until the plate change in 2 or 3 weeks time? Nope. They picked it up that week.

I did try to point out that there nothing wrong with the "old" car even with 67k on it and that the naff all VED and slightly better economy wouldn't pay for the new car and at leat wait until the bloody plate change but it fell on deaf ears. In their defence they are now retired and for the first time since I came along have now money worries, so if they want a new car they should have one.

texasjohn

3,687 posts

231 months

Monday 10th June 2013
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Willy Nilly said:
so if they want a new car they should have one.
yes

Absolutely, I don't disagree at all with that sentiment. But it's still bloody frustrating watching it all from the periphery, and usually after the event.

Grrr!

Benbay001

5,801 posts

157 months

Monday 10th June 2013
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yonex said:
The average Jizz tyre doesn't cost £300. Worst I've got a flash car post ever wink
Umm, phone auto correct?

andymc

7,357 posts

207 months

Monday 10th June 2013
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whats all the fuss? if they were buying new Ferrari's they would be petrol heads? its their money

HTP99

22,571 posts

140 months

Monday 10th June 2013
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As long as they are happy with their purchases and haven't harmed anyone along the way what's the problem, it's their money?

sebhaque

6,404 posts

181 months

Monday 10th June 2013
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An old couple round the corner from me do this as well, every year I see a brand new poverty spec Audi A4 on their drive. Their latest one has tiny little wheels, cloth interior, a myriad of blanked off buttons on the dash and overall something just depressing. All of their cars have been black/black, and it's just a bit depressing. They may not be petrolheads but if they saved the money they spent upgrading a numberplate every year they would probably have enough to fill in those blanks with buttons.

Mind you the car world seems to have moved onto finance, as I heard two adverts for a Fiat six-double-o-ste or something saying that the car was only(!) £230 per month or something. No mention of what it would cost if you just wanted to buy the fker there and then.

speedtwelve

3,510 posts

273 months

Monday 10th June 2013
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Bloke (single, 40-ish) I used to work with had a perfectly serviceable Focus ST170. Decided that it wasn't economical enough for him; he fancied a diesel. Fair enough with a 60 mile round-trip commute each day. He went to Ford and managed to spend Fourteen.Thousand. Pounds. on a new Fiesta Ecoblah diesel shopping trolley...

£14k. He'd specced everything that Ford could physically bolt on to it. I tried to mention the disparity in him saving £3-4 a day in fuel versus the catastrophic deficit-of-Uganda depreciation that his Grannymobile would suffer each year. This just did not compute. He was obsessed with the (alleged) 60mpg this soul-destroying rubber-band powered invalid cart of a car would achieve. He is the sort of person who'll be surprised when he trades it back to Ford in 3 years and they offer him £2.40 and a packet of pickled onion Monster Munch for it.

ambuletz

10,746 posts

181 months

Monday 10th June 2013
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I had a friend of mine who at 18 got given a mk4 fiesta for her birthday, had around 30,000miles on it, was well maintained by her mechanic relative that her father got it from. A couple of years later she scraps the car after deciding that 50,000miles is far too much on that car, its going to be unreliable and probably die.

Now when I was 18 (we're the same age) my mechanic father sourced me a mk3.5 fiesta from a family friend which I got as a gift. It had 63,000miles on it when I first got it. 5 and abit years later my car is touching 115,000miles when I unfortunately had to scrap it as I couldn't afford to run it at the time + had nowhere to store it. As unrefined as the old car was it just wanted to keep going. Regret euthanising the thing as I wanted it to die with it in my arms.
The only time it ever let me down was when I first got it and we realised the alternator was knackered and that's it.

unrepentant

21,265 posts

256 months

Tuesday 11th June 2013
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yonex said:
Tyre cover, good 'ol car dealers looking after everyone's interests as ever biggrin
If I bend a rim it will cost me a grand. A tyre will be pushing half a bag. Wheel and tire insurance makes perfect sense, 5 years cover for way less than the cost of one rim? You've have to be an idiot not to buy it.

nickfrog

21,176 posts

217 months

Tuesday 11th June 2013
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speedtwelve said:
Bloke (single, 40-ish) I used to work with had a perfectly serviceable Focus ST170. Decided that it wasn't economical enough for him; he fancied a diesel. Fair enough with a 60 mile round-trip commute each day. He went to Ford and managed to spend Fourteen.Thousand. Pounds. on a new Fiesta Ecoblah diesel shopping trolley...

£14k. He'd specced everything that Ford could physically bolt on to it. I tried to mention the disparity in him saving £3-4 a day in fuel versus the catastrophic deficit-of-Uganda depreciation that his Grannymobile would suffer each year. This just did not compute. He was obsessed with the (alleged) 60mpg this soul-destroying rubber-band powered invalid cart of a car would achieve. He is the sort of person who'll be surprised when he trades it back to Ford in 3 years and they offer him £2.40 and a packet of pickled onion Monster Munch for it.
Very funny post. Cheers. laugh

spadgm

140 posts

205 months

Tuesday 11th June 2013
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speedtwelve said:
Bloke (single, 40-ish) I used to work with had a perfectly serviceable Focus ST170. Decided that it wasn't economical enough for him; he fancied a diesel. Fair enough with a 60 mile round-trip commute each day. He went to Ford and managed to spend Fourteen.Thousand. Pounds. on a new Fiesta Ecoblah diesel shopping trolley...

£14k. He'd specced everything that Ford could physically bolt on to it. I tried to mention the disparity in him saving £3-4 a day in fuel versus the catastrophic deficit-of-Uganda depreciation that his Grannymobile would suffer each year. This just did not compute. He was obsessed with the (alleged) 60mpg this soul-destroying rubber-band powered invalid cart of a car would achieve. He is the sort of person who'll be surprised when he trades it back to Ford in 3 years and they offer him £2.40 and a packet of pickled onion Monster Munch for it.
Lol man maths at it's very worst!
Fiesta? scratch the man part...

vincevega

134 posts

132 months

Tuesday 11th June 2013
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texasjohn said:
Mercedes, diesel (mostly), low miles. Iridium Silver every time...
Brand loyalty indeed.

My Dad is now on his sixth or seventh auto, diesel C Class. Probably less than 70k miles in total. There was a very brief defection to Honda about seven years ago (a Civic, diesel of course) but that soon went as he was concerned that the neighbours might think he had fallen on hard times.

Unsuprisingly, he gets a Christmas card every year from the dealership.

f1nn

Original Poster:

2,693 posts

192 months

Friday 28th August 2015
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It's happened again!

The MIL's "old" RAV4 has just been replaced by a new one, she works part time now, and the mileage of her trade in...9.5K.

In her own words "I don't really like the new RAV4, but my old one was getting to the stage where it would likely have problems (9.5k old let me remind you) and David at the dealer has done me a really good deal"

It would transpire that the really good deal was what I'd consider a reasonable trade in against a new car sold at full list price, delivered a week before the new registration came out.

stroll on!

Camoradi

4,292 posts

256 months

Friday 28th August 2015
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Some years ago the owner of a Honda dealership near Bournemouth told me of a customer who changed his car every two years, despite only doing about 5000 miles a year. At one time he had a Honda Legend, and liked it so much he traded it in for another brand new one after he had had it for two years. As the dealer was filling out the paperwork he realized the "new" car he was handing over had come off the production line probably 4 months before the "old" one being traded in.

Suffice to say he kept quiet whistle as he handed over the keys.

iva cosworth

44,044 posts

163 months

Friday 28th August 2015
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There was a rumour in my family that "the olds" were thinking of a new car.

Their 2008 Polo hasn't got into 5 figure miles yet.

The starter motor broke recently = must buy a new car.

Dad has rightly given up driving anyway.

Krikkit

26,534 posts

181 months

Friday 28th August 2015
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LotusOmega375D said:
Our local Toyota dealer never has any problems selling off the last old model after the replacement range has already arrived. They just save it until my MIL drops her car off for a service and give her the sharp intake of breath and shake of the head treatment. Bingo! Obsolete stock cleared at the full list price.
My MIL-to-be has done this two years in a row now. Takes car for a service, sits in the new one while she waits, gets flogged it. In each case it's almost identical to the previous one, the last one she traded in was because she'd managed to dent it.

Each time she's ended up with the last-of-the-line of either a Yaris or Aygo, both bought outright, and got a ridiculously low trade figure for her old model.

The current one's only 6 months old and already she's talking about getting a new one because her current one doesn't have built-in sat nav. (She has a separate nav)

Then she whinges at me for having 2 old cars and a project in the garage!

daemon

35,829 posts

197 months

Friday 28th August 2015
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Wifes aunt went to change her Yaris - 6 years old 24,000 miles - because the service department had "recommended" she speak to someone in sales about a deal they were doing.

As you would expect, they were giving her a pittance for her car, but what shocked me was that even though she was a lifetime cash buyer (and loaded) they were trying to get her to take out finance on the car as she would get £500 of petrol "free".

She had me look over the figures and the finance interest was coming to something like £1500!

Apparently part of her reason for changing was the "fear" that the car was getting older and would need money spent. I got her in touch with the mechanic i use (who lives 2 mins from her as it happens) and he services and MOTs her car for her now - needless to say she kept the old one.


jbsportstech

5,069 posts

179 months

Friday 28th August 2015
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I have had tyre place try and rip my mum off I told them to stick the space off and drive it to another garage she says felt guilty, I said don't they tried to rip you off as your women in sabab 93 convert. It had all Michelins on and they want £120 for a Dunlop that I have recently priced at £89 and gone with Michelins after she got a puncture.

MIL a few years back wants a Peugeot but the guys at the dealer don't give her the time of day. So then same day goes to Renault and buys the cheapest ex demo Meganne thy have 1.4 petrol base model 2003 its like 12 months old but ahs no a/c, alloys or cd player she didn't haggle took their figures.

Of course couple years later she went to trade it in as wants cd player and a/c now after all its 2006. Its full Renault history 36k and they don't really want it so offer below book. She keeps it and the wiper motors fail and so she is near their garage. Husband goes to get it and nearly keels over when the want best part of £700 for replacing all the front wiper motors on a less 40K 4 year old car.

J4CKO

41,603 posts

200 months

Friday 28th August 2015
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Wonder what my mum and dad are going to get now, a couple of years back they were on about Evoques and all sorts then turn up in a year old MG6, which to be fair hasn't been a bad car, however some dozy old woman in a Merc pulled out of a T junction without looking and its now looking decidedly dicey for the MG, front wing, bumper, suspension and the clutch and gearbox dont seem to have taken it too well, parts are hard to come by so it may end up a write off.

Not sure what they will get next, apparently not another MG6.

g3org3y

20,637 posts

191 months

Friday 28th August 2015
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f1nn said:
It's happened again!

The MIL's "old" RAV4 has just been replaced by a new one, she works part time now, and the mileage of her trade in...9.5K.

In her own words "I don't really like the new RAV4, but my old one was getting to the stage where it would likely have problems (9.5k old let me remind you) and David at the dealer has done me a really good deal"

It would transpire that the really good deal was what I'd consider a reasonable trade in against a new car sold at full list price, delivered a week before the new registration came out.

stroll on!
Thanks for the update OP! biggrin