Lazy car dealers

[blugnu]

daemon said:

He has a heart like a lion.

I didn't know you'd met. He told me that story too.

[TurboHatchback]

I've been to see a few complete crocks at dealers, I don't know how they managed to keep a straight face while trying to sell them. Some of the highlights were:

• A Landcruiser Amazon 4.2td auto. It had a catastropically blown boost pipe, it sounded awful and physically wouldn't go over 35mph or make it into top gear, all the while plumes of black smoke emanating from the engine bay. The seller actually had the cheek to try and pretend this was normal.
• A Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0CRD. Before we set off the interior was dirty, worn and smelled, the carpets were filthy and had a big hole in, the oil was black as tar, there was propshaft gaiter missing and a serious oil leak out the back of the engine and various other smaller issues. On the test drive it transpired the turbo was knackered and it sounded like a steam kettle, exhaust fumes came through the HVAC and the low range actuator was broken.
• A cheap Micra which was about 8" shorter than it came out the factory.

On the flip side I would say over half the cars I have been to see at traders have been clean, well presented and all the ones I bought turned out to be good reliable cars (all in the £5k-£8k range). Good traders are certainly out there but there are also some proper scummy places. My personal experience is that if the place and staff look clean, smart and professional then the cars are likely to be decent, if it's a portacabin, a back yard or a grubby crammed in yard and the proprieter(s) are wearing grubby jumpers and smell of fags then the cars will be garbage.

[PUA]

As the OP asked: "Who is buying these cars?"
this is the problem

Example:

stty car on sale at dealership for 5k
1st potential buyer: a bit of a car fanatic, spots endless list of issues, offers 4k as a lot of work to be done, dealer not interested
2nd potential buyer: hasn't a clue about cars, offers full price ands asks for finance on top and a nice cup of coffee to go with the car

why would a dealer bother making any extra effort?

[Searider]

daemon said:

Searider said:

daemon said:

Searider said:

andymc said:

T5R+ said:

Happens at the £30 - 40K franchised dealer level too - "sales manager does not want to put money in to it, unless sold".

When I asked to buy it as it was and save a few £1000, "sorry we are not allowed to sell it, as it is not prepared to accepted xxxxxxxxx used standard".

well for one you would invalidate any warranty and then moan, no one preps an unsold car with tyres and brakes in case it has to go to the auction as over age stock

Why would it go to the auction as over age stock?

They'll keep it a certain length of time and if it doesnt sell, send it to auction.

Why would a professional experienced dealer need to do that? Surely they would know what they are buying in, buy in at the right price and then sell quickly at a reasonable profit? Or do main dealers go to the auction, buy any old scruffy car, at too high a price, do no prep and hope that some mug will turn up all over excited and buy it?
I've seen several high value Audis at my local dealer where this seems to be the case - slightly scruffy R8, stone chipped front, in pride of place in the showroom.

Its a stocking technique. In theory if a car hasnt sold within 90 days (or 120 days or 180 days), chances are its not going to, so send it to auction, recover your outlay and use the money to replace it on the forecourt with something fresh that you've a better chance of making money on.

It also keeps the forecourt looking fresh and turns stock over.

I understand the "technique" - but surely it's a poor way to run a business and shows that the buyers don't know how much to pay when they are buying in stock.

I also wonder how many of those 120 day old cars would have sold if they had been prepped?

[daemon]

Searider said:

I understand the "technique" - but surely it's a poor way to run a business and shows that the buyers don't know how much to pay when they are buying in stock.

I also wonder how many of those 120 day old cars would have sold if they had been prepped?

Sometimes you just "get it wrong".

The theory being that if you put £15K in to a car, and after 90 days it hasnt sold its unlikely to, so recover your £15K ish by trading it on / auctioning it and put that £15K in to another car thats maybe going to return you £18K.

If you think of a forecourt as having a certain amount of "slots", then you're ensuring that each slot has something in it that is going to move on.

One £15K car might sit for a year and only end up returning you £16K if even that. Blow it out at three months and you've at least three extra attempts of making profit in that same year long period. Maybe more if the car(s) you replace it with sell quicker, and generate trade ins...

And it probably only happens with maybe 5-10% of stock. Its not like its a big percentage.

Its like Tescos - if they've a slow moving line of stock they'll get rid of it and replace it with something they think will be more profitable - they wont stick with it for terribly long.

[daemon]

Searider said:

I also wonder how many of those 120 day old cars would have sold if they had been prepped?

Heres the story of our 370Z which ended up getting traded out by the dealer who bought it from us. The car was mint, 25K miles FNSH. Granted, a bit odd ball, but nothing wrong with the car

Its a March 2013 car, we bought it for £19,995 in May 2014 with 9,000 miles on it - which was really cheap at the time and we knew it. Other dealers were asking £23,000-£24,000.



Ran it to 25,000 miles.

Sold last August to one of the subsiduary "premium used" companies of the Mercedes dealer we got the A45 from for £18,000 "cash" sale - ie, not at all related to the A45 deal. They just bought it off us. At that price we nearly bit their arm off. Money in to account, etc, etc.

That dealer put it on for £20,995, which was never happening. Then from September to December incrementally dropped the price - £19,995, £19,495, right down to £17,995 by the end of November. I can only assume by this point they were sick of the sight of it and were hoping to get a trade in to make money on, finance deal, etc. I spoke to the guy in the place as we were passing one day and i was out looking at another car and told him it had been ours, he said they hadnt even had anyone out to drive it since it came in, let alone try to structure a deal to sell it.

Somebody then in the dealers seems to have taken the head staggers and had the wheels refurbished black (bad idea in my books).



https://www.usedcarsni.com/2013-Nissan-370Z-V6-GT-...

It then ended up on the trade group disposal site (which i'm still a trader on since my trading days) and it went for around £15,500 at the start of the year.



Its now ended up in another dealers for a never-happening-in-a-million-years £19,495



http://www2.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Nothing wrong with the car - and it would have sold eventually i guess - but the original dealer just blew it out rather than wait any longer.

[ooo000ooo]

i was off the other week and went looking for a car, fancied an mr2 or mx5 so ended up in a dealer that had 2 mk3 mx5s in stock for just under 4k. On the way down the sun came out which put me in the mood for buying one. Arrived at the dealer and had a look at both cars on the way to the office. the more expensive one of the 2 had a big rough patch round the drivers side repeater, the cheaper one looked a lot cheaper but had drips of water on the passenger's seat.
Asked the dealer about both of them and he advised that all convertibles leaked and their on site body shop would fix any bodywork issues on the other car. Eventually persuaded him to let me have a look at the cheaper one, he brought the keys out opened the door for me and stood back, I asked for the keys to start it up and he leant over the top of me put the keys in the ignition and the battery was flat. I thought he might have gone back to the office for his jump start pack but no, instead, he opened the boot. he wasn't too impressed with me picking at the rusty spots.
Had a another look at the second mx5 and discovered rusty arches and the rear sub frames on both looked like they had been parked in the sea.
Had a look at a 207cc they had but again no attempt to start the car even to demonstrate the folding roof.

I also called into a lexus dealer to have a look at a ct200h, Pity the figures didn't work out right as that was a fantastic selling experience even down to a personalised video emailed to me within 15 minutes so i could show the wife.