Cost to Change ? "nahhhh mate we don't do that any more...."

Cost to Change ? "nahhhh mate we don't do that any more...."

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OddCat

Original Poster:

2,515 posts

170 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
quotequote all
I was interested in a car at a main dealer priced at £29k. I sent the dealer a message detailing my current car (with a pic) and asking for an indicative ‘cost to change’ as that is really the only thing I’m interested in.

Dealer sent a fast and pleasant response - but it basically said “get a We Buy Any Car quote and that will give you an idea”. So, presumably, he is then expecting me to simply deduct the WBAC figure from their retail car price and assume that the result is the cost to change. Presumably to manage my expectations. Not exactly busting a gut to try to put something together.

My WBAC came out at £7k. Just out of interest I also WBAC’d their car. It came out at £25,330. A ‘trade for trade’ differential of £18,330. Yes, I know that isn’t feasible as I do understand that dealers have to make a profit and therefore command a premium to reflect that and all of the other things they add like warranty, part ex facility etc (unlike many on PH who seem to think that they can expect to receive dealer prices when selling their cars privately and don’t acknowledge the normal 10% - 20% private sale deduction thing. If I was looking to buy the same car as a private sale I’d be looking to pay no more than £25k - £26k. I’ll only pay nearer £30k because it is from a main dealer). As an aside, pretty sure mine would retail for at least £9,995 on a forecourt somewhere.

Anyway, I sent back an indicative offer just to see if I was in the ball park. I didn’t want to go there to find we were miles apart on relative values and the whole thing is a non starter. So told them I’d offer my car plus up to £21k cash if their car was as nice as it looked. Thus they are giving me £1,000 more for mine than WBAC (or reducing theirs by £1,000 and giving me only £7k for mine). And I'm paying £3k over WBAC value for theirs. Pretty reasonable I thought.

No response since - so I have to assume they aren’t interested (or have sold it already although it is still advertised). Or perhaps they prefer someone who needs finance with a profit to be made on a loan agreement.

Maybe people don’t do the “cost to change” thing and use real money anymore ? Or don't make indicative offers ? Maybe I'm out of touch and needed to make my offer on Twitter or Facebook or put a photo of a £ amount on Snapchat (or whatever people do these days!)

LordHaveMurci

12,034 posts

168 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
quotequote all
Maybe most people that message rather than call & speak to them are not serious...

OddCat

Original Poster:

2,515 posts

170 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
quotequote all
LordHaveMurci said:
Maybe most people that message rather than call & speak to them are not serious...
Perhaps. But I did it through "send us a message" on Autotrader so presumably they are up for such communications.

They could just email back and say "sorry, proposed offer doesn't work for us". But to simply not reply ?



LordHaveMurci

12,034 posts

168 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
quotequote all
OddCat said:
Perhaps. But I did it through "send us a message" on Autotrader so presumably they are up for such communications.

They could just email back and say "sorry, proposed offer doesn't work for us". But to simply not reply ?
Why don't you just call them?! Imagine how many timewasting idiots send messages 'because they can'. Means they pretty much all get ignored in my experience, a phone call or visit in person always works best.

93DW

1,268 posts

102 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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LordHaveMurci said:
Maybe most people that message rather than call & speak to them are not serious...
This. I could reel off 30+ emails from customers in the last few weeks who only provide an email address to contact them on and then never reply ever again. When I get in in the morning I go through all my messages with phone numbers and call them straight away. Email messages I pick up late PM when I've got time to sit down and reply to them. I've been doing this for a few years now and have only ever sold 1 car off the back of email correspondence.

IanCress

4,409 posts

165 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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Whilst I agree that picking up the phone or turning up in person is the preferred method, if they are going to advertise email as a form of communicating with them then they should take it seriously.

Suggesting a buyer goes to WBAC then ignoring them when they come back to them with a figure is pretty poor form. Surely the least they should do at this point they should be saying why not pop in to see us, or give us a phone number and we'll call you to discuss.

If sellers don't want to communicate over email then don't put your email address in the advert!

I've bought a car over email before from a car supermarket. They were happy to send me images of the car and confirm a few details, and I purchased the car the following weekend when I had time to go and view it.

Edited by IanCress on Wednesday 7th December 14:09

Xtriple129

1,148 posts

156 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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I always do all the initial stuff via e-mail. Quite frequently, they are ignored so I just wipe them from my list. I always enclose a contact number (or two) and frequently my address. I bought my Honda from the main dealer via e-mail and didn't actually speak to the salesman (Richard at Speedwell Honda, nice bloke) until I turned up to have a drive. On that occasion I had even forewarned him I was possibly a time waster...

I bought my Mercedes SL via e-mail. Quick response, deal done (in principal) in about 15 minutes and all by e-mail.

I bought my Bentley via e-mail as well. When I finally turned up in shorts and a 'T' shirt with two scruffy dogs in tow, they must have had some serious second thoughts re dealing with me!

I'm not that keen on using the phone, never have been, and I can bang out an e-mail while I'm doing something else. I chase once, then forget them.

HTP99

22,443 posts

139 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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The problem with e-mail is if you do end up in some form of dialogue, it can take 5 or 6 (sometimes more) back and forth e-mails over the period of half a day or so, when a phone call will do it all in 5 minutes and still they haven't answered all the questions that you have asked.

E-mail enquiries as a rule though are generally very poor "what's your best price?" "what's your final price", "how much is my 15 year old Astra worth?" generally that sort of thing.

The amount of e-mails that we get; I reply to every single one that I am given and in a positive manner, you never hear from them again.

Some also include their phone number, which I will away use as the first form of contact, nearly all never answer or return the call if a message is left.

A new one is Car Guru's; we receive an e-mail from the enquirer which has gone through Car Guru's on their behalf with the details of the car that they are interested in, you reply to an e-mail address that isn't the enquirers but it does go to them but through Car Guru's, with the vast majority the text is "I am interested in your car", I reply and I get absolutely zero back, I follow up usually a further 2 times and then I bin it.

A dealer has to offer e-mail contact as everyone else does, however the amount of sales resulted from an e-mail enquiry is very, very low, but you do get the odd one, having said that I can't remember the last time that an e-mail I received resulted in a sale, or any meaningful progress or dialogue.

Sheepshanks

32,526 posts

118 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
quotequote all
HTP99 said:
Some also include their phone number, which I will away use as the first form of contact....
Not car buying specific, but I hate that! If I send an email, I'd like an answer by email, please.

If I wanted to talk to someone, I'd 'phone them.

HTP99

22,443 posts

139 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
HTP99 said:
Some also include their phone number, which I will away use as the first form of contact....
Not car buying specific, but I hate that! If I send an email, I'd like an answer by email, please.

If I wanted to talk to someone, I'd 'phone them.
Don't include your phone number then.

Terminator X

14,921 posts

203 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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Massive thread on here a while back where it appears that most dealers view people who send an email as timewasters. More fool them I say^

TX.

^lights blue touch paper stands back.

oilydan

2,030 posts

270 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
HTP99 said:
Some also include their phone number, which I will away use as the first form of contact....
Not car buying specific, but I hate that! If I send an email, I'd like an answer by email, please.

If I wanted to talk to someone, I'd 'phone them.
I'm with you on that. Nothing worse than sending a message and getting a call back.

it doesnt help that I work in Saudi so I'm very rarely there to pick up the phone at home in the UK. But I do have to contact people while I'm away to line things up for when I'm at home for a week.

I would never not message someone back if they e-mailed me with a request for quote etc. no matter how many duds there were.

Sheepshanks

32,526 posts

118 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
quotequote all
Terminator X said:
Massive thread on here a while back where it appears that most dealers view people who send an email as timewasters. More fool them I say^

TX.

^lights blue touch paper stands back.
If their experience is that they get many emails and few, if any, turn into orders, then you can't blame them.

Everything to do with cars, buying, selling, servicing, getting tyres etc, is a pain in the arse. It can't be long before we're all monthly renting sealed-for-life electric cars.

PositronicRay

26,957 posts

182 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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When I was in the trade email enquiries didn't have a brilliant conversion rate. The trick is to turn it into an appointment very few deals done without a conversation.

I quite liked email stuff though, it prevented the "he said, she said" misunderstandings.

Suggesting someone value there own car via WBAC is just plain lazy.

Sheepshanks

32,526 posts

118 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
quotequote all
PositronicRay said:
Suggesting someone value there own car via WBAC is just plain lazy.
Bought a new Honda a couple of years ago and the dealer sales manager used WBAC to value the px. I'm not sure why, but it felt like an insult that she did that.

LordHaveMurci

12,034 posts

168 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
quotequote all
We're not in the car trade but unless it's from an existing client, email requests tend to be treated as very low priority as little or nothing ever seems tomcome from them.

Nearly 19yrs experience to base that conclusion on.

DoubleD

22,154 posts

107 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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Just phone them up. It would have been quicker than starting this thread.

leefee

633 posts

128 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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you "the punter" will have an advert with many pictures, you have access to dvla history , you will have done most of your homework already and you wont be interested in a car that is too far away or the dearest, if it close enough for you, and in your budget, then next thing to do is to call and ask the usual how many owners? is main dealer history? and all the usual jazz, if all that meets with your requirements, then make an appointment to see and drive it, and get a price for your trade in.

It really shouldn't be that hard. We (the trade) are all using pretty similar guide prices,vwe have to be competitive in asking prices in order to get any interest, so there wont be huge amounts of variation in price to change as you put it.

Basically you need to make some effort to go and see the car. I deal in the lower end of the market compared to the powerfully built director PH type, and realise main dealers buying and selling very recent stuff can deal more over email. The reality is you will want the car before buying it , you want to be in a strong position to get the best deal you can. That requires some effort on your part. smile

I will admit to not encouraging too many back and fore emails, as they seldom turn into anything more than that. A bit of a sweeping statment i know, but more often than not, when i do entertain that type email lead, you get so far and it turns out the punter has so much negative equity the finace comany wouldnt lend them a pen. smile

I agree the wbac line could have been better put, but it will indeed get you in the right ballpark. smile

nickfrog

20,871 posts

216 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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Call - create a quick rapport - save a lot of time.

Yes they supply an email address, but simply for serious punters not to think they operate from a cave.

akadk

1,477 posts

178 months

Wednesday 7th December 2016
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is your car something they would reasonable retail themselves ?

otherwise, its going straight to auction

remember they are offering you their service in BUYING your car