Inchcape Reading - just how hard is it to buy from them?
Discussion
PistonBust said:
I really appreciate the contrasting views, as a retired commercial pilot I was taught to consider all options then make a decision based on all viewpoints. Inchcape could have possibly squeezed full asking from me but to ignore calls had me looking elsewhere and I'm talking to Sytner, Arnold Clarke a Ford dealer with a trade in and a respected independent about 4 other cars. One of them will get my business, Inchcape won't.
Car salesmen have lost their skill imo. If you made the offer they should have come back and said no to the deal and then tried to negotiate.The 99 reservation is to stop it being sold whilst you do a deal, it doesn’t mean the negotiations are over.
I have been to Ducati a few times near me and not once have they called me after I test rode a bike and left my details.
andburg said:
Zippee said:
PistonBust said:
I gave them full opportunity to sell to me at asking, "speak to my manager and call you back". But no call, even a "can't help, take it or leave it". Why entertain an offer rather than be firm and say "sorry, if you'd like the car, pay the price".
WBAC has it at £13k. My Macan sold got £45k, WBAC £40k and expect the Porsche dealer who bought it havebit on for £55k in the next few days.
I guess I'm just rubbed up by their £500 hike when all others are moving south. Play a game or cough up?
WBAC though are not an indicator of value. They effectively buy cheap, sell through auction with the aim of making a profit, then the buying dealer has to make money, tidy the car up, add a warrantly, have a small amount of wriggle room in price, factor in service, possible remedial work, overheads etc.WBAC has it at £13k. My Macan sold got £45k, WBAC £40k and expect the Porsche dealer who bought it havebit on for £55k in the next few days.
I guess I'm just rubbed up by their £500 hike when all others are moving south. Play a game or cough up?
Dealer pays auction sale prices plus auction fees, transport, inspection and any prep or remdial work done before sale, advertising, cost of sale, agreed work in sale price, warranty, VAT on difference between purchase and sale price.
If you want to pay rock bottom prices buy privately where you'll have almost no comeback. Warranty and 6 months of consumer rights alone could cost the dealer thousands in fixes, they dont price cars based on not having to fix something after sale..
That’s before other taxes, employee wages, etc. Plus profit for the business.
You can quickly see why the margins become tight especially with the customer friendly legislation if something goes wrong with the car within 6 months.
andburg said:
Zippee said:
PistonBust said:
I gave them full opportunity to sell to me at asking, "speak to my manager and call you back". But no call, even a "can't help, take it or leave it". Why entertain an offer rather than be firm and say "sorry, if you'd like the car, pay the price".
WBAC has it at £13k. My Macan sold got £45k, WBAC £40k and expect the Porsche dealer who bought it havebit on for £55k in the next few days.
I guess I'm just rubbed up by their £500 hike when all others are moving south. Play a game or cough up?
WBAC though are not an indicator of value. They effectively buy cheap, sell through auction with the aim of making a profit, then the buying dealer has to make money, tidy the car up, add a warrantly, have a small amount of wriggle room in price, factor in service, possible remedial work, overheads etc.WBAC has it at £13k. My Macan sold got £45k, WBAC £40k and expect the Porsche dealer who bought it havebit on for £55k in the next few days.
I guess I'm just rubbed up by their £500 hike when all others are moving south. Play a game or cough up?
Dealer pays auction sale prices plus auction fees, transport, inspection and any prep or remdial work done before sale, advertising, cost of sale, agreed work in sale price, warranty, VAT on difference between purchase and sale price.
If you want to pay rock bottom prices buy privately where you'll have almost no comeback. Warranty and 6 months of consumer rights alone could cost the dealer thousands in fixes, they dont price cars based on not having to fix something after sale..
We just picked up a XC40 from Volvo under their Selekt programme. It came from BCA, albeit back from a lease. Not only did I get a great buying experience in an excellent surrounding, I get a 24 month warranty and 12 month MOT guarantee. We also walked round the car to pick fault. New front tyres and discs and pads around. Some paint correction too. We paid sticker price. Both parties were happy. I’m sure their margin was tight, but they work on volume. They got 8 cars in from that auction buy.
Even better, the Service gent fixed my V40 squeaky clutch pedal for free, when Derby wanted to replace at +£1000.
We did however use Motorway to sell the Mini Cooper S. We got £1600 more than what WBAC offered, and were very happy with the price and process.
Edited by PT1984 on Saturday 30th March 09:00
Zippee said:
PistonBust said:
I gave them full opportunity to sell to me at asking, "speak to my manager and call you back". But no call, even a "can't help, take it or leave it". Why entertain an offer rather than be firm and say "sorry, if you'd like the car, pay the price".
WBAC has it at £13k. My Macan sold got £45k, WBAC £40k and expect the Porsche dealer who bought it havebit on for £55k in the next few days.
I guess I'm just rubbed up by their £500 hike when all others are moving south. Play a game or cough up?
WBAC though are not an indicator of value. They effectively buy cheap, sell through auction with the aim of making a profit, then the buying dealer has to make money, tidy the car up, add a warrantly, have a small amount of wriggle room in price, factor in service, possible remedial work, overheads etc.WBAC has it at £13k. My Macan sold got £45k, WBAC £40k and expect the Porsche dealer who bought it havebit on for £55k in the next few days.
I guess I'm just rubbed up by their £500 hike when all others are moving south. Play a game or cough up?
It 100% is an indicator of value especially seen as many dealers gives valuations below their figures!! So it’s a bloody good gauge.
Also OP I completely agree with you trying to get info or buy a car is like getting blood out of a stone. Sooner the all go out of business the better.
Just to confirm, I would be happy to buy at the original price the car was listed at when Inchcape first put it on Autotrader 4 weeks ago. It's the £500 hike they added a week ago that coincides with their "£500 dealer finance contribution" offer.
I asked them to produce an illustration of finance even though I can see this myself on their website but I asked for confirmation I could pay off and cancel the finance within a cooling off period. I've had no response.
Presumably the original price Inchcape asked was calculated to meet their margins. To hike priced in this market is opportunist when all other similar cars saved to my favourites are going down. Arnold Clarke just chopped £1,500 off a similar one (and it is this car I'm likely to buy).
If the sales admin clerks can't see I'm not a time waster then god help their business. The used car market may have changed with the advent of car supermarkets but good manners seem to have gone out of fashion too.
I have specifically asked all the people I have spoken to "will you receive a commission if you sell me this car?", they have all replied yes so the pure salaried position isn't with all dealers.
When I was a young sales rep, one customer was asking for a better discount on a large multi million pound order. I told him I'd speak to my boss and get back to him. His reply was to leave his office and send my boss in next time as he didn't want to do business with a puppet. I got more authority for pricing after then.
It always amuses me (last 3 Porsche purchases as experience) that a salesman always disappears to speak to his boss for what seems an age (some technique to let you stew I guess). At the end of the day I waved some notes at Inchcape but their order takers have neither the skill or authority to convert that to a sale.
Try selling a car, to anyone, trade, WBAC, private, I've done them all in the last two years, each type of buyer socks air through their teeth and chips you back for any number of stock reasons. I'll just play the dealers at their own game and if I feel a car is expensive against comparable but want it because of colour preference, I'll tell them. There is no reason to pay £1,000 more for one (common) colour over another just because the dealer is an opportunist.
I asked them to produce an illustration of finance even though I can see this myself on their website but I asked for confirmation I could pay off and cancel the finance within a cooling off period. I've had no response.
Presumably the original price Inchcape asked was calculated to meet their margins. To hike priced in this market is opportunist when all other similar cars saved to my favourites are going down. Arnold Clarke just chopped £1,500 off a similar one (and it is this car I'm likely to buy).
If the sales admin clerks can't see I'm not a time waster then god help their business. The used car market may have changed with the advent of car supermarkets but good manners seem to have gone out of fashion too.
I have specifically asked all the people I have spoken to "will you receive a commission if you sell me this car?", they have all replied yes so the pure salaried position isn't with all dealers.
When I was a young sales rep, one customer was asking for a better discount on a large multi million pound order. I told him I'd speak to my boss and get back to him. His reply was to leave his office and send my boss in next time as he didn't want to do business with a puppet. I got more authority for pricing after then.
It always amuses me (last 3 Porsche purchases as experience) that a salesman always disappears to speak to his boss for what seems an age (some technique to let you stew I guess). At the end of the day I waved some notes at Inchcape but their order takers have neither the skill or authority to convert that to a sale.
Try selling a car, to anyone, trade, WBAC, private, I've done them all in the last two years, each type of buyer socks air through their teeth and chips you back for any number of stock reasons. I'll just play the dealers at their own game and if I feel a car is expensive against comparable but want it because of colour preference, I'll tell them. There is no reason to pay £1,000 more for one (common) colour over another just because the dealer is an opportunist.
Edited by PistonBust on Sunday 31st March 19:20
Chamon_Lee said:
Honestly don’t know why people are peddling this garbage.
It 100% is an indicator of value especially seen as many dealers gives valuations below their figures!! So it’s a bloody good gauge.
Also OP I completely agree with you trying to get info or buy a car is like getting blood out of a stone. Sooner the all go out of business the better.
It's a good indicator of value if you absolutely must sell your car that day without delay. Its not a good indicator of a car's true value that could be attained if you shop around or list it yourself.It 100% is an indicator of value especially seen as many dealers gives valuations below their figures!! So it’s a bloody good gauge.
Also OP I completely agree with you trying to get info or buy a car is like getting blood out of a stone. Sooner the all go out of business the better.
CLK-GTR said:
It's a good indicator of value if you absolutely must sell your car that day without delay. Its not a good indicator of a car's true value that could be attained if you shop around or list it yourself.
I've not had a lot of luck selling privately the last twice, both Porsche, a Boxster S at £37k and a Macan S at £47k. There are just no private buyers despite the cars being slightly above WBAC and £8-10k less than a Porsche dealer. Both cars with a minimum of 2 years pukka Porsche warranty. Both cars went back into the trade (I was happy with the price) and next week up on the dealers website for some lucky person to buy but paying for the warm fuzzyness of a showroom with coffee machine, finance, trade in etc.Back to the BMW. Inchcape neglected to refund my £100 so I chased it up, the sales manager got back to me and said I could still purchase the car at the new asking and I politely declined. I see they have just reduced it back towards the original asking so people hardly biting their hand off.
Found another one at Arden, Maidstone. Negotiations advanced, price agreed (and yes they did negotiate). Salesperson sends me a nice video of the car, I email back to go ahead, got autoresponder. The next day, she's back in the office but a colleague sold it to a walk in customer. She hadn't put a marker on the car nor asked me for a deposit.
Third time lucky, BMW Bolton list one, the pics are still as it was traded in with minor scuffs, all 4 alloys shot but priced very competively (same price as the Inchcape car but two years newer). Email dialogue with sales person, prompt reply, negotiated their £500 cashback on finance deal off a cash purchase. Car to be prepped and through the bodyshop etc. Car held without deposit for 24 hours for final decision then taken off market for £500 refundable reservation fee for me to say yes/no after seeing the car and test driving it when I get back to the UK in a couple of weeks. Top marks to Bolton BMW and their sales guy, this is exactly how to do business.
Even though the Inchcape car is now within £300 of my offer, they haven't even bothered to call. They're hanging out for their extra 1.5% I guess.
To close this off, I travelled up to Bolton yesterday to collect the car. Williams were excellent, as part of the prep, they had refurbed all the wheels, put new discs and pads on the front, replaced all four tyres, had the bodyshop attend to a couple of minor scrapes. The valet was more like an expensive detail, the car was spotless.
They met me at the station, and filled the car up with fuel for my drive home.
The service from them has been nothing short of excellent and I'd highly recommend them. Top marks to Sham, thank you mate.
As for Inchcape Reading or the shysters at Arden Maidstone, you guys have a lot to learn from dealers who care about customer satisfaction! They have the highest review score of the three dealerships I had contact with too.
https://www.williamsgroup.co.uk/bmw/contact-us/bol...
They met me at the station, and filled the car up with fuel for my drive home.
The service from them has been nothing short of excellent and I'd highly recommend them. Top marks to Sham, thank you mate.
As for Inchcape Reading or the shysters at Arden Maidstone, you guys have a lot to learn from dealers who care about customer satisfaction! They have the highest review score of the three dealerships I had contact with too.
https://www.williamsgroup.co.uk/bmw/contact-us/bol...
We rang up about a car ( not dealer above ) & after chatting said we’d come over at the weekend to view , arrived the w/ end to view to be told one of there customers cars had broken down so they’d lent it to him to go on holiday in ( bit fed upto be honest ) , we received a phone call the following w/ end to say it was back , when were we comming to view , we’d brought one by then , salesman sounded fed up , 8 months later that car is still for sale ( reduced 1 k ) , 99% we’d of brought if car was there that first sat .
PistonBust said:
Found another one at Arden, Maidstone. Negotiations advanced, price agreed (and yes they did negotiate). Salesperson sends me a nice video of the car, I email back to go ahead, got autoresponder. The next day, she's back in the office but a colleague sold it to a walk in customer. She hadn't put a marker on the car nor asked me for a deposit.
To start with, the service you received from Inchcape could at best be described as disgraceful. End of!As for Arden, if I could fault them in any way it's that they didn't ask for a deposit to take the vehicle off sale. Dealerships don't "put markers" on cars to hold for a potential customer showing interest. A customer shows interest by putting a deposit on the car. A dealer puts pressure on the customer to put a deposit on the car. It's on open sale until sold! The closest I've got is when two customers are in the showroom negotiating on the car at the same time with different sales executives, when a priority may be given.
Glad you got sorted and had a good experience elsewhere.
The OP mentioned Arden Maidstone. Everyone in the area knows of Arden Maidstone and up until last year the former owner - Ross. Culturally the Staff behaved in the manner of Mr Wideboy Ross. Ross would get his Staff to charge EV cars at the free EV chargers on the retail park, blocking them all day for genuine customers. It's the same with Mr Waddell and Big Motoring World and their terrible staff during his tenure and the fraudulent reviews and posts on Pistobheads by the Big Team. the Staff behave how the management behave.
Benbay001 said:
I know this thread is getting a bit old, but it reminded me why i used to waste so long on pistonheads.
Not sure what your point is? My gainful employment spanned 50 years with a career change about half way through. Being worldly & well travelled enables me to spot crap service the moment I see it ;-)PistonBust said:
as a retired commercial pilot
PistonBust said:
When I was a young sales rep
PistonBust said:
When I employed sales people
Odd how my lifetime of buying Ford, Audi & Porsche went without much of a glitch but my first two experiences of BMW main dealers wasn't good. Name & shame, the power of the internet.
Benbay001 said:
I know this thread is getting a bit old, but it reminded me why i used to waste so long on pistonheads.
You do realise that pilots often have to have another career to fund becoming a commercial pilot, right? PistonBust said:
as a retired commercial pilot
PistonBust said:
When I was a young sales rep
PistonBust said:
When I employed sales people
PistonBust said:
Odd how my lifetime of buying Ford, Audi & Porsche went without much of a glitch but my first two experiences of BMW main dealers wasn't good. Name & shame, the power of the internet.
I thought it was just me with BMW - many of my colleagues drive them but I tried three localish dealers and just somehow hit a brick wall. I get stuff from various manufacturers but BMW don't know I exist.I had one (handed back company car) on loan for a couple of months and the engine management light came on, Rang local dealer (big place) and was bemused to get an answer phone. To be fair they did ring back, but then they said as they didn't know the car they couldn't help me!
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff