buying a Range Rover L405 - bloody dealers

[grand cherokee]

I'm now wanting to buy a L405 about a year old so talking about £70K plus - no finance needed so effectively cash

spoken to a few dealers and the sales staff are dreadful - they know fk all about the cars they have in stock

simple question like does it have rear view camera system - answer, don't know MATE i'll have a look????

Tata best address this problem of lazy sales staff

[foliedouce]

Yep, my business partner has had this exact experience when he tried to buy a new L405 from a LR dealer in Reading - completely not interested.

He ended up doing the research himself and ordering through a car broker with a 3% discount.

I have recently had good service from Ridgeway LR http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... so they might be worth a try, but they said they wouldn't do a discount so a broker is your friend.

Let us know how you get on.

[A.J.M]

If your willing to travel, PH member LHD is a LR dealer worker and would i'm sure be able to sort you out with a car.
He is based in Edinburgh though.

[simonej]

grand cherokee said:

.....answer, don't know MATE i'll have a look????

The salesman I dealt with at my local dealer kept calling me 'mate' as well. I don't know about other people but to me that's not an acceptable term to use to customers!

For what it's worth, when my Dad bought his from Farnell in Bradford I found the salesman both professional and knowledgable.

[dafydd2008]

Hi Grand,

Speak to Danny at LR Ascot, top guy and will help you as much as he can.
Purchased 2 new cars over the last year with him and each time he has sourced the car quickly and updated me all the way through the deal.

[Fastpedeller]

simonej said:

grand cherokee said:

.....answer, don't know MATE i'll have a look????

The salesman I dealt with at my local dealer kept calling me 'mate' as well. I don't know about other people but to me that's not an acceptable term to use to customers!

For what it's worth, when my Dad bought his from Farnell in Bradford I found the salesman both professional and knowledgable.

Ordered something by 'phone off Burton Power recently and the salesman kept insisting n calling me 'Chap' - I very nearly put the 'phone down!

[grand cherokee]

many thanks for your suggestions - I will ring these dealers and see what stock they have - the problem is I do not want black and the vast majority of cars are black - also want a light (ivory) interior

my current L322 is Tonga Green with Ivory interior and the light colour makes it 'feel' more spacious - I've been in a new L405 with all black interior and it was like being in a cave

I've no problem buying 'over the phone' if they can provide photographs/service record/build sheet etc

I assume sales staff get paid commission so their lack of interest is staggering

what sort of discount would you expect for a 4.4 V8 priced at say £77,500 - no trade in and 'cash'?

[grand cherokee]

bit of an update

found a possible car at the dealership who service my L322 - 2013 4.4 SDV8 in Baltic Blue with 14K miles for £72.500

sadly, all black interior but it has extras that I want like electric deployable tow bar - so got to weigh up pros and cons

[hilly10]

I would hang out for the light interior, as you said and I think the same,an all black int looks like a cave. I had almond in my Evoque its looks bigger inside.

[unrepentant]

grand cherokee said:

what sort of discount would you expect for a 4.4 V8 priced at say £77,500 - no trade in and 'cash'?

None. "Paying cash" means the dealer makes less money so it's not an incentive for him.

As someone who works for a JLR dealership in the USA I'm always staggered by these comments about bad service. Everyone here is trained very thoroughly and the idea of a salesman not knowing whether a car has a back up camera is unthinkable and to be honest scarcely believable. We do not allow anyone to even talk to a customer about the product until they have passed the online training courses and are able to do a walk around to the satisfaction of a senior colleague.

We still have 4-6 month waiting lists for both FF and Sport and all cars go out at sticker. Some dealers here are still adding a "market adjustment" of up to $15k...

[Triple7]

The trouble is unrepentant, the dealers here are pretty awful. LR are doing so well they don't need to 'sell', most peeps are just going in & buying. Those who want 'service' are finding it very lacking. In truth, if it was like this in the USA, the yanks wouldn't but up with it.

I have a deposit on an new Disco Sport, I went in & specced it with the sales manager. Get the paperwork through and half of what I want us missing. WTF!

[Aeroresh]

There are plenty out there if you want used, just search autotrader.

In terms of discount on a used car it depends how much its been offered for surely. Best deals can be had going in a couple of days before the quarter or year end in my experience!

Regarding dealers I dont think Id ever rely on a dealer to know what theyre talking about.....that goes for any brand not just JLR....dont they all have back up cameras though?

One thing that may be worth considering, dealers get commission on selling finance. Ive not done it for a while but last time I bought a Mercedes on finance to take advantage of a dealer contribution scheme.

I settled it within the 14 day cooling off period and everyone was a winner!

[grand cherokee]

Aeroresh said:

There are plenty out there if you want used, just search autotrader.

In terms of discount on a used car it depends how much its been offered for surely. Best deals can be had going in a couple of days before the quarter or year end in my experience!

Regarding dealers I dont think Id ever rely on a dealer to know what theyre talking about.....that goes for any brand not just JLR....dont they all have back up cameras though?

One thing that may be worth considering, dealers get commission on selling finance. Ive not done it for a while but last time I bought a Mercedes on finance to take advantage of a dealer contribution scheme.

I settled it within the 14 day cooling off period and everyone was a winner!

well, used Autotrader and rung about a few cars

sadly they know bugger all about the cars and tell me to read the LR web site?

fk me £70K plus to spend and I get this st??

makes me wonder why spend this sort of money on a car that the dealers do not care about? -- maybe they are too complacent selling cars to failed bankers?

because for the life of me I cannot understand their attitude

Edited by grand cherokee on Thursday 13th November 13:50

[RRLover]

I bought my 405 private.
Try Farnell LR if you want dealer service. Harwoods are hopeless ... that story is for another time.

[NomduJour]

grand cherokee said:

because for the life of me I cannot understand their attitude

You only need a good salesman if the product is hard to shift, Range Rovers don't need much selling at the moment. There's also usually a reason why people end up in sales.

[unrepentant]

NomduJour said:

grand cherokee said:

because for the life of me I cannot understand their attitude

You only need a good salesman if the product is hard to shift, Range Rovers don't need much selling at the moment. There's also usually a reason why people end up in sales.

You pompous tt. What do you do?

The fact is that most people can't hack it at sales and most CEO's are salesmen.

[POORCARDEALER]

NomduJour said:

grand cherokee said:

because for the life of me I cannot understand their attitude

You only need a good salesman if the product is hard to shift, Range Rovers don't need much selling at the moment. There's also usually a reason why people end up in sales.

There is, gave me a great grounding in dealing with tts like you.

[NomduJour]

Touched a nerve I see.

[unrepentant]

NomduJour said:

Touched a nerve I see.

No, you've proved before that you're a grade A bell end so nothing new.

You really should tell us what you do though. I suspect the answer is not much.

[NomduJour]

Your cringe-worthy, never-ending spouting of the corporate line seems very much the behaviour of a toadying bellend. Keep kissing the stty arse of the American Dream.

How I earn my money is irrelevant and none of your business. My opinion of car salesmen is based on first-hand experience and this thread clearly demonstrates that I'm not alone.