Do Arnold Clark move on screen price?
Discussion
I looked to trade the wives 2010 Renault Megane I-Music in to Seat in to Arnold Clark in Alexandra Parade in 2013 when it was 3 years old. Was offered £4000 by Clark, £5500 by Phoenix and £6000 by Park's. Evans Halshaw in Coatbridge said they would only discuss trade in price when I committed to what I was going to buy. I challenged Clark on this as they were clearly the cheapest and the salesman took a huff.
Angelus said:
In my recent experience, once you sit down with someone that £6k will be £6.5k and you'll struggle to get it for £6k. Remember that nothing comes with road tax these days and you'll be lucky if it has a set of mats, fuel or air in tyres if you're paying the £6k.
i bought a car a few years ago down south, went to pick it up and the fuel light was on,they wouldnt put any in it for me.if i was closer to home i would have told them where to stick there car,but i was that far away i took it and had to go to the nearest petrol station
It all depends how much the car has cost them to buy and then how much its cost them to "recondition" it. They aim to make £800 profit once cost of car, workshop and valet and salesman's commission has been deducted, but if they've gave the customer over the odds for the p/ex to get them buying a new car they'll be willing to give less off, that's sometimes how you'll see 2 similar cars on their forecourt, same spec, engine, colour etc but one may be say an 11 plate with 40,000 miles on it and the other a 61 plate with 30,000 miles but both the same price, its down to what the case owes them.
Also if you are taking finance they are more likely to give you money off, as they are going to make an extra couple of hundred quid on finance commission, whereas if you buy cash they will be reluctant to give you any money off as they will not only be losing any money they discount the car by but also the finance commission, the old "how much discount for cash" line doesn't work anymore.
Also, if you are planning to go to another branch locally and ask them to bring you in a car from another branch, they will but 1. It may cost you to do this, if its a branch within reasonable distance they'll send a sales driver or salesman to go for the car and it won't cost you, if the branch is a long way away they'll use their in house Transport Division to transport the car up and this will cost maybe £150 which they'll expect you to pay, obviously try and negotiate not paying it, 2. Buying a car at a branch which they need to "transfer" from another branch may not have as much profit in it as one of their own cars as it'll depend how much the other branch "sell" them it for, its supposed to be original cost to group plus any workshop expenses, but when I worked there I often sae other branches adding another couple of hundred quid to it, remember although they are the same group/company, they all have to turn a profit by whatever means necessary and if that means ripping off other branches they will, meaning less of a discount for you.
The other thing is go in near a month end, they'll be looking to hit targets and trigger bonuses meaning more chance of a good deal, don't go in demanding mats, flaps, full tank of fuel, road tax etc, just go in, tell them how much your willing to pay for the car and ask what they can do for you. The car should have minimum 11 months MOT, not be due a service for at least 3 months/3K miles, come with a second key, and any tyres replaced if below 3mm and any brake pads etc worn below half their original thickness changed anyway. Part of their new "treating customers fairly thing.
PS Gap insurance is the only thing they'll try and sell you I'd recommend taking, their " autocare" warranty isn't worth the paper its written on in my experience, and their "Clark Plan" service plans, think its £249 for 2 years is a con, you don't get 2 years servicing irrespective of how much miles you do and how many services you need in that time, its a set 2 "services" and 2 mot test fees, I use the term service loosely as all they do is change the oil and filter and "check and advise" on things you would be aware of from driving your car daily, e.g. check and advise on wiper blade condition. Check operation of windscreen washers, check all dashboard warning lights illuminated then go off as they should when vehicle started, check operation of horn, check all exterior bulbs illuminate, check exhaust condition and security, check tyre pressures and treads. Tyre condition and for any cuts or bulges. Basic stuff like that.
Also if you are taking finance they are more likely to give you money off, as they are going to make an extra couple of hundred quid on finance commission, whereas if you buy cash they will be reluctant to give you any money off as they will not only be losing any money they discount the car by but also the finance commission, the old "how much discount for cash" line doesn't work anymore.
Also, if you are planning to go to another branch locally and ask them to bring you in a car from another branch, they will but 1. It may cost you to do this, if its a branch within reasonable distance they'll send a sales driver or salesman to go for the car and it won't cost you, if the branch is a long way away they'll use their in house Transport Division to transport the car up and this will cost maybe £150 which they'll expect you to pay, obviously try and negotiate not paying it, 2. Buying a car at a branch which they need to "transfer" from another branch may not have as much profit in it as one of their own cars as it'll depend how much the other branch "sell" them it for, its supposed to be original cost to group plus any workshop expenses, but when I worked there I often sae other branches adding another couple of hundred quid to it, remember although they are the same group/company, they all have to turn a profit by whatever means necessary and if that means ripping off other branches they will, meaning less of a discount for you.
The other thing is go in near a month end, they'll be looking to hit targets and trigger bonuses meaning more chance of a good deal, don't go in demanding mats, flaps, full tank of fuel, road tax etc, just go in, tell them how much your willing to pay for the car and ask what they can do for you. The car should have minimum 11 months MOT, not be due a service for at least 3 months/3K miles, come with a second key, and any tyres replaced if below 3mm and any brake pads etc worn below half their original thickness changed anyway. Part of their new "treating customers fairly thing.
PS Gap insurance is the only thing they'll try and sell you I'd recommend taking, their " autocare" warranty isn't worth the paper its written on in my experience, and their "Clark Plan" service plans, think its £249 for 2 years is a con, you don't get 2 years servicing irrespective of how much miles you do and how many services you need in that time, its a set 2 "services" and 2 mot test fees, I use the term service loosely as all they do is change the oil and filter and "check and advise" on things you would be aware of from driving your car daily, e.g. check and advise on wiper blade condition. Check operation of windscreen washers, check all dashboard warning lights illuminated then go off as they should when vehicle started, check operation of horn, check all exterior bulbs illuminate, check exhaust condition and security, check tyre pressures and treads. Tyre condition and for any cuts or bulges. Basic stuff like that.
Edited by HendryG on Sunday 22 February 15:36
I bought a Juke Nismo from my local Clark Mazda dealer. Gave me highest trade in of anywhere for my jeep even though the EML light came on.
Picked it up with a full tank of fuel which surprised me. It wont be back for servicing though as Ill use the local Nissan dealer who isn't Clark.
The after care service is a bit poor. When I was waiting to collect it there was a n elderly lady sitting waiting for her car to be washed after its service. She was told 15mins for the wash. She had infact been sitting there for over an hour waiting on the oik washing it.
Picked it up with a full tank of fuel which surprised me. It wont be back for servicing though as Ill use the local Nissan dealer who isn't Clark.
The after care service is a bit poor. When I was waiting to collect it there was a n elderly lady sitting waiting for her car to be washed after its service. She was told 15mins for the wash. She had infact been sitting there for over an hour waiting on the oik washing it.
An interesting sale at Arnolds
Someone I know recently bought an A3 18months old 500miles ex demo got overlooked in compound supposedly Arnold does not have an Audi franchise
4000 miles later oil warning light comes on, seemingly Audi have a system the checks "quality" of oil, oh Oils should have been changed at service before you got it
You do wonder about history of some cars 18month 500miles?
Wonder when next odd issue with it will be
Someone I know recently bought an A3 18months old 500miles ex demo got overlooked in compound supposedly Arnold does not have an Audi franchise
4000 miles later oil warning light comes on, seemingly Audi have a system the checks "quality" of oil, oh Oils should have been changed at service before you got it
You do wonder about history of some cars 18month 500miles?
Wonder when next odd issue with it will be
I always buy from Arnold as in my opinion they are always the cheapest. However the caveat is that you need to know what you are looking for - if you know nothing about cars they can and will rip you off!
As with any other product you are buying, you need to do your homework and to the OP, if you think this is a good price etc, and I know human instinct is always to try and get that bit extra, then why not just settle for it?
My last car was bought from their Seafield motorstore -. In my opinion it was priced £700 too much even taking into account my trade in. The salesman said they wouldn't budge on price however I pointed out that they had priced it the same as the metallic cars even though this was non metallic.
I also showed him on my Auto Trader app several similar cars priced less.
Finally, I laid my debit card on the table, explained that I had travelled through from Motherwell, I could pay just now at the right price but I wouldn't be back. This was on the 28th of the month.
The sales manager agreed to my offer and gave me all the "we won't make any money off this etc etc " but that wasn't my concern, nor did I believe him!
I once bought 3 consecutive Scenics from them in Bishopbriggs, from a sales guy called Kenny who then went on to be sales manager in Stirling I think.
The second and third Scenics were done over the phone, agreed price and went in and did the business.
As with any other product you are buying, you need to do your homework and to the OP, if you think this is a good price etc, and I know human instinct is always to try and get that bit extra, then why not just settle for it?
My last car was bought from their Seafield motorstore -. In my opinion it was priced £700 too much even taking into account my trade in. The salesman said they wouldn't budge on price however I pointed out that they had priced it the same as the metallic cars even though this was non metallic.
I also showed him on my Auto Trader app several similar cars priced less.
Finally, I laid my debit card on the table, explained that I had travelled through from Motherwell, I could pay just now at the right price but I wouldn't be back. This was on the 28th of the month.
The sales manager agreed to my offer and gave me all the "we won't make any money off this etc etc " but that wasn't my concern, nor did I believe him!
I once bought 3 consecutive Scenics from them in Bishopbriggs, from a sales guy called Kenny who then went on to be sales manager in Stirling I think.
The second and third Scenics were done over the phone, agreed price and went in and did the business.
Craigie said:
I always buy from Arnold as in my opinion they are always the cheapest. However the caveat is that you need to know what you are looking for - if you know nothing about cars they can and will rip you off!
As with any other product you are buying, you need to do your homework and to the OP, if you think this is a good price etc, and I know human instinct is always to try and get that bit extra, then why not just settle for it?
My last car was bought from their Seafield motorstore -. In my opinion it was priced £700 too much even taking into account my trade in. The salesman said they wouldn't budge on price however I pointed out that they had priced it the same as the metallic cars even though this was non metallic.
I also showed him on my Auto Trader app several similar cars priced less.
Finally, I laid my debit card on the table, explained that I had travelled through from Motherwell, I could pay just now at the right price but I wouldn't be back. This was on the 28th of the month.
The sales manager agreed to my offer and gave me all the "we won't make any money off this etc etc " but that wasn't my concern, nor did I believe him!
I once bought 3 consecutive Scenics from them in Bishopbriggs, from a sales guy called Kenny who then went on to be sales manager in Stirling I think.
The second and third Scenics were done over the phone, agreed price and went in and did the business.
Agree with that, I used to work with them and still had issues:As with any other product you are buying, you need to do your homework and to the OP, if you think this is a good price etc, and I know human instinct is always to try and get that bit extra, then why not just settle for it?
My last car was bought from their Seafield motorstore -. In my opinion it was priced £700 too much even taking into account my trade in. The salesman said they wouldn't budge on price however I pointed out that they had priced it the same as the metallic cars even though this was non metallic.
I also showed him on my Auto Trader app several similar cars priced less.
Finally, I laid my debit card on the table, explained that I had travelled through from Motherwell, I could pay just now at the right price but I wouldn't be back. This was on the 28th of the month.
The sales manager agreed to my offer and gave me all the "we won't make any money off this etc etc " but that wasn't my concern, nor did I believe him!
I once bought 3 consecutive Scenics from them in Bishopbriggs, from a sales guy called Kenny who then went on to be sales manager in Stirling I think.
The second and third Scenics were done over the phone, agreed price and went in and did the business.
First car I bought was a 206 about 3 months before I started with them, only one that didn't have any issues, second was a 3 year old Clio when I worked for them at Linwood Citroen, bought from a mate I knew before I worked there, it got brought in from Paisley Renault for me, was advertised as 20,000 miles but when it came in had done 29,000. Deal was brilliant so I bought it anyway, later turned out it had no spare key as the previous owners daughter had lost it, no service history as shed had it serviced at Farmer Autocare and didn't give them the service book, it had a dent on the bonnet, paperwork to suggest it'd had a front ender (confirmed by previous owner, her brother worked on one of Armies bodyshops, and the front bumper I had it confirmed hadn't been painted correctly as the paint was literally falling off front bumper) needed new discs and pads, an oil cap and 2 tyres. eventually I got Farmers to stamp up the book, got a spare key fob ordered to my branch and then had to take it to Renault myself to get the blade cut and the key coded at their expense and badgered my sales manager into agreeing to service putting new brakes and tyres on it.
Second was a Corsa, 2 years old, it was an ex Arnold Clark Contract Hire car, I.e. one which had been bought by their leasing dept at St Georges Cross and then leased to a company then bought back, it had originally been supplied by their Pollokshaws Vauxhall branch new, and was for sale at their Helensburgh VW site, I went to their Peat Road Renault branch and bought it, they got it over from the Helensburgh branch and in fairness the car was pristine, but I would've expected that from a 23 month old car with 11,700 miles. First issue was despite being supplied new on 13/11/05 by their Pollokshaws branch, even the number plates were the originals with the Pollokshaws branch postcode on them, the service book was dated 2/11/05 stamped by Linwood Vauxhall so I suspect the wrong service book. The clutch pedal rubber was missing and it had the common Corsa C issue of amisadjusted handbrake cables, the handbrake could be vertical but car would still roll on the slightest incline, they weren't going to fix it as they said there was no money in it as they'd given me such a good deal they'd only made £500. Eventually they did.
Then I bought a 6 year old Astra from Paisley Renault, bought on a Sunday, supposed to collect on Wednesday, it failed its MOT, then they were awaiting parts then one of their mechanics apparently chucked it so they were left behind, then they tried to fit non genuine handbrake cables which kept snapping and service managed wouldn't authorised genuine Vauxhall ones, eventually got it on the Saturday, immediately noticed CD player jumping, the 12v socket didn't work and the passenger side repeater was broken and hanging off, surely an MOT fail. Then I got pulled by the cops for having a brake light out, fair enough that could've just happened. Then next day coming off the braehead slip road of the M8 car kept juddering and cutting out, nursed it to Renfrew and had to keep the revs above 2000rpm or it would stall, had to leave it and get a lift home, they towed it directly to Linwood Vauxhall on the Monday where the EGR valve needed replaced, meanwhile I badgered them for a courtesy car and sales managed immediately refused and said I'd bought a cheap car with parts only warranty what did I expect. They eventually gave me a f
ked 51 plate Zafira off the forecourt which the next day I couldn't start as due to a worn ignition barrel the key wouldn't turn.However, in fairness I've had a few similar issues with both Parks Citroen EK and Parks Renault Motherwell when I bought cars from each of them.
Martin_M said:
Good posts Henry. Are you still in the trade?
No, been out of it about 4 years now but looking to get back into it, left Arnold Clark in 2011 for a variety of reasons (high turnover of staff meaning it was an awkward place to work, the lack of care given to doing a good job/people taking pride in their work, the general manager when i left was a complete nutter and as a result the staff were constantly on edge, treated like crap so it wasn't a nice place to work, it was fine for maybe the first 2 years I was there but after the first general manager and 3 sales managers who were all fairly decent guys got moved to other branches it all changed.)HendryG said:
No, been out of it about 4 years now but looking to get back into it, left Arnold Clark in 2011 for a variety of reasons (high turnover of staff meaning it was an awkward place to work, the lack of care given to doing a good job/people taking pride in their work, the general manager when i left was a complete nutter and as a result the staff were constantly on edge, treated like crap so it wasn't a nice place to work, it was fine for maybe the first 2 years I was there but after the first general manager and 3 sales managers who were all fairly decent guys got moved to other branches it all changed.)
Interesting. I always thought I would have made a good car salesman. Isn't there an attraction to work for the high end companies like Porsche?My family car (vauxhall insignia estate) came from arnold clark. I managed to get my trade in increased by £500 and £500 knocked off the winscreen price so that was £1000 off all in. Got it home and noticed a chip on the windscreen and a little mark on the drivers bolster.
Went back and they fixed the chip and replaced the door card. I wasn't happy with the chip repair as i could feel it with my finger so they replaced the windscreen for me.
I think with Arnolds they are so big and do sell so many cars your always going to get poor experiences. Personally I've had no problems with the last 6 cars I've bought from them. Although I'm sure the deal depends purely on how desperate the salesman is for the sale and how well the branch has done that month.
Johnny.
Went back and they fixed the chip and replaced the door card. I wasn't happy with the chip repair as i could feel it with my finger so they replaced the windscreen for me.
I think with Arnolds they are so big and do sell so many cars your always going to get poor experiences. Personally I've had no problems with the last 6 cars I've bought from them. Although I'm sure the deal depends purely on how desperate the salesman is for the sale and how well the branch has done that month.
Johnny.
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