Independent Dealer Buying - NEVER AGAIN!
Discussion
I've bought and sold many cars over the years, the vast majority have been private sales or auction purchases and one from a main dealer, all of these have been no hassle. This time I found an independent dealer with the car I wanted, a very expensive car but the whole buying process has been a total joke.
I've never come across any business that operates in such a ridiclous way, adverts with blatent lies, deposits taken under false pretenses, trying to sell vehicles with more finance outstanding than their actual sale price, attempting to pass financial risk onto the customer and trying to convince them it is correct!!!
NEVER AGAIN will I try to purchase an expensive car from an independent dealer, in fact I will probably never bother with an independant dealer ever again.
End rant.
I've never come across any business that operates in such a ridiclous way, adverts with blatent lies, deposits taken under false pretenses, trying to sell vehicles with more finance outstanding than their actual sale price, attempting to pass financial risk onto the customer and trying to convince them it is correct!!!
NEVER AGAIN will I try to purchase an expensive car from an independent dealer, in fact I will probably never bother with an independant dealer ever again.
End rant.
Evening
I've bought a couple of cars from independent dealers for a few £thousand.
In both instances, they had "new" MOTs, but in both instances I found things quite quickly that were blatant MOT failures.
In both instances, the distance to the dealer, or the ability to fix myself made it not worth the hassle, but personally I don't trust car dealers who get thier own MOTs done speedily.
The examples I've got are
- horn not working (corroded contacts)
- battary clamp missing
- fog light/ side repeaters not working
- split CV boot
- exhaust system blowing (should have spotted myself tbc)
Maybe I've been unluky two times out of two. I'll buy a lottery ticket this week and hope it cancels it out.
However, by paying in cash at least I avoided finance pit falls
Ian
I've bought a couple of cars from independent dealers for a few £thousand.
In both instances, they had "new" MOTs, but in both instances I found things quite quickly that were blatant MOT failures.
In both instances, the distance to the dealer, or the ability to fix myself made it not worth the hassle, but personally I don't trust car dealers who get thier own MOTs done speedily.
The examples I've got are
- horn not working (corroded contacts)
- battary clamp missing
- fog light/ side repeaters not working
- split CV boot
- exhaust system blowing (should have spotted myself tbc)
Maybe I've been unluky two times out of two. I'll buy a lottery ticket this week and hope it cancels it out.
However, by paying in cash at least I avoided finance pit falls
Ian
It's a good rule for car buying!
There doesn't appear to be enough margin available to independent car dealers for them to do an honest job,
that or there is so little likelihood of repeat business they belive there is no downside to taking the mick.
The funniest incident was standing on a forecourt being given the sales patter by the front of house guy while his mate was busy 'fixing' the door
card of a mondeo with his foot about 10 yards away, seemingly hoping that kicking it would resolve the fact that it was clearly broken. I guess if you need to make a grand
on every car you sell and your flogging £2K cars you are going to have to cut some corners.
I try and go private or main dealer, neither I've had a problem with (touch wood). However I've always been screwed over by independents and some of that has been on expensive stuff
(which got resolved through getting serious with the legal action approach but for the cheaper cars its just not worth it).
There doesn't appear to be enough margin available to independent car dealers for them to do an honest job,
that or there is so little likelihood of repeat business they belive there is no downside to taking the mick.
The funniest incident was standing on a forecourt being given the sales patter by the front of house guy while his mate was busy 'fixing' the door
card of a mondeo with his foot about 10 yards away, seemingly hoping that kicking it would resolve the fact that it was clearly broken. I guess if you need to make a grand
on every car you sell and your flogging £2K cars you are going to have to cut some corners.
I try and go private or main dealer, neither I've had a problem with (touch wood). However I've always been screwed over by independents and some of that has been on expensive stuff
(which got resolved through getting serious with the legal action approach but for the cheaper cars its just not worth it).
Its probably the reason why there are hardly any private dealers left. Where I live in south manchester there used to be a dozen or more, its hard to find any at all now. As we are all saying, there just ain't the margin in it now we can all use on-line resources to sell ourselves, plus cars are so much more reliable the risks of buying are much lower than 10-20 years ago.
paqs said:
I've bought and sold many cars over the years, the vast majority have been private sales or auction purchases and one from a main dealer, all of these have been no hassle. This time I found an independent dealer with the car I wanted, a very expensive car but the whole buying process has been a total joke.
I've never come across any business that operates in such a ridiclous way, adverts with blatent lies, deposits taken under false pretenses, trying to sell vehicles with more finance outstanding than their actual sale price, attempting to pass financial risk onto the customer and trying to convince them it is correct!!!
NEVER AGAIN will I try to purchase an expensive car from an independent dealer, in fact I will probably never bother with an independant dealer ever again.
End rant.
clues to dealer please I've never come across any business that operates in such a ridiclous way, adverts with blatent lies, deposits taken under false pretenses, trying to sell vehicles with more finance outstanding than their actual sale price, attempting to pass financial risk onto the customer and trying to convince them it is correct!!!
NEVER AGAIN will I try to purchase an expensive car from an independent dealer, in fact I will probably never bother with an independant dealer ever again.
End rant.
paqs said:
I've bought and sold many cars over the years, the vast majority have been private sales or auction purchases and one from a main dealer, all of these have been no hassle. This time I found an independent dealer with the car I wanted, a very expensive car but the whole buying process has been a total joke.
I've never come across any business that operates in such a ridiclous way, adverts with blatent lies, deposits taken under false pretenses, trying to sell vehicles with more finance outstanding than their actual sale price, attempting to pass financial risk onto the customer and trying to convince them it is correct!!!
NEVER AGAIN will I try to purchase an expensive car from an independent dealer, in fact I will probably never bother with an independant dealer ever again.
End rant.
....I bought my Porsche from a very well respected Porsche Indie and have got to say the whole process was hassle free and a pleasure......so not all Indies are shysters.....just do your homework next time....no excuses.....the internet is your friend.....I've never come across any business that operates in such a ridiclous way, adverts with blatent lies, deposits taken under false pretenses, trying to sell vehicles with more finance outstanding than their actual sale price, attempting to pass financial risk onto the customer and trying to convince them it is correct!!!
NEVER AGAIN will I try to purchase an expensive car from an independent dealer, in fact I will probably never bother with an independant dealer ever again.
End rant.
[quote] It's a good rule for car buying!
There doesn't appear to be enough margin available to independent car dealers for them to do an honest job,
that or there is so little likelihood of repeat business they belive there is no downside to taking the mick.
[/quote]
....bullshoite.....there are plenty of good Indies out there.....as I said before.....just do your homework.
There doesn't appear to be enough margin available to independent car dealers for them to do an honest job,
that or there is so little likelihood of repeat business they belive there is no downside to taking the mick.
[/quote]
....bullshoite.....there are plenty of good Indies out there.....as I said before.....just do your homework.
I bought a used BMW from an independent dealer (not even a BMW specialist).
Service was fantastic, accommodated my arrival just before closing time to do a test drive (I called in advance) and only asked for 100.00 quid deposit to hold the car 1 week whilst I got the money sorted out. At a large West London main dealer they were not very interested in even showing me the particular used car I went to see, let alone a test drive but it was a Saturday and the place was full of punters looking at new cars so fair enough.
Upon collection the rear parking sensor was not working (due to a jet washer being used to close to it) and the tracking was out. So what did he do - order a new sensor and he arranged for me to book an appointment at my convenience but on their account at the proper 4 wheel tracking place that charges about 100+ quid for the full treatment.
Like any business you get good ones and bad ones...
Let me know how you get on at a main dealer as in my experience they can be just as bad/good...
Service was fantastic, accommodated my arrival just before closing time to do a test drive (I called in advance) and only asked for 100.00 quid deposit to hold the car 1 week whilst I got the money sorted out. At a large West London main dealer they were not very interested in even showing me the particular used car I went to see, let alone a test drive but it was a Saturday and the place was full of punters looking at new cars so fair enough.
Upon collection the rear parking sensor was not working (due to a jet washer being used to close to it) and the tracking was out. So what did he do - order a new sensor and he arranged for me to book an appointment at my convenience but on their account at the proper 4 wheel tracking place that charges about 100+ quid for the full treatment.
Like any business you get good ones and bad ones...
Let me know how you get on at a main dealer as in my experience they can be just as bad/good...
i got shafted by the Audi Specialist in Ivor (slough) that had apparently won Indy of the year countless times by Audi club uk.
I had 2 full A4 pages of Defects with the car within a week, took them another 2 weeks to have garage space to work on it, where they fixed 1 thing and told me the rest was wear and tear. NICE!
A week after that i found it had a chunk of filler in the rear pillar and 1 whole side had been painted and due to a shoddy repair it was starting to rust around the rear arch.
I'll buy from an indy again but i wont assume that because im paying over the top for a supposedly good reputation im getting a good quality car!
I had 2 full A4 pages of Defects with the car within a week, took them another 2 weeks to have garage space to work on it, where they fixed 1 thing and told me the rest was wear and tear. NICE!
A week after that i found it had a chunk of filler in the rear pillar and 1 whole side had been painted and due to a shoddy repair it was starting to rust around the rear arch.
I'll buy from an indy again but i wont assume that because im paying over the top for a supposedly good reputation im getting a good quality car!
About 4 years ago I bought a Focus from an independant dealer. I asked for a couple of issues to be sorted before I picked the car up, one of which was to replace the cracked side repeater.
Came to pick the car up and the repeater had been changed. All very good I thought, until I walked round the other side of the car and found he had just swapped it to the other side!
I'd also asked him to change a tyre as it had a noticeable bulge. Bulge probably swapped to the inside where I couldn't see it, so bought 4 new tyres the following week.
I wouldn't trust an independant dealer as far as I could throw him. Next time I would probably buy private, and the £500-£1000 saved could be put aside for fixing niggles.
Came to pick the car up and the repeater had been changed. All very good I thought, until I walked round the other side of the car and found he had just swapped it to the other side!
I'd also asked him to change a tyre as it had a noticeable bulge. Bulge probably swapped to the inside where I couldn't see it, so bought 4 new tyres the following week.
I wouldn't trust an independant dealer as far as I could throw him. Next time I would probably buy private, and the £500-£1000 saved could be put aside for fixing niggles.
When I was looking for the wife's car the indies seemed to major in end of lease cars...previous owners were Lombard etc. Didn't leave me with a very positive view of leasers given that many cars had services way overdue.
In the end bought privately from some elderly chap who suffered with 'dropped foot'.....not that you'd notice on a 1.2 Micra......
There's something a bit shonky about indies that puts me off...can't quite put my Frank Butcher on it though...
In the end bought privately from some elderly chap who suffered with 'dropped foot'.....not that you'd notice on a 1.2 Micra......
There's something a bit shonky about indies that puts me off...can't quite put my Frank Butcher on it though...
I bought a car from an indy (a specialist, admittedly) we agreed he'd get a few bits done for me before I collected it.
Got a phone call a few days later.."sorry Mr Varsas, we can't let you have the car, the head gasket has blown" sent me my deposit back, and said sorry but that they were happier it happened while they still had it.
Bit upset as I really liked the car but it could have gone very badly for me if they had been unscrupulous (I had already looked round it, so would have just driven it away)
Got a phone call a few days later.."sorry Mr Varsas, we can't let you have the car, the head gasket has blown" sent me my deposit back, and said sorry but that they were happier it happened while they still had it.
Bit upset as I really liked the car but it could have gone very badly for me if they had been unscrupulous (I had already looked round it, so would have just driven it away)
varsas said:
I bought a car from an indy (a specialist, admittedly) we agreed he'd get a few bits done for me before I collected it.
Got a phone call a few days later.."sorry Mr Varsas, we can't let you have the car, the head gasket has blown" sent me my deposit back, and said sorry but that they were happier it happened while they still had it.
Bit upset as I really liked the car but it could have gone very badly for me if they had been unscrupulous (I had already looked round it, so would have just driven it away)
More likely they'd sold it to someone else for a better price!Got a phone call a few days later.."sorry Mr Varsas, we can't let you have the car, the head gasket has blown" sent me my deposit back, and said sorry but that they were happier it happened while they still had it.
Bit upset as I really liked the car but it could have gone very badly for me if they had been unscrupulous (I had already looked round it, so would have just driven it away)
Another thumbs up for a small indi dealer I have bought 2 cars from in Weybridge - more detailed and conciousness than just about any main dealer I have ever dealt with. Cars properly prepared BEFORE viewing, taken to main dealers for (early) servicing before sale, and also checked if any recall work required, and good honest open and fair service.
Got a good deal at an indy lasy year too - sensible guy, who had bought well at auction, done nothing except give it a cursory clean, and who was happy to share his margin to move it on within a few days.
Buyer beware at indys, too. If approached with the same mindset as a private seller then it can be fine - not all their car can be dogs, staistically!
Buyer beware at indys, too. If approached with the same mindset as a private seller then it can be fine - not all their car can be dogs, staistically!
madala said:
[[quote=(steven)]It's a good rule for car buying!
There doesn't appear to be enough margin available to independent car dealers for them to do an honest job,
that or there is so little likelihood of repeat business they belive there is no downside to taking the mick.
....bullshoite.....there are plenty of good Indies out there.....as I said before.....just do your homework.There doesn't appear to be enough margin available to independent car dealers for them to do an honest job,
that or there is so little likelihood of repeat business they belive there is no downside to taking the mick.
A £400 porsche is likely to be a s
tter a, a dealer that is always £100's below the cheapest similar car is likely to be iffy.Last car I bought from an indepandant dealer was in 1987 (6 mth old 205) - he was great there were no niggles with the car it was cleaned well and service record up to date and didn't put me off independants.....
The last car I bought direct from a manufacturer in 2000 (9 year old Vauxhall Carlton) I'd bought it in a sealed bid auction (I did get to inspect it before bidding but not test drive it) I won the sealed bids process and on the day it was delivered (on a covered transporter) the warrenty I got was the time it took the delivery drivers to drink a cup of tea while I test drove it - I didn't have any issues with the terms.
I just find that I can find better/more cars offered as private sales
The last car I bought direct from a manufacturer in 2000 (9 year old Vauxhall Carlton) I'd bought it in a sealed bid auction (I did get to inspect it before bidding but not test drive it) I won the sealed bids process and on the day it was delivered (on a covered transporter) the warrenty I got was the time it took the delivery drivers to drink a cup of tea while I test drove it - I didn't have any issues with the terms.
I just find that I can find better/more cars offered as private sales
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