Used Car Dealers
Discussion
daemon said:
Yes sometimes preconceptions get in the way - and sadly for this dealer you're describing he may well have lost a deal.
I guess 'heavy' metal does attract a lot of dheads and its hard to sort out the wheat from the chaff. I've a 3.0i Quattro Avant Audi A6 for sale at the minute at £1995 (took it as a trade in, need to retail it to get out on a duff trade in further up the line - wouldnt otherwise retail something like this). So far today alone i've had 'will you take £1200 for it? I will come now with the cash' (loving how he thinks i'm making that much that i can knock £800 off and still stand over it, make a bit of profit, etc'), then there was the 'would you swap it for a 20ft boat?', then another guy looking to swap for a motorbike. I've a guy on his way now coming some distance (100 mile round trip for him). He hasnt mentioned price yet but i'll be turning him away if its a stupid offer. Thats all just so far today. Imagine the goofballs who'd be texting per day if i'd 20 or 30 cars....
When i've sold cars privately people really do test your patience - so I don't blame anybody for putting some filtering mechanism in!!!I guess 'heavy' metal does attract a lot of dheads and its hard to sort out the wheat from the chaff. I've a 3.0i Quattro Avant Audi A6 for sale at the minute at £1995 (took it as a trade in, need to retail it to get out on a duff trade in further up the line - wouldnt otherwise retail something like this). So far today alone i've had 'will you take £1200 for it? I will come now with the cash' (loving how he thinks i'm making that much that i can knock £800 off and still stand over it, make a bit of profit, etc'), then there was the 'would you swap it for a 20ft boat?', then another guy looking to swap for a motorbike. I've a guy on his way now coming some distance (100 mile round trip for him). He hasnt mentioned price yet but i'll be turning him away if its a stupid offer. Thats all just so far today. Imagine the goofballs who'd be texting per day if i'd 20 or 30 cars....
woody2846 said:
We'll I sell Subaru's and I can tell you that an Impreza auto at this time of year is a great bit of stock. I certainly would not be looking to do big discounts off the car and would be happy, if needs be to have in stock for a while as there will be someone out there who will buy at the right price.
OP the car you are looking at is it in a main dealer or another garage?
If it is the car that I'm thinking of then they have it marked up at a fair price already.
I have sent you a PM and if I can help source you a car then of course I will.
Cheers but I managed to get the same model/spec from a dealer in the midlands, for a price I was happy to pay.OP the car you are looking at is it in a main dealer or another garage?
If it is the car that I'm thinking of then they have it marked up at a fair price already.
I have sent you a PM and if I can help source you a car then of course I will.
daemon said:
Yes sometimes preconceptions get in the way - and sadly for this dealer you're describing he may well have lost a deal.
I guess 'heavy' metal does attract a lot of dheads and its hard to sort out the wheat from the chaff. I've a 3.0i Quattro Avant Audi A6 for sale at the minute at £1995 (took it as a trade in, need to retail it to get out on a duff trade in further up the line - wouldnt otherwise retail something like this). So far today alone i've had 'will you take £1200 for it? I will come now with the cash' (loving how he thinks i'm making that much that i can knock £800 off and still stand over it, make a bit of profit, etc'), then there was the 'would you swap it for a 20ft boat?', then another guy looking to swap for a motorbike. I've a guy on his way now coming some distance (100 mile round trip for him). He hasnt mentioned price yet but i'll be turning him away if its a stupid offer. Thats all just so far today. Imagine the goofballs who'd be texting per day if i'd 20 or 30 cars....
Daemon, I guess 'heavy' metal does attract a lot of dheads and its hard to sort out the wheat from the chaff. I've a 3.0i Quattro Avant Audi A6 for sale at the minute at £1995 (took it as a trade in, need to retail it to get out on a duff trade in further up the line - wouldnt otherwise retail something like this). So far today alone i've had 'will you take £1200 for it? I will come now with the cash' (loving how he thinks i'm making that much that i can knock £800 off and still stand over it, make a bit of profit, etc'), then there was the 'would you swap it for a 20ft boat?', then another guy looking to swap for a motorbike. I've a guy on his way now coming some distance (100 mile round trip for him). He hasnt mentioned price yet but i'll be turning him away if its a stupid offer. Thats all just so far today. Imagine the goofballs who'd be texting per day if i'd 20 or 30 cars....
This also explains why the dealers really couldn't give a crap about my offers. I work overseas and spend a max 3 weeks in the UK every year. I have been calling round dealers for a few months putting my name down that I am looking for a car of this spec and price. I phone first (from overseas) explaining what car I wanted and the situation. A few dealers were receptive and emailed me the stock-list every week. Others could not be bothered.
My time in the UK is short and I tried to do as much leg work I could overseas. I do bit have the time to waste, travelling 200+ mile round journeys to see a car if the dealership are not flexible on price or what's included in the deal. But equally I am not going to pay more than I consider the car to be worth based on previous car sales that I have followed for the past 6 months or so.
But your final few example of situations have made things a but clearer thanks
Butter Face said:
The general rule is 'bums on seats sells cars' so I always want people to drive before talking money.
When I bought my Volvo the salesman met me at the door (half an hour before closing) with the keys and sent me off to try it, as it happens I'd already decided to leave a deposit on the car and would have gone back to drive it later but he clearly thought me driving the car would swing it. Do car salesmen rationalise the thought that a car buyer can only buy a car within that size sector?
Yesterday I went around the stealerships looking at a range of cars that I had searched online for. We're looking to change Mrs V's Corsa (the one all you PH'ers love). Our budget, excluding the rough £2,000 value of the bucket of Corsa, is from £5-£35,000k. Our choices of cars were:
Mazda 2
Subaru Impreza
BMW 1 Series Hatch
BMW 1 Series Coupe
Land Rover Discovery
When asked what other cars we were considering I told them quite candidly and the look on all the salesmens faces were of utter confusion as though I had shagged their daughters. For professionals used to talking the talk it actually shut them up!
Mazda guy thought that we should only be buying a supermini as a Discovery wasn't comparable to a Fiesta. The only one that seemed to get it towards the end of the prospective sale was Subaru guy who said that maybe we could go halfway to a Discovery and tried to upsell a Legacy. He finally realised that as a second car we could afford to be more creative. Everyone else seemed to be a robot where the red led inside died out!
Yesterday I went around the stealerships looking at a range of cars that I had searched online for. We're looking to change Mrs V's Corsa (the one all you PH'ers love). Our budget, excluding the rough £2,000 value of the bucket of Corsa, is from £5-£35,000k. Our choices of cars were:
Mazda 2
Subaru Impreza
BMW 1 Series Hatch
BMW 1 Series Coupe
Land Rover Discovery
When asked what other cars we were considering I told them quite candidly and the look on all the salesmens faces were of utter confusion as though I had shagged their daughters. For professionals used to talking the talk it actually shut them up!
Mazda guy thought that we should only be buying a supermini as a Discovery wasn't comparable to a Fiesta. The only one that seemed to get it towards the end of the prospective sale was Subaru guy who said that maybe we could go halfway to a Discovery and tried to upsell a Legacy. He finally realised that as a second car we could afford to be more creative. Everyone else seemed to be a robot where the red led inside died out!
It's a bit odd that you're considering such a wide range of vehicles.
Normay people have a slightly narrower field of requirements so someone saying they're considering a Mazda 2 or a Disco is a bit strange as they are not just different variations but worlds apart.
The other reason they would have looked at you like that is because people who come in wanting to look at such a wide range of cars are not normally ready to buy. They'll want to drive everything then go away and think some more. Then they'll change their mind and want something completely different or fall off the face of the earth.
And they'll want figures on absolutely everything too.
IME of course.
Normay people have a slightly narrower field of requirements so someone saying they're considering a Mazda 2 or a Disco is a bit strange as they are not just different variations but worlds apart.
The other reason they would have looked at you like that is because people who come in wanting to look at such a wide range of cars are not normally ready to buy. They'll want to drive everything then go away and think some more. Then they'll change their mind and want something completely different or fall off the face of the earth.
And they'll want figures on absolutely everything too.
IME of course.
Good points ButterFace.
We narrowed down the choices at home and went to look at the cars. Sometimes it's easier going to car supermarkets where you get left alone to explore open cars (like Jefferies Farm).
We found the 1 series to be cramp. Seemed better in the rear of the Mazda 2. That's the whole point of looking!
I think we're going for a head decision of a Mazda 2 and a heart decision of a Disco.
We narrowed down the choices at home and went to look at the cars. Sometimes it's easier going to car supermarkets where you get left alone to explore open cars (like Jefferies Farm).
We found the 1 series to be cramp. Seemed better in the rear of the Mazda 2. That's the whole point of looking!
I think we're going for a head decision of a Mazda 2 and a heart decision of a Disco.
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