Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all.

[mylesmcd]

POORCARDEALER said:

kmpowell said:

Currently looking to downsize my car (both physical and £).

I have a Range Rover Sport (2016 car, FDSH, excellent condition, 25k miles) currently worth circa £52k and I'm looking to trade it in for a brand new & unregistered Golf GTi at circa £30k. I'm sticking with large VW main dealers who I also large know have a Land Rover franchises in their group, because I just want rid of the RRS without the hassle... but the treatment I am getting is quite mind boggling...

The frist VW dealer (Lookers) I visited last weekend wouldn't give me a ballpark figure on the RRS, it had to be underwritten formally, which took 3 senior sales managers AND the sales executive 30mins as they inspected the vehicle with a fine tooth comb all together outside. They then spent another 30mins in the office on the internet using CAP/HPI etc coming up with a figure. Eventually we got a figure and they gave me figures on the Golf, but it was excruciating.

The figures the Lookers dealer gave me were ok, but nothing special so I have carried on looking round. Today I spotted a pre-reg advertised at a Inchcape VW dealer. It's 100 miles away so I rang up and spoke to a salesman who again immediately started the "underwritten" routine as soon as he found out about the RRS. This time the sales man refused to even start talking about the Golf until they had the RRS "formally underwritten", his words were "it's not a six grand car you're part axing so we need to have it underwritten before we can continue"... for which he sent me a "remote vehicle appraisal form" form which he asked me to print, fill out myself and send to him!

I'm seriously thinking about binning the VW if I have to go through this each and every time I see a car that may suit. But before I do is this normal practice when trading down, or just a VW thing?!?

Sell your car outright to a RR dealer for cash, then go and buy the Golf....

Kind of baffled by the original comment. It is a (by your estimation) a 52k spend for a business, do you think that under an hour is 'acceptable customer service' ??

Does your business spend that kind of money without due diligence and procedure?

Also - when someone comes in with an expensive vehicle wanting to down size, alarm bells go off everywhere. Why? Stolen? Damaged? No credit etc etc (not casting those dispersions on your good self sir - just an fyi..)

[lord trumpton]

Is the RR Sport a diesel?

Also given the current market for used cars, the fact it's still depreciating heavily and JLR's recent announcement that there is a fall in demand for their vehicles I'm not surprised a non franchised LR dealer wants it underwritten.

It could turn into a huge loss for them if they haven't got someone for it who's prepared to stand on the price.

I guess they are taking it's valuation very seriously and doing everything possible to avoid getting a slap from it.

[POORCARDEALER]

silentbrown said:

POORCARDEALER said:

Sell your car outright to a RR dealer for cash, then go and buy the Golf....

Or https://www.tootle.co.uk/sell-my-car-online ?

Anyone on here use that for buying stock in?

Friend used it to try and sell his Evoque, bids were £1500 under trade, in fairness it was a 68000 mile car, but 1 owner, right spec and colour....i think the site is more geared towards main dealer low mileage buyers

[grant8064]

POORCARDEALER said:

Friend used it to try and sell his Evoque, bids were £1500 under trade, in fairness it was a 68000 mile car, but 1 owner, right spec and colour....i think the site is more geared towards main dealer low mileage buyers

Not really, we've bought older higher mileage stuff off there. Evoques are everywhere I look at the moment now peoples finance deals are coming to an end and the recent JLR diesel news won't be helping matters. Gonna be hard work for people shifting them on over the next year or two without taking a hit IMO

[POORCARDEALER]

grant8064 said:

POORCARDEALER said:

Friend used it to try and sell his Evoque, bids were £1500 under trade, in fairness it was a 68000 mile car, but 1 owner, right spec and colour....i think the site is more geared towards main dealer low mileage buyers

Not really, we've bought older higher mileage stuff off there. Evoques are everywhere I look at the moment now peoples finance deals are coming to an end and the recent JLR diesel news won't be helping matters. Gonna be hard work for people shifting them on over the next year or two without taking a hit IMO

This was a year ago, I bought the car and sold it retail within a week.

[grant8064]

POORCARDEALER said:

This was a year ago, I bought the car and sold it retail within a week.

They were quite exclusive back then from what I remember but i'd imagine it's a very different story now.

Back on the Tootle side, it's pretty good from our experience but i'm not sure how well higher priced stuff does on it.

[berlintaxi]

Not a great time to be in the industry by the look of things.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5622735/Va...

[Wooda80]

berlintaxi said:

Not a great time to be in the industry by the look of things.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5622735/Va...

I don't think either of these are quite as grim as they at first appear.

It's not unusual for manufacturers to put their network on notice, but it is unusual for it to make the national press, in this case playing to an understandable underlying fear that GM jobs in the UK might be at risk.

As an example, you may have noticed changes in the Jaguar retail network over the last 3 years or so. Back in 2011 they put the whole network "on notice" in the same way that Vauxhall have done this week. This allowed them to reallocate franchises so that in any given area the Jaguar franchise was held by the same company as the Land Rover franchise, In doing this some large dealer groups lost some of their sites, where it was deemed that they had to strong an influence over the rest of the network, and the single site franchises such as Creamers, Royles and PV Dobson were also terminated regardless of how good their trading performance may have been. Objectively, after all the upheaval and changes you'd have to agree the their network looks stronger and more cohesive as a result of putting everyone on termination notices.

Sticking with Jaguar in the second half of the DM story, it seems that the 1000 jobs are contract workers. Given that they have introduced 4 new models in the last 3 years, including opening new ( to Jaguar ) facilities in Solihull and Graz, it's understandable that the large number of people who would have been required to deliver these projects will now find that their work is done and it's time to move on. These are not being described as redundancies, rather contracts not being renewed, and therefore I would suggest that for many of the individuals concerned this situation will have been expected and planned for.

[Rubensolo]

Got a question regarding Smart insurance and GAP insurance. It is obviously more expensive when bought directly from dealers compare to places like ALA or directgap but is the dealer price negotiable?

[DanL]

Rubensolo said:

Got a question regarding Smart insurance and GAP insurance. It is obviously more expensive when bought directly from dealers compare to places like ALA or directgap but is the dealer price negotiable?

Yes, in my experience - it may be that the price for these remains the same but the price of the car drops a little to compensate, but I’m sure there are ways and means...

[Rubensolo]

DanL said:

es, in my experience - it may be that the price for these remains the same but the price of the car drops a little to compensate, but I’m sure there are ways and means...

Thanks for the comment Dan. We already have an agreement and signed it as we were happy with the price. We told the dealer we will decide on those items once collection takes place. It is almost 100% more expensive compare to what I have been offered by ALA or directgap.

[DanB7290]

HTP99 said:

DanB7290 said:

HTP99 said:

Probably explains why when I went into my local Ford dealership to do a bit of "mystery shopping", I was completely ignored when looking at the Mustang; not even any form of acknowledgement, TBF even when I've been in there looking at at a Focus I've been blanked too.

How's Vignale doing; be honest?!

Vignale unsurprisingly doesn’t do big numbers, been there almost a year, done 2 Mondeo Vignale and 1 Kuga Vignale in that time.

I actually saw my first one on the road a few days ago; Mondeo estate, it was a 66 plate so wouldn't have been a demo.

Any murmurings on how it is doing, nationally, is it doing as expected, is it so far a flop and the wrong decision to launch, are Ford sticking with it?

Nothing official, and Ford obviously put their PR spin on it to make it sound amazing, but my guess would be it’s a bit of a flop. Borrowed a Mondeo Vignale a few weeks ago for my weekend off, very nice car, did the job of chauffeuring my dad to the rugby nicely, but when he asked how much and I told him £35k he about had a coronary.
They need to re-evaluate it, especially with the Mondeo as it’s priced too closely to 3 Series, C Class, A4 and XE, and I know what I’d buy given that kind of money.

Had a Fiesta Vignale arrive today. Nice car, but £25k for a Fiesta! And looks like they’re sticking with the idea as new Focus is going to be launched with a Vignale, starting at £25k.

Would much rather they’d ditch the Vignale idea and hurry up with the new Fiesta ST, which we were originally promised in April, but now looks like June

[jamoor]

Wooda80 said:

Whilst payments by card can be considered as a guaranteed payment the funds often don't clear into the retailer's account for 3 days or so. Consider a dealer registering 10 cars at £30k each on the last day of the month and getting debited £3m upon registration by the manufacturer.

Compared to having payment by transfer the dealer has to allow for an extra £3 million overdraft at the bank while he waits for the customers' card purchases to appear.

dafuq.

I'm wondering if you are just making stuff up for the lols.

[silentbrown]

Looking to buy a year-old XC60 and just wondering if the 2017 step change in VED rates affects S/H values much. Would a March '17 car be worth more than an April one, assuming they're both over £40K new...

Also,.is there any easy way online of looking up a reg number to find the VED rate?

[Integroo]

Referring back to my previous query: dealer gave me a courtesy car for a week, a tank of fuel (after I insisted) and my brother and I a letter covering next year's service (claimed to be worth 180 quid) each.

Left the dealer reasonably content if not happy. My brother paid for ten days without a car. I'll be paying for twenty three days without a car. (At 224 a month).

However, my brother, who took his car away, has found a thick layer of green filth round the edges of his soft top. Presumably from sitting outside in a depot. However, the dealer apparently gave us free Supaguard as an incentive for me to persuade my brother to buy a car from them. So they haven't cleaned the car properly when they got it so how on earth can they have applied Supaguard?!



First brand new car buying experience for us both and it's been shocking so far. Not a huge deal sure, and the salesman is perfectly pleasant and I understand the delay was out of his hands (but not making clear we were paying from date if signature is not and that's especially ridiculous considering the three week not one week delay).

Any thoughts on what I should do now?

Edited by Integroo on Tuesday 17th April 23:39

[Butter Face]

silentbrown said:

Looking to buy a year-old XC60 and just wondering if the 2017 step change in VED rates affects S/H values much. Would a March '17 car be worth more than an April one, assuming they're both over £40K new...

Also,.is there any easy way online of looking up a reg number to find the VED rate?

I wouldn’t expect there’s any difference in the book values (I.e I wouldn’t think a March car is higher than an April one) but as for what people are asking for them is a different story. It’s a bit like the higher tax band in 2006 and how people will actively seek a 2005 car to avoid the extra £200 or whatever a year.

As for the checking, download an app called Vehicle Smart. You can chuck a reg in, see the tax band and MOT status/history in seconds. I use it in work all the time.

[Butter Face]

Integroo said:

Referring back to my previous query: dealer gave me a courtesy car for a week, a tank of fuel (after I insisted) and my brother and I a letter covering next year's service (claimed to be worth 180 quid) each.

Left the dealer reasonably content if not happy. My brother paid for ten days without a car. I'll be paying for twenty three days without a car. (At 224 a month).

However, my brother, who took his car away, has found a thick layer of green filth round the edges of his soft top. Presumably from sitting outside in a depot. However, the dealer apparently gave us free Supaguard as an incentive for me to persuade my brother to buy a car from them. So they haven't cleaned the car properly when they got it so how on earth can they have applied Supaguard?!



First brand new car buying experience for us both and it's been shocking so far. Not a huge deal sure, and the salesman is perfectly pleasant and I understand the delay was out of his hands (but not making clear we were paying from date if signature is not and that's especially ridiculous considering the three week not one week delay).

Any thoughts on what I should do now?

Edited by Integroo on Tuesday 17th April 23:39

Personally..... just jetwash it out and get on with enjoying the car. But depends on how bothered you/he is by a bit of dirt.

If you haven’t collected yours yet, check that bit on collection and get them to sort it if yours is the same.

[Wooda80]

jamoor said:

Wooda80 said:

Whilst payments by card can be considered as a guaranteed payment the funds often don't clear into the retailer's account for 3 days or so. Consider a dealer registering 10 cars at £30k each on the last day of the month and getting debited £3m upon registration by the manufacturer.

Compared to having payment by transfer the dealer has to allow for an extra £3 million overdraft at the bank while he waits for the customers' card purchases to appear.

dafuq.

I'm wondering if you are just making stuff up for the lols.

Which bit are you struggling to accept?

[Osinjak]

Wooda80 said:

jamoor said:

Wooda80 said:

Whilst payments by card can be considered as a guaranteed payment the funds often don't clear into the retailer's account for 3 days or so. Consider a dealer registering 10 cars at £30k each on the last day of the month and getting debited £3m upon registration by the manufacturer.

Compared to having payment by transfer the dealer has to allow for an extra £3 million overdraft at the bank while he waits for the customers' card purchases to appear.

dafuq.

I'm wondering if you are just making stuff up for the lols.

Which bit are you struggling to accept?

The maths?

[Wildcat45]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I don't get Vignale. Why introduce it when Ghia was an established brand/trim level that people understand. A This is the posh model. It's got little pretty shield like badges on it so you can tell. Also, as far as I know, This has heritage and a good reputation compared to say Vanden-Plas which many associate with BL products of dubious reputation.

Who doesn't like a MK2 Granada Ghia? Everyone knows what it is despite it being out of production for 33 years. A Mondeo Vignale. Is that better than a Titanium? Is it the entry level? Maybe a special edition?

Edited by Wildcat45 on Wednesday 18th April 08:12