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

[jamoor]

Earthdweller said:

Munter said:

The best selling car in the UK is American.

The best selling car in the UK is the Ford Fiesta .. it’s built in Cologne, Germany by Ford ( Europe) which is a subsidiary of Ford USA with its headquarters in Germany

Edited by Earthdweller on Wednesday 4th December 12:31

Still American though.
A corolla assembled in Derby is most certainly Japanese IMO.

[Mexman]

Four Litre said:

Love the line "Surely, we would only be aware of any previous paintwork, whilst it was in our ownership". Do you keep a straight face when saying that?

I've never worked in the trade and could tell after 10 mins if a car has has had paint after manufacture. Anyone who works in the trade worth his salt certainly can. If you cant, you may want to brush up as its pretty obvious in most cases. It will never be the same as factory.

I'm guessing your new to cars, ask the guys in your body shop if they can tell if a cars had paint and note their reply. It may save your customers a wasted journey. Honesty is always best. Always makes me laugh that you can pick it out instantly if a customer is trading in, but cant if your selling!

Yeah, i can always tell that a car has had previous paintwork, especially when the car turns up caked in crap.
Surely depends on who has done the paintwork?, any bodyshop worth his salt, will be able to do an invisible repair quite easily, i sell cars, i dont repair and paint them, and inspect them with a microscope.
Used car, is used car...

[Munter]

Earthdweller said:

Munter said:

The best selling car in the UK is American.

The best selling car in the UK is the Ford Fiesta .. it’s built in Cologne, Germany by Ford ( Europe) which is a subsidiary of Ford USA with its headquarters in Germany

Edited by Earthdweller on Wednesday 4th December 12:31

And in context? The context of Global strategy as was being discussed?

In what country would you suggest the global strategy of the Ford Motor Company is decided?

I think it's a safe bet that Fords global strategy is decided a lot closer to Detroit than Cologne.

[Big Easy]

Munter said:

And in context? The context of Global strategy as was being discussed?

In what country would you suggest the global strategy of the Ford Motor Company is decided?

I think it's a safe bet that Fords global strategy is decided a lot closer to Detroit than Cologne.

I see where you're coming from but I don't think it's as simple as looking at the global HQ for whoever owns the subsidiary. Is a Range Rover an Indian car? Lamborghini a German car? Holden an American car? Chrysler an Italian car?

[93DW]

Four Litre said:

even when asked on the phone ahead of a potential viewing "has the car had any paint repaired" the answer is always "NO!"

My answer to this is always "Its probably had a bumper or a scratch painted at some point in its life, Id be lying to you if I said it hadn't as I don't know for sure"

Not had any comebacks yet!

[HTP99]

93DW said:

Four Litre said:

even when asked on the phone ahead of a potential viewing "has the car had any paint repaired" the answer is always "NO!"

My answer to this is always "Its probably had a bumper or a scratch painted at some point in its life, Id be lying to you if I said it hadn't as I don't know for sure"

Not had any comebacks yet!

This is what I always say.

No one can be totally sure unless they know it has had any, unless of course it is obvious, even brand new un-registered cars can have had paintwork at some point.

[Shakermaker]

Four Litre said:

Love the line "Surely, we would only be aware of any previous paintwork, whilst it was in our ownership". Do you keep a straight face when saying that?

I've never worked in the trade and could tell after 10 mins if a car has has had paint after manufacture. Anyone who works in the trade worth his salt certainly can. If you cant, you may want to brush up as its pretty obvious in most cases. It will never be the same as factory.

I'm guessing your new to cars, ask the guys in your body shop if they can tell if a cars had paint and note their reply. It may save your customers a wasted journey. Honesty is always best. Always makes me laugh that you can pick it out instantly if a customer is trading in, but cant if your selling!

You'd spend 10 minutes looking at a car to decide if it had paintwork done after manufacture...

Why? and how many cars have you walked away from because of this

[93DW]

HTP99 said:

This is what I always say.

No one can be totally sure unless they know it has had any, unless of course it is obvious, even brand new un-registered cars can have had paintwork at some point.

There's always one whopper of a customer with a £500 8 owner Saab who reckons his car has never had any paint in its life

[Munter]

Big Easy said:

Munter said:

And in context? The context of Global strategy as was being discussed?

In what country would you suggest the global strategy of the Ford Motor Company is decided?

I think it's a safe bet that Fords global strategy is decided a lot closer to Detroit than Cologne.

I see where you're coming from but I don't think it's as simple as looking at the global HQ for whoever owns the subsidiary. Is a Range Rover an Indian car? Lamborghini a German car? Holden an American car? Chrysler an Italian car?

In the context of global strategy:
Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

The people controlling the money, will be deciding strategy. If Tata want LandRover to go all electric in 10 years. That decision will be made in in a Tata office probably in India. If VW decide to promote Porsche and kill Lamborghini, that decision would be made in Germany, not Italy. And so on.

Sure emotionally they want us all to believe these brands have the "soul" and "passion" of their originating countries. But real global strategy. That's being done in the head offices, and the brands are merely marketing pawns to push around a chessboard of technology and cash.

[Deerfoot]

I see Autotrader are now commenting that dealer prices are above or below market value alongside their `Good Price, Great Price` icons, even giving a figure they they believe the cars are over or under priced by...

I`m guessing that won`t be popular with dealers?

eg, https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

They say is £719 above market value...

[spreadsheet monkey]

Deerfoot said:

I see Autotrader are now commenting that dealer prices are above or below market value alongside their `Good Price, Great Price` icons, even giving a figure they they believe the cars are over or under priced by...

I`m guessing that won`t be popular with dealers?

eg, https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

They say is £719 above market value...

Surely buyers are already doing this anyway, either consciously or subconsciously? If you're searching for a 2013 Mazda CX5, you'll notice that this one is more expensive than most of the others that come up in your search. Or (more likely) if you're searching for a Mazda CX5 for around £11000, then you'll notice that the others in your price range are 2014 models.

As a buyer, I like this feature. But it doesn't allow for variable levels of prep by different dealers, and I'm not sure if it accurately prices desirable options or just considers them worthless.

[Deerfoot]

spreadsheet monkey said:

As a buyer, I like this feature. But it doesn't allow for variable levels of prep by different dealers, and I'm not sure if it accurately prices desirable options or just considers them worthless.

Exactly, but I can just picture some bloke pointing to the advert on his phone demanding the dealer reduce the price as it`s `700 quid overpriced mate`...

I just used that CX5 as an example as it`s close to me...

[Fast Bug]

It's not popular at all as it doesn't take options in to account either. Nor does it reflect that current auction prices for most vehicles are above 'book' which means the selling price to the customer would be higher. There are also examples of identical cars being advertised with different markers. Auto Trader seem to be forgetting who is their customer and upsetting them in droves

[Deerfoot]

Fast Bug said:

Auto Trader seem to be forgetting who is their customer and upsetting them in droves

Then there`s stuff like this..

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Which they say is priced high but is also £59 below market..

Edit, it`s now changed to being `Close to market` , these guides really are poor, I feel for the dealers but where else do they advertise if not on Autotrader?

Edited by Deerfoot on Thursday 5th December 13:47

[CRA1G]

Deerfoot said:

Exactly, but I can just picture some bloke pointing to the advert on his phone demanding the dealer reduce the price as it`s `700 quid overpriced mate`...

And the same bloke will still want £700 off even if it's a great price...... and then leave a bad review if you don't.......

[daqinggegg]

I see Autotrader are now commenting that dealer prices are above or below market value alongside their `Good Price, Great Price` icons, even giving a figure they they believe the cars are over or under priced by...

Is this not called, killing the goose that lays ...

[PTF]

If my experience of selling privately is anything to go by, Autotrader is dead. I've given up with it. Of the few cars and motorbikes i've sold in the last 5 years or so, Autotrader generated nothing, nada, zip, zero interest. The same vehicles on ebay generated interest and ultimately sold.

Ebay classifieds all the way

[spreadsheet monkey]

Deerfoot said:

I feel for the dealers but where else do they advertise if not on Autotrader?

Ebay classifieds
PH classifieds
Their own website (if they're part of a large dealer group)
Cargurus

[Fast Bug]

I think a lot of dealers are still with Auto Trader out of habit, but I am seeing quite a lot of chat from dealers that have dropped Auto Trader altogether and others that are reducing the amount of vehicles they list with them.

[grant8064]

daqinggegg said:

I see Autotrader are now commenting that dealer prices are above or below market value alongside their `Good Price, Great Price` icons, even giving a figure they they believe the cars are over or under priced by...

Is this not called, killing the goose that lays ...

It's a massive bone of contention with both indies and main dealers.

We've got 70-80 in stock and 90% are "high priced" with an average screen price £500 - £1000 above AT's perceived "market average". However, they're not properly taking into account colour, history, warranty, factory extras or, and the biggest issue, garages charging admin fees. All in the name of buyer transparency.

To achieve a green marker i'd have to forgo proper valeting, not fix MOT advisories, not offer a warranty and then hide a £199 admin fee in there somewhere. I'd much rather sell a car knowing it's as good as it can possibly be rather than get it back from auction chuck a bucket of water over it and hope for the best.

It's so flawed it's unreal. If for example you want a Panda automatic newer than 2010 with under 40K mine is the cheapest NATIONALLY, best colour, FSH, new MOT no advisories, a meaningful warranty we run ourselves. It's also £263 above market average with a negative price marker because there is a cheaper Cat N and a cheaper Cat S...well done AT.

Edited by grant8064 on Thursday 5th December 17:52