P***k car dealer!

[CS111]

I went to look at a new car yesterday at a local dealer and he informed me he had a 3 month old one just arrived in the colour and spec i was looking for and would be ready today. We had already agreed a price on my car etc so i knew where we stood.
SO i called him today approx 5pm and the to say i would be there in an hour, so anyway, i arrive 45 mins later and someone else is looking round the said car and was just heading out for a test drive in it
The guy comes back from the test drive and i tell the dealer give me 5-10 mins while i take it for a drive. One of the sales men takes me for a drive and to cut a long story short the car is sold by the time i get back from the test.
I had the deposit with me and the guy knew i was 99% takeing the car,
Dirty prick or what.

[wendyg]

Really not. The other buyer was viewing with the same expectation, but managed to get in earlier. You had not paid a deposit, you have no priority.
Why would a dealer keep a car from a committed buyer, to sell to another less committed buyer

[FreeLitres]

If only you had a faster car, you could have been at the garage within 40 minutes and closed the deal!

Note to all PH'ers: get a faster car to avoid this kind of problem.

[billzeebub]

Dealer probably got the other guy focused with you coming back for the car.. but that's just business, as Eddie Temple once said!..

[Olf]

Which of these sentences do you like best....

Here's £100.

Or

I have the £100, I'll give it to you later.

[wendyg]

Basically there were no dirty tricks. There was someone else after the car and he/she got in quicker. The garage has no obligation to let you know about other interest.

You lose

[CS111]

I agree business is business, though when i was talking to the sales manager, who had my number, who knew i was to arrive in 1 hour, who seen me before any deal was struk with anyone else, they could have had the professionalism to come to me and state the situation and to the other person.
'look this guy (me)has already seen the car and was comming down to view it clean etc before you so i need to give them 1st option' would have been nice.
The sales rep also didnt know my dad had a new car ordered from another franchise inside the same dealership 2 days ago, which is due to be cancelled tomorrow. Just lost an order for 47k + another 20k
Plently more out there

[Negative Creep]

I don't think this will go the way the OP intended. Honestly, selling something to the first customer to give you money. Bunch of wkers.

[Funk]

CS111 said:

Just lost an order for 47k + another 20k
Plently more out there

That's just being petty.

Anyone with any nouse - especially if you were pretty certain you'd like the car and were serious about it - would've clocked the returning 'competition' and said to the sales manager, "Look, I'm serious about this - here's £500 deposit now not to sell it to the other guy before we get back."

You knew someone else had just test-driven it and would be heading into the 'hard sell' from the sales guy to close him.

To cancel another order in the system with a different dealer just marks you and your father out as a couple of dicks. The dealers are probably better off without your 'custom'.

This thread's not going how you'd hoped, is it?

[Regiment]

CS111 said:

I agree business is business, though when i was talking to the sales manager, who had my number, who knew i was to arrive in 1 hour, who seen me before any deal was struk with anyone else, they could have had the professionalism to come to me and state the situation and to the other person.
'look this guy (me)has already seen the car and was comming down to view it clean etc before you so i need to give them 1st option' would have been nice.
The sales rep also didnt know my dad had a new car ordered from another franchise inside the same dealership 2 days ago, which is due to be cancelled tomorrow. Just lost an order for 47k + another 20k
Plently more out there

I would have done the exact same thing as the dealer, you didn't pay a deposit, that's your issue, get another car.

[wolves_wanderer]

CS111 said:

I had the deposit with me and the guy knew i was 99% takeing the car.
Dirty prick or what.

He knew 100% the other guy was taking the car, I can understand you being annoyed at missing out but you can't blame the dealer. A bird in the hand etc

[Olf]

OP - on the 2nd of June you wrote this in a post after a private buyer let you down...

CS111 said:

Had a guy look at my car last week, blah blah tale of woe...

Morale of the story, car is never sold until money change hands

[Chrisw666]

Something similar happened to me.

I viewed and test drove a car at about 6pm, told salesman I would ring him the next morning to let him know if I wanted to go ahead. 10:30am I called dealership, someone had placed a deposit with another salesman just after I left.

I ended up with a better spec, lower mileage, newer car for the price that I had agreed on the one I test drove. Maybe I should have just called the bloke a dirty prick that would have been much more constructive.

[Wacky Racer]

Sorry.

I sympathise with the OP, but business is business...I think in this instance you can hardly blame the dealer....move on, not worth getting worked up about.....

[wolves_wanderer]

CS111 said:

The sales rep also didnt know my dad had a new car ordered from another franchise inside the same dealership 2 days ago, which is due to be cancelled tomorrow. Just lost an order for 47k + another 20k
Plently more out there

did you phone daddy in tears because the nasty man sold a car you liked to someone else?

[Jayho]

So you just made your dad cancel his original order and lose out on his deposite just because you couldn't get the car you wanted?

So your Dads car was the £47K I'm guessing? Where does the other £20K loss come from? From you not buying the car? No wait they already sold it.

True the salesman had your number, but maybe another salesman had taken the person who arrived before you out for the drive? The salesman you were dealing with is also losing out sales targets/commission.

At the end of the day, if you so sure about the car then why didnt you put down a deposit?

[falkster]

I'm sure it's hard lines!!

If the salesman pinned all his hopes on you then you decided it wasn't for you the garage wouldn't have the sale. They'll get as many leads as poss and hopefully this won't happen that often.

[H_Kan]

If I was travelling a distance then I'd expect a dealer to hold a car for me. But then I would ensure that I have AGREED this with them and the downside for me is that it weakens my bargaining position once I get there.

In this instance, I reckon the salesman should perhaps have dropped you a line and said 'come in earlier as we've somebody else interested and we'll sell to the first acceptable bidder'. But I don't think they should have done much beyond that.

[Olf]

wolves_wanderer said:

CS111 said:

The sales rep also didnt know my dad had a new car ordered from another franchise inside the same dealership 2 days ago, which is due to be cancelled tomorrow. Just lost an order for 47k + another 20k
Plently more out there

did you phone daddy in tears because the nasty man sold a car you liked to someone else?

Good luck getting the deposit back dad.

[STW2010]

Funk said:

CS111 said:

Just lost an order for 47k + another 20k
Plently more out there

That's just being petty.

Anyone with any nouse - especially if you were pretty certain you'd like the car and were serious about it - would've clocked the returning 'competition' and said to the sales manager, "Look, I'm serious about this - here's £500 deposit now not to sell it to the other guy before we get back."

You knew someone else had just test-driven it and would be heading into the 'hard sell' from the sales guy to close him.

To cancel another order in the system with a different dealer just marks you and your father out as a couple of dicks. The dealers are probably better off without your 'custom'.

This thread's not going how you'd hoped, is it?

Completely agree.

By cancelling the other deal, I would have thought the only one to really suffer would be your Dad. The dealer will probably sell that car quite quickly, whereas you Dad will have to go through the whole hassle of locating another car and sorting out a good deal on it.

You missed out on the car because someone got there sooner. No need to throw your toys out of the pram.