Badly prepared sales cars.
Discussion
Firstly,I know there are good and bad car dealers as in all walks of life. So,please can PH's tame Black Book wielding,BCA account holding,ultra defensive,good dealers take a chill pill.
But!, I'm finding it almost impossible to exchange £10,000 in cold hard cash for a nice X5 or Touareg . For this money there are any number of cars advertised all over the country. I ask all the right questions regarding previous owners ,service history etc,then drive anything up to 100 miles to discover
Flat batteries(after making appointment)
Filthy interiors
FSH ( last one 2 years ago)
Saying 2 owners when they mean 2 previous owners
Things broken or missing ( Sat Nav,Stereo, Smoking like a pig,Bald Tyres) after being told its perfect,ready to drive away
Cat c/d
Pick any 2 or 3 from that list and seven cars I've looked at isince Christmas have featured them.
And as for 'Private' ads,amazing how many have 'only just bought it,but it's too big for the missus'.
I might as well go straight to the auction and pay nearly the same price by the time I've paid private punters fees but at least I won't be disappointed at the level of service I'm expecting..
So,am I expecting too much?In the words of one Touareg vendor ' if you want legal tyres, you'll have to pay more than this'!! (£9,800).
But!, I'm finding it almost impossible to exchange £10,000 in cold hard cash for a nice X5 or Touareg . For this money there are any number of cars advertised all over the country. I ask all the right questions regarding previous owners ,service history etc,then drive anything up to 100 miles to discover
Flat batteries(after making appointment)
Filthy interiors
FSH ( last one 2 years ago)
Saying 2 owners when they mean 2 previous owners
Things broken or missing ( Sat Nav,Stereo, Smoking like a pig,Bald Tyres) after being told its perfect,ready to drive away
Cat c/d
Pick any 2 or 3 from that list and seven cars I've looked at isince Christmas have featured them.
And as for 'Private' ads,amazing how many have 'only just bought it,but it's too big for the missus'.
I might as well go straight to the auction and pay nearly the same price by the time I've paid private punters fees but at least I won't be disappointed at the level of service I'm expecting..
So,am I expecting too much?In the words of one Touareg vendor ' if you want legal tyres, you'll have to pay more than this'!! (£9,800).
Well, my very nice, clean, non cat C or D, FSH X5 had been up for sale for the last 6 weeks. I had 3 enquiries; from a muppet who was coming within the hour who never turned up. 2 from pretty decent chaps who happened to live 300 and 400 miles away so no surprse they couldn't view.
Other than that...zilch so today it went off to a trader for £7k. It's immediately on his website for nearly £10k and no doubt someone will buy it over the next couple of weeks.
I originally put it up for £8.5k and then reduced it to £7.9k. So the person who will buy it for £10k from a dealer could have paid £2.5k less. OK, he wouldn't have got finance or a worthless warranty but it makes no sense to me.
When I buy my next car it'll be privately...if I can find one that someone hasn't sold to a dealer because they don't want the hassle of selling privately.
Other than that...zilch so today it went off to a trader for £7k. It's immediately on his website for nearly £10k and no doubt someone will buy it over the next couple of weeks.
I originally put it up for £8.5k and then reduced it to £7.9k. So the person who will buy it for £10k from a dealer could have paid £2.5k less. OK, he wouldn't have got finance or a worthless warranty but it makes no sense to me.
When I buy my next car it'll be privately...if I can find one that someone hasn't sold to a dealer because they don't want the hassle of selling privately.
I recently went to look at a Seat advertised by a dealer after an email chat (where he described it as immaculate).
I discovered the engine capacity was different to what he had said.
It had done 40k miles more than he said.
The cambelt he told me had just been recently done was actually in 2008 and 60k miles ago, that was according to the incomplete service history (which I had been told was a FSH).
I also found his workshop bod fitting a new pair of front grilles but they had bought some second-hand ones without the foglights so it was displaying a bulb out warning all of the time (is that an MOT failure).
Trim was hanging off around the apparently new screen (new when I don't know).
One electric window didn't work and the boot handle was missing.
Not really what I consider to be immaculate.
I discovered the engine capacity was different to what he had said.
It had done 40k miles more than he said.
The cambelt he told me had just been recently done was actually in 2008 and 60k miles ago, that was according to the incomplete service history (which I had been told was a FSH).
I also found his workshop bod fitting a new pair of front grilles but they had bought some second-hand ones without the foglights so it was displaying a bulb out warning all of the time (is that an MOT failure).
Trim was hanging off around the apparently new screen (new when I don't know).
One electric window didn't work and the boot handle was missing.
Not really what I consider to be immaculate.
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