Possible 'ex fleet' car (with issues) from a main dealer
Discussion
I would be interested in any thoughts of this, particularly anyone in the trade who knows how these things work...
I bought an 11 month old Skoda Citigo two weeks ago, fairly high miles for the type of car and age (13k), I purchased it 'Used Approved' from a Skoda main dealer which -should- mean a bunch of checks on the car, HPI clear etc, on reflection I didn't ask as many questions as I perhaps should have, wrongly assuming an 11 month old car from a main dealer would be a straightforward process compared to buying a shed privately.
Long story short, I noticed some fairly subtle things when cleaning it for the first time that suggested all was not well, a couple of bolts in the engine bay that had been unscrewed at some stage, little bits of trim not as flush on one side as the other, a tiny bit of sound deadening missing on one side compared to the other, then finally noticing the shut lines on the passenger front door were not consistent...all of this centred around the passenger side front wing.
Fast forward a week to today where myself and the car have now both been back to the dealership. The car, as it turns out, was purchased by the dealership directly from Skoda UK. A few guys on the Briskoda forum have subsequently noted a very recent deluge of 'F' plate (mine begins FV) Citigos for sale all around the country of similar age/mileage. I need to double check the service book in my car tomorrow morning, but I believe the car began life in Grimsby and had a first service in Lincoln (again need to check this though)
Does anyone know what these cars may have been used as in a previous life? Seems too many of them to be press fleet. I don't yet have the V5C so don't know exactly who the previous owner is listed as, but I will be contacting the dealer tomorrow with the knowledge I now have with a list of questions. If anyone has any suggestions as to the sort of things I should be asking I would be appreciative.
I bought an 11 month old Skoda Citigo two weeks ago, fairly high miles for the type of car and age (13k), I purchased it 'Used Approved' from a Skoda main dealer which -should- mean a bunch of checks on the car, HPI clear etc, on reflection I didn't ask as many questions as I perhaps should have, wrongly assuming an 11 month old car from a main dealer would be a straightforward process compared to buying a shed privately.
Long story short, I noticed some fairly subtle things when cleaning it for the first time that suggested all was not well, a couple of bolts in the engine bay that had been unscrewed at some stage, little bits of trim not as flush on one side as the other, a tiny bit of sound deadening missing on one side compared to the other, then finally noticing the shut lines on the passenger front door were not consistent...all of this centred around the passenger side front wing.
Fast forward a week to today where myself and the car have now both been back to the dealership. The car, as it turns out, was purchased by the dealership directly from Skoda UK. A few guys on the Briskoda forum have subsequently noted a very recent deluge of 'F' plate (mine begins FV) Citigos for sale all around the country of similar age/mileage. I need to double check the service book in my car tomorrow morning, but I believe the car began life in Grimsby and had a first service in Lincoln (again need to check this though)
Does anyone know what these cars may have been used as in a previous life? Seems too many of them to be press fleet. I don't yet have the V5C so don't know exactly who the previous owner is listed as, but I will be contacting the dealer tomorrow with the knowledge I now have with a list of questions. If anyone has any suggestions as to the sort of things I should be asking I would be appreciative.
A small car like that with not huge miles but enough for the age could have been, a hire car, an accident management rental car or a leaner driver car, or maybe a dealer demo?
You state the reg being a Grimsby reg, could that be skodas ha area?
It's probably not a great deal with it, could have had a wing and a few bits of trim and a realign may sort it.
Carl
You state the reg being a Grimsby reg, could that be skodas ha area?
It's probably not a great deal with it, could have had a wing and a few bits of trim and a realign may sort it.
Carl
C. Grimsley said:
A small car like that with not huge miles but enough for the age could have been, a hire car, an accident management rental car or a leaner driver car, or maybe a dealer demo?
You state the reg being a Grimsby reg, could that be skodas ha area?
It's probably not a great deal with it, could have had a wing and a few bits of trim and a realign may sort it.
Carl
Skoda UK are in Milton Keynes, I believe.You state the reg being a Grimsby reg, could that be skodas ha area?
It's probably not a great deal with it, could have had a wing and a few bits of trim and a realign may sort it.
Carl
I'm not too worried about the actual issues as the car has been checked today and it's fine otherwise, going back in to have those things sorted soon. I'm more interested in how these cars come about, and if the dealership should be making it clear that it may have been a 'one owner, hundreds of users' car.
Having spent a number of years in the trade with several manufacturers, nearly all sub 12 month old manufacturer registered cars with between 10 and 13,000 miles are ex-rental, as 12,000 miles / 12 months old is seemingly an industry wide cutoff for these registration boosting short term leases.
I've seen it at every brand I've been involved with, from vw through to Porsche.
I've seen it at every brand I've been involved with, from vw through to Porsche.
F = "forest and fens" ie East Midlands (to the east coast, should this be covered by Yorkshire with Y suffixes??); recent "factory" Skodas (fleet cars) used to have A plates, that's "Anglia" area (and they were VAG cars at that time [10+ years ago] as they are nowadays)... 
Milton Keynes-based cars I would expect to have K-prefix plates (as per Vauxhall with their base at Luton)
.
But then BL historically used to register their test mules in Essex, and Ford historically registered theirs in Birmingham - so all bets are off
...
Milton Keynes-based cars I would expect to have K-prefix plates (as per Vauxhall with their base at Luton)
.But then BL historically used to register their test mules in Essex, and Ford historically registered theirs in Birmingham - so all bets are off
...ging84 said:
if you didn't want a used car, you should have bought a new one
the dealer does not need to give the the life story about who owned it before, nor do they need to tell you that it's had a minor bump which meant the front wing needed to be changed.
Although stating it's had one owner is technically correct, knowing full well it's had possibly hundreds of users does however reinforce the view that car dealers are deceitful little shysters.the dealer does not need to give the the life story about who owned it before, nor do they need to tell you that it's had a minor bump which meant the front wing needed to be changed.
ging84 said:
if you didn't want a used car, you should have bought a new one
the dealer does not need to give the the life story about who owned it before, nor do they need to tell you that it's had a minor bump which meant the front wing needed to be changed.
I think most reasonable people would accept there is a difference between a one individual owner used car, and one that has been part of a rental fleet etc. The likely hood of any mechanical sympathy etc is clearly going to be dramatically reduced if a hundred or more people used the car with no care for it. The bodge job on the repair (using glue to put a large piece of trim back on because they had broken the clips) suggests somebody somewhere had far more interest in getting it back on the road asap than looking after it properly.the dealer does not need to give the the life story about who owned it before, nor do they need to tell you that it's had a minor bump which meant the front wing needed to be changed.
The car was part of the Skoda used approved programme (and was bought with cash, to answer a few others in this thread), if there had of been minor damage you would assume it would be as near as darn it invisible by the time it reached the customer. At the very least it doesn't exactly do a lot of good to the image of the dealership or that programme when a car can make it through with that as it turns out requires a day in the bodyshop.
Edited by ukaskew on Thursday 5th June 07:43
Was there a cheap leasing deal on the go for Citigos at some point? For example there were trillions of C1s being leased out a couple of years ago for peanuts - those will all have been hitting the second hand market over the last year or so, and I suspect will all have similar plates. Doesn't mean the cars are mistreated in any way; mine went back sparkling like new.
Just checked my service book, it was registered and serviced by Paragon Automotive (reg in Grimsby, serviced in Corby)
The dealer was very apologetic (as they should be) and admitted it should have been picked up as part of the used approved checks. They are having it back for a full going over/fix in their bodyshop.
The dealer was very apologetic (as they should be) and admitted it should have been picked up as part of the used approved checks. They are having it back for a full going over/fix in their bodyshop.
anyone who listed 'a couple of bolts in the engine bay that had been unscrewed at some stage' as part of the description a car's issues is clearly describing some very minor stuff.
The dealer is now going to take the car back into the body shop, give it to someone to spend an hour or 2 trying to line things up a little better, the customer is going to take a look and say yeah it's a little better but still not be happy about it, kick up a fuss about it being an ex fleet possibly rental car, so it will have gone through the horror of being regularly inspected and maintained by a company with ample budget and a strong interest in keeping it's business users or paying customers on the road. Driven by various drivers who might have been stressed and distracted by the fact they put down a deposit which they could lose if they were to damage the car. It may well also have regularly been driven on motorways and long journeys. It may even have had people standing near it smoking, and getting back in with traces of nicotine probably still on their clothes.
The dealer will say they are sorry about the clearly hard life the car has suffered but there is very little they can do about it now, they will remind the customer that it has been fully checked, their cars are very reliable and it still is backed by the full manufacturer warranty so they will be covered if anything should go wrong.
The customer will leave unhappy about his purchase purely because he believes that an ex rental or fleet car is likely to be worse than privately owned one, even though in some countries the same vehicles are the most sought after as they are believed to be the more reliable option, despite there being no evidence to support either argument, and if either were true, it would be very easy to prove statistically the way modern vehicle histories are tracked.
The dealer is now going to take the car back into the body shop, give it to someone to spend an hour or 2 trying to line things up a little better, the customer is going to take a look and say yeah it's a little better but still not be happy about it, kick up a fuss about it being an ex fleet possibly rental car, so it will have gone through the horror of being regularly inspected and maintained by a company with ample budget and a strong interest in keeping it's business users or paying customers on the road. Driven by various drivers who might have been stressed and distracted by the fact they put down a deposit which they could lose if they were to damage the car. It may well also have regularly been driven on motorways and long journeys. It may even have had people standing near it smoking, and getting back in with traces of nicotine probably still on their clothes.
The dealer will say they are sorry about the clearly hard life the car has suffered but there is very little they can do about it now, they will remind the customer that it has been fully checked, their cars are very reliable and it still is backed by the full manufacturer warranty so they will be covered if anything should go wrong.
The customer will leave unhappy about his purchase purely because he believes that an ex rental or fleet car is likely to be worse than privately owned one, even though in some countries the same vehicles are the most sought after as they are believed to be the more reliable option, despite there being no evidence to support either argument, and if either were true, it would be very easy to prove statistically the way modern vehicle histories are tracked.
Where do people think all these magical, one owner, 12k miles cars that appear in dealerships actually come from?
Mabel and Derek buying new every year? No. Of course it's rental fleet groups. Who else could it be? If people want to lie to themselves otherwise about its provenance then fine, it doesn't change the fact it's been a multi user vehicle.
Want a new car? Buy a new car. Not a second hand one.
Mabel and Derek buying new every year? No. Of course it's rental fleet groups. Who else could it be? If people want to lie to themselves otherwise about its provenance then fine, it doesn't change the fact it's been a multi user vehicle.
Want a new car? Buy a new car. Not a second hand one.
As above, virtually all "nearly new" are ex-rental - including a lot of "higher end" stuff. Who else buys a car and runs it for 10 months/12,000 miles?
They are often owned by the manufacturer - punted out to a rental firm for a set peroid and then sent to a manufacturer auction where they are sold out to franchised dealers to feed their approved scheme.
VW do this very regularly with everyhhing from an Up! to an A8.
They are often owned by the manufacturer - punted out to a rental firm for a set peroid and then sent to a manufacturer auction where they are sold out to franchised dealers to feed their approved scheme.
VW do this very regularly with everyhhing from an Up! to an A8.
Interesting bit of reading...
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-new...
The positives and negatives of buying ex-fleet are kind of irrelevant, clearly most customers would prefer to know the history either way. The contempt towards car buyers in here is quite impressive and does little to improve the image of the industry.
The point in the article about them being good buys due to the checks on the various manufacturers 'used approved' schemes clearly don't apply to mine with an unattached grill, missing sound proofing, mis-aligned door and badly glued back on (due to broken clips) plastic trim.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-new...
The positives and negatives of buying ex-fleet are kind of irrelevant, clearly most customers would prefer to know the history either way. The contempt towards car buyers in here is quite impressive and does little to improve the image of the industry.
The point in the article about them being good buys due to the checks on the various manufacturers 'used approved' schemes clearly don't apply to mine with an unattached grill, missing sound proofing, mis-aligned door and badly glued back on (due to broken clips) plastic trim.
Edited by ukaskew on Thursday 5th June 12:50
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