Private or dealer?
Discussion
Currently embarking on the search for first car for son. Went to look at one advertised on Facebook marketplace (I know!) which was described very much in terms of it being a private seller. Phrases such as "I'm selling my...".
We arrive to view at a residential address and are openly told by the seller he buys and sells a few cars.
It put me off on the spot as I felt they deliberately misled.
If someone's doing this as a small sideline, do any consumer rights apply?
We arrive to view at a residential address and are openly told by the seller he buys and sells a few cars.
It put me off on the spot as I felt they deliberately misled.
If someone's doing this as a small sideline, do any consumer rights apply?
ro250 said:
Currently embarking on the search for first car for son. Went to look at one advertised on Facebook marketplace (I know!) which was described very much in terms of it being a private seller. Phrases such as "I'm selling my...".
We arrive to view at a residential address and are openly told by the seller he buys and sells a few cars.
It put me off on the spot as I felt they deliberately misled.
If someone's doing this as a small sideline, do any consumer rights apply?
If you can prove he bought it to sell on / make a profit then yes consumer rights will apply. But proving it and getting him to fix any issues is unlikely to be easy. Walk away, there are plenty more cars, or accept that you will have any real comeback if any thing goes wrong.We arrive to view at a residential address and are openly told by the seller he buys and sells a few cars.
It put me off on the spot as I felt they deliberately misled.
If someone's doing this as a small sideline, do any consumer rights apply?
ro250 said:
Currently embarking on the search for first car for son. Went to look at one advertised on Facebook marketplace (I know!) which was described very much in terms of it being a private seller. Phrases such as "I'm selling my...".
We arrive to view at a residential address and are openly told by the seller he buys and sells a few cars.
It put me off on the spot as I felt they deliberately misled.
If someone's doing this as a small sideline, do any consumer rights apply?
I tend to judge the car, less so the person/dealership selling it.We arrive to view at a residential address and are openly told by the seller he buys and sells a few cars.
It put me off on the spot as I felt they deliberately misled.
If someone's doing this as a small sideline, do any consumer rights apply?
ZX10R NIN said:
I tend to judge the car, less so the person/dealership selling it.
That's ok if one can 100% accurately judge a car. Feels impossible to me. You might then choose to have the backing of a reputable dealer who is willing to honour their commitments under the CRA for peace of mind and help should it be needed. All a matter of choice. Personally I avoid the middle ground of so called back-street dealers.BertBert said:
That's ok if one can 100% accurately judge a car. Feels impossible to me. You might then choose to have the backing of a reputable dealer who is willing to honour their commitments under the CRA for peace of mind and help should it be needed. All a matter of choice. Personally I avoid the middle ground of so called back-street dealers.
No one can judge 100%, also at lower budgets, I'd say buying on condition of the car is more prevalent than when you spend more & can buy an AUC purchase.Interesting responses. I did indeed walk away from this one for a few reasons to do with the actual car, but the moment he said he buys and sells a few cars I was put off because it was clearly advertised as private.
The more I've been looking, the lower end of the market is absolutely flooded with these driveway dealers. What I don't like is that they don't know much about the car but they're experienced in all the tricks of the dealer trade but don't give the protections of a dealer.
The more I've been looking, the lower end of the market is absolutely flooded with these driveway dealers. What I don't like is that they don't know much about the car but they're experienced in all the tricks of the dealer trade but don't give the protections of a dealer.
ro250 said:
Interesting responses. I did indeed walk away from this one for a few reasons to do with the actual car, but the moment he said he buys and sells a few cars I was put off because it was clearly advertised as private.
The more I've been looking, the lower end of the market is absolutely flooded with these driveway dealers. What I don't like is that they don't know much about the car but they're experienced in all the tricks of the dealer trade but don't give the protections of a dealer.
I feel your pain, spent several hours with my son this weekend looking for a first car, the amount of overpriced dross was amazing. The more I've been looking, the lower end of the market is absolutely flooded with these driveway dealers. What I don't like is that they don't know much about the car but they're experienced in all the tricks of the dealer trade but don't give the protections of a dealer.
Even stuff at outwardly decent indy dealers was poor.
What are you looking at? We've had to increase our budget to £2000-2500 in the hope of finding something. Toyota Aygo 1.0 is the favourite at the moment.
Deerfoot said:
ro250 said:
Interesting responses. I did indeed walk away from this one for a few reasons to do with the actual car, but the moment he said he buys and sells a few cars I was put off because it was clearly advertised as private.
The more I've been looking, the lower end of the market is absolutely flooded with these driveway dealers. What I don't like is that they don't know much about the car but they're experienced in all the tricks of the dealer trade but don't give the protections of a dealer.
I feel your pain, spent several hours with my son this weekend looking for a first car, the amount of overpriced dross was amazing. The more I've been looking, the lower end of the market is absolutely flooded with these driveway dealers. What I don't like is that they don't know much about the car but they're experienced in all the tricks of the dealer trade but don't give the protections of a dealer.
Even stuff at outwardly decent indy dealers was poor.
What are you looking at? We've had to increase our budget to £2000-2500 in the hope of finding something. Toyota Aygo 1.0 is the favourite at the moment.
It seems to be Corsa and Fiesta we're looking at, although Fiestas seem more pricey and I'm mindful of timing belts on them which are due around the age/mileage we're looking at.
Deerfoot said:
ro250 said:
Interesting responses. I did indeed walk away from this one for a few reasons to do with the actual car, but the moment he said he buys and sells a few cars I was put off because it was clearly advertised as private.
The more I've been looking, the lower end of the market is absolutely flooded with these driveway dealers. What I don't like is that they don't know much about the car but they're experienced in all the tricks of the dealer trade but don't give the protections of a dealer.
I feel your pain, spent several hours with my son this weekend looking for a first car, the amount of overpriced dross was amazing. The more I've been looking, the lower end of the market is absolutely flooded with these driveway dealers. What I don't like is that they don't know much about the car but they're experienced in all the tricks of the dealer trade but don't give the protections of a dealer.
Even stuff at outwardly decent indy dealers was poor.
What are you looking at? We've had to increase our budget to £2000-2500 in the hope of finding something. Toyota Aygo 1.0 is the favourite at the moment.
Deerfoot said:
ro250 said:
Interesting responses. I did indeed walk away from this one for a few reasons to do with the actual car, but the moment he said he buys and sells a few cars I was put off because it was clearly advertised as private.
The more I've been looking, the lower end of the market is absolutely flooded with these driveway dealers. What I don't like is that they don't know much about the car but they're experienced in all the tricks of the dealer trade but don't give the protections of a dealer.
I feel your pain, spent several hours with my son this weekend looking for a first car, the amount of overpriced dross was amazing. The more I've been looking, the lower end of the market is absolutely flooded with these driveway dealers. What I don't like is that they don't know much about the car but they're experienced in all the tricks of the dealer trade but don't give the protections of a dealer.
Even stuff at outwardly decent indy dealers was poor.
What are you looking at? We've had to increase our budget to £2000-2500 in the hope of finding something. Toyota Aygo 1.0 is the favourite at the moment.
rich146 said:
Check out this discussion on the Toyota Owners club ..RE Aygo... https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/2165...
Thanks for that, I’d read about water leaks previously.cootuk said:
From hearsay, the hobby dealers look out for local private sales and scoop them up to sell on. Finding a decent priced car locally from a truly private seller would most likely be from a friend of a friend before it's even advertised
Yes have noticed that. Been looking for a second car and in the last month there have been what looked like 2 bargains (discounting all the fake stuff or Cat stuff on Gumtree and FB). We can really only view at weekends and they sold quickly then reappeared the following week with a £1k mark up. Annoying they sold too. I know too slow!And did someone mention water leaks and the Aygo family of cars? Unless mentioned there are some kits around that replace or improve the foam to resolve this.
For what it's worth, I bought a Skoda Citogo 6 years ago from a Skoda franchised dealer for my eldest lad. It was 4 yrs old, avg mileage and cost £5k. He had it 1 year, then it passed to my middle lad, he had it 2 years then passed to my youngest. She's had it 3 years now. It's got 70k miles, got more than a few bumps and scrapes, probably worth nowt but, apart from servicing and maintenance, it's not put a foot (tyre) wrong. It was parked at ours for the summer (daughter bobbed off to work Camp America) and, tbh, I'd take it out of choice many a day. Lovely little thing to drive. If you've got more than one kid, I'd probably push to up the budget and let it pass down the line when they're ready to move on to a non-starter car.
cootuk said:
From hearsay, the hobby dealers look out for local private sales and scoop them up to sell on. Finding a decent priced car locally from a truly private seller would most likely be from a friend of a friend before it's even advertised
The 'problem' is if you price it correctly for the market as a private seller. I'm talking cheapest around at the age/mileage/condition then the only interest you get is from these dealers, whether genuine or driveway. That was my experience. A flurry of pseudo-trade enquiries, many telling me I was asking too much (I knew I wasnt), what they meant was there isnt enough in it for me. Very little genuine interest though. It sold to the first guy that came to look but it took 2 months to hook the buyer.
Private buyers moan a lot but most of it seems to stem from wanting the absolute bottom price or below. Hence why most bung their cars to the likes of WBAC and Motorway who often offer more and with less hassle.
If private bids are within spitting distance of WBAC I'd sell to them everyday of the week.
Edited by ChocolateFrog on Monday 18th September 21:01
Auto810graphy said:
As you have found there are so many people fighting for cheap small cars. A few weeks ago we took a tidy 10 year old Aygo in px, paid £2700 for it, traded it the same day for £3300, dealer had it advertised next day for £4995 and sold it within 24 hours.
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