Dealer selling me car either as ''trade sale' or ''retail''
Dealer selling me car either as ''trade sale' or ''retail''
Author
Discussion

arberchelsea2012

Original Poster:

24 posts

87 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Hey

I offered an amount for a car at a dealer which was around 1k under asking price. I got the answer the offer would be accepted only as a trade sale but if I wanted the retail sale I would have to stick to the original price. Anyone know what the difference is???

Integroo

11,631 posts

114 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
He is trying to avoid his obligations under the CRA15 i.e. telling you that you have no come back if the car breaks down etc.

He can't actually do this, but it does mean that if the car does bork you will find him very difficult to deal with and would probably have to sue to get anything out of him.

arberchelsea2012

Original Poster:

24 posts

87 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
So would you recommend paying the retail price or? The car is high mileage but according to the dealer it has 14 stamps and 2 belt changes with one service being done just a few weeks ago. Surely the car should be in okay condition with regards to what has been done with maintenance?

ZX10R NIN

30,525 posts

154 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
What's the car? How much are you looking to spend on this high miler?


arberchelsea2012

Original Poster:

24 posts

87 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Its a volvo s60 in the +100.000 miles region. I mean the price is very tempting especially since I recently moved from Sweden to england and know what they cost back there.

Ziplobb

1,599 posts

313 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
the seller is just being honest with you - he is saying that he cannot afford / does not have the margin in it at the reduced price.

arberchelsea2012

Original Poster:

24 posts

87 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Yah I understand that I can see the dealer isnt tryna scam me or anything seems like a top bloke and serious. Just didnt understand the difference between the two different types of sale.

Mexman

2,442 posts

113 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
So.....You want all the bells and whistles that go with a retail sale, MOT, Inspection/Service, Warranty, but want to pay trade money for it?
If you do agree to buy it trade, and save £1000, do not dare go back to the dealer with problems.(although legally you could)
You had the choice, you cannot have your cake and eat it.
Personally, i would not even entertain a trade sale to a member of the public, not worth the potential grief for no profit.
Whats the point??

arberchelsea2012

Original Poster:

24 posts

87 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Lol have i said i want the car in perfect ready to go condition at a trade sale price??? i just asked what the difference was and what i can expect... jeez people love to have their own theories and conclusions.

silentbrown

10,823 posts

145 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Ziplobb said:
the seller is just being honest with you - he is saying that he cannot afford / does not have the margin in it at the reduced price.
Pretty much the opposite, I'd say. OP isn't a trader, and so a sale on "trade terms" is meaningless. Seller is trying to bamboozle customer into thinking he has no recourse in case of problems.

Only the seller knows how much margin he's really got. Anything else is a guess.

Given the sellers behaviour I'd probably just walk. Regardless of how much the OP pays getting anything fixed is likely to be a battle.


silentbrown

10,823 posts

145 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Mexman said:
Personally, i would not even entertain a trade sale to a member of the public, not worth the potential grief for no profit.
Whats the point??
^^ This is what I'd expect a reputable dealer to say ^^

Nickp82

3,943 posts

122 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
silentbrown said:
Pretty much the opposite, I'd say. OP isn't a trader, and so a sale on "trade terms" is meaningless. Seller is trying to bamboozle customer into thinking he has no recourse in case of problems.

Only the seller knows how much margin he's really got. Anything else is a guess.

Given the sellers behaviour I'd probably just walk. Regardless of how much the OP pays getting anything fixed is likely to be a battle.
Agreed, if the seller was being honest he would not mention this trade sale nonsense.

arberchelsea2012

Original Poster:

24 posts

87 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
arberchelsea2012 said:
So would you recommend paying the retail price or? ?
can someone tell me what they rather recommend me doing?

Nickp82

3,943 posts

122 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
The best person to answer your question is YOU op.

- do you feel you can trust the selling dealer?

- if so, do you feel the asking price or a close offer would be a fair price for the car?

If the answers are yes, do it smile

arberchelsea2012

Original Poster:

24 posts

87 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
the dealership has 4.5 stars on average across all review pages so seems like he is a genuine dealer. The price is i feel perfect. I'll see what i do but atm i feel positive i will go ahead with the deal

Wooda80

1,743 posts

104 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all

If we start with the premise that if you bought it trade then you are buying it in its current condition, with no additional rectification and then as a gentleman's agreement you accepted that if anything were to go wrong with it then you would fix it yourself without involving the seller.

Following on from that the questions are
What do you get extra by buying it retail?
How much extra would that cost?

Only the seller can tell you this.

Realistically there won't be an insurance backed warranty with that car, nor bearing in mind when dealing with secondhand goods the CRA takes into account the age of the goods and the price paid, there won't be much recourse to the dealer on a £1000 car either unless the engine or gearbox fall out in pretty short order.

For what is I expect a relatively small difference in price I would pay the dealer his profit and gain some goodwill ( not necessarily £s ) if you do have a problem with it in future.

deebs

555 posts

89 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
arberchelsea2012 said:
Lol have i said i want the car in perfect ready to go condition at a trade sale price??? i just asked what the difference was and what i can expect... jeez people love to have their own theories and conclusions.
Why don't you ask the man who is offering to sell you the car since he is the one that wants to enter into one form of contract or another with you. What does he explicitly say the difference between the two is?

For the record he cant sell you a car on "trade" terms and conditions and invalidate your consumer rights which come with a "retail" sale because you are not a trader. That he would offer to would be enough for me to walk away and find a dealer who I think would honour a contract should a post-sale problem arise.

I'll look out the for "bought a car on trade terms and its broken" thread popping up smile

ETA: Wooda80 beat me too it!


xjay1337

15,966 posts

147 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
silentbrown said:
Ziplobb said:
the seller is just being honest with you - he is saying that he cannot afford / does not have the margin in it at the reduced price.
Pretty much the opposite, I'd say. OP isn't a trader, and so a sale on "trade terms" is meaningless. Seller is trying to bamboozle customer into thinking he has no recourse in case of problems.

Only the seller knows how much margin he's really got. Anything else is a guess.

Given the sellers behaviour I'd probably just walk. Regardless of how much the OP pays getting anything fixed is likely to be a battle.
It's very normal and quite common

As has been said let's say the guy has the car for sale at £4500 but OP wants to buy it for £3500
The dealer does not have enough money left to sell the car for £3500 but then also maintain, effectively, a warranty on the vehicle for 6 months.

While technically "illegal" , I don't actually find anything wrong with it - it's a common sense approach.

OP needs to decide if he wants the car but doesn't want the support / benefits of buying from a dealer/trader (IE the warranty) then take it as trade

But if OP does then he needs to stump up the extra.

Ziplobb

1,599 posts

313 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
absolutely
I buy and sell usd goods every day of the week (not cars) i frequently am asked to stand by something yet reduce the price to where the margin is halved (or more) at that point the risk reward is too great

james_gt3rs

4,816 posts

220 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
If it's a good condition car I'd bite his hand off... £1000 a decent budget for fixing non major problems that may crop up.