Partly being put off by an alloy refurb - am I silly?
Discussion
I'm having a mooch around at the moment for a relatively limited edition variant of a very mainstream car, being quite picky I'm looking for a few optional extras but on 6 year old cars obviously that limits choices a little.
I found one at a car supermarket type place, the car has most of what I'm looking for in options (it's the right limited edition with a few extras as standard, it has a reverse camera, it has the virtual dash etc), it's a 2nd or 3rd choice colour, mileage is good, 3 former keepers but the top end of the pricing for these IMO,
The thing that's putting me off is that the very distinctive alloys, which if I'm honest I don't like that much but they are what the car should have, have been refurbished from black and diamond cut to just "alloy wheel silver". And they look better for it... but they aren't "right" and with one budget tyre fitted too I'm probably being silly and being totally put off by something I'd probably change anyway.
The dealer has indicated there's no scope to open a discussion on price or having the wheels done properly to secure the sale whereas I see a decent cost involved to put them right and replace 2 of the tyres.
I haven't bought a car that costs more than a few grand in a while (this one is around £18l) but is it normal to have no room to negotiate now? Other places I've looked at also seem to operate on an appointment only basis and just offer to ship the car to you, sight unseen on the back of 20 photos on the internet and a £199 admin fee.
I'm not in a mad rush so have chalked this one up as one to miss but I'm just trying to prepare myself for the buying process in advance I suppose, or I'll just try and buy privately and avoid all of this but searching for a very specific variant in the usual places seems harder than looking on YouTube at walk-round videos by dealers who have already sold the cars by the time I stumble across them
For reference this is what the wheels should be:
And this is how they are:
If they'd gone the other way and gone for a dark gunmetal with loads of metallic flake in I would probably have overlooked this, and of course I could just get them done in that or buy the different wheels I'd probably want anyway, but it's the principle of it that's making me flounce I feel like I'm being a bit petty.
I found one at a car supermarket type place, the car has most of what I'm looking for in options (it's the right limited edition with a few extras as standard, it has a reverse camera, it has the virtual dash etc), it's a 2nd or 3rd choice colour, mileage is good, 3 former keepers but the top end of the pricing for these IMO,
The thing that's putting me off is that the very distinctive alloys, which if I'm honest I don't like that much but they are what the car should have, have been refurbished from black and diamond cut to just "alloy wheel silver". And they look better for it... but they aren't "right" and with one budget tyre fitted too I'm probably being silly and being totally put off by something I'd probably change anyway.
The dealer has indicated there's no scope to open a discussion on price or having the wheels done properly to secure the sale whereas I see a decent cost involved to put them right and replace 2 of the tyres.
I haven't bought a car that costs more than a few grand in a while (this one is around £18l) but is it normal to have no room to negotiate now? Other places I've looked at also seem to operate on an appointment only basis and just offer to ship the car to you, sight unseen on the back of 20 photos on the internet and a £199 admin fee.
I'm not in a mad rush so have chalked this one up as one to miss but I'm just trying to prepare myself for the buying process in advance I suppose, or I'll just try and buy privately and avoid all of this but searching for a very specific variant in the usual places seems harder than looking on YouTube at walk-round videos by dealers who have already sold the cars by the time I stumble across them
For reference this is what the wheels should be:
And this is how they are:
If they'd gone the other way and gone for a dark gunmetal with loads of metallic flake in I would probably have overlooked this, and of course I could just get them done in that or buy the different wheels I'd probably want anyway, but it's the principle of it that's making me flounce I feel like I'm being a bit petty.
Lad, its a skoda. If we were talking about a 250 SWB I'd understand, but its just a skoda, like all the other ones you see on the road. The refurb can be redone if its really bugging you, but i wouldn't be paying that much attention, because I promise you nobody else will be.
Edited by Vsix and Vtec on Sunday 1st February 17:23
Diamond cut wheels are the work of the devil. I think I’d be happy to pay extra to avoid them!
As for the tyre; this may sound horribly snobbish, but I always imagine Skodas are bought by budget conscious people, and so a budget tyre is par for the course. Or they’ve had a puncture somewhere and needed a replacement tyre as soon as possible with the only option being some cheap ditchfinder.
But personally I’d always walk away from a car with budget tyres, so that’s what I’d do.
As for the tyre; this may sound horribly snobbish, but I always imagine Skodas are bought by budget conscious people, and so a budget tyre is par for the course. Or they’ve had a puncture somewhere and needed a replacement tyre as soon as possible with the only option being some cheap ditchfinder.
But personally I’d always walk away from a car with budget tyres, so that’s what I’d do.
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