Am I being stiched up?

[Zmass]

Hi guys. i've been a long time reader but this is my first post. Looking to buy a 3 touring for the wife. A bit of advice if possible please?

Basically found a BMW supermarket-type sales place from a link via autotader and went to have a look. Looking for a 3 series touring and the place has about 15 of them so I didn't note down all the prices from the website. Anyway, looking at a 325i with no window price sticker, the guy says he'll check the price with his (absent) boss over the phone. £11995. Do a (small) bit of haggling and get £500 off, 1 years' warranty (I know not worth much) and they'll change all the wood trim to alu.

So, pay £1000 deposit and am quite happy.

Get home, check website and the car is on there for £10995! There is another car on there which at the time he told me was also £11995 at the site but is also on the website for £10995.

Obviously I phoned them straight up, spoke to the Sales Rep who first said the one on the website was not the same car. It is. Then he said the website price was wrong. 'It happens sometimes'. I wasn't accepting this.

The garage MD called me later and said he'd get to the bottom of it tomorrow. What should I do? The deal seems soured to me now, unless they have got it wrong, admit it and amend the pricing accordingly.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Sean

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Try your best to do a deal....but, you were happy with the price before, so don't let it eat you up!

[off_again]

Heard that tale a couple of times now.... either the majority of the motor traders with websites are so completely techno-monkeys, or this is a little scam to see what they can get for a car....

Motor traders with a bad reputation? Surely not... they are all upstanding members of society... arent they?

[mmm-five]

The price on the website is just to get you to visit them - places like CarCraft et all do it all the time.

[Zmass]

Thanks for the replies. He has now offered me the car for £11k saying it should be up for £12k. Now it 'seems' like I'm getting a grand off the price. Or am I? Clever sales work or genuine mistake?

Interestingly, I asked him about another car which had one of these low web site prices and that I would consider this one instead. He said he would check it out for me. He called back and said sorry but it has just started smoking so it's off sale. Funny that!

[Jared_m]

Zmass said:

Thanks for the replies. He has now offered me the car for £11k saying it should be up for £12k. Now it 'seems' like I'm getting a grand off the price. Or am I? Clever sales work or genuine mistake?

Interestingly, I asked him about another car which had one of these low web site prices and that I would consider this one instead. He said he would check it out for me. He called back and said sorry but it has just started smoking so it's off sale. Funny that!

Why don't you check how much its worth on Glass's? Then you'll know if you're getting a fair deal or not.

[agent006]

They sounds like a bunch of idiots. Go elsewhere, it's not as if it's a rare car.

[Narvanath]

WHEN WILL YOU LEARN?

All car salesmen are ex-criminals!



NEVER except the first deal.

[ian_cab28]

I had the same issue with a BMW dealer via the BMW used car website, spotted a 2001 X 330 ci convertible with low miles (28k) good spec on for £15495, seemed like a typo in comparison to other vehicles on there. When I called after initially not being sure if the car was sold they called back to say there had been a mistake and that price was actually "what it owed them as a part ex", in their alledged embarrassment and not being obliged to sell at the price listed they offered the car at £16495. I bought it in the end as it also transpired it had a hard top that they'd not listed. I did my research and felt the price was good (i.e other cars and the glasses part ex info) but part of me still has niggling feeling it was a trick! any independent dealer I'd think it was a scam / sign of incompetence in all areas. I'd run a mile on this one. Ian

[droptheclutch]

Ask Trading Standards, they will be able to put you in the picture well & good. You will need to contact the Trading Standards Office in the county where the purchase was made.

A good bunch of people who look out for us members of the public!

Good luck.

DTC.

[stockhatcher]

Narvanath said:

WHEN WILL YOU LEARN?

All car salesmen are ex-criminals!



NEVER except the first deal.

believe it or not, but car salesman are not there to give YOU the best deal. They are paid to retain profit for the dealership, and they'll do it by any legitimate way they can. If you didn't see the internet price, well that's your problem.

when you sell your car, do you try and get as little for it as possible?

... i thought not.

[Zmass]

when you sell your car, do you try and get as little for it as possible?

Of course not......

And also I don't put in Autotrader for £11k and when the buyer calls round I tell him it's actually £12k.

[Animal]

stockhatcher said:

If you didn't see the internet price, well that's your problem.

Think I've got to disagree with that.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if a car's offered on their website at £11k and they try and sell it to you at £12k, surely it would be easy enough to take a copy of the ad into the dealer (at the internet price) and show it to them. If that's the advertised price that's the price you should pay. The error and the loss should be theirs, not yours. If they don't move, I'd tell them to stick it and ask for my money back. Incidentally, a grand deposit on a £11k car? That's a bit steep!

[Andrew D]

This seems to be becoming a common technique. A main stealer seemed to try it on me when I got my Z4. The price in the window was £1k higher than the price on the internet.

Unluckily, however, for their showroom used car stocklist they'd just printed off the pages from the net, so it had the lower price on there!

Edited by Andrew D on Tuesday 1st August 08:28

[Phil Hopkins]

We used to upjar the prices on our forecourt by about £500 compared to the website. Though this was because we packaged tracker and lifeshine into the screen price. It was made abundantly clear to the customer however that they could remove this package (and the £500) if they didn't see the benefits of it.

However, mistakes do happen

[G-Rich]

AS with any price on any item in any shop, the advertised price is an 'invitation to treat' it is not a binding contract. They could be quite within their rights to advertise all the cars for a tenner; but give youa different price when it comes to buying.

As mentioned before, if you feel you got a good deal, and similar models are going for the same money, then you havn't been ripped off!