Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all.

[DSLiverpool]

papa3 said:

Before he VT's make sure he has been accepted for finance on his next car. I've seen it before when customer bins the current vehicle and then discovers his credit score precludes him from borrowing a pen, much less £20k.

Damage - he will need to fix it
Mileage - depends on the lender, many pro rata it.

His credit was poor but he made 30 odd payments to Audi on time so I guess that counts for something? if no joy he needs to go used and get a cheapy from anywhere credit cars are us sort of thing.

[itcaptainslow]

Tankrizzo said:

With the news about Pendragon today, have you sales folks seen the slowdown in new and used business that they're talking about? I'm in fleet operations at one of their major competitors, and the news caught us by surprise as we haven't seen anywhere near as massive a slowdown as they're talking about, but we are in fleet so sheltered a little from the sharp end of the new car biz.

Part of me thinks Pendragon have ballsed up majorly on their forecasting and left it far too late to come clean about it.

It seems to be a main dealership senior management “thing” to massively over egg the forecast, then batter the staff when they don’t achieve the near impossible, especially with the resources to hand.

Especially Pendragon!

[Dan W.]

Tankrizzo said:

With the news about Pendragon today, have you sales folks seen the slowdown in new and used business that they're talking about? I'm in fleet operations at one of their major competitors, and the news caught us by surprise as we haven't seen anywhere near as massive a slowdown as they're talking about, but we are in fleet so sheltered a little from the sharp end of the new car biz.

Part of me thinks Pendragon have ballsed up majorly on their forecasting and left it far too late to come clean about it.

Retail main dealer here, we have seen if anything our sales go up ! very odd last few months new and used have been great.

But having spoke to a few friends in other places they say new cars for them are dead.

[HJMS123]

I've never heard of pendragon, are they a dealership franchise such as Sytner/Inchcape or more along the lines of Lex?

[Dan W.]

HJMS123 said:

I've never heard of pendragon, are they a dealership franchise such as Sytner/Inchcape or more along the lines of Lex?

They are a big PLC similar to those mentioned

[HTP99]

Dan W. said:

Tankrizzo said:

With the news about Pendragon today, have you sales folks seen the slowdown in new and used business that they're talking about? I'm in fleet operations at one of their major competitors, and the news caught us by surprise as we haven't seen anywhere near as massive a slowdown as they're talking about, but we are in fleet so sheltered a little from the sharp end of the new car biz.

Part of me thinks Pendragon have ballsed up majorly on their forecasting and left it far too late to come clean about it.

Retail main dealer here, we have seen if anything our sales go up ! very odd last few months new and used have been great.

But having spoke to a few friends in other places they say new cars for them are dead.

Same here, we smashed last quarter and so far, this quarter is looking bloody good too.

[TA14]

HTP99 said:

Dan W. said:

Tankrizzo said:

With the news about Pendragon today, have you sales folks seen the slowdown in new and used business that they're talking about? I'm in fleet operations at one of their major competitors, and the news caught us by surprise as we haven't seen anywhere near as massive a slowdown as they're talking about, but we are in fleet so sheltered a little from the sharp end of the new car biz.

Part of me thinks Pendragon have ballsed up majorly on their forecasting and left it far too late to come clean about it.

Retail main dealer here, we have seen if anything our sales go up ! very odd last few months new and used have been great.

But having spoke to a few friends in other places they say new cars for them are dead.

Same here, we smashed last quarter and so far, this quarter is looking bloody good too.

With total UK sales down and unsold stock up someone's going to feel the pinch: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/23/s... note that expensive showroom demands also got a mention.

[Richard-390a0]

HJMS123 said:

I've never heard of pendragon, are they a dealership franchise such as Sytner/Inchcape or more along the lines of Lex?

Evans Halshaw & Stratstones are probably their most well known 'brands'. Having had the misfortune to work for them in the past I'm always happy to hear of them having a rough time of it!

[Dan W.]

Richard-390a0 said:

Evans Halshaw & Stratstones are probably their most well known 'brands'. Having had the misfortune to work for them in the past I'm always happy to hear of them having a rough time of it!

could have been worse, could have worked for Arnold sharks, we have one opposite us the salesman literally look defeated they don't seem to have a day off and work till about 7 most nights

[Sheepshanks]

HTP99 said:

Same here, we smashed last quarter and so far, this quarter is looking bloody good too.

Spoken like a true salesman!

[Fast Bug]

I sold Renault until a few years ago, the Laguna wasn't that bad in all honesty. I lost quite a bit of fleet business when it was dropped as I couldn't go for sole or dual badge fleets as I didn't have a Mondeo sized car so couldn't tick all of the grades boxes

[Fast Bug]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Very slow if it was a 1.5dci!

I did a fair few to companies who's drivers did a lot of miles, they were good on fuel and tax and like you say very comfortable!

Renault make some great looking stuff, sadly we'll never see it over here as they're large cars and we can't see past the German offerings in the UK

[Spitfires]

This car has been for sale near me, at the same price, for over 4 years (if not more, it's a running joke between my wife and I to ask if it's still there). Why would a dealer keep something so long at the same price, when it didn't sell 4 years ago at that price and has now clearly depreciated?

http://www.rydon-cars.co.uk/used-car/alfa-romeo/br...

[Dan W.]

Spitfires said:

This car has been for sale near me, at the same price, for over 4 years (if not more, it's a running joke between my wife and I to ask if it's still there). Why would a dealer keep something so long at the same price, when it didn't sell 4 years ago at that price and has now clearly depreciated?

http://www.rydon-cars.co.uk/used-car/alfa-romeo/br...

some garages own the land and all of the stock so they don't feel they need to discount it..... someone will buy it eventually.... we have a similar garage near me..... owner owns all the cars outright and his land. he whacks 3k profit across all cars and they just sit there if not sold...

[Earthdweller]

Spitfires said:

This car has been for sale near me, at the same price, for over 4 years (if not more, it's a running joke between my wife and I to ask if it's still there). Why would a dealer keep something so long at the same price, when it didn't sell 4 years ago at that price and has now clearly depreciated?

http://www.rydon-cars.co.uk/used-car/alfa-romeo/br...

That’s ridiculous.. MOT’d last in 2013 .. so its stood for 4 years at least

If he keeps it long enough it’ll be a low mileage classic or an unusable wreck

[Earthdweller]

Has anyone noticed a slowdown in sales of cars just over the £40k tax level ?

My local BMW dealers seem awash with big engined 3 series and the like with delivery mileage and pre registered

[HTP99]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Myself personally, the last (and only) brand new Megane that I sold was about this time last year, we've done a few more since but only a few, I've sold a pre reg and an ex demo too.

It's all about the crossover now; Kadjar and Captur account for 55% of Renault new car registrations in the UK, Scenic is steady but it's not setting the world alight in terms of sales, Clio still sells ok for us.

The Talisman (Laguna replacement), by all accounts is a fantastic car but in the UK it's all about the Germans in that sector so I can understand the reasoning to not introduce it here.

[Elroy Blue]

The new Megane is a really nice looking car. It'd need a very healthy discount before I'd put money in a new one though

[Triumph Man]

StescoG66 said:

hyphen said:

Question.

Have you left or found anything unusual in a car?

Question prompted by Vauxhall Camberley's courtesy car drugs debacle recently... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4977138/Fa...

This guy sounds like a weapons grade tosser. A swift kick in the bks is too lenient for this trouble making busybody. The fact his story is in the DM says it all really..... Honestly makes my blood boil.

He opened her handbags the fking prick. I don't really agree with drugs, but I certainly wouldn't grass somebody up, especially if they had been good enough to lend me a car as they had no others available.

[Earthdweller]

Elroy Blue said:

The new Megane is a really nice looking car. It'd need a very healthy discount before I'd put money in a new one though

There’s a metallic dark red estate type one at the end of my road .. I think it’s the only one I’ve seen

But .. it is actually a very smart looking car