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

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

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Blakewater

4,309 posts

157 months

Sunday 8th December 2019
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Butter Face said:
StescoG66 said:
Blakewater said:
I've noticed a lot of manufacturers are charging the same price for solid paint colours as for metallic now. Emocion Red on Seats, for example, is the same as Velvet Red and every other paint colour. Manufacturers used to offer a range of solid paint colours as no cost options, but it seems their perceived desirability has led to manufacturers charging a few hundred pounds for them.

Are people really proving to be willing to factory order a solid paint option and pay extra for it over the metallic paint option they could have had for the same money?
Hold on a minute. So if I read that correctly, paint is a cost option........ confused
Every manufacturer has one or two colours that are free, most others are cost. Metallic and non Metallics.

It’s the way it’s been for a long time.
Usually the only no cost option is a Doom Blue or Pavement Grey.

Butter Face

30,296 posts

160 months

Sunday 8th December 2019
quotequote all
They’re still free though, £600ish for your colour choice is a small price to pay on a 15k+ car.

And to answer your previous post, yes, some people are happy to pay for non metallic colours. We have a van in our range where metallic is FOC, or you can option non metallic but you don’t get anything off and lots of people option non metallic.

HTP99

22,541 posts

140 months

Sunday 8th December 2019
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As much as extra cost colours; metallic or non metallic, are in essence a bit of piss take, I do think it's funny when someone will spec a brand new car at a pretty hefty cost and won't spend a relative small percentage on a decent colour out of principle; they'd rather have a colour they didn't like!

Butter Face

30,296 posts

160 months

Sunday 8th December 2019
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I had a guy once buy a Grand Scenic, Bose Pack and Lux Pack and stuck with (I think) Pacific Blue. Each to their own and all that!

PSB1

3,681 posts

104 months

Sunday 8th December 2019
quotequote all
Mexman said:
Four Litre said:
Love the line "Surely, we would only be aware of any previous paintwork, whilst it was in our ownership". Do you keep a straight face when saying that?

I've never worked in the trade and could tell after 10 mins if a car has has had paint after manufacture. Anyone who works in the trade worth his salt certainly can. If you cant, you may want to brush up as its pretty obvious in most cases. It will never be the same as factory.

I'm guessing your new to cars, ask the guys in your body shop if they can tell if a cars had paint and note their reply. It may save your customers a wasted journey. Honesty is always best. Always makes me laugh that you can pick it out instantly if a customer is trading in, but cant if your selling!
rolleyes
Yeah, i can always tell that a car has had previous paintwork, especially when the car turns up caked in crap.
Surely depends on who has done the paintwork?, any bodyshop worth his salt, will be able to do an invisible repair quite easily, i sell cars, i dont repair and paint them, and inspect them with a microscope.
Used car, is used car...
Ever had a customer (potential) check out a car with a paint gauge? Is that knob behaviour?

Sheepshanks

32,749 posts

119 months

Sunday 8th December 2019
quotequote all
Butter Face said:
Every manufacturer has one or two colours that are free, most others are cost. Metallic and non Metallics.

It’s the way it’s been for a long time.
VW used to have one colour and white but so many people were choosing white they charge for it now, around half the cost of metallic. Looked at leasing a Tiguan and over 3yrs the monthly extra for metallic was more than its total cost, yet when we had company lease cars we could only order metallic as the resale was better.

Most SEATs have metallic at no extra cost.

xjay1337

15,966 posts

118 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
PSB1 said:
Mexman said:
Four Litre said:
Love the line "Surely, we would only be aware of any previous paintwork, whilst it was in our ownership". Do you keep a straight face when saying that?

I've never worked in the trade and could tell after 10 mins if a car has has had paint after manufacture. Anyone who works in the trade worth his salt certainly can. If you cant, you may want to brush up as its pretty obvious in most cases. It will never be the same as factory.

I'm guessing your new to cars, ask the guys in your body shop if they can tell if a cars had paint and note their reply. It may save your customers a wasted journey. Honesty is always best. Always makes me laugh that you can pick it out instantly if a customer is trading in, but cant if your selling!
rolleyes
Yeah, i can always tell that a car has had previous paintwork, especially when the car turns up caked in crap.
Surely depends on who has done the paintwork?, any bodyshop worth his salt, will be able to do an invisible repair quite easily, i sell cars, i dont repair and paint them, and inspect them with a microscope.
Used car, is used car...
Ever had a customer (potential) check out a car with a paint gauge? Is that knob behaviour?
I have checked out cars before with a paint gauge.

It's not knob behaviour at all, certainly with an expensive purchase £15k +

If one side is completely full of filler (IE no paint depth reading can be taken because there is no metal within 3mm of the surface) then it probably has had a bad history.

I don't think anyone expects a used car that's done 30k for example to never had had any paint in its life. That's fine. But it's a good idea to know where you stand.
Also something to check is that if you buy a 30k car that's 2 or 3 years old, most manufacturers have a 12-15 year body corrosion guarantee.
However this is invalid if panels are painted and not done so by "official body shops" so again it's a good idea to check.

Especially with many of these cars for sale that should have been a cat C/S however they are kept off the insurance register and repaired.....

https://www.facebook.com/vcheck.uk/


PSRG

656 posts

126 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
Butter Face said:
Every manufacturer has one or two colours that are free, most others are cost. Metallic and non Metallics.

It’s the way it’s been for a long time.
VW used to have one colour and white but so many people were choosing white they charge for it now, around half the cost of metallic. Looked at leasing a Tiguan and over 3yrs the monthly extra for metallic was more than its total cost, yet when we had company lease cars we could only order metallic as the resale was better.

Most SEATs have metallic at no extra cost.
I remember buying an Up! shortly after they came out. White was free; we chose that. But i noticed soon after that white became a cost option, albeit cheaper than metallic.£200 vs £500 I think. I bet the actual cost difference to paint metallic vs non metallic is so small as to be immaterial - well under a tenner I reckon. But a great way to improve margins smile

93DW

1,285 posts

103 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
PSB1 said:
Ever had a customer (potential) check out a car with a paint gauge? Is that knob behaviour?
I've had it happen twice out of probably 2000+ Sales and both were on £50k+ cars, as with most of these type of things its not about what you do it is how you do it.

The first bloke who did it to me was an absolute whopper who acted like it was some sort of challenge to find bits that had been painted and when he couldn't find anything on the car he was looking at, he started to check other cars as well and was genuinely grinning ear to ear when he found a £4995 A3 outside with a quarter that had been painted. After all that he started telling me how expensive the car was he was looking at was, so I just agreed with him to get rid of him.

Second chap who did it was extremely polite, we got on very well. He went through all the paperwork, test drive etc we agreed a deal and he left me a deposit. Just as he was leaving he said he had a paint gauge and did I mind if he used it and of course I obliged. 5-10 minutes later he said all was well and went on his way.

Fast Bug

11,676 posts

161 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
PSRG said:
I remember buying an Up! shortly after they came out. White was free; we chose that. But i noticed soon after that white became a cost option, albeit cheaper than metallic.£200 vs £500 I think. I bet the actual cost difference to paint metallic vs non metallic is so small as to be immaterial - well under a tenner I reckon. But a great way to improve margins smile
When I sold Renault, they included metallic paint FOC when writing terms for fleet customers. They reckoned it cost them under £20 a vehicle as a physical cost, but customers liked it as it saved them £300 or so after discount which could be enough to push a deal through

Fastchas

2,645 posts

121 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
My stepdaughter's boyfriend bought a used Mini from a dealer Saturday. On the trip home the EML came on and the turbo doesn't spin (he says). Sounds like a bag of spanners at tickover. Vibrating heavily as well, very lumpy.
He rang the garage immediately when he got home and they asked him to get it to a local garage and run it on a diagnostics.
They said they will pay for any repairs.

Is he perfectly entitled to return it to the garage for a refund (who knows what else is up with it?) or must he keep it & get it repaired at their cost?

stevemcs

8,661 posts

93 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
Fastchas said:
My stepdaughter's boyfriend bought a used Mini from a dealer Saturday. On the trip home the EML came on and the turbo doesn't spin (he says). Sounds like a bag of spanners at tickover. Vibrating heavily as well, very lumpy.
He rang the garage immediately when he got home and they asked him to get it to a local garage and run it on a diagnostics.
They said they will pay for any repairs.

Is he perfectly entitled to return it to the garage for a refund (who knows what else is up with it?) or must he keep it & get it repaired at their cost?
Main dealer ? Get diagnostics carried out and go from there.

Fastchas

2,645 posts

121 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
stevemcs said:
Fastchas said:
My stepdaughter's boyfriend bought a used Mini from a dealer Saturday. On the trip home the EML came on and the turbo doesn't spin (he says). Sounds like a bag of spanners at tickover. Vibrating heavily as well, very lumpy.
He rang the garage immediately when he got home and they asked him to get it to a local garage and run it on a diagnostics.
They said they will pay for any repairs.

Is he perfectly entitled to return it to the garage for a refund (who knows what else is up with it?) or must he keep it & get it repaired at their cost?
Main dealer ? Get diagnostics carried out and go from there.
I don't think it's a main dealer.
It's a '05 reg MINI. He took it to the local garage I use for a diagnostics yesterday, turns out it's only running on three cylinders which will explain the poor tickover and crappy performance.
The garage has asked him to return it, whereafter they will do any repairs on it and give him a courtesy car in the meantime.
It's done 70k miles and he has 3 months warranty on it.
So, is he obliged to keep it or can he ask for a refund? I would not be happy with a car that started off like this.

RazerSauber

2,274 posts

60 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
Fastchas said:
I don't think it's a main dealer.
It's a '05 reg MINI. He took it to the local garage I use for a diagnostics yesterday, turns out it's only running on three cylinders which will explain the poor tickover and crappy performance.
The garage has asked him to return it, whereafter they will do any repairs on it and give him a courtesy car in the meantime.
It's done 70k miles and he has 3 months warranty on it.
So, is he obliged to keep it or can he ask for a refund? I would not be happy with a car that started off like this.
I think you have to give them the chance to repair it first, it might well be an honest mistake. Was it not like that on the test drive?

Sheepshanks

32,749 posts

119 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
Fastchas said:
So, is he obliged to keep it or can he ask for a refund?
He can ask for (and is entitled to) a refund. He does not have to give the garage the chance to repair it.

gonzales_turbo

234 posts

209 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
Blakewater said:
I've noticed a lot of manufacturers are charging the same price for solid paint colours as for metallic now. Emocion Red on Seats, for example, is the same as Velvet Red and every other paint colour. Manufacturers used to offer a range of solid paint colours as no cost options, but it seems their perceived desirability has led to manufacturers charging a few hundred pounds for them.

Are people really proving to be willing to factory order a solid paint option and pay extra for it over the metallic paint option they could have had for the same money?
Wait! There is more!
I've seen this at least by Citroen and Fiat/Abarth, most probably others too. In some countries, solid white is the only no-cost option, but in others you get a different solid no-cost option (like yellow or primer grey). Not an additional one, but a different one, so that solid white is a cost option. I guess the one that is considered the least attractive in the country gets the "free" card...

Four Litre

2,018 posts

192 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
PSB1 said:
Mexman said:
Four Litre said:
Love the line "Surely, we would only be aware of any previous paintwork, whilst it was in our ownership". Do you keep a straight face when saying that?

I've never worked in the trade and could tell after 10 mins if a car has has had paint after manufacture. Anyone who works in the trade worth his salt certainly can. If you cant, you may want to brush up as its pretty obvious in most cases. It will never be the same as factory.

I'm guessing your new to cars, ask the guys in your body shop if they can tell if a cars had paint and note their reply. It may save your customers a wasted journey. Honesty is always best. Always makes me laugh that you can pick it out instantly if a customer is trading in, but cant if your selling!
rolleyes
Yeah, i can always tell that a car has had previous paintwork, especially when the car turns up caked in crap.
Surely depends on who has done the paintwork?, any bodyshop worth his salt, will be able to do an invisible repair quite easily, i sell cars, i dont repair and paint them, and inspect them with a microscope.
Used car, is used car...
Ever had a customer (potential) check out a car with a paint gauge? Is that knob behaviour?
Funny enough I've had a dealer go over my car with a paint gauge, basically looking for any excuse to try and knock money off a trade in! I did think what a bell end.

Four Litre

2,018 posts

192 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
PSB1 said:
Mexman said:
Four Litre said:
Love the line "Surely, we would only be aware of any previous paintwork, whilst it was in our ownership". Do you keep a straight face when saying that?

I've never worked in the trade and could tell after 10 mins if a car has has had paint after manufacture. Anyone who works in the trade worth his salt certainly can. If you cant, you may want to brush up as its pretty obvious in most cases. It will never be the same as factory.

I'm guessing your new to cars, ask the guys in your body shop if they can tell if a cars had paint and note their reply. It may save your customers a wasted journey. Honesty is always best. Always makes me laugh that you can pick it out instantly if a customer is trading in, but cant if your selling!
rolleyes
Yeah, i can always tell that a car has had previous paintwork, especially when the car turns up caked in crap.
Surely depends on who has done the paintwork?, any bodyshop worth his salt, will be able to do an invisible repair quite easily, i sell cars, i dont repair and paint them, and inspect them with a microscope.
Used car, is used car...
Ever had a customer (potential) check out a car with a paint gauge? Is that knob behaviour?
I imagine you don't sell many enthusiast cars, more white good where people don't really care and neither do you? Fair enough, must be hard to sell something you genuinely don't have a passion for?

Fast Bug

11,676 posts

161 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
Four Litre said:
I imagine you don't sell many enthusiast cars, more white good where people don't really care and neither do you? Fair enough, must be hard to sell something you genuinely don't have a passion for?
I've sold "enthusiast" cars and never had anyone run a paint depth gauge over one.


Save Ferris

2,685 posts

213 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
PSB1 said:
Ever had a customer (potential) check out a car with a paint gauge? Is that knob behaviour?
I've never had it happen once in 15 years of selling. (New & Used)
I would assume that kind of customer would be back with any problem, so I'd probably avoid them if I saw them on the forecourt with a gauge.

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