Car sale woes. What would you do?
Discussion
Decided to give a Fabia VRS diesel a go and found a decent sounding '06 one from a dealer in Nottingham (Junction 26 Prestige Trade Centre), listed as 61K miles and up for £4995.
Before driving the 1 and half hours to view, I asked a few questions and was told all our cars are prepared to the highest standard and are fully PDi'd before sale blah blah...
Arrived and saw the car has been valeted to an inch of its life and looked in quite good overall condition apart from the front brakes were shot, and needed 2 new front tyres. Test drive went well and decided to go ahead...
We agreed to reduce the price by two hundred pounds to cover tyres and brakes (he phoned a parts shop for brake prices when I was there).
Here'a where things started to go downhill. They couldn't find the V5 and MOT. The service pack and spare key was there. The whole outfit looks OK and I think it was a genuine thing. After alot of searching with no luck finding V5 or MOT they agreed to fit the brakes, put a fresh MOT on the car, tax it and deliver the car the next day, or the day after absolute latest. Fair enough I thought
Salesman wanted me to pay the full amount. I asked to pay a deposit and the rest on delivery, to which he agreed and I paid £500. All this was Thursday of last week. No update call as promised Thursday evening, called Friday talked to someone else who said my salesman would phone back, nothing. Phoned Saturday same thing.
I've now realised the cam belt needs changing (£300), the oil service is 2K miles overdue, the car has done 4K miles more than advertised, and the tyres I would like will cost £240
It would look like they have bought this car, perhaps from auction, done absolutely nothing to it except a valet and put it up for sale.
Am I being too harsh and maybe just try negotiating a lower price to cover the work needed? Or should I start considering other options to get out?
Cheers
Before driving the 1 and half hours to view, I asked a few questions and was told all our cars are prepared to the highest standard and are fully PDi'd before sale blah blah...
Arrived and saw the car has been valeted to an inch of its life and looked in quite good overall condition apart from the front brakes were shot, and needed 2 new front tyres. Test drive went well and decided to go ahead...
We agreed to reduce the price by two hundred pounds to cover tyres and brakes (he phoned a parts shop for brake prices when I was there).
Here'a where things started to go downhill. They couldn't find the V5 and MOT. The service pack and spare key was there. The whole outfit looks OK and I think it was a genuine thing. After alot of searching with no luck finding V5 or MOT they agreed to fit the brakes, put a fresh MOT on the car, tax it and deliver the car the next day, or the day after absolute latest. Fair enough I thought
Salesman wanted me to pay the full amount. I asked to pay a deposit and the rest on delivery, to which he agreed and I paid £500. All this was Thursday of last week. No update call as promised Thursday evening, called Friday talked to someone else who said my salesman would phone back, nothing. Phoned Saturday same thing.
I've now realised the cam belt needs changing (£300), the oil service is 2K miles overdue, the car has done 4K miles more than advertised, and the tyres I would like will cost £240
It would look like they have bought this car, perhaps from auction, done absolutely nothing to it except a valet and put it up for sale.
Am I being too harsh and maybe just try negotiating a lower price to cover the work needed? Or should I start considering other options to get out?
Cheers
I would say go ahead. Its all part of the game about buying from a second hand car dealer. I suspect most cars for sale are in a similar condition/ position.
If you are happy with it, go with it. At least you know the Cambelt/ service have actually been done if you get it done yourself....
Mike
If you are happy with it, go with it. At least you know the Cambelt/ service have actually been done if you get it done yourself....
Mike
I would say you are still doing OK .
Presumably you are still getting it at the agreed price with the £200 off ? You are also getting it with the brakes done and a new MOT ( if anything else needs done for the MOT it will be at the dealer's cost , not yours ) .
OK , you will have to get two new tyres , but that's life , and if you are strapped for cash after buying the car , look at budget brands or part worn as a temporary measure to keep you legal until you can afford the proper ones .
Why not buy a cambelt and DIY - most of the garage bill for the job is labour .
Edit - oil change is easy=peasy too - Eurocarparts are doing great deals on oil this holiday weekend , Costco do good deals on Castrol oils all the time .
Presumably you are still getting it at the agreed price with the £200 off ? You are also getting it with the brakes done and a new MOT ( if anything else needs done for the MOT it will be at the dealer's cost , not yours ) .
OK , you will have to get two new tyres , but that's life , and if you are strapped for cash after buying the car , look at budget brands or part worn as a temporary measure to keep you legal until you can afford the proper ones .
Why not buy a cambelt and DIY - most of the garage bill for the job is labour .
Edit - oil change is easy=peasy too - Eurocarparts are doing great deals on oil this holiday weekend , Costco do good deals on Castrol oils all the time .
Coming from this at a trade angle, Cambelt was it advertised as being done? If not it's up to you to either ask or look at which point you can negotiate accordingly/not go ahead. Was it advertised with FSH if so you've probably got a good shot of getting them to service it. Tyres well £240 that's your personal choice as you stated in your post, you could probably get tyres for half that, not advocating ditchfinders though!
To be honest you already know it's a cheap car otherwise you wouldn't have traveled and hour and a half to buy it so you can't expect things like cambelt and tyres to have been done. To put it in context on Friday I sold an 06 Fabia VRS TDI which had covered 34500 miles for £6750 we gave him £250 off, I really think £4995 for an 06 with 61K is pretty good value. Or for future reference you buy from a main dealer as there's far more requirements for vehicle condition than a used car dealer.
To those saying run, get out, really? I mean really?
To be honest you already know it's a cheap car otherwise you wouldn't have traveled and hour and a half to buy it so you can't expect things like cambelt and tyres to have been done. To put it in context on Friday I sold an 06 Fabia VRS TDI which had covered 34500 miles for £6750 we gave him £250 off, I really think £4995 for an 06 with 61K is pretty good value. Or for future reference you buy from a main dealer as there's far more requirements for vehicle condition than a used car dealer.
To those saying run, get out, really? I mean really?
They have reduced the price by 200 yes. As for tyres, then yes I want premium Michelins which is my choice, fair enough
I asked about the cambelt whilst there, and was told 80,000 and it hasn't been changed. I've since found it is 40K or 4 years (it used to be 60K but there have been issues so the interval was reduced)
I asked about the cambelt whilst there, and was told 80,000 and it hasn't been changed. I've since found it is 40K or 4 years (it used to be 60K but there have been issues so the interval was reduced)
Second hand cars aren't necessarily perfect, this is reflected in the price. TBH I don't think any of the issues you've described are a problem, like it would be if for instance it was stolen/recovered in the past or a previous write-off.
Are they amenable to re-negotiating the price slightly with these issues?
Are they amenable to re-negotiating the price slightly with these issues?
bonesX said:
They have reduced the price by 200 yes. As for tyres, then yes I want premium Michelins which is my choice, fair enough
I asked about the cambelt whilst there, and was told 80,000 and it hasn't been changed. I've since found it is 40K or 4 years (it used to be 60K but there have been issues so the interval was reduced)
When was the cambelt last done? The 80,000 was as far as I'm aware never the case alway's thought it was 60 or 4 years which ever is first. It obviously should have been done in 2010 so you should only need to do it in 2 years time?I asked about the cambelt whilst there, and was told 80,000 and it hasn't been changed. I've since found it is 40K or 4 years (it used to be 60K but there have been issues so the interval was reduced)
If it's in good condition body wise I still think £4995 is cracking value as long as the history is complete bar the last one.
missing the VR6 said:
bonesX said:
They have reduced the price by 200 yes. As for tyres, then yes I want premium Michelins which is my choice, fair enough
I asked about the cambelt whilst there, and was told 80,000 and it hasn't been changed. I've since found it is 40K or 4 years (it used to be 60K but there have been issues so the interval was reduced)
When was the cambelt last done? The 80,000 was as far as I'm aware never the case alway's thought it was 60 or 4 years which ever is first. It obviously should have been done in 2010 so you should only need to do it in 2 years time?I asked about the cambelt whilst there, and was told 80,000 and it hasn't been changed. I've since found it is 40K or 4 years (it used to be 60K but there have been issues so the interval was reduced)
If it's in good condition body wise I still think £4995 is cracking value as long as the history is complete bar the last one.
I still think the whole deal is a fairly good. The car has full leather interior in immaculate condition. The brakes (& tyres), while totally shot, looked like fair wear and tear, not abused
Why are people worried about there being no log book? It's so very easy to get a replacement simply a phone call to the DVLA will have one on it's way to you and I'm sure if the OP asks the garage will do it for him as there is a £25 charge. Might be that the car was bought from auction and they are still awaiting the docs.
bulldong said:
It doesn't have a V5, they will give you a dodgy MOT certificate, and you have since discovered it needs a load more work than you thought. It's not a £4995 car, is a £4795 car with a load of work needing doing to it.
Very true. I wouldn't change a cambelt, so I'm looking at £300 with water pump, plus £240 tyres and an oil change which I will do, say £30 so takes me up to nearly £5,400 or 5.300 with more budget tyres
missing the VR6 said:
Why are people worried about there being no log book? It's so very easy to get a replacement simply a phone call to the DVLA will have one on it's way to you and I'm sure if the OP asks the garage will do it for him as there is a £25 charge. Might be that the car was bought from auction and they are still awaiting the docs.
They did say they would apply for new V5 (£25), and tax the car. I wan't too worried about it not being thereMy 2p, you were all set to buy it, and now you ve realised its going to want a relative amount of moeny spending on it in the early days of you buying it.
So you either bite the bullet and carry on with the buying of the car or walk and possibly lose your deposit?
But as has been stated its cheap, nearly £2000 cheap from what the previous poster has said.
Always begs the question WHY?
So you either bite the bullet and carry on with the buying of the car or walk and possibly lose your deposit?
But as has been stated its cheap, nearly £2000 cheap from what the previous poster has said.
Always begs the question WHY?
Yeah it's annoying discovering things after committing but that's why many are suspicious of dealers generally lol. If you think it's a good deal then I'd try to negotiate the belt and service seeing as you though, and we're led to believe, it was all up to date. However look at it like its still a good deal regardless!
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