Munich Legends Sale or Return
Discussion
Thought this might be useful datapoint for those considering MPower sale ...
Just sold my Z4M coupe through Munich Legends (a sad day). However sale a very good experience. Dan Norris very helpful and professional (you get a contract) and as forum says a very knowledgeable enthusiast. Sold in about 6 weeks (I was not in a hurry) and Dan was good checking with me when offers came in. Car looked excellent when prepared (nearly bought it back off myself !). Happy with the price even once commission and some minor work deducted. If I have another MPower car in the future I will use them again. Definately worth looking at if you are selling and dont have experience/dont want hassle of sifting potential customers and doing test drives etc. Regards.
Just sold my Z4M coupe through Munich Legends (a sad day). However sale a very good experience. Dan Norris very helpful and professional (you get a contract) and as forum says a very knowledgeable enthusiast. Sold in about 6 weeks (I was not in a hurry) and Dan was good checking with me when offers came in. Car looked excellent when prepared (nearly bought it back off myself !). Happy with the price even once commission and some minor work deducted. If I have another MPower car in the future I will use them again. Definately worth looking at if you are selling and dont have experience/dont want hassle of sifting potential customers and doing test drives etc. Regards.
I tried to buy an E39 M5 from ML last summer (it was the Silverstone blue one with a £14500 sticker price) and often wondered since then what it would be like being on the other (vendor) end of one of these consignment deals. Glad the sale of your Z4M went well for you, sounded reasonably swift and painless.
My understanding of ML consignment sales is that ML only take legal title of the car immediately before sale so the buyer purchases the car from ML, not the 'vendor' client. Certainly means that ML have little risk and no capital tied up in stock and that the car is brought up to showroom standard at the vendor/client's expense, but at the same time the car gets good exposure at a well-known niche BMW sales outlet.
I made two offers on the M5 at ML and had the second one accepted by Dan only for him to recant 24hrs later. Apparently, he didn't like the fairly standard legal agreement I had drawn up for the sale (I've had legal training in the dim & distant past) but the contract wasn't anything convoluted, just bog-standard SOGA stuff. Also, I would have been buying at a distance from ML (Scottish Highlands) and Dan got cold feet about warranty issues etc. as well. At the time I was disappointed about the sale falling through but eventually kind of saw the issue from ML's perspective. Dan was totally civil & professional throughout and we parted on cordial terms.
However, it got me thinking about the other end of a deal like this. How happy would the vendor/client be at the consignment agent turning down solid offers of good money for their car (very close to the asking price) because it didn't suit the consignment agent? Seems like a conflict of interest. Perhaps ML have all this tied up in the small print of their legal agreement? That particular car also took ages to sell, too.
My understanding of ML consignment sales is that ML only take legal title of the car immediately before sale so the buyer purchases the car from ML, not the 'vendor' client. Certainly means that ML have little risk and no capital tied up in stock and that the car is brought up to showroom standard at the vendor/client's expense, but at the same time the car gets good exposure at a well-known niche BMW sales outlet.
I made two offers on the M5 at ML and had the second one accepted by Dan only for him to recant 24hrs later. Apparently, he didn't like the fairly standard legal agreement I had drawn up for the sale (I've had legal training in the dim & distant past) but the contract wasn't anything convoluted, just bog-standard SOGA stuff. Also, I would have been buying at a distance from ML (Scottish Highlands) and Dan got cold feet about warranty issues etc. as well. At the time I was disappointed about the sale falling through but eventually kind of saw the issue from ML's perspective. Dan was totally civil & professional throughout and we parted on cordial terms.
However, it got me thinking about the other end of a deal like this. How happy would the vendor/client be at the consignment agent turning down solid offers of good money for their car (very close to the asking price) because it didn't suit the consignment agent? Seems like a conflict of interest. Perhaps ML have all this tied up in the small print of their legal agreement? That particular car also took ages to sell, too.
I took my M3 saloon down too ML a couple of years ago for a 'Sale or Return' agreement with them,a fairly positive experience although in my case the car ultimately didn't sell which was disappointing given they had the car for a year! they do give the cars a thorough inspection prior to sale and many are turned away I was told requiring 1000's to be spent to bring them upto a reasonable standard.They take a fair cut of the overall selling price if the car sells,1500 quid if I remember right
evojam said:
They take a fair cut of the overall selling price if the car sells,1500 quid if I remember right
That sounds cheap to me. How much do you expect them to charge, given prep costs, staff time, overheads, profit, VAT, etc etc etc? Edited by Gruber on Saturday 16th August 14:06
Shed123 said:
Thought this might be useful datapoint for those considering MPower sale ...
Just sold my Z4M coupe through Munich Legends (a sad day). However sale a very good experience. Dan Norris very helpful and professional (you get a contract) and as forum says a very knowledgeable enthusiast. Sold in about 6 weeks (I was not in a hurry) and Dan was good checking with me when offers came in. Car looked excellent when prepared (nearly bought it back off myself !). Happy with the price even once commission and some minor work deducted. If I have another MPower car in the future I will use them again. Definately worth looking at if you are selling and dont have experience/dont want hassle of sifting potential customers and doing test drives etc. Regards.
So good that you decided to sign up to a forum and make that your very first post.......?Just sold my Z4M coupe through Munich Legends (a sad day). However sale a very good experience. Dan Norris very helpful and professional (you get a contract) and as forum says a very knowledgeable enthusiast. Sold in about 6 weeks (I was not in a hurry) and Dan was good checking with me when offers came in. Car looked excellent when prepared (nearly bought it back off myself !). Happy with the price even once commission and some minor work deducted. If I have another MPower car in the future I will use them again. Definately worth looking at if you are selling and dont have experience/dont want hassle of sifting potential customers and doing test drives etc. Regards.
Depthhoar said:
I made two offers on the M5 at ML and had the second one accepted by Dan only for him to recant 24hrs later. Apparently, he didn't like the fairly standard legal agreement I had drawn up for the sale (I've had legal training in the dim & distant past) but the contract wasn't anything convoluted, just bog-standard SOGA stuff.
In fairness, if I were in sales and a punter turned up insisting on his own t's & c's, I'd tell them to jog on too. I'm a little confused why you'd need a written contract just to cover "bog-standard SOGA stuff".Absolutely no affiliation to or experience of ML by the way...
Gruber said:
In fairness, if I were in sales and a punter turned up insisting on his own t's & c's, I'd tell them to jog on too. I'm a little confused why you'd need a written contract just to cover "bog-standard SOGA stuff".
Absolutely no affiliation to or experience of ML by the way...
Fair comment in many respects. Absolutely no affiliation to or experience of ML by the way...
Totally understand that sales staff 'qualify' punters and work out whether they're a prospect. In normal circumstances, with a mainstream car which was in demand & that commanded a steady number of enquiries and viewings from punters, then 'jog-on' would definitely have been the appropriate tag to hang round my neck!
However, this car had been around for a while at a market-leading price and I was offering top money for it. Those circumstances kind of change things....and I was buying at a distance so I wanted everything to be right with the car and not have those 'Oh, bring it in and we'll sort it out'-type conversations when faults with the vehicle crop up post-sale. For me that would have been a 1000 mile round trip. A gentle reminder of his SOGA responsibilities would, I hoped, have ensured a snag-free car. I was spending £14k on a 12 yr old car after all....hell, it needed to be right!
I simply asked for an pre-purchase inspection to be carried out by their workshop in addition to a list of things to be done to the car before sale. There was the odd bit of very minor legalese like ' to include but not limited to' here and there, and I ended the very brief email thus:
"My offer is conditional upon the car being in the condition as described in the advert and all the listed work being carried out to my complete satisfaction; this does not affect my statutory rights under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)."
Looking back, I totally understand Dan ditching me and hope for an easier/simpler prospective buyer to walk in the door. We all like an easier life! However, the car didn't sell for an age after that and I was very definitely a 'bird in the hand' etc., etc.. at the time.
If I was selling my car via ML (or whoever) I'd want them to accept solid offers asap since they were engaged to act in my best interest as the vendor/client, not wholly theirs.
There's definitely potential for some tension in the vendor/client and agent/garage relationship in these consignment arrangements, and it was the original purpose of my posting to shine some light on this.
I have plenty of experience of selling AND buying through/from ML. Without exception, every single one was handled in a professional straightforward manner.
They have sold 3 cars over 5 years for me. The amount quoted above for their commission was correct.
On each sale I achieved considerably more than market value.
No need to detail the extra they have achieved for me over BMW PX offers, but every transaction put a smile on my face.
They honoured SOGA to the full for me when I purchased a beautiful E60 in 2012. Gearbox & Clutch failure in week 3 of ownership saw their team coming out to the roadside within 20 minutes (!!).
A roadside attempt to fix failed so they called out their tow team and off to ML it went.
All worked was sorted, they even took care of all the negotiating with BMW over Mondial warranty work too.
And lent me a car went the work went on longer than expected.
Other minor issues with the vehicle were all sorted pronto without question and without charge.
Their bodywork guys do a beautiful job of detailing the cars as well.
This all sounds too good to be true doesn't it?
Well, it is true and I would not hesitate but recommend these guys if you want a dealership you can TRUST….very, very rare these days.
They have sold 3 cars over 5 years for me. The amount quoted above for their commission was correct.
On each sale I achieved considerably more than market value.
No need to detail the extra they have achieved for me over BMW PX offers, but every transaction put a smile on my face.
They honoured SOGA to the full for me when I purchased a beautiful E60 in 2012. Gearbox & Clutch failure in week 3 of ownership saw their team coming out to the roadside within 20 minutes (!!).
A roadside attempt to fix failed so they called out their tow team and off to ML it went.
All worked was sorted, they even took care of all the negotiating with BMW over Mondial warranty work too.
And lent me a car went the work went on longer than expected.
Other minor issues with the vehicle were all sorted pronto without question and without charge.
Their bodywork guys do a beautiful job of detailing the cars as well.
This all sounds too good to be true doesn't it?
Well, it is true and I would not hesitate but recommend these guys if you want a dealership you can TRUST….very, very rare these days.
Gruber said:
That sounds cheap to me. How much do you expect them to charge, given prep costs, staff time, overheads, profit, VAT, etc etc etc?
They didn't do any prep to my car as far as I know,it was delivered fully detailed so no costs for them there.It wasn't always kept at the main site I was told but at a storage facilty nearby wherever that is..this was a few years ago now so maybe things are different now.Not knocking ML's overall as I've always had good service from them and wouldn't hestitate too use them again.Edited by Gruber on Saturday 16th August 14:06
Dan did apologise for failing to sell my car and the car has sat in dry storage ever since,the E36 M3 market was pretty flat a few years back so hopefully in a few years time I'll try again....
Gassing Station | M Power | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff