Would you trust the dealer?

[zspere]

Looking to buy a new car and using my current car as part exchange with a franchise Audi dealership. Buying new on pcp finance to take advantage of the hefty deposit contribution then will clear the finance a few days after delivery. No outstanding finance on current car. I’ve max’d the customer deposit in the deal and there is about £21k leftover still in my current cars part exchange value.

Dealer said that £21k will be paid to me via BACS within a few days of taking delivery of new car. Is that normal that it could take days? Also would you trust the dealer that the money would be paid without chasing and hassle? I’m quite concerned about the amount, would you want anyone higher than the sales manger to check and confirm this first?

[lancslad58]

zspere said:

Looking to buy a new car and using my current car as part exchange with a franchise Audi dealership. Buying new on pcp finance to take advantage of the hefty deposit contribution then will clear the finance a few days after delivery. No outstanding finance on current car. I ve max d the customer deposit in the deal and there is about £21k leftover still in my current cars part exchange value.

Dealer said that £21k will be paid to me via BACS within a few days of taking delivery of new car. Is that normal that it could take days? Also would you trust the dealer that the money would be paid without chasing and hassle? I m quite concerned about the amount, would you want anyone higher than the sales manger to check and confirm this first?

I don't see a problem, takes a few days to get everything organised.

Who do you consider "higher than the sales manager", after all it's their job to oversee sales.

[Belle427]

I appreciate it may be the norm but would prefer to wrap it all up on the day to avoid any funny business.
That probably wont happen though.

[Sheepshanks]

Swapping wife’s Tiguan for a nearly new Karoq at a highly regarded local family owned dealership there was £500 due back to us, they said it would be a few days and the salesguy said to call him if not received, which didn’t inspire confidence, but it arrived next day.

That was about the only thing they did well. 11mths later it turned out the dealer had forgotten to register the car to us, then I had a battle over the service/MOT package.

[Jamescrs]

Belle427 said:

I appreciate it may be the norm but would prefer to wrap it all up on the day to avoid any funny business.
That probably wont happen though.

It probably won’t happen on the same day because the salesperson will wrap up the deal and hand over your new car then all the paperwork will go off to an admin department to sort out the transfers.

[HTP99]

Jamescrs said:

Belle427 said:

I appreciate it may be the norm but would prefer to wrap it all up on the day to avoid any funny business.
That probably wont happen though.

It probably won t happen on the same day because the salesperson will wrap up the deal and hand over your new car then all the paperwork will go off to an admin department to sort out the transfers.

Yep, process at our place, all refunds/transfer paperwork have to be sent to sales admin, who then make sure all is correct, they then send the request to accounts where a senior member of the accounts team authorises the transfer, this can take a couple of days due to the processes in place, it's pretty standard.

[zspere]

Thanks for the replies. I do think it’s odd that if it was the other way round and I owed them 21k, it would have to be transferred days before collecting the new car and be cleared funds in their account. Maybe I’m overthinking it.

Another thing that surprised me was their refusal to guarantee a part ex value, they’d only give a ‘good indication’. This is because new car is a factory order which would be arriving within 2 months. Considering I’m part exchanging an Audi at an Audi dealership I’d have expected them to be able to forecast 2 months ahead pretty accurately and lock in the value.

Not sure if I’m overlooking a red flag here and will be burnt by them, or this is just the norm?

[zspere]

lancslad58 said:

zspere said:

Looking to buy a new car and using my current car as part exchange with a franchise Audi dealership. Buying new on pcp finance to take advantage of the hefty deposit contribution then will clear the finance a few days after delivery. No outstanding finance on current car. I ve max d the customer deposit in the deal and there is about £21k leftover still in my current cars part exchange value.

Dealer said that £21k will be paid to me via BACS within a few days of taking delivery of new car. Is that normal that it could take days? Also would you trust the dealer that the money would be paid without chasing and hassle? I m quite concerned about the amount, would you want anyone higher than the sales manger to check and confirm this first?

I don't see a problem, takes a few days to get everything organised.

Who do you consider "higher than the sales manager", after all it's their job to oversee sales.

I guess maybe someone from accounts/ finance director? I could just imagine the sales manager agreeing to figures and ‘forgetting’ to get approval from higher up for a certain amount. Say any payments over 20k or something need sign off. I don’t have deep knowledge on how the structure works behind the scene at dealerships, I just have been burnt in the past so I’m very wary of them.

[bitchstewie]

I've had this a few times and each time it's been fine.

I guess you can never rule out some weird random thing happening (or not happening ) or it being that one "dodgy" dealership that goes into administration five mins after you drive off but I think there's a touch of that whilst this is a big deal to you it's just another transaction to them type thing going on.

[Sheepshanks]

zspere said:

Thanks for the replies. I do think it s odd that if it was the other way round and I owed them 21k, it would have to be transferred days before collecting the new car and be cleared funds in their account.

That is true. Annoying now that they want all the paperwork signed in advance too.

Dealers do have a habit of going pop in the night and leaving people in the lurch. I guess this one will be part of a big group though.

[zspere]

HTP99 said:

Jamescrs said:

Belle427 said:

I appreciate it may be the norm but would prefer to wrap it all up on the day to avoid any funny business.
That probably wont happen though.

It probably won t happen on the same day because the salesperson will wrap up the deal and hand over your new car then all the paperwork will go off to an admin department to sort out the transfers.

Yep, process at our place, all refunds/transfer paperwork have to be sent to sales admin, who then make sure all is correct, they then send the request to accounts where a senior member of the accounts team authorises the transfer, this can take a couple of days due to the processes in place, it's pretty standard.

Thanks for the info on how it works. Can these processes not be in place prior to collection day? I just can’t wrap my head around how a dealer wouldn’t let you drive off in your new car with a promise of ‘’I’ll transfer you the money in 2 days’.

[skeeterm5]

WBAC can send you the money the same day. Tell the salesman’s you will pay for a CHAPs or immediate payment and if they won’t (it isn’t can’t) go somewhere else that will if you are worried.

If the discount is manufacturer based you can go to any dealer..

[Trevor555]

zspere said:

Another thing that surprised me was their refusal to guarantee a part ex value, they d only give a good indication . This is because new car is a factory order which would be arriving within 2 months. Considering I m part exchanging an Audi at an Audi dealership I d have expected them to be able to forecast 2 months ahead pretty accurately and lock in the value.

Not sure if I m overlooking a red flag here and will be burnt by them, or this is just the norm?

Do a WBAC valuation about 10 days before you go in.

You can use that to get an idea of the value, and sometimes WBAC send you a slightly better offer a week or so after your initial offer.

I'd also get another valuation from another Audi dealer a few days before you go in, and get your valuation from your garage a few days before you collect your new car.

[zspere]

skeeterm5 said:

WBAC can send you the money the same day. Tell the salesman s you will pay for a CHAPs or immediate payment and if they won t (it isn t can t) go somewhere else that will if you are worried.

If the discount is manufacturer based you can go to any dealer..

Good point, thanks for that suggestion. Unfortunately it’s manufacturer contribution + large dealer contribution which several other local dealers won’t get near to. It’s sort of this deal at this dealer or nothing

[Wills2]

Going back a few years 18 of them, I had a similar situation with a BMW main dealer in West Yorkshire, sold them an e46 M3 bought a Z4C on PCP, took me 6 weeks to get my money and an email to the MD to be fair he called me within an hour to apologise but then when they sent the cheque they did so without a stamp so I had to pay the postage to take delivery which was a piss take, they eventually lost their BMW dealership on the new car sales side and I'm not surprised, worst dealer group in the country IMO.

I'd always insist on cleared funds these days especially as there is no reason for that not to happen in the era of open banking and it's exactly what they require of you, no one would allow a car trader to drive off in their car without cleared funds so why should a main dealer.

[Panamax]

zspere said:

Buying new on pcp finance to take advantage of the hefty deposit contribution then will clear the finance a few days after delivery.

So you have a choice as to whether you want to take this "risk" on the PX.

If you want to protect yourself fully you would srite into the contract that ownership of your car ("legal title") doesn't pass to dealer unless and until you have been paid in full. i.e. They would have it in their possession but wouldn't own it. If they went bust you should get the car back from the liquidator.

[zspere]

Another development - I’ve finally received some paperwork this morning with the figures we discussed in writing and they’ve listed the wrong model of car and spelt my name wrong.

Might be a cracking deal but too many red flags for me.

Thank you everyone for the advice.

[nickfrog]

^ par for the course for a franchised dealer I would have thought?

[Ifinishposts]

People spell our name wrong all the time, I can stand in front of them and spell it out and they still get it wrong.

[Sheepshanks]

Not exactly a frictionless process, is it?