Whats the point of 2nd hard car dealers....

[davido140]

Following on from the most recent warranty with car dealers thread...

I seem to remember when a 2nd hand car dealer offered services like guaranteed mileage, pre AA/RAC inspected cars and warranties.

As seems common most dealers give little or no warranty these days, and even if they do it seems to be backed off to warranty-wk or some other 3rd party st-house that you've two changes of getting a payout from (slim and none).

there is a lot of wordage on any receipt for a car stating the mileage cannot be guaranteed, normally another little box to sign just to agree to this.

Cant remember the last time I saw a garage forecourt with AA inspected signs on the cars...

So it seems you stand exactly the same (or higher) chance of picking up a clocked, cut n shut, lemon flavoured stbox from a dealer as from a private sale.

which begs the question, with 20% markups, whats the point of a 2nd hand car dealer?

The only facilities I can see that they offer is trade in and credit, which can be obtained from a squillion and one outlets on the highstreet and webuyanycar.com, which probably wont give you that much of a bad deal compared to what a dealer will offer trade-in, and if you're worried about that extra bit of money you could have got then trading in is the wrong way to go about it, private sale will net you more cash anyway...

Over to you super-defensive traders of PH!

[Dwight VanDriver]

Watch WATCHDOG 8pm tonight BBS 1........

dvd

[TriumphVitesse]

I don't see the point of them either. I have never used one & would never consider buying a car from a dealer because I know roughly what cars are worth and its usually glaringly obvious that cars at secondhand dealers are priced at more than their value. In essence you are paying them to go to the auction for you, buy a Micra for £500, vac it out & wash & stick a sign in the window for £1295!
Don't know about anyone else but all the small dealers in my area that are banging out 'cheap' cars have a selection of dented and scratched models galore! Always makes Me piss why they put that tyre black stuff on to make old worn out tyres look like new!

Remember though that a lot of people havent a clue about cars & when they need one simply drive round the dealers in the area & find something that suits them at a price they deem fair & affordable.

[Munter]

Easy to deal with.

I can walk in on Saturday find a car I like, get a value on my car, wave a piece of plastic, and pick it up in a few days time.

If you buy private, you have to get hold of them, find them, see a car thats not as described, negotiate down based on the dents etc, carry £1000s in cash on you, or jump through hoops of hasle doing a safe transfer of funds, then sell your own car.

I'm happy to pay a premium to avoid that. Plus many dealers are ok if you go back with a real problem that shouldn't be there.

[patmahe]

Part of the reason I've only ever bought privately, cut out the middleman, there are exceptions of course.

[davido140]

Dwight VanDriver said:

Watch WATCHDOG 8pm tonight BBS 1........

dvd

bbc website said:

The team reveals overcharging and shoddy workmanship at one of the UK's biggest car service and repair chains

Surely that's just going to be kwikfit/ATS/bobs tyre and exhaust centre/whoever are a load of rubbish... which we all knew anyway....

[Rags]

davido140 said:

Dwight VanDriver said:

Watch WATCHDOG 8pm tonight BBS 1........

dvd

bbc website said:

The team reveals overcharging and shoddy workmanship at one of the UK's biggest car service and repair chains

Surely that's just going to be kwikfit/ATS/bobs tyre and exhaust centre/whoever are a load of rubbish... which we all knew anyway....

But 90% if the general public also need to be conditioned into not falling into the trap of having all 4 tyres, brakes and full exhaust systems replaced at any given opportunity!

[TriumphVitesse]

Rags said:

davido140 said:

Dwight VanDriver said:

Watch WATCHDOG 8pm tonight BBS 1........

dvd

bbc website said:

The team reveals overcharging and shoddy workmanship at one of the UK's biggest car service and repair chains

Surely that's just going to be kwikfit/ATS/bobs tyre and exhaust centre/whoever are a load of rubbish... which we all knew anyway....

But 90% if the general public also need to be conditioned into not falling into the trap of having all 4 tyres, brakes and full exhaust systems replaced at any given opportunity!

Kwikst really are a bunch of robbing bds...avoid like the plague!

[Ozzie Osmond]

If you've only got £2,500 to spend and either don't want the aggravation of dealing with private seller or want some recourse if the car goes wrong where else would you go?

[RobM77]

TriumphVitesse said:

Rags said:

davido140 said:

Dwight VanDriver said:

Watch WATCHDOG 8pm tonight BBS 1........

dvd

bbc website said:

The team reveals overcharging and shoddy workmanship at one of the UK's biggest car service and repair chains

Surely that's just going to be kwikfit/ATS/bobs tyre and exhaust centre/whoever are a load of rubbish... which we all knew anyway....

But 90% if the general public also need to be conditioned into not falling into the trap of having all 4 tyres, brakes and full exhaust systems replaced at any given opportunity!

Kwikst really are a bunch of robbing bds...avoid like the plague!

It's not just the false recommendations for extra work. They did an exhaust for me once and the workmanship was terrible! I remember my Dad taking one look at it when I got home and suggested that I took the whole thing off and re-did it myself. It took me about two hours, but I did indeed do a much better job myself, and it was the first exhaust I'd ever done...

[davido140]

Ozzie Osmond said:

want some recourse if the car goes wrong where else would you go?

But that's my point, you're lucky to get any, as has been stated on other threads "fit for purpose" is a pretty grey area with second hand cars, especially something for a couple of grand!

I'm pretty sure 90% of dealers would say "tough luck chum" if you got a car for £2.5k and a couple of weeks later something went catastrophically wrong.

[rallycross]

The point is most people know nothing about cars, and buying from a garage gives you some protection.

If you know nothing about used cars and buy one privately you really are taking a big risk.

Most people on pistonheads probably dont fall into this category, but we are in the minority.

[GestapoWatch]

Ozzie Osmond said:

If you've only got £2,500 to spend and either don't want the aggravation of dealing with private seller or want some recourse if the car goes wrong where else would you go?

Somewhere like autoquake.com? Bought over a year ago from them at below Parker's price and got great service. Also if I was to sell on now privately I would expect to sell for the same price I bought, maybe even at profit

[TommyBuoy]

TriumphVitesse said:

Rags said:

davido140 said:

Dwight VanDriver said:

Watch WATCHDOG 8pm tonight BBS 1........

dvd

bbc website said:

The team reveals overcharging and shoddy workmanship at one of the UK's biggest car service and repair chains

Surely that's just going to be kwikfit/ATS/bobs tyre and exhaust centre/whoever are a load of rubbish... which we all knew anyway....

But 90% if the general public also need to be conditioned into not falling into the trap of having all 4 tyres, brakes and full exhaust systems replaced at any given opportunity!

Kwikst really are a bunch of robbing bds...avoid like the plague!

I have to defend Kwik Fit in my experience they have been fine. I had four tyres, each with split walls (cheap and under deflated ). They put the car on the ramps to check for this it was only one tyre that had an outside wall split.

They commented on how clean the car was, on the new bushes / lower arms and how the brakes had just been serviced and were in good order visually.

I did buy tyres from them - continental SP 3's, but they were only slightly over the prices online as I could get it done there and then.

Anway, 2nd hand car dealers - I can buy a car, have some comeback if it is a bag of nails and off load my car and not go through a private sale. My last car I traded in they gave me almost private sale price for as the guy wanted it for his daughter so that worked well too

ETA: I would use private sales if the car I was after was available and I could get a good price of course. If everyone went and bought privatley you can guarantee there would be more un-road worthy cars on the roads where they had been shipped out to a clueless buyer!

Edited by TommyBuoy on Thursday 16th September 16:24

[Muzzer]

davido140 said:

Ozzie Osmond said:

want some recourse if the car goes wrong where else would you go?

But that's my point, you're lucky to get any, as has been stated on other threads "fit for purpose" is a pretty grey area with second hand cars, especially something for a couple of grand!

I'm pretty sure 90% of dealers would say "tough luck chum" if you got a car for £2.5k and a couple of weeks later something went catastrophically wrong.

The same thing could happen in a private sale.

People buy from dealers as if they're a reputable firm, they buy decent cars that they get traded in a bit cheaper, to sell for a bit more and make some money.

You're assuming that all second hand cars are lemons and that all warranties are tinder so there's no point in buying from a dealer because you get no recourse.

Not all dealers are charlatans. Some are out there flogging good cars. With reputable warranties.

If I find a decent car at a dealer for a price that suits me, I don't begrudge the dealer profit. I don't drive away thinking I could have got it 20% cheaper in a private sale, I drive away happy that I've got a good car.

Those that begrudge dealers making money are the ones that don't believe in dealers.