Why Does the Motor Trade...... | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

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Thu 26 Nov 2015 19:47

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Bromptonaut

Behave like it's on a different planet to the rest of retail?

The Bromp family fleet comprises a brace of Berlingos, my 05 1.9D now on 156k miles and Mrs B’s 2013 1.6/115. Ideally I’d run the older one to 15 yrs 200k miles but it’s had various issues recently of which heavy steering is the latest and I’ve decided to get shot.

Possible replacements, both on local (Northampton) franchise dealer forecourts, are an 11 plate Skoda Roomster 1.9/90 on 70k miles or an 09 Citroen C3 Picasso 1.6/90 on around 45k miles. Both have screen prices in the £5.5k - £5.9k range.

By 3:30 this afternoon we'd both driven both cars and could have been happy with either. Plan was to ask each dealer for a 'best/final cost to change' figure and make a decision by tomorrow. Skoda dealer did just that - ctt £4690 based on £600 CAP value for my car. Can sweeten the deal with a spare wheel to replace the goo can and some mats.

My request for confirmation of interval to replace cambelt/waterpump was met with a quote of mileage/time and a 'menu' price.

Try same in Citroen dealer - having already been mildly disappointed by a mis-description of the potentially troublesome 16v engine as the less problematic 8v. The cambelt interval is a 140k miles/10yrs. Instead of just giving me the cost to replace salesman gets a guy from service reception over and we go through a pantomime about why I might possibly want this information. Apparently if the belt goes prematurely I'll be in a strong position for 'goodwill' from Citroen!!!! Pointed out I’d had a belt let go on my Xantia and got diddly goodwill an no assistance whatsoever from Citroen UK vis a vis the dealership.

Eventually got a grudging quote of "about £500".

On cost to change they refused point blank to give me a 'best/final' figure. All the salesman would quote was screen price, less same £600 for my 'lingo and a suggestion he might have another £100 to play with. But then he wants me to (a) somehow confirm I really want the car and (b) tell him my budget or bottom line figure - in other words we have haggle. Suspect, at cost of giving up another hour on another day I might have got ctt below £5k but no way were they giving me a better price now.

I'm not asking him to price match 'cos I'm buying either an apple OR a pear. Price is part of the equation but not the clincher.

They failed to sell me a Berlingo two years ago for similar reasons. Although on that occasion I was asking them to price match I'd have cut them some slack for having the right colour and being more local than Perrys in Milton Keynes and made that clear at time.

Why mess a customer about like that? Maybe some customers enjoy the haggle. I don't, it wastes my time. I just want to cut to the chase...

Edited by Bromptonaut on 26/11/2015 at 19:48

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Thu 26 Nov 2015 20:09

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Leif

It sounds like the second garage knew they could sell the car at the offered price without difficulty in the near future, and did not need to free up showroom or car park space. Of course they might just have misjudged you.

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Thu 26 Nov 2015 22:31

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Wackyracer

I've had similar experiences with dealers. I wonder how some of these dealerships ever sell cars but, I guess there is always someone who will walk in and just buy it at the marked price without wanting to part exchange.

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Thu 26 Nov 2015 22:16

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Avant

If you're happy with the Roomster, go for it. The 1.9 VAG diesel isn't a ball of fire but it's adequate and has a good reputation for reliability and longevity. You should get it up to 200k miles - all those taxi-drivers with Octavias can't be wrong!

The last diesel I had was an 09 Octavia vRS 2.0 TDI: it had a DPF but there were never any problems.

Another reason for going for the Roomster is that it soujnds as if you'll get better service from the dealer than you would from the Citroen dealer: if they can't make much effort to sell you a car, they'll make even less with after-sales service.

I wish that sort of service were on a different planet from the rest of retail - sadly that sort of feebleness isn't confined to car dealers. Maybe I've been lucky but I've had much better experiences with car dealers than with big electrical chains, IT stores and (worst of all) DIY warehouses.

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Thu 26 Nov 2015 23:27

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Andrew-T

Maybe I've been lucky but I've had much better experiences with car dealers than with big electrical chains, IT stores and (worst of all) DIY warehouses.

Avant, I'm not sure one can make much worthwhile comparison between car dealers and the other traders you mention. The price level is about 10 times higher and there is often a significant part-ex value to affect the haggle process. I agree that some dealerships appear to be vastly different from others, but at the larger ones a good deal may depend on which salesman you tangle with. Junior ones often have to get the approval of their manager and won't make their own decisions. And others may be willing to give more away to reach their sales target.

Unless there is a good reason for buying from a franchise, I prefer to use a reputable unattached dealer (not necessarily a 'supermarket'). Prices are often lower and the glitzy premises don't have to be paid for.

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Sun 29 Nov 2015 09:35

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - daveyK_UK

My friend visited a Toyota dealer yesterday.

He was looking at a Yaris in the showroom.

Salesman was adamant the Yaris model was only available at list price, there was no discount available.

Needless to say, he didnt buy a Yaris.

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Sun 29 Nov 2015 10:13

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - oldroverboy.

Quite a while back I took a teat drive in a Ssangyong Tivoli ( as a potential replacement for the Kia due to the higher driving position) and liked the car for what it was..

Salesman unwilling to give me a px value for mine, and I did not order a car, However several phone calls to tell me of special offers in spite of me saying that i was offered no valuation or cost to change.

Needless to say politely declined their offers.

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Sun 29 Nov 2015 15:45

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Engineer Andy

Wow - I wasn't aware that the Yaris was that popular! Maybe a lot of mugs (ahem, I mean punters who don't care about the price) reside in the vicinity...or that salesperson will be soon out of a job.

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Sun 29 Nov 2015 15:54

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - RT

Wow - I wasn't aware that the Yaris was that popular! Maybe a lot of mugs (ahem, I mean punters who don't care about the price) reside in the vicinity...or that salesperson will be soon out of a job.

Some dealers are like that - I recently got 21% off a VW Touareg using an internet broker to identify dealers that would sell to retail customers using fleet pricing but my local dealer wouldn't budge off 5% even when seeing the printout of the offer - and the Range Rover dealer just laughed when I wanted to discuss JLR employee discount!

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Sun 29 Nov 2015 16:12

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - NARU

My friend visited a Toyota dealer yesterday.

He was looking at a Yaris in the showroom.

Salesman was adamant the Yaris model was only available at list price, there was no discount available.

Needless to say, he didnt buy a Yaris.

My wife did similar. There was a small discount available, but nothing worth having - even in their nearly-new range. They wasted hours of our time.

I rang another main dealer advertising on autotrader and did a deal over the phone. Drove down the following weekend to collect it. They honoured the partex price (I'd decribed it accurately, even to the whine from the gearbox [honda jazz]). In and out within the hour. Car we bought was three months old, with 600 miles. Saved around £2.5k over an almost identical model locally

Edited by Marlot on 29/11/2015 at 16:13

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Sun 29 Nov 2015 17:17

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Engineer Andy

To be honest, its the (often) waste of my time at dealerships trying to get deals that promoted me to buy my current car from Motorpoint (I also looked at the brokers, which normally would've been cheaper if a batch of brand new Mazdas hadn't come onto the market [similar to their recent batch of new Golf 1.4 TSI 150 GTs]).

I often see ads for my local Mazda dealer offering equivalent cars at 10 - 20%+ more (new or second hand ones) than these sites, and frankly I don't have the time or patience to drive all the way there/spend 30mins on the phone, haggle them down to a price still in excess of that the brokers/Motorpoint & Co. are offering straight off the bat, with PX done as standard at (what I found to be) reasonable values. They even took my 10yo old Micra (worth only £450 - £500 [the offered £500]) off my hands no problem. A shame the dealerships don't use this model as the way to go.

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Sun 29 Nov 2015 18:06

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - oldroverboy.

A shame the dealerships don't use this model as the way to go.

Don't forget You have tto pay for thr Glass Palace.

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Sun 29 Nov 2015 20:39

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - mss1tw

What's the plan for the old one Bromp?

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Sun 29 Nov 2015 21:36

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Bromptonaut

What's the plan for the old one Bromp?

Skoda dealer gave me £600 trade in so presumably it will go to auction. Maybe it was worth more privately via e bay or one of the French Car Forums but I've too much else on in my life to take time dealing.

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Sun 29 Nov 2015 22:27

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Falkirk Bairn

Dealer, 50 miles away, had a car that caught my eye - 6 mths old 200 miles and the price seemed attractive. To save an unwanted journey I asked for a ball park T/I on my car - £12.5 - £13K, Pardon! I said the WBAC was just over £15K and that is what I was looking at................conversation lasted 2 mins but he would not budge.

3 months later - the car is still there - 9 mths old 200 miles....

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Sun 10 Jan 2016 08:46

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Bromptonaut

What's the plan for the old one Bromp?

In an idel moment over the xmas/ny break I searched autotrader and found it's on offer with a dealer in Solihull.

www.justnicecleancars.co.uk/used-car-results.aspx?...D

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Sun 10 Jan 2016 09:36

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Wackyracer

It looks in nice condition Brompt.

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Sun 10 Jan 2016 10:18

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Bromptonaut

It looks in nice condition Brompt.

It was/is. Ideally I'd have kept it going for another few years and on to 200k.

Problem was a fault causing heavy steering. Offer from garages was basically escalating rounds of parts bingo and i wasn't prepared to join in.

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Sun 10 Jan 2016 10:23

Why Does the Motor Trade...... - Happy Blue!

Looks like the 157,000 miles is a case of clocking it upwards not downwards. I have seen cars with less than half the mileage in far worse condition internally.

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