Yesterday I put a deposit down on a Citroen C3 1.4 SX, six months old from local Citroen Dealer. I had actually gone out to look at C1's, but they were too small: considered a new C3 Desire but having test drove the 54 reg SX on the forecourt, bought that for slightly cheaper, at £8495 before discount PX etc. I am happy with the deal, the finance and glad of the PX for my Octavia. £500 Deposit left.
One slight problem was that i had a look around on Auto trader when i got home and found apparently the same car for £7,495 on the net. Not a different car, but the same one. The doubt is the car on the net is described as a Desire, but the spec is a SX, and the mileage and age is identical to mine. They also only have two C3's for sale at the moment, and the other one is older and a different colour. Unfortunately and unusually, there's no photo on the AT advert.
Now, if i had bought a car and found another one with same spec somewhere else for £1000 cheaper, you'd put that down to experience, or maybe forfeit deposit at Dealer A and buy the cheaper car, thereby still saving £500. However, what we seem to have is a car advertised on the forecourt for one price and on the web for £1000 less. The AT advert does say to contact a salesman and claim the AT discount, but it isn't stated that the £7495 is a special AT price.
Is there any mileage in going back and asking for more discount?
Sorry for long post
(BTW, i'm fairly philosophical about this, the reverse happened when we bought my wife's Almera and we got £1,000 off due to the (other) dealer's mistake. What goes around and all that!)
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Oh, and the deposit was on credit card (having just read rejecting Vectra thread)
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Well there's no harm in asking (but these things can escalate to where you and the salesman end up falling out).
You have to look at the whole deal - if you'd started with the lower price, then the p/x & finance may not have been so acceptable.
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No photo, no reg number therefore you DONT know its the same car.
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No photo, no reg number therefore you DONT know its the same car.
True, but we went to dealer this morning and asked us to show us the car advertised on the web. They couldn't. The Business Manager will get to us tomorrow.
Before we went, my wife called about the car and was told that it was an SX and was sold yesterday.
I know that the last bit won't stand up, but we'll plug away.
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Sorted!
Garage called this morning, they will honour the lower price but have tweaked the PX and i have to pay for the RFL, which was free before. Net gain on cost to change £695. Well happy!!!!
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A very nice result.
Make sure you are noble in victory and don't give the salesman a hard time when you collect the car. It will be the sales manager that signed off the forecourt and advertised prices as well as approving the copy for AT.
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Well done Mare - And IMO you can give the salesman as hard a time as you like because I'm sure that he would know very well that the price on line was less than the price he was giving you.
If you had not come back and complained then he was not going to tell you was he?
I always check out prices on line before I go to a garage and have a note of the prices of the cars they are listing on the website that I am interested in.
Treat all car salesmen with suspicion - Alls fair to them and remember they WILL tell lies to sell you a car at a higher price if they think they can get away with it.
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I think that might be a little harsh. As I understand it a contract had been signed at the higher price, so legally speaking the salesman did not have to reduce the price at all. There's nothing wrong with being thankful that he did.
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Having said that, I do see what you're saying. It's just that - in this case - he could easily have turned around and said 'this is the price we agreed', but did not.
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Bazza - the salesman in my view was guilty of very questionable practice.
Also how many times have you seen that attarctively priced car on the website only to be told 'its just been sold' when you ring up or visit ' but I have this one at £X thousand more -
Its downright dodgy practice and when I was looking for SWMBO Yaris last year it happened surprisingly often. Its an old trick
The salesmans sin was one of omission ( 'forgetting ' to tell Mare of the lower internet price ) rather than a sin of commission ( telling an outright lie) but if I was dealing with him in my business and he had tried it on me he would not be dealing with me again , ever.
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