What should it be ?
Zarquon's Mondeo thread provoked this, as there is a reference to FoW, where I bought my previous car
at FoW, or Fords of Winsford, you turn up, get a trade in price for your current car, and that holds against the window price of any current car they have in stock. Nobody hassles you, you can ask for the keys of about 1/2 dozen cars at once, and nobody has tried to sell me finance I didn't want, and you can get a stock/price list updated four times a day
Contrast with the local Nissan dealer, where I've had the 'sales manager' offer a test drive in a Primera, only to turn up at the appointed time (the day after !) to find he was on holiday and his junior wouldn't consider a drive in a Primera, only an Almera. Still interested in the later Primera, whilst looking at the cars on the forecourt at the same garage, i was approached by a salesman who was only interested in how I was going to finance ny new car. When I told him I wasn't ready to discuss finance, he told me to go away and stop wasting his time.
That was 2 years ago when I changed the Bora for a Skoda. 2 years. Amazing to think the local VW dealer hasn't has any more Bora TDI 130's in in two years, or the Honda dealer any more Civic VTEC's, because they both promised to let me know, and I'm still waiting for the call
And if you thought things at the 'bottom end' of the market were any better, think again. I spent last sunday afternoon I accompanied my nephew around a couple of traders, as, as a result of personal circumstances, he needed to buy a car that day, with a maximum budget of two grand. For two grand, it appears to be too much that the car (a) doesn't have a flat battery and (b) has more than a sniff of petrol in it. The jewel in the crown was a trader with a load of cars in the 3-5 grand range who directed us to his other site. There Ant saw a Polo he fancied at £1995. Would it turn over ? no. With a booster pack, would it start ? no- no petrol. What was the best the salesman could do ? 'Can you come back on wednesday ?' Now I appreciate that if you have two dozen cars on a pitch, one or two may have a flat battery, which is why you have booster packs, but by the same rule, one or two will have bone dry tanks, so wouldn't any dealer who was not bone idle have a gallon of fuel around ?
He actually bought the one and only car that (a) he was interested in and (b) had the necessary battery and fuel to enable a test drive. Did he not deserve more if he had £2000 to spend ?
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The no hassle approach reminds me of Carcraft of Rochdale. Just like FOW, a price is given for your p/ex (no haggling) then you are free to wander round the selection (though he did point me in the direction of the Focus I wanted.)
They were v persuasive regarding a warranty, but Ime glad I bought it cos it covered the replacement PAS pump 9 months later. Even drove away in an hour (on FA cup final afternoon 2004)
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I thought Carcraft was very pushy and was only suitable if you had little money and needed lots of finance? - Like YES car credit...
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Not true. I paid cash. What was good was definitely being able to take the new car on the day - I wasnt certain the old one would make the return trip!
I am sure they would supply finance if you needed it though.
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he told me to go away and stop wasting his time.
??Did this guy really give you the two magic words?
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he told me to go away and stop wasting his time. ??Did this guy really give you the two magic words?
He did, and I did write a complaint to the group MD, and I never got a reply.
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When we were looking to buy the Almera (eight years ago), we went to my Mum's local Nissan dealer, test drove a car, liked it and talked figures. WE asked to see the service history, but there wasn't one. Couldn't find it. We asked the salesman to call us when he had found so we could continue the deal, when we gave our landline number, he spotted that we lived 30 miles away.
We had our keys for the PX thrown back at us and told we'd wasted his time.
My recent experience of buying the C3 lends weight to the fact that some dealers are complete wotsits. The finance was very poorly explained (bordering on deceit), the car had two different prices (we got it for the lower advertised price after a fight), and they didn't get the mileage right on the invoice!
Seriously considering using a broker next time.
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Why would a dealer throw the keys back at you just because you lived 30 miles away.
I have friends who have done px deals on cars where neither party has seen the other car and over 200 miles away. its simply a matter of trust.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Why would a dealer throw the keys back at you just because you lived 30 miles away.
His words were:
"You're from Bath, you won't bother coming back".
His loss. We bought a car the following week from another Nissan dealer that wasn't in Bath.
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On the one time that I bought a new car from a dealer I found the experience very bad. I went to three city dealers one of whom was a very greasy character who wouldn't ever give a straight answer. In the end I went to the local dealer in the country town where I live. He was decent but there was no haggling. That was the price and they wouldn't budge. I was left with the impression that while they were honest that I had not got the best deal that I could have got. That was 5 years ago. When I looked round for another car this year I felt much happier going to the auctions and getting a 2 year old ex fleet vehicle. I didn't have any salesmen to deal with and it was simply a case of sizing up the car myself and bidding on it. Simple, quick and straight forward. A few weeks ago my son and I bought his first car. We looked at the private ads, went round to see a few vendors and got a good car at a very good price. Again no dealers and no hassles.
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I am just amazed by the stories of rudeness from car salesmen I read about on this site.
Even if they did feel someone was wasting their time, they have nothing to gain by telling the customer.
Yes even I have felt my time has been wasted on occasions but I don't want a reputation for being rude, so I try at least to remain polite.
I have been to several peoples' houses to do estimates. Sometimes I don't get the job I went to quote for - that's life. However I leave my card and shake them by the hand when I leave and sometimes I get a call to do something else.
Some of my best customers have been found this way.
I was invited to a power tool day at a builder's merchant in my area. I wasn't interested in buying then but I came away with a better feel of what was out there.
I may buy a tool from that manufacturer in the future when I need one. Why, because the rep was polite and happy to spend time with me despite the fact I was obviously window shopping.
If he was busy with other builders thrusting fistfuls of notes at him, then I would have expected him to give these guys priority, but be polite to me whilst he did it.
And lets face it, we're talking a much smaller unit price here.
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In 1994 I was taken by the headline in What Car? 'Now you can have your cake and eat it.'It was a brief roadtest of the Golf TDI. I went to my local dealer and was persuaded that PCP was the way to go. I was shown the figures, which were put on the order and I signed. I asked for a black metallic. A week later the salesman rang and spoke to swmbo: no black metallic, will you have a non metallic. We will give you an extra year's warranty in lieu of price difference. Yes we said. Turn up on the agreed day and there is the cay waiting for us. It has dealer's badge on the body despite 'no badge on body of car please written on top of order. Badge is removed at third time of asking. Sit down with salesman to go through formalities. New contract put in front of me. Different figures. More money. 'People from VW HQ came and upgraded PCP program, nothing we can do.'
I refuse to sign. Big discussions. I am made to feel unreasonable. Eventually when it dawns on them that I am prepared to walk away they agree to honour the contract originally signed. I notice that the car has a temporary tax disc. 'Normal practice' I am told: full 12 months disc will be in post in a few days. My part-ex had a £300 outstanding on finance and this had been built into the deal. 'We will pay off the balance' I was told - I had paid them this as a deposit.
Four weeks later I have no tax disc and am being pursued for outstanding finance because I had cancelled the direct debit for the last three month's payment.
Five years later circumstances are that I use the same dealer for a minor service and replacement front wipers. I pick the car up after waiting one hour after agreed and promised time. I get home. I then notice the service book has not been stamped. I go back. 'You can't expect us to get it right every time.' is the service manager's explanation.
It rains on my second journey home. One of the wiper blades comes off.
I now have a Toyota. They pick my car up, service it, clean it, charge me less than half VW do for the same job and follow it up with a phone call to make sure all is well.
Lovely cars VWs. I will never buy another one.
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In my experience dealers (and all sales assistants) vary considerably. Some are quite happy spending time answering questions on what is obviously a fishing trip, wheras others are not interested even if you wave a big wad in their face. Pain in the neck when you want to buy something, but in the end its their loss.
Joe
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Carcraft must have undergone a transformation since I went there (2yrs ago) - sales was like a shadow, never left me alone, cars were all poor accident repairs (Ford Pumas) & the prices were just ridiculous. Also had to undergo an attempted "brainwashing" session on arrival - would never go near them again !!!
-- Dealer service through my experiences differ wildly, found Ford pretty useless regarding both servicing & trying to buy a car from them. In contrast I recently bought a Hyundai coupe from a main dealer in Bolton & was generally pleased by their sales approach, my local Hyundai dealers though aren't exactly brilliant when it comes to service time !!!
-- agree that having bought a Ford Fiesta for my girlfriend(nearly new) from a car supermarket recently it was probably the best experience I've had when buying a car
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I had one minor problem when buying a used car for my mother, but a quick glance at the invoice and a friendly word with the salesman put this right.
I had negotiated the RFL into the price.
I was about to be charged extra for this but spotted the mistake and the invoice was duly removed from my eyes and changed whilst they plied me with a coffee to ease the inconvenience.
Couldn't complain.
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We've just bought two used cars (1 year old and 3 years old) to replace our long term rental cars. We bought one from Trade Sales and one from Car Giant. Both had exactly the right car/year/price that we needed and compared to Autotrader private prices and local dealers we know we've paid far far less than we could have. Both Car Giant and Trade Sales have an excellent "system" and if you politely decline the Gap Insurance, Extended Warranty and "wouldn't that cash be better left in your business sir - we could finance the car for you" discussions you seem to get much more car for your money.
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This is so strange I couldn'd make it up. A Camberley Fiat dealer years ago would not tell me the price of a new Panda I was interested in......the salesman said if I ageed to buy it he would give me the price but if he told me before I bought it I might go some where else and negotiate a better deal! I went elsewhere and hope I got a better deal..I certainly was given a price.
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It's not so many years ago that the industry operated a cartel based on areas: Peugeot dealers in Stoke on trent could offer 5% discounts to cumstomers with a SOT postcode but not with a Crewe (20 miles away) code. Area protection. I had that experience some 10 years ago.
On the other hand the Toyota dealers in Chesterfield knew I was looking for a car and phoned me 3 times in the next 4 days.. mind you they did take over 30 mins to give me a quote on my pex.. surely a 5 minute job.
Generally my experiences have been bad : poor service, new cars delivered with faults, agreed repairs to second hand cars not carried out.. shoody presentations etc.
Judging by the general standard of salesmanship the car industry is selling more cars than it can acquire. I'm sure that is not true but the attitudes to customers suggest it is.
I traet all car salesmen as politicans regarding the truth of what they say they'll do.
madf
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