Searching the various car lots last week end for a car for daughter and armed with Parkers (March 2002) I noticed that virtually all on display were marked up some £500 - £750 above that shown for A.1 condition. Asking the HJ question, immediately that sum was reduced and down to the top price shown in the Book. Presume this is an attempted con and do people fall for it?
I was able further to get a reduction through bits and pieces and tax. Perhaps we should have lessons from Growler as from experiences in my youth in the Far East this is how they do the business.
Why does it take a week to complete a purchase?
Lastly, came across a Garage, selling 18 month old motors, which looked in pristine condition , well spec'd and very low mileage. V.5 showed the owner as a named individual, Mobility Leasing, and then their home address. Bearing in mind as I understand it, the major Car rental firms show the owner as something like Barclays Security etc. should this ring warning bells when considering purchasing one?
DVD
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DVD
Do you mean Motability? There is a scheme where disabled drivers can lease cars at a very attractive rate. The cars tend to do very few miles and be sold on with full dealer service history.
A few years ago I was part of the audit team for one of the companies that provide the leasing facility for the scheme. One day one of the managers there said he had something to show me. We went out to the car park, and there was a 3 year old Metro, just come back off lease, 18,000 miles, which had been brush painted with dark blue household paint by the old chap who had leased it. Apparently he didn't like the original colour....
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Richard.
Could be Motability - scribbled note surreptiously in small jotter now cannot read.
DVD
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Dwight, that is how cars owned by motability finance are registered now, they used to be in just the drivers name years ago. The cars usually are returned to the supplying dealer after the 3 year contract hire has expired, though recently there have been some changes, and they sometimes go back to motability for distribution and sale. Sometimes the contracts end early for a number of reasons, eg deteriorating health and no longer fit to drive. Some cars are cracking, some are sheds. You would not believe the abuse some give to the cars because it is not theirs, and the smell in some is truely disgusting. Pick a good one and you will be fine.
Mike
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I don't think one should necessarily steer clear of ex-rental cars. My 10 year old Rover 216 was ex-Avis at 11k miles and 11 months when I bought it, and has behaved impeccably ever since. Mark you, it is auto, so can't have an abused transmission! I would expect the better rental companies to be careful to keep their cars in top condition, properly serviced and so forth.
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"Presume this is an attempted con and do people fall for it?"
Above book markup is to take account of a possible trade-in and allow for people overvaluing their own car.
If no trade-in involved there is always a discount.
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Seen one or two of these, some where the disabled driver is a young man after a road or industrial accident. Another where the car is obtained in the name of a disabled child, speedo disconnected and used for three years mini cabbing, cig burns all over the place, knocked to glory, a complete wreck.
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The trouble with the motability scheme,large numbers of the beneficiaries of which i know from direct observation,are very marginal cases indeed......
The trouble is that they are not charged for the difference in the condition of the car from that which would be reasonable.
In the circumstances,"As new but better polished"would be a reasonable stipulation.they presumeably have the time.
In short its another bit of crackpot socialism,you dont see the manufacturers of quality cars after the business,I observe.
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