Have we not see this format before - deals on wheels - CH4?
With BBC 4 now broadcating {what about BBC 3?}, can we expect even more copy cat programming?
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Nope - Deals on Wheels was miles better. Agreed - similar format but just very, very, very poorly executed with some stereotypical cockney FrankButhcerlike trying to tell us how to buy a car. Prat.
It's real tosh - I don't even bother with it.
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Agreed,
but who Frank Buthcer ?
Not some Eastenders c**p, now there is tosh - agreed?
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One has to be brave to say one enjoyed it, so I will not because I am not!
Better than most things on the box, anyway.
Cheers, Tomo
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I like this programme.
It certainly shows the public how to negogiate a better deal when buying a car.
Remember its only light entertainment .
But i concede the original Deals on Wheels was better.
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Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's bad. It looks to me that this show was recorded some time ago, otherwise they wouldn't have got the prices so wide of the mark. Beetles are well off the boil these days. Ans an MGF without pas for that sort of money? Ouch.
HJ
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Guy,
Why so down on it? Entertainment for all, not cutting edge stuff for us clever *****!
Mind you I'd have had a major service, valet, personal number and CD player for the Honda then kept it for another 50K. Thought it had a stronger image for her lifestyle than many of the choices they gave her.
David
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I think this is a good show and more relevant to more people than Top Gear/Driven etc.. testing £20K+ cars week in week out.
Most normal people are buying cars in the sub £10K market, which this programme usually covers nicely.
Also, with regards to the cockney blokey whats your problem? Have you ever come across a "real" 2nd hand car dealer who isn't like him. HJ and his comedy hat, Quentin etc..He seems like a perfectly normal representation of someone in that trade.
If the beeb put a boy band style presenter or some pretty bimbo without real knowledge on to front the show then it wouldn't be remotely realistic.
Cheers
from Jase
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Did anyone watch 'Lifting the Bonnet', an expose of the clocking 'trade'.
Seemed to confirm that many of the 'Mileage correction' companies were regularly involved in clocking (allegedly). The only good news was that a simple HPI check detected some of the frauds. The progamme makers purchased an iffy Volvo, and after agreeing purchase were greeted with 'I don't have the service history here, I'll put it in the post' which would have made the average backroomer run a mile. This was for a 70k volvo that had done 150k+. AA inspection showed, among other things (inc. the obvious shiny wheel & gear knob) it was blowing oil from the dipstick, so not worth buying whatever the clock said. Later, the dealer contacted the buyers, and after a garbled story asked for the car back, due to a 'mileage discrepancy'.
But if you've got say, 15 or 20k taken of a 75k car (which seemed common practice on the programme) would we all spot it? I doubt it.
The programme makers also set themselves up as 'mileage corrrectors', and then received numerous calls from dealers and also the public asking for their services.
Trust no-one!
Regards
John
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Last night's programme seems more of an education programme to make people wake up and think about what they're doing with their money when buying a car.
The advice given, based on the evidence uncovered, is no different to that found in many books and websites.
The formats of the programmes in that hour-slot on Beeb 2 are familiar to the day-time TV makeover and consumer programmes: the sort of people who wouldn't go looking for advice on buying a car, but the sort of people who need it.
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Why are they always so keen on 'deal on wheels' to get people involved with finance? It's not as if the country doesn't have enough public borrowing - seems to me like a bad message to send.
Thought the cars they chose were pretty crap - I can think of loads of much tastier motors for 12 grand. Surprised at the price of her Aerodeck - seemed cheap at £1500.
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Enjoyed both programmes.
Except that Madame was watching RCWC as well and we haven't sorted out replacing her AX. She pricked up her ears when it was about finding a sporty alternative to a boring car. Told her that the Beetle was a Golf with a different body. "Oooh" says she, "But I liked that Golf when we had it" (Backroom subject - Golf Brake Failure 1, 2, 3 - that's the one!).
Short memory, some folk.
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Lifting the bonnet was a waste of time.
Everyone knows that nearly all cars that go through dealers get clocked.
I saw an estimate that the figure is as high as *80* per cent.
Ignore mileage when buying. Look at condition.
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Another thought has occurred to me as regards clocking. Now I want to be careful how I word this as I am certainly not making any accusations!
Now, how it works for Vauxhall and doubtlessly it it very similar for other manufacturers... VX supply thousands of cars to all manner of places such as fleets, rentals etc etc. These cars are provided on the promise they do not get driven beyond 15000 miles. This provides Vauxhall (and likewise Ford etc etc) with cheaper yearish old cars with not too much mileage on that sell well (for the record, my local Vauxhall dealer - sold 4 new Vectras in 4.5 years, over a hundred "nearly new" in same period). Now, lets say that someone runs one of these over to 18000 miles, or perhaps an unscrupulous dealer receives one with this mileage. Who is going to notice if the car gets knocked back to 14000? The car will probably have 500 quid added to it's screen price and noone is any the wiser because the car hasn't been through servicing and Mr Joe Public is going to always choose the lower mileage car. Dead easy as simply plugging a laptop into the car with the right connectors, 4 seconds later and bob's your uncle!
Must be too tempting for it not to happen, surely!
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Dan,
Exactly and there are no losers....are there???
Fleet user gets best value for his car, dealer gets cars to sell on at the right mileage and the private punter goes home happy with his new purchase "at only 32,000 miles". Brilliant!
I'm not quite saying it serves them right but until folks realise the fact that high miles are fine this will always go on.
Why not use someone like myself to look at a car you're thinking of buying and you'll never get lumbered with a clocked one. Don't have to have all the palava of a full £100 inspection, you can usually tell in ten minutes. It is amazing how little trouble some take to cover their tracks. The casual acceptance of the game is a bit like like the fact that the guys doing the clocking can get Autotrader to take the adverts in the first place.
David
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Why did I put Deals on wheels? Obviously I meant RCWC /edit button pressed
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That AA man was particularly annoying with his dumbing down.
Presenter: 'So what your saying is that this Volvo at 150,000 miles is ready for the knackers yard?'
AA man: 'Yes'
Paraphrasing, obviously ;)
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Phil
The problem is that so many people buy cars without even looking further than the speedo, the programme makers had to make the message simple.
To be fair, the AA man had been a bit more realistic initially, stating the interior was showing signs of starship mileage, and that the engine was due for expensive major repair, and overall that it was overpriced for the condition.
Personally I believe the opportunity to give other key messages about buying secondhand cars were missed - eg. Don't believe the service history is in the post - but the programme was about clocking.
What staggers me is that these adverts apear blatantly every week!
Regads
john
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The featured 'totty' was my kinda gal though! Get rid of the hound, just me, her and the Jag! Sorted...
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She'd only have passed my test if she'd kept the Aerodeck and let me buy three more Land Rover restoration projects with the saving.
David
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By my reckoning that makes a 'restoration project' LR about £3k.
Surely not - I'd expect a decent runner for that!
Biggest downside is that with 3 projects you'd have precious little time to take her out, and that would be a tragedy!
Regards
john
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OK John so that's 30 Land Rover restoration projects but I didn't want our yard to look untidy from satellite imaging!
John said....
>you'd have precious little time to take her out, and that would be a tragedy!
Err, you mean the Land Rover I assume?
Must go the chip paper seems to be burning in the top oven.....it is Friday.
David
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David
Err, no I didn't.
This LR obsession is getting serious....
regards
John
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Lifting the bonnet is like watching a fresh-faced, high idealed sixth-former who has just completed her Blue Peter 'How to talk to very nasty people' course. Come back Roger Cook. Your TV needs you.
As for WCRC, it's beginning to run out of steam already. If I hear anymore about mats & flaps, I shall watch SOS DIY.
Graham.
PS. Here in E.Anglia we also had the Vauxhall story. V.Sad. Deserved a bigger audience.
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LTB missed the main point about clocking. If you own a car for three years, do 100k in it, but either run it unhooked or clock it back before each service, then offload it with 40k on the clock, who's to know? DVLA, HPI and Equifax will have faithfully recorded the 40k you put on the V5 slip when you sent it in, so even the mileage checking records will be wrong. This is how most cars get clocked and the lovely lady presenter never even mentioned it. And, surprisingly enough, it is not actually illegal to clock cars. It is illegal to sell clocked cars. And it is illegal not to show due diligence in checking the mileage before you sell cars. But the man who sold the clocking kits was doing nothing illegal at all. No wonder he was smiling at all the free advertising he was getting. Just look him up in Autotrader.
HJ
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I was quite surprised that he was so easily able to crack the systems on new cars - must be quite a talented individual. However, I don't think it would be too hard for the manufacturers to make them tamperproof and/or harder to crack.
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>>Everyone knows that nearly all cars that go through dealers get clocked.
>>I saw an estimate that the figure is as high as *80* per cent.
Where did that come from ? (thin air perhaps?)
Had to laugh when she said they had a phone call from someone wanting a Ferrari clocked. In a post a few weeks ago 'Clocking and Ferrari's' i asked if anyone had ever seen a high milelage Ferrari. A lot of money to be saved by clocking a Ferrari no doubt.
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