A car supermarket

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Sun 10 Aug 2008 23:35
A car supermarket - 318189
Went to a car supermarket today. Not sure if I am allowed to name them.

SWMBO wants a diesel Corolla and found in an Autotrader search that this supermarket had one at about the right price.

We went there, she test drove and we were ready to talk about buying.

This is the strange bit. They would not give a trade in for her old car or a price to change.

Instead the salesman produced a form headed "Customer Proposal".

It had the windscreen price of the new car and he asked her to fill in "what you think your car is worth" , sign the form agreeing a deal and pay a deposit.

He said "dont worry, if we do not offer you the trade in price that you have put down the deal is off".

How does this work? seems a very strange way to sell cars.

When we told the salesman that we were not happy to do business like that, we had to put up with another 10 mins of fairly high pressure salesmanship before they would return her licence.

Who has gone through this out there?
Does it work?
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Mon 11 Aug 2008 00:11
A car supermarket - motorprop
you should name them. Moderators may jump but it's just your experience and as long as it's truthful they can't say anything meaningful.

as for your experience , strange behaviour , but as ever, you're better off selling privately - supermarkets give lousy p/x values , basically what your car will fetch on a bad day at the auction less their profits on handling it ...
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Mon 11 Aug 2008 00:15
A car supermarket - Pugugly
Meaningful mmmmmm :-0

If it breaches name and shame policy - that's meaningful.

1) Opinion of Product/Service

You may say that you do not like something. You may even say that you think it is rubbish. On the whole opinions that are clearly that, opinions, are usually acceptable. Again, we will err on the side of safety.

That's the policy...can't see an issue if its factual, but remember we've been through this before where a Company Suit challenged a posting....
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Mon 11 Aug 2008 09:47
A car supermarket - Bill Payer
It seems a bit daft from the point of view that most people have an inflated idea of what their car is worth (especially so when p/xing at a supermarket) so surely every time a customer writes their own p/x value it's going to result in disappointment? Not a great basis to a car purchase.
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Mon 11 Aug 2008 10:02
A car supermarket - Bill Payer
If you buy the salesman's GAP insurance or you want finance you do.

I had to sign that all those things had been explained to me and that I didn't want them - and that was 3yrs ago, not a recent thing.

Arguably, it's fair enough - if you wrote the car off and didn't have GAP you could potentially take action against the dealer for not offering it to you.
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Mon 11 Aug 2008 12:09
A car supermarket - Collos25
You only need to sign and have it read to you if you are taking their credit otherwise they should not even mention it.
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Mon 11 Aug 2008 12:18
A car supermarket - Optimist
Is it really a bad way to sell cars?

We all agree it's the cost to change that matters. If you know what you want to spend you value your car against the screen price at a figure that gives you your spend. If they turn it down you've lost nothing.

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Mon 11 Aug 2008 12:22
A car supermarket - jase1
Quite obviously the aim is to pay as little as possible.

They think up price X and don't disclose. You come up with price Y. If Y>X, then they disclose X-10% and negotiate. If X>Y, accept without question.

Sharp practice. They wouldn't get my money that's for sure.
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