The Sportage will be coming up 4 years old this May and I fancy a change to something a bit newer and pre-owned.
Last Sat I was at the Kia dealer getting a quick warranty job done and spied a newer equivalent model to mine. Captured a salesman for a quick look round and inquired if I could get a PX figure on mine without the usual 'fact finding' experience which can eat well into an hour and I really couldn't be harrised :(
No we would have to go through the process but they did an online valuation which gives 3 valuations and to expect my valuation to be somewhere between B & C bearing in mind A is showroom. Now a nearly 4 year old car with 30K on the clock valued according to age/mileage with the best will in the world will never be showroom but I believe mine is very close to the mark in every respect.
So valuation completed with about £1.5 K beween A & C
All week phone calls and email asking if I'd any further thoughts re purchase which I managed to dodge other than the first one on the day asking if Id received my valuation?
So today revisit and a test drive. Then we sit down to 'do the numbers'.
It all starts with the fact finding as this is a compulsory requirement of the FSA. Other than GAP and perhaps an insight into my feelings towards PCP and HP it seemed to me like the prelim to flogging me paint protection, wheel, damage and tyre insurance.Several times I mentioned that it would be cash and I was not interested in any way shape or form in any of the other 'extras'.
So all completed and off he trots. 'Back in a minute'. Well we know where he is dont we? Turned out to be 15 mins.
Back he trots with all info on ipad. PX comes in just £165 above C. All the extras come in just under £2000K which is 10% of the total purchase price and around 20% of possible PX price.
Having done some maths I thought I'd come in at just under A knowing a wash later it would be on forecourt for £2K more.
Off he trots and comes back with the Sales Manager looking visibly shocked. An offer of a very generous free Autoglym Lifeshine treatment at £400 could be done to complete a deal. "Really"?
So we leave it at that. So at every twist and turn they try it on. I do find the whole experience frustrating and insulting to say the least. Are there any good honest car buying experiences any more?
I await a call. End of the month next week.
Last edited by: Fullchat on Sat 27 Jan 18 at 18:50
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>>It all starts with the fact finding as this is a compulsory requirement of the FSA.
No it isn't. Not even of the FCA (unless you are being sold the regulated products - if you aren't interested there is no obligation for them to talk about it). But try telling the average ignorant car salesperson that.
I'll swear they must also recruit people who promise not to learn anything about the cars either.
(Financial Services Authority no longer exists, FSA is now the Food Standards Agency).
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I bought my last car at Motorpoint. Much better presented than my local main dealer and £2K less for an eight-month-old car, with similar mileage and history (ex hire car).
Offered £400 trade in for my old car, which I sold for £1700 privately.
That's over £3K difference!
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drivethedeal.com
Paid the advertised price - no hassle.
I believe carwow is much the same.
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>> drivethedeal.com
>>
>> Paid the advertised price - no hassle.
>>
>> I believe carwow is much the same.
Took the CarWow and DTD quotes in (DTD was sightly lower) , and told them to match the CW quote.
They did.
There is currently no better time in the history of new car buying to buy a new car. There is no reason why punters cant go in better prepared and better armed than they have ever been.
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Surely with social media and inter web it’s pretty easy to sell your car without resorting to all this p/Ex nonsense at a main dealer.
Email all your contacts, especially family, local ‘seek & sell’ on FB, AT, Gumtree, Pistonheads, laminated A4 signs in side windows.
I’ve owned 40+ cars and have probably p/exd fewer than 5. Even expensive ones like an Urquattro, 2yo Elise
Admittedly it’s easier to sell privately sub £5k, more expensive stuff often needs finance, but I’m in the minority as I quite enjoy the satisfaction of selling privately, knowing a new purchaser has got a good deal, then cutting out the middle man
Must admit I got zero discount on my new motor though from the main dealer, but I was 4 figures net better off financially by selling the old motor privately rather than having it underwritten by a faceless broker.
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I've part exchanged, sold privately, sold to an indy specialist and sold to WBAC, in each case they were the best option due to the specifics of the car. Though I would have to be desperate to use WBAC again, how they can claim that they dont haggle.
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>> I've part exchanged, sold privately, sold to an indy specialist and sold to WBAC, in
>> each case they were the best option due to the specifics of the car. Though
>> I would have to be desperate to use WBAC again, how they can claim that
>> they dont haggle.
>>
I’ve sold two cars to WBAC, albeit over a 10year period. I was careful to be completely upfront about the condition of the cars and on both occasions they didn’t haggle when the cars were taken down there. In fact, on the A4 they actually gave me more than the web price because the assessor was less harsh than I was!
Having said that, used car prices are strong at the moment, and seem to have been for a while. I sold the Merc on auto-trader a couple of years ago. after speculatively putting it up at £1,500 more than the WBAC offer as I was in no hurry to sell. It went to a trader in Bath for £250 less than I’d put it up for. Perhaps I under priced it... The autotrader valuation on the A3 now is only £7k less than I paid for it two years and 30,000 miles ago. For a car that’s now three years old and out of warranty I don’t think that’s bad at all
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Always worth checking with Evans Halshaw as well if going down the WBAC route. I have found on two occasions that their offer was significantly better. I believe they sell all purchased vehicles themselves rather than selling on through the trade.
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>> I’ve sold two cars to WBAC, albeit over a 10year period. I was careful to
>> be completely upfront about the condition of the cars and on both occasions they didn’t
>> haggle when the cars were taken down there.
>>
I sold a 2ltr Clio to WBAC, I bought it as a run around because it was great condition, low mileage, one owner and fun to drive, it only did a few thousand miles in a couple of years and was too expensive for son to insure so was sold. I was completly honest re the condition, they took a cursory glance inside, drove it about a meter forwards and then spent about half an hour forensically analysing the bodywork and comparing it against showroom condition. It was so frustrating, it was a very good condition eight year old car. The online offer was £1950, after Inspector Morse had been over it it was revised to £1550, I basically told them to stuff themselves and was ready to drive away. They then phoned the area manager and revised it to £1725 IIRC, I got another fifty quid out of them so walked away with £1775 (IIRC). Reckon I could have sold it for £2000 though the insurance was due and I simply couldn't be bothered to entertain the tyre kickers.
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I imagine my theory only works for cars they’re likely to retail themselves...both were sub 5 year old / 50k mile German cars (an A4 Cabriolet and an A3 hatch). I’d guess an 8 year old Clio was destined for auction?
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Yes probably though their adverts say they don't haggle which was certainly not my experience.
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I find it easier to part ex, still plenty of numpties and time wasters out there.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Sat 27 Jan 18 at 22:38
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It’s easier to buy brand new, Keep it forever and then bin it. Not for everyone for sure.
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To many of us that would mean never buying another car as our existing vehicles will easily outlast us and we might as well wind up the motoring section.
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Oh I don't know, there's a lot to be said about keeping older vehicles going, I like the idea and enjoy getting the best out of our '05 120i.
Likewise computers, it's rewarding to keep an older one going even if it is a little like Trigger's broom.
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Talking of keeping an older vehicle going....a pal of mine runs a tired old P reg A4 Tdi estate. Constantly needs tinkering with. Bodywork not good...needs filler, and it’s very time consuming.
He argues that as it carries his tools, goes to the tip regularly, it ain’t worth getting anything newer whilst he is a landlord looking after his own houses.
I argue that as he is a landlord with several properties, worth ‘loads o money’ the argument doesn’t hold water. Buy a trailer. Get a load liner. When or should he have a major prang and it doesn’t have all the modern safety features, all his wealth and money tied up in savings and property won’t help his chances as it falls apart around him.
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Surely he needs a van. An ageing Renault master would do him. One owner, never raced or rallyed 0:-
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>>There is currently no better time in the history of new car buying to buy a new car
Well, 2008 is a notable exception, but pretty close.
I have a pal in the trade who tells me the Germans are gasping for sales as things have gone flat on the continent, so BMW/MB/Audi are all giving huge discounts when necessary.
The only exceptions are the yummy-mummy/style models like coupe variants and 4x4.
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When I bought my RAV4 last week I got very contrasting experiences between two dealers within the same chain.
The first seemed disorganised, didn't have enough staff and while the test drive was fine, the sticker price was a little high and when I challenged the sales manager to come up with his best price, he came back with a price that was no better than where it started but plenty of attitude about how good the price was, so I left it.
The second dealer ( part of the same chain ) had a far more personable salesman, very well suited to what he does and a real car enthusiast ( the salesman at the previous dealer was a former soft drinks rep ).
He didn't mess me about and when it came to price, he offered me £1500 off the sticker price, plus an extra £400 over the other dealer on the part ex, all on a car that was same age and spec as at the first dealer but half the mileage ( 8500 vs 17000 ).
When doing the legal nonsense he happily took my instruction to 'tell me where to sign to make it go away' which speeds up the process no end.
To top it off, the salesman from the other branch rang me in the middle of me signing up and I had the fun of telling him that he had missed out on a deal to another branch who had stepped up to do a deal - as my salesman said, that would lead to a very difficult conversation between salesman and manager at the other branch as the prices I was asking for were doable, so they lost a deal due to poor negotiating rather than me being unreasonable.
My chap even managed to transfer a non-transferable service package to my RAV4 at no cost to me as it was discovered that the chap who set it up originally did it very strangely, rather than a standard service package and they couldn't explain it, so waved a magic wand and fixed it so I had two free services on the RAV4.
Apart from the valeting, which was woeful, it was a fab experience.
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Going to another dealer tomorrow different group. They have an almost identical vehicle to the one I want so we will see how different the experience / valuations pan out. Incidentally they were the dealer I bought my vehicle new from and the Soul. That is 3 up to now from them but they are further away.
Forgot to mention in my first post when the Manager was giving me the bonuses of the paint protection system as he was offering as some form of sweeter that it would increase the sale ability and value of my vehicle at PX time. "What like it hasn't done for mine?" Says I. Long silence :).
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I know one of the top guys from Supaguard.
If I ever get a brand new car I have a deal for paint protection waiting for me!
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>> I know one of the top guys from Supaguard.
>> If I ever get a brand new car I have a deal for paint protection
>> waiting for me!
I could see the possible benefit of this on unlaquered paint, but as nearly all colours have a clear coat now it seems redundant. Basically it's a rip off at dealer prices whether it's of any benefit or not.
I don't think I'd have it given unless I could have confidence that the person doing it would not make the finish worse than when they started.
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>> I could see the possible benefit of this on unlaquered paint, but as nearly all
>> colours have a clear coat now it seems redundant. Basically it's a rip off at
>> dealer prices whether it's of any benefit or not.
We let ourselves be talked, against my better judgement, into having it on the caravan. CWOT. Acted a bit like a good wax on the aluminium sides but I'm pretty sure the blighters didn't do the roof which is by far the most difficult bit to clean yourself.
Should have complained but had other fish to fry at time.
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>> I know one of the top guys from Supaguard
It seems the stuff comes in kits with a lot more that is needed for one car. My son got free treatment as he has a mate who works for such an outfit and all of the staff were able to keep their own cars topped up for free.
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>> Several times I mentioned that it would be cash and I was not interested
>> in any way shape or form in any of the other 'extras'.
It's sad that is the way it is. but you're the worst kind of customer. It might even cost the sales guy money if he sold you a car as he could be bonused on overall sales of add-on products and on finance penetration.
If you go in and say "ow much a month is this mate, can I get that paint protection on it?" the sales guy will turn himself inside out for you.
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>>Several times I mentioned that it would be cash
You can take PCP or finance deal then settle next day. Win win for both parties.
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To cut down on time wasted on the "I'll have to check that with my sales manager" ruse, you take out your Kindle, paperback or daily paper, screen off the video playing the paint protection video and settle down comfortably to a nice read.
See the ruse in action in the film "Fargo", where the "check" with the sales manager is a session during which neither speaks and they jointly watch a baseball game. Talk with the customer resumes with "Well, I never thought he would agree to that..."
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Why is car buying such a chore? - Manatee
