Friend travels 100mls to see a high performance C-Class.
He spoke to a sales person who discussed the car for 5 mins.
Has a look around and decides he would like to drive it to see for himself.
Can I have the keys?
Sales - We have a process where we discuss the car, finalise the deal, get the manager's permission and then you can drive the car.
I'd like to take it for an hour..........you cannot do that, we will accompany you for a test drive!
Customer - I am leaving my £30K+ car in your carpark........I am not going to run away with the car.
Sales
You have to understand we get the manager to agree the deal and then you get a short test drive.
At this point my friend walks as he felt he was in charge after all he was spending some £35,000, not a 1.4 Fiesta on a £99 / mth deal. He wanted / needed to try the car.
This is an MB outlet, recently taken over by a large chain, and they seem to be trying to impose a mass market car buying regime on an MD of a company buying another luxury car.
Forgot to say - the £500 car RFL had ran out, that was extra and the rear had 2 x tyres @ 3/4 mm and that was deemed to be satisfactory for a V8 rear wheel drive car.......if new tyres were to be fitted it would be @ cost of £500+. He asked if the Pricing was arranged via Ryanair.
3/4 mm was deemed by sales to be OK as legal minimum is 1.6mm.
Looks like BMW might get the sale.
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>> 3/4 mm was deemed by sales to be OK as legal minimum is 1.6mm.
What is it with people who think that a tyre that is half worn should be changed? The bloke is buying a second hand motor for gawds sake.
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>>What is it with people who think that a tyre that is half worn should be changed?
Clearly I was wrong to imagine that he meant 0.75mm (which shocked me as selling an unroadworthy car is illegal...)
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And the legal minimum is a satisfactory level to drive a 300+hp car around on?
As far as I'm concerned ~3mm is when to think of new tyres, so the above-mentioned Merc tyres are about 80% worn, not 50%.
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>> And the legal minimum is a satisfactory level to drive a 300+hp car around on?
Yes, thats why a: its a legal minimum and b: thats why they fit traction control to 300HP cars.
I am really sure that if when buying a new car the maker says "oh and by the way you can only use half the tyre" they would soon go out of business.
Even if the tyres are 80% worn, its STILL a used car, with used tyres.
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And guess what?
No sale.
Great skills.
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>> I am really sure that if when buying a new car the maker says "oh
>> and by the way you can only use half the tyre" they would soon go
>> out of business.
Although some cars (due to suspension geometry) have reputedly worn some part of their tyres to illegal levels in 6K-9K miles thus reducing their effective lifetime e.g. V70 T5s of old, Mazda 5 MPVs more recently and probably countless others.
I've read the 3mm recommendation before and I probably change my own cars' tyres at around this point but IIRC my company's leasing firm in the UK considers 2mm to be the change point and will happily tell you that it's greater than the legal minimum too. Having said that, I never encountered any problems with getting tyres changed by them (for the same quality brand and spec as the originals fitted too) and they were happy to change when any part of the tyre had got to around 2mm.
Last edited by: idle_chatterer on Thu 25 Oct 12 at 01:15
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3mm is the legal minimum for winter use in countries that mandate winter tyres.
Thus I reckon anyone going out in inclement weather sporting less than 3mm of tread is asking for trouble. I did once run a set of tyres down to the legal minimum. The horrific effect on wet grip and braking distances experienced means I have never done so since.
I'm fairly convinced that 1.5mm is waaaay too low as a minimum and that 3 is about right.
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>>
>> >> 3/4 mm was deemed by sales to be OK as legal minimum is 1.6mm.
>>
>> What is it with people who think that a tyre that is half worn should be changed? The bloke is buying a second hand motor for gawds sake.
>>
Agreed.
And as for allowing a solo test drive....
An unknown customer, from 100miles away?
''Customer - I am leaving my £30K+ car in your carpark........I am not going to run away with the car.''
Could be a stolen car - known by the thief to be too hot to stay in it.
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>> Could be a stolen car - known by the thief to be too hot to
>> stay in it.
>>
But that's unlikely. And client can go though i/d checks with licence, bills and on line Experian check as used for instant credit on TV or whatever.
Agreeing deal THEN test drive is serious cart B4 horse territory.
Nearly walked from Cit dealer 20yrs ago when looking to change my 86 BX petrol hatch for a 91 BX diesel estate. Salesman wanted proof I was 'serious' before he'd move a couple of other cars to get the estate off the forecourt.
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>> >> Could be a stolen car - known by the thief to be too hot to stay in it.
>> >>
>>
>> But that's unlikely. And client can go though i/d checks with licence, bills and on line Experian check as used for instant credit on TV or whatever.
You would like to think its unlikely. It happens.
Remember, the customer travelled 100 miles to that dealer... so an unknown quantity.
''Can I have the keys?
Sales - We have a process where we discuss the car, finalise the deal, get the manager's permission and then you can drive the car.''
That's when the checks are done.
''Sales
You have to understand we get the manager to agree the deal and then you get a short test drive.''
Then its on the managers head should it go pear shaped...
Last edited by: swiss tony on Wed 24 Oct 12 at 23:17
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I suspect MB dealers get loads of people who want to take C63's for an hour. One thing's for certain - the tyres wouldn't have 3-4mm on them at the end of the hour!
Oh, and MB Approved Used mandates that tyres are changed at 3mm.
ETA: I don't suppose the group that now owns the dealership helps matters though.
Last edited by: Bill Payer on Wed 24 Oct 12 at 23:23
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Similar experience at Jaguar dealer when I went looking at used XFs. Only allowed a test drive after agreeing the deal and putting down a £500 deposit.
Funnily enough, they didn't manage to sell me one.
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>Similar experience at Jaguar dealer when I went looking at used XFs.
My local Jag dealer has had cars driven from another franchise 100 miles away so that I can inspect and test drive them locally! No questions, no conditions.
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I have heard stories of a local Honda dealer - not in Stoke on Trent but near - who discouraged test drives until the car was sold...
Having said that, I rang a Honda garage ( chain) in Leeds (70 miles away) to arrange a test drive on a 6 month old 298 miles car tomorrow and no problems.
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>> Looks like BMW might get the sale.
Good. I'm always pleased to see pig-headed idiocy rewarded as it should be.
When I was looking at getting my current fleet car I went to a Volvo dealership. On asking for a test drive, I was told that I'd have to make an appointment, etc, etc, etc, etc....
A couple of days later I popped into a local Toyota dealership. They chucked a set of keys at me with no questions asked and off I went.
The current fleet car is a Toyota.
Alfa, Opel, Mazda and Honda were also in the "yes sir, of course sir" category. Ford, BMW and SAAB elected to join Volvo in the "we only sell cars when its convenient to us" one and removed themselves from contention on the spot.
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It seems to me that quite a few of the punters on here really like to cut their noses off to spite their faces.
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Maybe it's also reasonable to think that if sales are unhelpful it stems from management and the rest of the dealership will be likewise.
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Not if you end up with a Toyota instead of a BMW, just because you didn't like the dealer.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 25 Oct 12 at 09:16
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Actually I'm not overly fond of BMWs, a bit spartan and the "driving experience" aspect is more hype than fact IMHO, but it was on the list so I thought I'd give it a try.
I was open to being convinced, but as they didn't even bother to try they lost a sale.
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>> It seems to me that quite a few of the punters on here really like
>> to cut their noses off to spite their faces.
I'd have walked for sure. You've done your bit by turning up and being interested in the car. Time for them to make an effort.
I can never understand why dealerships are prepared to invest in expensive showrooms, advertising and paying sales staff and then, when the investment has the desired result and the prospective customers arrive, don't ensure that they are treated properly.
It was a second hand car. Why should the customer waste his own time negotiating a deal first when he doesn't even know for sure that he likes it?
I had several years of dealing with these thick, hubristic types in the early 80s. It seems little has changed. The worst by far were in the Mercedes and BMW dealers, whose sales staff in those days made very good money without undue effort and spent most of their time admiring their own reflections in the showroom window .
I spit on them, to coin a phrase.
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>>>I'd have walked for sure.
Me too... well actually I'd have "qualified" the sales guy over the phone and not made the trip once his attitude was exposed.
It would have been no loss to me, there's always another car to buy.
Went to look at a new car a couple of weeks ago and despite hanging around a few of the new models inside the only sales guy there didn't get up from what he was doing on the PC and I had to ask at reception to see if anyone could speak to me. The receptionist returned to say I could look at/sit in anything I wanted.
After bouncing in the seats of two cars and still ignored by sales guy I left.
That's what I like about the Ling leasing process. Price you pay is on the website with no pressure or haggling. A few amusing e.mails exchanged (they often respond in under 10mins) over a period of half a day and your car is provisionally ordered.
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I didn't buy my Merc, my boss did but he reported that it was a fairly painless experience. I can only speak for the aftersales service since then. The sales guy he bought it from rang me after a week of the car being delivered to ask if all was well. He has since called a couple of times in the year or so I've had it to do the same.
I don't live anywhere near the supplying dealer and I'm roughly equidistant ( 20 miles in opposite directions ) from the Chester and Stoke Merc dealer branches. It was a bit of a coin toss to decide which one to use for servicing but in the end I plumped for the Stoke branch.
I would say they have been simply spot on. They come to collect the car and deliver it back. The delivery driver is pleasant polite guy who has always been smartly turned out and on time.
Always returned fully valeted and despite rumours to the contrary the bills haven't been too steamy.
A nice touch is the little tin of Mercedes branded boiled sweets they always leave in the car after it has been for a fettle.
It has had a couple of injector recalls and now it needs some warranty work on the rear suspension which is a bit disappointing on a car which has only done 37k-ish but I guess that's the luck of the draw.
Not sure ( as mentioned recently elsewhere ) that I'd choose to run one privately out of warranty. Nice though. Very nice.
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Mercedes Benz C-Class W204 - Sales process in a MB franchise!! - Zero
