Idiot car buyers - a rant

[ackee911]

He'd have been better taking the risk. Using todays prices, 30 years membership is £3,000. That's an expensive recovery.

You're missing the point.

 

[Dieselman]

You're missing the point.

I thought it was that it gave him peace of mind. Well it does but at what cost.?
He would've been thousands of pounds better off if he had just kept his money for a rainy day.

You can probably tell I don't have a service plan on my kettle..

 

[jaymanek]

You can probably tell I don't have a service plan on my kettle..

You would have been one of those customers when I used to work at currys!!

 

[Dieselman]

You would have been one of those customers when I used to work at currys!!

Yep. But at least I wouldn't have wasted much of your time. No.! only takes a second..

 

[scumbag]

You can probably tell I don't have a service plan on my kettle..

did you PCP it?

 

[Sp!ke]

I thought it was that it gave him peace of mind. Well it does but at what cost.?
He would've been thousands of pounds better off if he had just kept his money for a rainy day.

You can probably tell I don't have a service plan on my kettle..

He would have certainly been better off just paying cash for a recovery - thats what I do. I havn't needed assistance for 15+ years either. If I cant bodge something at the roadside, it'll be pretty terminal.

Like you dieselman, I am not a believer in any insurance as I limit my risks my way. I have never had anything stolen or lost, I have never missed a flight or relied on any warranty. I have never had any need to make a claim on any kind of insurance either .. not in 24 years anyway.

I know of other people however who make multiple claims of all manner of insurance mauny times a year. They have accidents, lose things, miss flights and generally rely on insurance regularly. The disturbing thing is some of these people I know get cheaper insurance quotes than I.

 

[Dieselman]

did you PCP it?

Of course. It's £1.50 per month with hand back at 3 years as long as it's not dirty/used or scaled up..

Bargain, or what..??

 

[Big_Jon]

Biggest dealer sin is advertising cars that have long sold.

Went to buy this 2 weeks ago:

http://www.mja-cars.co.uk/vandetails/vauxhall/vivaro_lwb_diesel_with_ply_lining/5946027.aspx

Only to be told it had long been sold and there was no more in stock.

Yet here it is still on the website...

We take them off as soon as we get a deposit on a car as I cant imagine anything worse than that.

 

[Big_Jon]

I dont have breakdown recovery as we have our own spec-lift recovery unit.

I have joined my wife to the RAC however as if I am not local and the truck is out on a job, she could be stuck out with the little one.

Cant get over what some recovery agents charge.

We charge £30 anywhere in the Medway Towns, the police approved recovery agent charges £170 for the same job.

 

[nick mercedes]

He'd have been better taking the risk. Using todays prices, 30 years membership is £3,000. That's an expensive recovery.

You've only got to breakdown miles from home once for the membership to be worth it.

You'd have to be crackers not to be in the AA, more so now cars are too complex to be fixed at the roadside.

 

[spanner]

Yiddo,
your rants do you no favours at all.
Why not keep it to your mates in the pub?
You spend far too much time criticising others.
A little gentility and the humility that it brings might not go amiss.
I wonder if you're the kind of car dealer that gives the motor trade a bad name?

 

[ackee911]

Thing is you never know when something could go wrong. He is not mechanically minded at all, so for him it suits. And it isn't really much of a price to pay, each year. After 30 years, one may think that the cost was wasted, but there will always be that one time, when you're stranded in the middle of nowhere and its pissing down with rain, and its dark etc....

Friend of mine passed his test at 17 , bought a car, came with a years free AA cover and within a week had locked his key's inside the car whilst away.... Has never left the AA since.

Lastly, that thing about dealers keeping a sold car advertised is really annoying. What I find worse is when they advertise a car, you ring up and they say "its gone.... but I've got a....." and try to sell you a car that you don't want! e.g. I rang up for an S500 when i was looking to buy on, and the guy tried to sell me a passat! Said its almost the same!

 

[Big_Jon]

Yiddo,
your rants do you no favours at all.
Why not keep it to your mates in the pub?
You spend far too much time criticising others.
A little gentility and the humility that it brings might not go amiss.
I wonder if you're the kind of car dealer that gives the motor trade a bad name?

Apologies if I am far too blunt and to the point for your tastes.

I am btw, a very reputable car dealer, I belong to the RMIF which gives assurances to customers.

I give a service as close to a new car buying experience as possible as TBH, I dont know of any dealer who does as proper and thorough a pre-delivery inspection and service as we do. Also, our 3 month warranty covers EVERYTHING except tyres/brakes, whether it is in the warranty book or not, we honour it.

This is why we thrive on repeat business.

 

[ackee911]

Yiddo,
your rants do you no favours at all.
Why not keep it to your mates in the pub?
You spend far too much time criticising others.
A little gentility and the humility that it brings might not go amiss.
I wonder if you're the kind of car dealer that gives the motor trade a bad name?

You make no sense at all! Plus Yiddo is free to rant as much as he wants.

 

[gina2201]

There's always going to be idiot car buyers and equally idiot sellers, just need to weed through them to find a good car and a good price! I have bought every car privately except two, one of which was a sneaky dealer. That time yes Sale of Goods Act came into play......

Prefer private because of the price and can pick up more of a bargain that way, and I don't like the feeling of being mugged off.....

 

[Big_Jon]

Lastly, that thing about dealers keeping a sold car advertised is really annoying. What I find worse is when they advertise a car, you ring up and they say "its gone.... but I've got a....." and try to sell you a car that you don't want! e.g. I rang up for an S500 when i was looking to buy on, and the guy tried to sell me a passat! Said its almost the same!

I Hate "calling birds" with a passion.

So many dealers do this and it is plain out of order, car supermarkets are the worst.

An example, they advertise a very popular car, say a late focus, at 2 grand below what it should be, a customer phones the dealer and they say they still have it. The customer arrives only to be told "we just sold that a moment ago but we have...................."

This is disgusting but so many of the big-boys do it as routine.

The other dirty trick is mileage on autotrader, Rather than advertising a cars mileage the just put "30 miles" or something regardless of actual mileage. People assume this to mean 30k and then turn up on a 100,000 miler.

Again this is a common scam.

What with the "no finance application refused", trade-sale bargain and minimum p/x scams, it is a minefield.

 

[ackee911]

This is also why I avoid travelling long distances to get a car. I went to see a "mint" S500 in birmingham with "no faults". got there and there was rust on every arch and the boot. His excuse? "Oh all Mercs have rust" CD changer not working, phone not working, and after a 3 mile drive, it stopped working (Later found out it was the CP sensor).

Early this year I went with my brother to buy a 3 series advertised in maidenhead-again "no problems, looks like new" Got there, rust everywhere and drivers window mechanism wasn't working. On top of that, he decided to take out the CD player (with NAV) and leave about £3 worth of fuel for a test drive.

The way I see it, is if you're going to buy a car to keep for quite a bit, then get something local, with a full inspection.

 

[speedwell]

From a buyers perspective, I have to say there are some idiot sellers as well.

I've been hunting for an SL recently and more often than not, the car wasnt as described. Tatty cars advertised as immaculate. Cars in dire need of a service of to have mechanical aspects fixed. Some dealers with prices so far off the mark they will never ever sell (like +50% more than other dealers). Full service history claims that transpired to be nothing of the sort.

One so called dealer was using the trading address of another car dealership in his adverts and then went through a real song and dance at viewing time, saying he had just moved and supplying a non existant post code before then offereing to meet me at the pub carpark at the end of the road.


I have to say, its not proving to be an easy task finding a nice late facelift SL500 for sensible money.

I'm coming to suspect it's silly season, and a dumb time of year to be looking at convertible cars. I believe in insurance though (especially on the thinks I really care about.

 

[buccal]

The sad part is that so many dealers don't provide a good service, cars unchecked, badly prepared and badly described. Also really supsrises me how many don't have any product knowledge too!

Sounds like my main dealer..........

 

[Dieselman]

especially on the thinks I really care about.

You're probably saving on the Wife, then...