Only thing I noticed was a lack of interest from the sales folk. Very much, meh, if you like it you like it if not we’re not that bothered type of thing.
No sales input from them whatsoever.
That’s just the way I like it. If I’m going after a particular car, I already know what I’m looking for, I’m perfectly happy to browse what’s in the showroom and what’s parked outside, and then approach a sales person to talk specifics like when can I have a drive.
Not that any of that happened with the latest one, because I knew precisely what I was after, I could even supply the dealer with reg and VIN numbers as they were ex-Motability Fleet cars, but they couldn’t find them through Motability’s own portal. What seems to happen is the dealers know the cars and when the good, clean, low-mileage ones get brought in for replacement or return for whatever reason, they’re bought, sent to us for cleaning and refurbishment, and go straight back to the dealer. The rest go to auction.
Mine was found at an auction site in Essex, 14 months old with 3300 on the clock, and I had to put a deposit down right then, because it was being sold at 10.00 the next morning!
I was in the dealership at 9, on the phone to my account manager arranging the funding, by 10 I had a (nearly) new car! Chuffed to bits with it, mostly because it was really tidy, one tiny hairline scratch on a wheel-arch. It was fully valeted and a LifeShine protection put on, which I did pay for.
Regarding shortage of secondhand cars, it may have been due to the lack of new vehicles globally because of Covid, and the semiconductor shortage, so people are going for secondhand; my Ford dealer was bitching about it, they’re adding £500 to the price of any car below £17k, and £1000 to those above.
The shortage to dealerships isn’t being helped by online car-sales through the likes of Cazoo either; being able to check out a car, buy it, have it delivered to your door, and have seven days to drive it around, then return it if it isn’t what you were looking for.
Which might be an option for some on here, especially having the week to decide if it’s really the car you were looking for.
I have to make it clear, though, that the company I work for, who repair and refurbish ex-fleet cars and vans, mini-buses, etc, was actually bought by Cazoo a couple of months ago, but I’m not putting in a sales pitch, I’m suggesting going that route purely because it’s an alternative to the traditional car-buying system.
One thing it’s done, though, is helping clear a lot of cars that have been sitting around for ages because the dealers and auctions were closed; we were over capacity last year, more than the 3200 cars we’re officially supposed to have were crammed into every space we could find, which was a nightmare for us logistics team members - one plater pitched up to collect a car, our supervisor spent two hours moving 34 cars around to get at the one needed! He wasn’t amused!
A lot of space is occupied by British Gas vans, which we repair, refurbish and decommission, and AA/BSM cars, which we do the same with, but we also have lots of brand new Puma, Focus, Fiesta, Corsa, Peugeot 208, and Seat Ascona which we build, fitting duel controls and adding livery graphics, so space on our site is usually very tight indeed!
I do all the pre-despatch checks on our big off-site storage area, I think I did around 80-90 cars today, but I had two lists, and didn’t bother counting them.
Once things ramp up, we’re going to be pretty busy, the workshops will be 24-hour, 7 days a week, and there are five sites nationwide in our company, we’re the furthest south, most of the others are on old airfields.
The point I’m trying to make, is that the whole car sales system is being heavily disrupted by the pandemic, and the rise of online buying, Cazoo as a company are only two years old, and are growing, they’re now in France and Germany, so any dealerships showing the sort of behaviour that has been described in this thread might find their days are numbered!
As it happens, I’m a bit old-skool, and I’d rather buy from a dealer, but clearly habits are changing.
Only thing I noticed was a lack of interest from the sales folk. Very much, meh, if you like it you like it if not we’re not that bothered type of thing.
No sales input from them whatsoever.
That's the way I prefer it too. Don't need to be told what to buy. If I have a question, I'll ask.
OP - Maybe it's age (with me), but everything seems over engineered and overly complicated these days, so am not surprised by your experience.
Horrible folk.
I'd agree in my experiance many offshore folk can be. Sounds like the Porsche dealer has learned the hard way again.
. Had a similar experiance to the op at the big windows on the Kingsway. Arrived only to find the car I had enquired about was actually at Edinburgh branch, the salesman was desperate to hold onto his comission and was trying to suggest to me all sorts of cars I should be looking at despite me being specific and saying I was here to look at X car + reg. After a while I got bored and asked if he had the car I was looking for and he admitted it was in Edinburgh....so off we hopped.
Having purchased a car from Cazoo this year I will NEVER use a dealer or used car garage ever again.
It's just too good a process.
2 weeks test drive, no questions asked. Just to add we had a minor issue with tyre pressure monitoring valve in one wheel and the car was booked into a BMW dealer and sorted FOC and straight away.
Incredible service, I had to walk out of the front door, inspect the car on my own drive and then had 2 weeks to make sure it was for me, they also offered a decent P/E
Years ago I had a 205GTi and just put a for sale sign in the window. Got a knock on the door and two dodgy looking blokes in dealer boots were stood there. They looked round the car and then asked to hear it running. Luckily a little warning bell rang in my head so I said they would have to come back later.
They cleared off and I didn't regain consciousness with the car gone...
Our local Ford and Seat dealers have been pretty good. VW, not so much. Looked at a Touran a few years ago and the salesman first of all called me a liar when I told him how much I could get an Smax for and then said that I shouldn't buy a Ford anyway as the 'VW was so much better'. When I asked him why he said 'because its German'. I left.
Similar experience made me buy a lexus. BMW- were total crap. Audi, ok but as soon as I said lease not buy it was clear I was speaking to the wrong sales guy and he walked away....Both pre arranged.
Lexus? No appointment, Gave me a muffin, freshly ground coffee and an IS for 24 hours with no mileage restriction and just bring back with same fuel. All on a walk in.
Loved that car as well.
mjsmke
Free MemberWhy ask if you already knew the answer? Just to test the poor guy?
Well, yeah. Point is that it’s fine to say “I don’t know” but this guy revealed himself to be a bullshitter. Now I’ll happily deal with bullshitters but I want to know what they are, and that everything else they say might be bullshit.
Exactly this, you need to know if they are being truthful about what they are trying to sell you, if they arent being honest about what you already know the answers to, then you wont trust their answers for stuff you dont know and genuinely need an answer to.
I bought a car from Cazoo for my wife. Was supposed to be delivered today but I got a call saying they are unhappy with bodywork defects that were not published when we bought it. They are currently fixing these and I’m awaiting a new date. Not sure if this is good or bad but they gave me £50 to say sorry.
I went to local car place looked at 4 cars, test drove 2 within minutes of asking and drove off with one of those, I think you're doing it wrong 🙂 tbh I think I did it wrong I only went to have a look a what might be suitable to replace my zafira as a camping load lugger
I bought a car from Cazoo for my wife. Was supposed to be delivered today but I got a call saying they are unhappy with bodywork defects that were not published when we bought it. They are currently fixing these and I’m awaiting a new date. Not sure if this is good or bad but they gave me £50 to say sorry.
both good and bad i think - my question would be if they didnt document those then what else wasnt mentioned, however on the flip side they are sorting out before delivery something that you may have noticed and asked them to sort anyway.
With any car id be going over it with a fine tooth comb but id do this at a dealer anyway, last dealer was shocked when i crawled under the car with a torch.
Best one I had - drove out to a little independent garage, wandered around a bit until I spotted a bloke.
'Are you John?'
'Yeah'
'Cool right, Dave said to ask for you about a test drive on the Citroen Picasso'
'ah *ing hell he hasn't has he. * me, I have a billionty and *ing one things to do and that lazy * wants me to do a test drive. *ing *'.
Actually turned into a rather nice test drive and with absolutely zero pressure to buy...
Other than that I've never had any problems booking a test drive to suit me but I do not use main dealers and would never put a deposit down. That just gives them leverage I don't need them to have.
last dealer was shocked when i crawled under the car with a torch.
Yep this. *what are you looking for* ....* Don't know but I'll tell you if I find anything* *my mechanics have been all over this car it's perfect * ....* Indeed but you don't have to live with it for many years..... I do. *
I suspect many folk just don't these days.
So I've got my money back this morning for Audi.
But only after they gave me on Tuesday afternoon the bad news of the car I put a deposit down on and so had bought, had been sold to someone else !! And the good news that they'd found me one exactly the same... as long as exactly the same meant a different colour, different interior and different engine size !!!
Oh and still, 4 days later, havent test driven a Q5 yet
Kind of test driven a X3 though
Well it said BMW X3 on the badge but it might as well have been a Lamborghini !!
The most I wanna spend will get me a 5 years old X3 with about 50k on the clock. What the Mrs picked me up in was 50k's worth of brand spanking new 3 litre M sport X3 with all the bells and whistles....
Now the Mrs had to pick me up because I'd already walked out of the dealership !! Guy keep us waiting and then, when he graced us with his presents, it was obvious a car I had arranged to have a test drive in wasn't available. I walked the Mrs, being an adult, wanted to be patient and was pleased with herself when she rang me and said "I'm in the car where are you?" I'd guessed it would be a new one and utter pointless to test drive it but I didn't want to make a bad situation worse so got in and we had a nice drive about.
But now when we look at an X3 in our price range (which previously was a big jump up from the banger we have) they look rubbish and we'll not be getting one... of all things, for me, it's the dash board air vents that look sooo much better in the then shape
So there we are 4 days later, about 5 hours wasted and no real test drive.
It gave my dad a much needed laugh last night when I told him my sad little tale
Happy Thursday everyone ... here's hoping your problems are as superficial as mine
Oh .... the gap where my tooth was is heeling nicely
I was looking for a first car for my daughter last year and we'd seen a Polo that was old but low mileage and good history.
Went to see it - bloke was an obnoxious sort, and just kept saying 'are you interested, are you interested' over and over again when I asked if we could test-drive - "i'll only take you out if you're interested". After about the 30th 'are you interested' I'd decided I really wasn't bloody interested and wouldn't buy a car off him even if it was wrapped in a shiny bow and there was a sack of money on the back seat.
I still got him to do a test drive though! 🙂
Went to buy a 2nd hand Merc with the wife, made an offer what we thought we would pay and Swiss Tony literally fell off his chair onto his hands and knees and started hitting the floor in an overly dramatic fashion. We bought elsewhere.
I've wasted the last 3 days attempting to buy a 2nd hand Mini Cooper...
Day 1... 2 cars / different garages. I didn't ring in advance which might have been a mistake but I thought it was smarter to not appear too interested ! Garage one not open, no sign of the mini outside, abandoned. Garage 2 closed but instructions to ring a number. Ring... get told that 'he's supposed to be there and must be busy if it isn't.' !? I leave a note then head home, get a call 30 minutes later and turn around. Get there, he's on the phone but points to the keys and let's me go and take a look around, 10 minutes of me poking around and he's not come out, he's still on the phone. Dump the keys and leave.
Day 2. 3 hours driving. Car look goods outside, inside it looks like a mug of hot chocolate has exploded all over the car. Bye ! Call another dealer to enquire about a car which is slightly above my budget to ask if there might be any movement in price, answer is a straight 'no chance' so end the conversation.
Day 3. Seat Main dealer has a more recent Mini Cooper, price just reduced and I'm starting to extend my budget so it's looking good. Turns out they understated the mileage on the website by about 20k, irish plates (problem?), flaking paint on front corners somehow not shown on web site pictures, start it up and it's rough as nuts then I spot the engine management light stays on and message saying 'full performance not available' ! I didn't bother trying to drive it in case I ended up as a breakdown. Only two and a half hours driving there and back.
For tomorrow I've arranged to view one which initially I thought overpriced and the dealer says won't budge on price but given my experience over the last 3 days I'm ready to start throwing my cash at them if it's half-way decent.
Sod it, life is too short.
Don't worry I saw it I had a chuckle 🙂
Yes I can be a prick.i realise that. Probably spent too long off shore tbh. Maybe now I don't do that any more normality will resume over time 🙂
Trying to change my Skoda kodiaq at the mo. I had the same when I bought it 3 yrs ago, apathetic dealers locally who just don’t bother to get back to you with”the numbers”. I’d been in to two local dealerships and told them what I’m after - specific model, yr etc. - Year old car. Drove them, ask them to work out the fupigures and they say they’ll get back to you next day or later on the phone and they just didn’t bother. In the end I saw the model I wanted in another dealer 50 miles away at 10 on a sat am the week later and bought it without seeing it, deal done by midday on the phone.
This time I’ve had the same. Dealer / salesman just doesn’t get back to you with the numbers. Enquiry last sat with the online tool on a car I’m after, chatted to him on the phone, explained what I’m after, timescale and that I’ll buy ASAP and he says he’ll call the next day with the numbers but no call! I chased the dealer via the online tool and he responded to say he’d been on leave and would get back tomorrow. Guess what, 3 days later and no call.
Same at another dealer, got a call back and had a chat about numbers etc and he’ll call me back. To be fair he did call and I missed his call, I explained I’m in and out of meetings. I’d said I’ll buy tomorrow if the deal is right but after I chased him calling him back and leaving a message with reception (he was busy) he hasn’t called back.
Is it a ploy? By making me chase them about I’m a desperate buyer and they’ll assume im desperate to buy.
One guy even told me each car they have will go up by at least £1k in the next month or so....
I never trust car dealers despite him telling me his only job is to get me the best deal....! Really.
We had a similar experience when we bought our car from Vertu Honda in Boston. I rang up beforehand arranged a test drive of a civic and asked if I could have a decent drive on mixed roads/speeds to get an appreciation.
No worries, all sorted as asked. Went with PCP, the whole process was quick. As a way to keep us in the loop and build some sort of relationship with us long term invited us on to use facilities whenever we were passing. Couldn't fault them at all. They don't have to go that far but it makes me think twice about changing dealer when the PCP is up.
The main reason I drove Ford's for so many years was that I went to the same salesman in the local main dealer every time and he'd just chuck any keys I wanted at me. Never any pressure to buy, always happy to have a brew and a chat. He left in the end as he was getting pressure to act more like other salespeople which he refused to do.
I like the Land Rover dealers, Settle and Ripon as there's no hard sell. The bloke I spoke to said they're used to dealing with farmers so the sales rules are different! Colne BMW are decent as well but Harrogate BMW terrible. Didn't rate Bradford Audi either although I've never had trouble getting a test drive at any of them.
Q5 ! But Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ! Unless you are a farmer who needs to tow horse boxes out of fields, but then you'd buy a Landcruiser.
As for buying cars, it's easy. What car do I want next? Phone dealer (or drop in , they're all on my cycling routes). Have you got a car to test and if not could you let me know when you have one. Drive car or wait for phone call.
Best service I've had are from two family owned dealerships. Priests Ford in Chesham are just nice people. My wife's Grand C-Max still goes back there for servicing even though it's done more than 100k, the price of the service is competitive and they're just nice to deal with.
I went to a local ford Specialist recently, they're not a main dealer but look like one - selling lots of nearly new/ex demo/ex Ford staff cars. I specifically looked at a focus and sought clarification on which rear suspension the one he (the sales manager) was trying to sell me) had... A quick read of any modern focus review will highlight that they've cheapened the spec. and put a torsion beam on most models now, but dependent on age you can pick up 'lower' spec cars with the multi-link back end. Nobody in the place had any idea, not even the service dept. I left.
When I had a Land Rover freelancer the franchise Southampton dealer was terrible to the point of ignoring me or bluffing me and sending car back with head still loose and oil pi&&ing out once. Bournemouth dealer was better but interested only in selling Range Rovers to footballers. I ended up going to Salisbury franchise dealer as they mainly had defenders and discos in the showroom and workshop and must have been more used to dealing with farmers etc. Much more pleasant, cheaper and nicer.
Update don’t ever buy from Cazoo
No sign of our car and every call I get to update me is a clueless numpty with no information.
😂 are they doing some father Ted style adjustments to the bodywork?
It's karma for wanting a Q5.
https://www.carbase.co.uk/contact-us/bristol/
I bought from Carbase in Bristol, it's a weird place in some ways as you get passed from guy1, to guy2 etc when collecting, test drive guy may not be the sales guy, he then may not be the guy that does finance.
But, I had an appointment at 10am, I pulled up at 9.55 and there was the car cleaned and valeted waiting for me with fuel etc. I drove and agreed to buy, got sat at a desk with a coffee and all was sorted. A week after buying I got a call to check I was happy etc.
It was in some ways like pc world, but very efficient
I bought a Skoda from Stoneacre in Harrogate a couple of years back - they were pretty good. I’d seen the one I wanted to test drive online, and phoned ahead to make an appointment. When I arrived, paperwork formalities took about 10 min and then I was off with the keys. In the end I bought it. The only downside was the endless attempts afterwards to sell me other stuff I neither wanted nor needed - services, insurance etc. It was one of the reasons we set up call screening on our landline. I was a cash buyer and just wanted that to be left alone after I’d paid.
I bought a second hand Toyota from a main dealer a couple of years ago. I parked and walked onto the forecourt, spotting the car I'd seen online though with a £500 higher price in the window. I somehow already knew they'd had it for a couple of months, and would probably be happy to sell it on. When one of the sales guys walked up I said I'd already seen the lower price online, that I could pay cash and would have it if it drove OK, and asked if it could be ready to go that day.
It wasn't ready, but in the end they took the price of a hotel room off the asking, fitted four new tyres because I wasn't going to take it with the ones on it, and had it ready the next day.
I still hate buying cars but I think the lesson was to be pushy but straightforward, to convince them you want to buy something they have to sell, and to be lucky.
I was told by a friend that the computer chip shortage is having a drastic effect on new car supply. Perhaps this is related to your troubles? If they’ve only got a few cars then they want to sell to those punters who have already made their choice without a test drive?
The wife works in HR for the UKs biggest second hand car auction company (they also own Cinch), this is very much a problem and is having a massive knock on effect into the 2nd hand market.
Just to update this thread with a Cazoo warning for anyone thinking of going down that route.
I found a car for my wife on 26th May, price was OK mileage was obscenely low but the deal was sealed with ability to get it delivered within 4 days so I paid the full cash price
One day before delivery I get a call saying that they'd missed some damage and so were going to repair it. I was Ok with this as the timescale was an extra 2 days
On date of repair I get another call saying that parts had not arrived and so another delay of 48 hours
Then radio silence for a week until a call stating that it was on its way to distribution centre and would be there within 72 hours ready to book another delivery slot. At this point I ask for compensation and am told 12 months warranty would be added to my order (it wasn't)
Another call tells me the aerial has to be replaced?? and so more delay to delivery
Then a call to schedule delivery and we agree on a weekend slot. Then another call to push this back to Tuesday which I reluctantly agree to as long as it is final, the car was meant to be here tomorrow.
At the weekend another call stating that they needed to replace the windscreen and so could not meet the Tuesday delivery. I (politely) lost it with the operator and asked them to read through my case history and what would they do. She was obviously profusely apologetic and informed me a manager would be in touch within 2 hours to sort it.
Radio silence so I cancelled the car this morning and am awaiting a refund. I imagine this is going to be equally painful as I attempt to get my money back.
Looking through recent reviews it looks like I am not alone. I think one of two things are going on here:-
a) their logistics are bolloxed and they routinely lie to cover up for delays
b) they have sold the car too low and are trying to push me into a refund
I'd rather be bent over a dealers desk and properly shafted than go through this again. I worry that the honeymoon period for them is over and they cannot cope with demand ..or their finances are in a state. I can only say one more time based on my experience....steer clear.
Maybe there's an element of people test driving cars with the intention of just buying/leasing elsewhere - and the dealers have become a bit numb.
I had a mate who did this and was surprised when the dealer got slightly annoyed.
Also, Skoda dealerships make about £500 per car so the incentive doesn't seem to be there. I don't think they're on commission either. Pandemic had it's affect too.
Like everything it's moving on line, lots of times you don't really need to see it in the flesh and kick the tyres. Plenty of you tube vids etc.
I appreciate for some people this is a day out though.
And I agree my experience of dealerships is rather apathetic so I've started going elsewhere.
As a counter to Brads experience Porsche were great with me, well with Father in Law.
I went with him, I previously had a 911 way back in 2002, salesman was interested in my experience and asked me if I wanted to go for a blast in a new one. Father in law bought a new Macan, the one they had in stock wasn’t the one he wanted so they sourced him the one he wanted and had it on their forecourt 2 days later.
We both also got an invite to play golf at Woburn in July.
There was something nice about the Porsche experience that made you feel like you were buying a top quality product.
Mercedes, equally impressive in my mind. I bought a GLC a couple of weeks ago. Pretty much all done over the phone. Suited me being a miserable anti social git! No faffing with timescales, the car is second hand, but I wanted low mileage, the Premium Plus AMG line, coupe body and a specific colour, all sorted within a couple of weeks.
Kia equally good. Apart from the coffee was awful!! Really nice salesman, this was for a car for the wife, they let her have the car for a full day, fuel was full so she could go where ever she wanted. There was no pressure whatsoever from any of the sale team. She had loads of questions and they were very patient with her. They even showed her the printout showing what they paid for it, private sale value and show room sale value. There was no movement on the price but they did a deal on one of the add-on packs, can’t remember if it was alloy protection or free service, but something like that.
Really nice salesman, this was for a car for the wife,
I didn't think they did barter any more
You should just tell them you want the:
Finance deal, extended warranty, service pack, tyre replacement scheme and are time poor / want them to fill out their CRM before you arrive… they will have your car waiting for you fully loaded on arrival with the coffee in the cup holder…
I was at the supermarket not too long ago and a dealer walked over to me, gave me his card and told me to come in for a test drive as my car didn’t suit me / made me look poor. Was happy to let me take an RS out for a spin even after telling him I was a bangernomics connoisseur and had no intention of buying after a quick car park conversation 😂 I didn’t waste his time but respected the hustle. I should have asked him how they pick their targets and what puts them off.
Just had an ad arrived from rentalcars.com headed 'Get that car showroom feeling'. Am I missing something or is this Aussie irony?
I was at the supermarket not too long ago and a dealer walked over to me, gave me his card and told me to come in for a test drive as my car didn’t suit me / made me look poor.
Sounds like a winning strategy. 'Hello mate, I couldn't help noticing that you look shallow enough to care that you're not driving some overpriced heap of climate-trashing, ego chariot.' 🙂
I’d have to hold myself back from telling him to %%%% off if he tried that on me in the car park! It’s worse than cold calling me at home.
One of said Skoda dealers did call me back and told me cars going up in value. 1 month later the car I was looking at is now on sale for 1k more.
Did I mention the deal I can get from the bank works out loads cheaper than their pcp finance as interest rate much lower but the dealer said that banks don’t offer pcp as it’s a very premium product that is only used by motor dealers.
This means he’s either full of bull-shot, very naive or just plain stupid.
I might buy our current car off the finance co, sell it to we buy any car and then can be a “cash buyer” using the bank finance and hopefully with a bit of legwork get a much better deal.
Obvs the value of my car second hand isn’t going up anything like the one I want to buy from the dealer!
Interesting to hear about the BMW dealers. A friend of mine had several BMWs back in the 90’s and early 2000s, from a 325 all the way up to an M3, all new. He loved BMWs but got so sick of the attitude of the dealers and the poor after sales (problems not fixed, excuses etc) that he eventually walked over the road in front of the people he was dealing with (and had done for 10 years with over £150k of cars) to the Audi dealers and bought a RS4 IIRC. If they had treated him with politeness and done the work they should have done he would have spent £100k’s more with them but he’d had enough.
I’d have to hold myself back from telling him to %%%% off if he tried that on me in the car park! It’s worse than cold calling me at home.
+1 that’s the worst car sales technique I’ve ever heard of bar straight lying.
+1 that’s the worst car sales technique I’ve ever heard of bar straight lying
But imagine the fun you could have with a reply about his shiny suit... 😀
