Frankieola

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Posts posted by Frankieola

  1. Posted

    Worked at a city central dealership where space was tight, was common practice to get the customers to drop off their cars at the NCP across the road on day of handover. We had a number of spaces on the 2nd floor. 

    We were supposed to go over and reappraise the PX cars on handover whilst customers were sat in showroom with a coffee, this didn't always happen. Anyway, on this occasion I went over, looked round the car and all looked OK, didn't actually start it or get in it but looked OK.

    After customer had gone and a near perfect handover, went to move the car..... Can you tell where this is going? 

    Got in the car, went to start it, nothing, no lights, must be flat.... 

    Back to the showroom, get the jump pack, back to the NCP, open the car, open the bonnet........ 

    NO ENGINE!!!!! 

    CCTV showed it being towed into car park by a white van, customer denied all knowledge and then stopped answering the phone, it went legal for a while and I think the powers that be just decided  they were getting nowhere. 

    I think if was only the fact that I used to sell a fair few cars that saved me from getting the sack but I got a final written warning over it. 

    Was regularly brought up though and I used to die a little bit inside every time. 

    • Like 2
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  7. Posted

    Probably best taking a mate who 'knows about cars' with you? 

    Try to go in on a Saturday or Sunday as the salesman won't be busy thrn and can devote more time to showing you the car. 

    When you first get there, be really short and business like with the salesman, you want him to respect you and not waste your time. Tell him that you are a cash buyer and use the phrase 'cash mate, no bits'. This will emphasise that you are ready to do a deal, salesmen hate faffing around doing finance quotes, cash is king.

    Once looking at the car, A good thing to do is to start the engine up from cold and really give it a good rev for about 2 to 3 minutes. If you do this and get your mate to lie on the floor looking under the car from the drivers side, the dealer will realise that you both know your stuff mechanically and are serious people to deal with. 

    Make sure you run your hands around each tyre too, you'll get them a bit dirty but it's a good way of checking that the tread depth is even all round the tyre. If it's not, the car might have been in an accident and not repaired properly. 

    Check the paintwork, look closely as even a slight scratch on a panel might be hiding a major previous repair. 

    If you like the car, ask for a test drive. Once out on the road, make a sudden zig zag left and right movement once you get to about 20mph to check the steering. You can also see if there are any speed bumps locally, try to hit these as fast as you can to make sure the suspension and shock absorbers are up to scratch. 

    Check the clutch by revving the car up to 5000rpm before changing up and then down a gear again, this will let you see if it is slipping or not. 

    Regardless of what you think about the clutch, tell the salesman that you think its worn and needs replacing. This will be a good bargaining tool later on if you decide to buy. 

    Whilst you are doing all this, get your mate to check all the electrics work, move the windows up and down, go through the radio presets whilst turning the volume up and down. Also check the heater by turning the heat and fan up to full power with the windows closed to make sure that works as well. 

    Once you've done all this and are happy with the car, you can then try and negotiate if you want yo buy it. 

    I'm happy to post more advice later if you want a few pointers on getting the best deal?

    • Like 2

  10. Posted

    Company registration number is a company called Auto Vehicle Solutions Ltd, do you think they are using a genuine company's details on their website? 

    Oh and I've emailed them saying I'm after 5 cars and will they do me a discount!! 

  15. Posted

    Which of the big 3 auctions, BCA, Manheim or Aston Barclay have the most reasonable buyers fees in you guys opinion? 

    I've got all 3 the same sort of distance away, BCA looks the most expensive followed by Manheim and then Aston Barclay but is this still the case when they add on all the extras such as the online fees and sure check and the like? 

    I've also seen that Manheim want £70 +vat just to set up an account, is this the norm or have people got round it? 

    Many thanks 

  18. Posted

    Just had a text from a customer about an old 2003 Volvo V70 I sold him, he's had the anti skid service required message come on, anyone care to take a guess as to what the most likely cause is? 

    Also, do you think I should let his local garage look at it or try to get it back for my chap to look at? 

    Cheers! 

  19. Posted

    14 minutes ago, Contracts said:

    Brought a nice Velar from Stratstone last week, absolutely mint, low miles and they failed to notice nearly £12k of options in their pricing!  After buying I mentioned how did they reach the price for it and they said it is head office set and looks at similar cars in the local area.

    Was it a Stratstone Land Rover dealership? Surely they should have noticed the options? 

    The whole UCM thing is how they price their cars but if they missed the options then someone seriously messed up! 

    I think it was them that were banging out new Velars for peanuts on PCP a couple of months ago too wasn't it? £300 or so a month on 6000 miles a year. 

  20. Posted

    How long roughly does it take for the amount you have to pay in back tax to come through? 

    I had this happen to me, paid the release fee, got the the letter asking for details and telling me I might be prosecuted for back tax BUT it arrived after the date it said to send it back by!

    I called the dvla to explain and the chap said the matter was closed but I wasn't altogether convinced. 

    This was the middle of January. 

    What do you think I should do, chase it up and risk re opening things again or just take my chances and see what happens? 

  22. Posted

    10 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

    I remember when I was using Gumtree in 2006-2010ish, crazy amount of response for sub-£2000 cars, dozens of calls per ad! What’s your last price boss!!!

    Now a friend uses it for cheapies and gets no more than 2 or 3 calls or texts, it’s just quieter. Last price still on their mind though. 

    A lot of the calls your friend will be getting will be about the car accident he had and not the car he has for sale! Relentless from gumtree! 

    My current record is 35 seconds from pushing the submit advert button to the 'Hello, may I speak with Mr Frank'!! 

  23. Posted

    2 hours ago, PeteH said:

    Well I did get a reply from my enquiry about going to view the cars prior to buying. They make it sound like they sell primarily to dealers, almost as if they are trying to put me off buying. Wonder if they actually rip dealers off too? Or are they aware peopl are on to them? This is the reply:

     

    Hello ,

    We win vehicles at auctions all over the country.
    The cars have been taken over by the government or by financial institutions or banks from people with financial woes and cannot pay for the loans that they made.
    Local pick-up is not available.
    Most of the vehicles are stored at the parking lots of banks and financial institutions.
    They don't have showrooms or specialized people in order to offer this service.
    They are pressing us to take the car from there as soon as possible.
    In order to avoid unnecessary shipping costs, we prefer to find a buyer(dealer) and deliver the car directly to his address.
    Private buyers can buy from us if they accept this procedure. It is unusual for purchasing a car in this manner;
    most of the private buyers want to see and test the vehicle and we do not have those options so we are mostly dealing with car dealers

    Caroline Anne Jeavons

    Used Cars Lancs
    www.used-carslancs.co.uk
    Company Number: 06939617
    VAT Number: GB 157426008

    This email is just screaming out that it is a scam, the language, spellings and general feel is just so terrible! 

    'taken over', 'parking lots', 'specialized' and 'shipping costs', these terms are just never used in connection with used cars and you don't really need to be a car dealer to hear the alarm bells ringing! 

    I'm sorry people lost money but the warning signs were there. 

  24. Posted

    Lads, We are all in the trade, we can have differences of opinion but let's stick together eh? 

    The world is full of people who hate big bad car dealers so let's just try to get on.

    This is spoken as a fairly newish member on here who appreciates the knowledge sharing and banter that goes on most of the time. 

    • Like 1