petrol head

Notwithstanding the valuation, a number of observations would spring to mind: 1. Would seek the opinions of others, but their website is very good as are their descriptions, are they significantly better than Dealers websites. IMHO, no they are not and the pictures / descriptions would not be enough to make me buy the car. 2. The descriptions are only as good as the the person who uploads the details, mentioning a car has memory seats and it doesn't or vice versa, when the customer hasn't seen the car will heavily impact on sales and returns. 3. Nobody really knows what the return % will be, if you get 10% or more you are in the brown smelly stuff. 4. Do they hold the P/X for 7 days, if they do, that's a lot of dead money? 5. 31% of people don't trust the local Dealer, 69% therefore do and how many of the 31% will trust someone selling a car they can't touch? @Bmx Bandits very valid point on manufacturers proactively disposing of their vehicles, not sure I will see it in my lifetime?

Amazing how these cancers get air time. I remember how Saturn were going to revolutionize the industry in the early 90’s that went well.... Complete bunch of changers, very rich ones though...

Bid's off the wall, oldest trick in the book.

You may be right, never the less, clearly a scam. Edit to say is a test drive part of a safety check, should have asked this before I let Audi near the Mrs R8!

I read it that it was new? Regardless, it’s a scam and I hope Jardines take him to the cleaners.

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/customer-clocks-his-audi-rs7-at-122mph-after-dropping-it-off-at-car-dealership-for-service/219771 Who takes their 2 week old car for a safety check? Complete scam and I hope he feels the might of the worlds largest companies come tumbling down on him.

Definitely or Philip Scofield for that mater

Did a poll on another, non automotive forum, cross section of social demographics, 82% would not buy a used car without test driving or viewing it. Seems pretty conclusive to me................

Since posting this I have taken a detailed look at their website and would comment as follows, and would be interested to garner other people's opinions: 1. The website is easy to navigate and the pictures and descriptions are first class down, to the last service date. 2. I wouldn't say the prices are much cheaper than Dealers, given how much used vehicles are in the trade, how could they be? 3. It may be me being a dinosaur, but even with a 7 day money back guarantee (does this include the costs of cancelling insurance etc), but do customers really want to buy a used car they haven't driven or seen? It will be really interesting to see the return % when buyers remorse sets in, or they see a car they like better for sale? 4. Self appraisal of P/X by customer, what could possibly go wrong! Float it with all the razzle dazzle and watch it fail.

I think JLR are in trouble, they have the wondaful cocktail of Indian ownership, with Tata shares having taken a battering, along with the lethal combination of German and British management. They are not doing bad in the UK and China, possibly USA, but the rest of the world is a bit of a joke. About 10 years ago they opened a large regional center in Singapore with a large training center with more than a 100, largely ex pat staff. Nearly all gone now and sales have dwindled across the region ever since, largely as unlike, MB, BMW and everyone except Audi, they don't have a CKD (complete knockdown) strategy, so their products are taxed at the highest rate. Whilst I wouldn't touch an XE or any other Jag for that matter, the L405 RR and Sport are special products, nothing like them, but certainly not to be considered reliable.

WFT! I definitely read £6M.....

Yes I'm looking forward to their accounts too, kind of reminds me of this:

Are they worth 6M, for me absolutely not, crowded market place etc. What's do you think?

Sitting at our place by the sea in sunny Spain.

My pleasure if we in the "trade" can't help each other nobody else will, this may help: https://www.theimi.org.uk/mot-quals/ For me the appeal of the IMI is they are only focused on the Motor Industry, unlike City & Guilds, BTEC and the like who are multi industry. The curriculum's are as upto date as anyone's although I think they have to give these to other bodies, the assessments are well thought out, well they were when I looked at them a few years ago. I think they are losing relevance under the current CEO/COO and I can't see any value in retaining my membership, however this is a personal view. Good luck and don't hesitate to PM me if you need more help.

Would highly recommend an IMI Approved Centre, they set the NOS (National Occupational Standards) for the Industry, you can search here: https://tide.theimi.org.uk/search/centre Not to be confused with membership which is a crock of shit. They also offer EV quals, L3 takes only 5 days, not all the centre's offer the full range, you will have to contact the centre's or IMI Directly.

My wife’s family had a JLR business, gave up 2.5 years ago as the level of investment they wanted would never have given any ROI. The dealer they replaced them with has got away with spending around a 1/4 of what they wanted us to spend. I was brought in to kind of mediate, but JLR were not for bending and couldn’t get their heads around the costs. There is more to this, but I won’t bore you here. Back to the XE the warranty claims were much higher than any other model, really poor quality.

Go with your gut instinct on this one Mate, its a 7 year old Jag, so its borderline for a main dealer, which would lead me to think they have checked it found some issues.

Good god! If I look at the sales exec jobs, technicians and other roles the salaries have stood still for 20 years. GM/DP salaries have risen, although I'm sure they are coming down given the times we live in? Now call me old fashioned, but if you sell Ford's, you drive a Ford?

You had Mercedes Direct competing with their own retail dealers, how crazy was that? Back in the day I bought a few cars from them pretending to be a retail customer as they had completely under priced them, if memory serves me correctly a couple of CLK cabs, a CL500 and an SL500. Not sure if they do know but every employee was entitled to a subsidized lease car, a second car if they already had a company car, Porsche Retail used to do the same too.

Good point on Porsche Retail I think they are well run. MBR have closed all there central London sites, if I remember correctly they closed Park Lane first, around 2002, around the same time they close Piccadilly and moved everything to Portman Square. That didn't last long and became a Fiat Dealer, Canon Street lasted a couple of years as did Canary Wharf, last year Chelsea closed. I agree they should stick to making and distributing and leave the Dealers to sell the bloody things...................

Just seen MBR 75M loss last year and 2 obvious questions spring to mind: 1. Have MBR ever made a profit? 2. Are there any manufacturer sites that make money?

Cheers, easy to find, I was being a lazy so and so: Edit to say I watched this last night and it was a compelling watch, I did not realize how Chapman worked, won't say anymore as I don't want to spoilt it for those who may be interested.

Could you kindly post a link to the BBC documentary.

All a bit before my time, but for John De Lorean was a chancer. SL's don't drive great and rot like hell, prices are going up right now, but IMHO will drop again.