Gavin@Rousdon

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Everything posted by Gavin@Rousdon

  1. Lots of manufacturers won't pay warranty claims on audio if a copied CD is stuck. Something to do with the CD being thinner then standard ones. Worth pointing out to Mr Stroopy before you start pulling the CD unit apart. As with pre advertised cars, I had this on a BMW a few years ago. Emailed BCA and they said it was out of their control but would look into it. I guess all they could do is have a word but if its a dealer who purchases lots of cars I doubt you would have much look. Better to report to AT if you want more joy.
  2. Had a stange one today On a 2013(63) Audi A4 Avant 42k £14450, which I know is value considering age, warranty etc etc They test drove the car and liked it, proceeded to offer £12500 which I just thought was a low starting offer, I explained if I could make £2000 over a car I would be retired by now. It seems they were deadly serious. They pulled out print off's of a A4 Avants which were 61 plate, 12 plate and 62 plate with mieage between 37k and 49k. I explained a 61 plate was 2 years older to which they replied it didn't matter as it was just mileage they were interested in. The 61 plate has NAV and Leather(cream) and was priced at £13500 which seems a fair price but they refused to understand age has a bearing on value, and mine being 2 years newer would affect its value, they were then even offended when I told them an offer of £13k 'wasn't even close', seems the fact the other has 5k less miles on it maybe it worth so much more to them. I think it wasn't so much their logic that stunned me, they said they do 40k a year so they will only keep it for 2 years maybe but more the fact they genuinely had travelled a round trip of 140 miles (in a beat up Vectra !!!) expecting to have £1500- £2000 knocked of a car. My thoughts are they only have £13k to spend, so why not say and save themselves time and hassle of viewing cars. A simple phone call would have saved a lot of time !!!
  3. Let's be realistic a 21k Corsa shouldn't give many problems, like the 1.6 HDi engine, Renault 1.5DCi etc it isn't perfect. Corsa's. Focus's, 308's, 208's are sold with huge numbers so hearing stories on them breaking down is to be expected. They are also the sort of cars people buy and don't maintain hence rattling timing chains etc etc I would much rather drive a Corsa then a 306 HDi !
  4. I took in a high mileage 60 plate (80k) Juke DCi Tekna earlier in the year and had a feeling it was going to be hard work, retailed at £8000 and could have sold it many time over. Ones with 50k were retailing at £9k ish at the time so to say I was surprised was an understatement !!! Had a 63 plate Tekna 1.6 Auto in August, SAT NAV, Leather etc and only 5000 miles, started at £13500 (which was the cheapest at the time) ended up with £12300. I think late models are hard work because firstly a new model came on either last year of early this year and also Nissan Dealers seem to have loads of pre reg which the give away. I doubt anyone has ever paid list price for a Juke !!! Both Juke's and Qashqai's seem very popular but if they are over priced you could well find them hard work.
  5. If it helps there is even a name for the emails you describe....not spam but Bacn (Bacon). Basicly its emails from a source which aren't useful at the time but maybe useful at a later date. GG you may not want the latest Nike Air trainers from JB Sports but when you get an email from them later in the year offering you Hi-Tec 'Silver Shadow' at £5.99 a pair you may be alot more interested !!!
  6. Always done well with 2wd Qashqai's even in Devon where 4x4's are popular, plus 4x4 ones are rare and seem to attract a premium price wise. The can show wear if they have been abused, think more Renault interior quality then Nissan. I've a few with dogdy radio displays too, LCD goes funny when hot. Both 1.5DCi and 2.0 DCi good new in my opinion. As for Juke's, have always done well again especially with higher spec Tekna / Acenta Premium Pluswith SAT NAV etc but have to buy later one well behind book as prices seem to be all over the place
  7. I would try it at £6500 BUT think how a Volvo driver would think Make the car look special, take some really good photos of it and take time on the advert, Volvo drivers tend to be loyal to the brand and will buy expecting the car to do 150000 miles at least with few problems. £500 road tax is a mere inconvenience to them because its the car they want. You will get 'odd' people asking all sorts of Volvo related questions and following up to with "If its still there in 2 weeks I will pop in" but once the right person see it the sale will be simple !!!
  8. So why has nobody pointed out about P/X vehicles when the Consumer Rights Act was getting passed in law. I've no idea of how many car sales transactions involve a P/X but I imagine it would be above 25% so not a uncommon occurrence. The new law should offer clarity but it just serves up more issues. What if we prep a p/x is the customer expected to pay for the enhancements? Or does the law expect us to leave the p/x sat in a corner for X number of days? Saying this it maybe a pleasure refunding a customer and giving then there fault ridden p/x back !!!
  9. Its a classic case of increased competition working against us. Autotrader's desire to stay number 1 means they have to offer more and more to get people to come to their product. The issue for us dealers is the end product (the advert) is given the the end user (the car buying customer) totally free of charge. They have to make their free product better the the next companies free product to increase and maintain traffic. All the competition are offering a free product too so the different portals are basicly fighting it out using our money to fund it. Increase the competition and the cost increases. The only way stop it is to starve the supply (the adverts). The problem for us is that Motors, ebay, gumtree, local advertising arnen't big or good enough to fill the vacuum if everyone deserted AT overnight, its just not worth the risk.
  10. I do try !!! Iv'e had far better insults thrown at me so I don't mind!!!
  11. I believe that legally every car should be checked before it is put on sale, it also covers you if an incident occurs on a test drive in so much as you can prove the car was roadworthy. Allowing a customer to drive an unsafe car I'm guessing is a criminal offence.
  12. To be fair that customer could have got that information from a number of sources as well as AT (Parkers or What Car being an example). It's how the customer has interpreted that data that's the problem. The customer is devoid of reality despite having a P/X price for his car which states it must be in good condition to get that price. Its a perfect example of blaming AT for something which is beyond there control. I'm sure there are cases where a customer walks in with a px valuation which is well under what a dealer was planning to give meaning he gets more profit, do we then rejoice and cut AT in on the extra money that was made??? We have to keep a level head with AT and try and cut through the crap, not everything is a battle with them !!
  13. Its an old scam, Car paid for over the phone, get delivered and then the card payment is subject to a chargeback. You lose the money and the car. If the customer in genuine they will work around the problem as it's a problem they will find with lots of dealers they call.
  14. Umesh I agree with lots of your points, we can use our adverts and our website to push what we offer, we need to be pro-active in how we market ourselves. I see you list AA, RAC, ebay, Motors etc, I'm sure when you add up the spend with these companies whilst it doesn't add up to the same as the monthly AT bill it does still add up. Motors came in with a bang and like many before them are finding it hard to break AT hold on the market, if there are to sustain their challenge I'm sure price increase will happen. You mention admin fee's etc maybe we should focus on this as an area that needs to be cleaned up and that means pushing government officers to look into it. The motor trade and retail motor trade is such a big industry, good, bad and ugly I'm surprised there isn't a direct government office set up to monitor it.
  15. What AT should offer everyone is a deal like this - Cancel your contract and we will refund you your last 3 months advertising spend with AT, but if you decide to come back within the next 12 months you pay DOUBLE the price. Hopefully then car dealer will focus on the job a little more once the comfort blanket of blaming AT for everything is taken away. Of course BCA will then be next in the firing line because they sell cars for over CAP Clean. There is lots AT can do, clearer pricing structure, rep back on the road to work with you, less tangled produces and a simpler approach. Truth is there are car dealers out there doing ok, making money whilst using advertising with AT, there are lots of people searching for cars via AT so it can't be all bad. Motors have lots of cars advertised yet still don't get the response. We are all business people and can make choices how to run our business and need to sometime keep a sensible head on rather then getting wrapped up in the anti AT hysteria which has engulfed the motor trade at present.
  16. Or make it clear you need to do a fully inspection on their car to cover yourself under SOGA that they will be accepting their car back with all faults. (If an EGR Valve is worring them a big list on their's will to) Also the customer maybe acting like an idiot at the moment but he is pee'd off his new car has broken down, once he calms down he maybe more approachable. Lawgistics could help with this if your a member
  17. Wouldn't the easiest thing be to try and convince the customer to keep the car. It will take time to find a solution to the finance so maybe fix the EGR value ASAP, give the car back in the hope that he takes his new car and doesn't want the hassle of changing finance etc etc. Maybe throw in a sweetener (extended warranty or £100 cash) to calm his nerves as a goodwill gesture.
  18. Give them the keys and leave them to it!!!! I try and get them relaxed in the environment so they don't feel rushed or stood over. They may have others to look at but by turning them away they aren't going to come back. Be friendly and think long term.
  19. Only 4 months.....Still 2 months to long!!!!
  20. I've sat on a 09 plate BMW 330i all summer, sick of looking at it so it's priced at £13k to get it gone. Out of about 12 I've had since March its the only one I'm stuck with.
  21. Does anyone on here ever pay well over book then?? CAP is a guide and with so many possible options the price can vary between above and below CAP Clean. Take a Mini for example, add a panoramic roof it becomes over book, then add SAT NAV, becomes more over book, add leather ...you can see the theme here. If you base what you buy on the CAP price you will only buy run of the mill stuff which is on lots of dealers forecourts, buy something a little different and pay more and your not competing against some many other dealers. Take the example of the Jag S Tyre, a quick look on autotrader says if it has sensible mileage it could be a £3500 car. I can't see any at £2000 which is what CAP says. Also bear in mind CAP would expect a 12 year S-Type to be a grade 4 car in BCA terms due to its age.
  22. Yes it keeps going down, seems the server can't cope with the demand. Also issues with printing documents. Whoever run's these IT projects for the government needs looking at as they always seem to have issues and I doubt they are done on the cheap.
  23. So many not up for the challenge !!!
  24. Have you got your own workshop? If your paying someone else to sort it I doubt its worth while but if you can sit on it as a project it maybe ok. I'm guessing its a diesel, if so its rare to have all 4 injectors need replacing, maybe one and the other can be sonicly (?) cleaned. Half the problem is the once you put a spanner on it your commited to following it through. Maybe call the last owner and get some info.
  25. Thats is the best price range for finance. All the online lenders and banks offer their best rates for over £5000 or £6000. I imagine you can make more commission on a finance deal for £3500 then on a £10k deal where you have to cut the rate to the bone.