used car seller 8 Posted January 12, 2014 bodywork, its the only thing they seem to know to check, picking out every little mark and scratch, you stand there and tell them " well up your price then matey " some understand some dont, the car has to tick every box, from mileage to owners, yet theyve only got £1595 max, theyve been looking for months, think how much petrol theyve wasted ! not theres, yours/ours ! i turn em off me after 3 minutes, stories of the cars theyve looked at, gets tiresome, " best weve seen so far " i hear em say, but know theyre not going open up there wallet today here ! thing is, if its for there " loved one " it can be the best ever thing ever with substantial history and minmter than mint and i can practically guarantee that within 2 year it will be systematically wrecked and destroyed or stuffed up the back of a poor sod in front in the first month, to dam fussy, tyre kickers, time wasters, what do you call them ? should be a tv programme, like watchdog, follow the family thats wastes traders money, time and patience, i would watch it ! " thats life, the other side " 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ian 15 Posted January 12, 2014 Brilliant rant! The cheaper the car, the more they want. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
c_cars 56 Posted January 13, 2014 Im always amused by the mechanic that people bring with them whos mechanical ability seems to be to look down each side of the car, touch the tyres and dip the oil! Does anyone else have customers that always seem to find more faults with the car your selling when you dont bid them when they want for their part ex? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gavin@Rousdon 137 Posted January 13, 2014 When they start realing off the list of faults on my car I just reply...'Clearly not the car for you then is it?'. It soon puts me back in control of the deal. As for mechanic they bring along most are 'pub mechanics', always ask which garage they work at and you find most aren't mechanics at all. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Autolink100 34 Posted January 13, 2014 Champagne taste and lemonade money is the phrase that I like to use, never to their face of course But it is always very frustrating when dealing with unrealistic people. I think I prepare my cars to a pretty decent standard but as I deal in mainly 5 -10 year old stock they are never going to look like new which is what a lot of punters seem to expect these days. I absolutely hate it when the magic finger comes out and they start picking out every tiny stonechip and minor blemish, I must admit my patience does not last long when they happen to be looking at say an 8 year old car. I normally politely point them in the direction of the nearest main agent of the car that they are looking at and tell them that the main dealer will be happy to supply them with a 3 year old example that will better meet their expectations. The inevitable answer is of course " Oh No, we don't want to spend that kind of money". makes you wonder what they eventually do wind up buying 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
used car seller 8 Posted January 13, 2014 Im always amused by the mechanic that people bring with them whos mechanical ability seems to be to look down each side of the car, touch the tyres and dip the oil! Does anyone else have customers that always seem to find more faults with the car your selling when you dont bid them when they want for their part ex? I forgot about the "mechanics" that they bring ! usually in overalls covered in emulsion not grease and when you talk to them apparently they used to sell cars, but got sick of the idiots !? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GreenGiant 287 Posted January 14, 2014 Oh stop moaning. You know you love it! And Rule No 6: Dick'eads buy cars. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
used car seller 8 Posted January 15, 2014 Oh stop moaning. You know you love it! And Rule No 6: Dick'eads buy cars. YES ! It's not about the money with you and me is it, Gal? It's the charge, it's the bolt, it's the buzz, it's the sheer **** off-ness of it all. Am I right? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Entwistle 96 Posted January 16, 2014 Them - "Why don't the electric windows work in the back Me - "It doesn't have electric windows in the back" Them - "How do i open them then" Me - "You can't, they're fixed" Them - "Well, the last one i saw they weren't" Then why didn't you buy that one then....... (Knowing the particular model didn't have opening rear windows, it was a coupe) (Ok, i didn't say that last bit, but wanted to) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ian 15 Posted January 16, 2014 When their expert is prone underneath our cars I say "are you alright? Have you collapsed - shall I call an ambulance?" or "do you want to borrow my tools?"! We sold a very very cheap Puma a few months ago, the girl's chap was a "mechanic" and crawled all over and under it, bartered for a better deal. Sold as seen (I'm talking less than five hundred nicker here) and explained as so. Two months later it failed the MOT and they came crying for money. Not such a clever mechanic after all, eh? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lovelycars.com 2 Posted January 26, 2014 I often say (especially to a husband and wife team or a team of 3 or more buyers) when they start finding tiny scratches that we'll kindly knock off £100 for every scratch mark they find. Quickly they reach the magic figure of £500 which I then deduct from the original list price when NEW (printed on the CAP or Glass valuation part of the HPI Report) and inevitably our car is still a lot lot cheaper. We all have a little laugh reminding each other that we are not looking at a new car and more often than not this works and we still have a deal. The customers get a box of chocolates rather than £500 off and still leave quite pleased. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron Gwill 1 Posted January 29, 2014 I think it is because cars have become so reliable that customers now look more at bodywork, when I started in the trade cars suffered far more with crunching gearboxes, worn clutches noisy back axles,oil leaks etc. The customer is spending what is to them all the money they can afford, so they have to look for faults. The answer is to know when to say no, because in my experience once you start aggreeing to do scratches and dings they will find more and more until your profit has been hammered. I have also heard salesmen say "Don't worry about the scratches we have a man who comes in and does them before the car goes out" guess what the customer expects then on handover? Regarding the expert friend, I have always found it best to win them over rather than embarrass them. They have probably been put on the spot, same as you probably would if one of your friends asked you to check a car, a good idea is to point out the weak points of the car (they all have them) and demonstrate that your one is 0.k. If the expert friend is relied upon by others he could become good for refferalls, but not if you make him look silly, tempting through it may be. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
