I'm completely fed up with other dealers misdescribing cars.

[jimreidvehicle 255]

We use AutoTrade-mail.com for cherry picking for stock and for sourcing that exact car for our customers. We are very professional in what we ask the dealer selling the car to ensure that the tyres are not on their last legs, the alloys aren't all kerbed, that it has Full Service History with documentation, V5 , MOT and spare key even ask about the alloy wheel key, that the bodywork hasn't had paint or requiring anything and that the interior doesn't look and smell like the inside of a teenagers bedroom!

 

So why is it even asking these questions that some (not all) dealers feel the need to lie about the condition of the car or the mileage or the service history! When we agree a price over the phone we always trust that dealer to the extent that we transfer the funds in full straight away,  awaiting collection by our trusted transport company, so WHY after all this do we still find cars coming up requiring work? We bought a lovely Seat Leon from a dealer in Wales last week, it was delivered on Friday with 3 bald /illegal tyres! when  i challenged them they said that the vehicle left them with 4 good tyres!!!! it was on the back of a transporter not driven up to us by a Formula 1 driver! We even e-mailed pics to them which they replied saying that the pictures could be from any car in our yard!!! and to think we had agreed to buy another car from them by this point, and they won't budge!!!!!

 

Is this what the Motortrade come to? There should always be a mutual trust between dealers regardless of where you are in the country, yet this happens time after time to us! WHY?

[umesh 336]

Yet another shocking story!
I Hope ATM take this dealer off , I think there are more and more dealers who simply do not have ethics /morals ! They will lie through their back teeth regardless of 'motortrade' or to a retail customer.
Its al so frustrating finding the cars then to be landed with additional costs!
I had a dealer lie to me about a service & cambelt on an Audi - Told me over the phone & email he had double checked with the 'garage' who had done it they simply forgot to stamp the book  which he would get done.
Having paid for car got it collected to see no 'proof of service or cambelt change' I called him he said send the book up I'll get it stamped , I refused to send the book but asked if he could get me a copy invoice fax/email.post .....Nothing for 2 weeks although I'd emailed and rang him , another 2 weeks on his answer was ' bring the car back ..I had loads of people after it' How professional is that !  Obvious a lie to sell the car to me - the service wasn't carried out and no cambelt change!  So I'm about £600 out on the car now!
Normally don't believe in name &  shame but I'm going to ! [Redacted by moderator] You'd never believe it 41 Times Favourite!!

[jimreidvehicle 255]

yes, Umesh and these guys have been favourited over 50 times, however I notice there is no 'un-favourite' button, for a balanced review!!

[sparky 274]

I had an email alert from ATM on Sunday. Opened up the email and thought I recognize that car so crossed checked a few things and yep, it was the one I was thinking about that had been sold 48 hours earlier on another dealer platform. The description of the car was basic and there were no comments. Now then, in the space of 48 hours the dealer may well have replaced a rather expensive mechanical part, had it in the bodyshop, replaced interior parts and given it the mother of all valets but somehow I doubt it. 

 

A bit of a pointless yarn maybe, but it does put a bit of doubt in your mind.

[williamblackshaw 43]

Sad to hear, we always aim to collect our own cars where possible from trade to challenge them if required, we have a very honest policy when describing trade cars as it's not fair on people travelling hundreds of miles, treat others how you want to be treated. Perhaps auto trade mail could run a feedback similar to ebay?

[Gavin@Rousdon 137]

The main reason I refuse to underwrite is because salesmen can't describe a car properly and very few ever drive them which is crazy to me. We all know a panel costs £150 to paint but a clutch and dual mass flywheel could cost £700-£800 or a knocking engine even more. In my eyes the mechanics of the car is far more important then anything else.

Main dealers can sometimes be the worse but I guess it's not their own money they are spending.  I picked a BMW in purchased on Dealer-Auction up from a exclusive 'Italian' car dealership a few weeks ago and they had lied about the service history. If fact lots of main dealer employees look down at the independent dealer/trader, I think sitting in those posh showrooms all day goes to their head.