Honest John. Daily Telegraph 17/11/19. The 'Dealer' You Can Trust???

[Zak Mattin 0]

Have any of you read yesterdays Daily Telegraph Open Road section and specifically the Honest John section??

I am INCENSED by the mans comments regarding car dealers. Here's why:

A reader wrote in with the following to his column:

"I recently had the misfortune to purchase a 14 month old Mercedes from a main dealer.Three of the tyres were totally illegal and the dealer dragged its feet doing anything about it. Fortunately I involved Mercedes Customer Assistance Centre and the cost of the tyres was swiftly refunded. Why would a reputable franchise behave like a 1950's bombsite outfit?".

Ok, while I sypmpathise with the customer if indeed a dealer has let a car go out with 'illegal' tyres, I am appalled by the response of HJ:

"Because they are car dealers and want to get rich. The entire motor industry is infected with this attitude. All they think of is the bottom line".

Seriously, just what on earth is the Daily Telegraph doing using this guy to be their motoring agony aunt? Can you all imagine if for instance Sarah Beeny or Kirsty Allsop made a remark along the lines of 'all UK builders are cowboys' in the property section of a respected national newspaper??

I get the impression 'the dealer you can trust' has not actually done that much car dealing, maybe a little bit of dabbling before finding his way into journalism?

We need to make a fuss about this.

Edited November 18, 2018 by Zak Mattin

[EPV 631]

Personally, I couldn’t give a shiny shite. 

[stockedup! 63]

Trade correctly and do what you say you are going to do, ask for referrals and build your reviews so no one can credibly question your integrity. Just because some ding journalist writes some shit doesn't mean it is true!!

[trade vet 701]

Hi Zak ...He used to be at Blackbushe on a Friday from memory,but I have not been for a good while.Never spoke to him but he seemed to be a popular guy,go and have a word with him.( He does wear a trilby hat)

[Stalker 180]

How did you get your hands on a newspaper from the future?

[lastyboy 23]

Most of the tv/media sales advisors have been in the trade and then slag it off.

Didnt that smarmy Quinten Wilson get done in the 80's for clocking cars??

[Zak Mattin 0]

6 minutes ago, Stalker said:

How did you get your hands on a newspaper from the future?

LOL; 17/11/18 !!

[metcars 397]

51 minutes ago, lastyboy said:

Most of the tv/media sales advisors have been in the trade and then slag it off.

Didnt that smarmy Quinten Wilson get done in the 80's for clocking cars??

Poacher turned gamekeeper

Sadly, stories like "I bought a used car and I had a fantastic experience" don't sell newspapers.

Not forgetting. writing a couple of hundred words a week for the Daily Telegraph must be nice lucrative work if you can get it? And there's no end to stories and anecdotes if you set up your own website to encourage punters to 'burp up' stories (true or otherwise).

Edited November 18, 2018 by met

[andymc1973 199]

Apparently he likes to be addressed a honest John 

[tradegirl 112]

2 hours ago, EPV said:

Personally, I couldn’t give a shiny shite. 

LOL!! That's one I'll be using.

[BHM 994]

Honest John is wrong to make such a sweeping statement but there is an element of truth in it; a fellow trader bought, RETAIL, a 4 year old Merc from a Merc Dealer & that had a couple of knackered tyres, a welded-up alloy (yes, really) AND a crack in the windscreen. To make matters worse they’d MOT’d it the day before collection. When was this? Less than 3 months ago.

And here’s me the other week, MOT’d a £999 VW which got advisories on tyres but they were so close to the limit I replaced them. 

[BHM 994]

3 minutes ago, tradex said:

Sounds like a popular dealer in Portsmouth E H, 13k/15k Merc sitting on slicks, discs like an after dinner mint, intermitant hood and sold all good with no advises

Is this a wind-up.....that’s exactly the town it came from!

It’s the other end of the country from us but it was something he wanted & assumed it’d be issue free. Drove it back, the next day had it on the ramp, phoned the dealer, someone said take it to a local branch. All sorted but the local branch billed Southampton for over £2000 just to bring it up to MOT standard. You couldn’t make it up.

[NOACROSS 414]

Had this lots of times when buying off DA etc an ‘Approved’ car the greedy bastards have tried to sell (often a PX). 

Approved by who? Mr. Wonder?

[Zak Mattin 0]

I remember the story about Quentin and the Cavalier and how it had been clocked by a former private owner.  QW is about the only journalist of this nature that I have had any respect for to be honest.