Part Ex Punters tricks

[Andy Entwistle 96]

We're going to be doing a piece on punters and part ex's. Specifically has anyone got any good stories about the kind of tricks that punters pull to hide problem with a PX... names will of course be changed to protect the innocent !

[Mark101 536]

21 minutes ago, Andy Entwistle said:

We're going to be doing a piece on punters and part ex's. Specifically has anyone got any good stories about the kind of tricks that punters pull to hide problem with a PX... names will of course be changed to protect the innocent !

No but I could use a few for myself 

[David Ayers 171]

59 minutes ago, Andy Entwistle said:

We're going to be doing a piece on punters and part ex's. Specifically has anyone got any good stories about the kind of tricks that punters pull to hide problem with a PX... names will of course be changed to protect the innocent !

What do you mean?

All customers are honest upstanding citizens and would never do such a thing.

It's those secondhand car dealers!!

[Casper 272]

Apart from years ago when the radio just happened to disappear and that recent battery was swapped for the old shitter that would hardly start the car 

[Mojo121 229]

I had one guy say his new girlfriend was vegan and was slowly making him change his diet, that she had put three bins in the kitchen for recycling, all natural shampoo, oat milk in the fridge and, of course, HATED the fact he had a diesel car. It was a constant bug bear apparently. I test drove his part ex and it drove very well. Listened for all the normal noises and it seemed okay. Anyway, after explaining that diesels were hideously unpopular I offered him a lowish amount for it... hoping to retail it at a nice profit.

Hand over day comes, he's been in the car all day and because it's the end of the day and it's got a load of fuel in it I decide to drive the car home. Get back home and the flywheel's rattling it's tits off. The only way I didn't hear that on the day is the car wasn't warm enough. I remembered he called me the day he was viewing to say he'd been delayed half and hour when originally the journey was 20 minutes. He also turned up with a Costa. It's clear to me he sat and had a coffee while the car cooled so the noise wasn't as obvious. 

Made a wedge out of the one I sold him and a little on the part ex so I don't resent it and if he'd have rang with a whinge I'd have had a whinge back. 

[JA Trader 58]

6 minutes ago, Mojo121 said:

I had one guy say his new girlfriend was vegan and was slowly making him change his diet, that she had put three bins in the kitchen for recycling, all natural shampoo, oat milk in the fridge and, of course, HATED the fact he had a diesel car. It was a constant bug bear apparently. I test drove his part ex and it drove very well. Listened for all the normal noises and it seemed okay. Anyway, after explaining that diesels were hideously unpopular I offered him a lowish amount for it... hoping to retail it at a nice profit.

Hand over day comes, he's been in the car all day and because it's the end of the day and it's got a load of fuel in it I decide to drive the car home. Get back home and the flywheel's rattling it's tits off. The only way I didn't hear that on the day is the car wasn't warm enough. I remembered he called me the day he was viewing to say he'd been delayed half and hour when originally the journey was 20 minutes. He also turned up with a Costa. It's clear to me he sat and had a coffee while the car cooled so the noise wasn't as obvious. 

Made a wedge out of the one I sold him and a little on the part ex so I don't resent it and if he'd have rang with a whinge I'd have had a whinge back. 

The vegan story is all to plausible as well

Similar story to above customer said he was running late and turned up a little late with his PX which was cold. Turns out the thermostat switch was broken and as such overheating once it was sat running worked fine on the test drive and then turned it off once i got back.

I learnt from this to always leave px cars running for a good few minutes before you go anywhere.

Anyway the car was riddled with faults but still managed to fix it all and sell it last week for a tidy amount.

[trade vet 704]

Seemingly straight forward easy to deal with punter with a clean Omega diesel upgrades to a slightly newer higher spec one.We retail his swapper very quickly.However when it is warmed up it,it cuts out and is difficult to restart.We get it in and have to replace the fuel pump which was expensive.A while later we are doing the same on a Omega diesel under the terms of our own warranty.We then remembered that the other one was from the same customer.He must have been using red diesel which of course he denied.I cancelled the warranty.....We finished up being well out of pocket on both cars.

[Mark101 536]

53 minutes ago, JA Trader said:

The vegan story is all to plausible as well

I didn't realise I was a Vegan, amazing.........I don't drink diesel either.

[RJEauto 18]

Not long after we opened, we took an old 1.3diesel Hyundai Getz in for sale. Customer was "devastated to part with it", decent MOT, looked fine offered him £500 to get the deal done (didn't bother driving it out of the yard). Happy customer leaves with his new i20, Ryan takes the Getz to the local shop, starts a 3 point turn and cuts out in the middle of the road. Managed to get it going again but there was no reverse! Ended up spares or repairs on eBay with fuel and gearbox problems.

Had another customer a week or two later, PX and old focus. Lives 2 streets away so had walked up to test drive the Volvo he wanted. Mileage on PX please, 103k he said. No problem, we'll give you £700 for it. Deal done, he returns that evening for handover, our mechanic test drives the PX which is fine and new car goes out. About to ring the guy who has our cheap stuff, looking through the MOT history - last MOT 180K miles, check the car 198k miles!!

A few lessons quickly learnt, thankfully they weren't too expensive!

-Kelly-

Edited September 11, 2019 by RJEauto

[Mark101 536]

Again, on the banger money PX - I just don't bother driving them.  If I have cleared a couple out of the retail and allowed £500 on the swapper, I just scrap them for about £150 or whatever I can get and still make a nice drink out the overall deal.

This often happens when a dealer down the road gets all fussy about their PX and bids scrap money, customer gets all pissed off and dealer ends up making nothing whereas; I have still made a fair chunk and just have to make one call to get the junk lifted.

Short sighted customers - all hooked on how much I allowed on the PX.

[Nick M.K. 574]

Last year I took a 2006 Jeep Cherokee 2.5 CRD (left hand drive!) from a very respectful looking couple in their 70s, returning in the UK from Portugal...

They drove to me in another car to view a newish Mercedes Estate and mentioned the Jeep. Because of the left hand drive it was difficult to arrive at a trade price "unseen" so we agreed I will go to them the next day. When I went at the arranged time the engine was running and the gentleman was cleaning the Jeep. The engine ran well, A/C was ice cold, the car looked spotless for a 12 year old 4x4 and had leather and lots of kit. I got in it, drove it around their neighbourhood, a deal was struck, hands were shaken and deposit paid. 

They would drive it to me the next day (a Saturday) at noon. When they came they parked it at the top of our drive with very little room to get the Mercedes out. We managed it somehow and off they went. A couple of hours later I go to start the Jeep and the key doesn't turn fully in the ignition, I can't start the thing! Plus my access for my other other cars is now extremely tight!

They weren't answering their phones so I got a trusted mechanic to come out and after some looking and checking he opened the bonnet, removed the starter relay and showed me how to start the car from the pins. Two thin metal sticks, touch them together and the Jeep fired up straight away. Perhaps my customers were the luckiest people in the history of part exchanging and the ignition failed after their very last drive.

The Chrysler / Jeep main dealers wanted to sell me a complete £1200 lower dashboard and ignition barrel assembly but luckily I found a company that imported only the plastic cylinder that was broken inside the original barrel. £90 all in. 

I took the Jeep to a very good garage that I use and a couple of hours later it was completely fixed, sweet as you like. "Your long screwdrivers are in the glovebox Nick"

"What screwdrivers?" I asked

"The two long thin flathead screwdrivers that we found under the driver's seat". 

They weren't mine though so my respectable elderly customers must've left them behind when the AA or RAC or whoever told them how to start their Jeep when their ignition failed :-))))

[stockedup! 63]

I think we have all had a few but the most memorable ones for me were 2 irish gents who rocked up in 2 lovely mercs to px. The cars were absolute stars, absolutely mint!! They were tough to deal but got there in the end. I was a young lad(A JUNIOR) at the time so had a load of help off the sales manager. Delivery day came and went with no collection, I wasn't overly concerned as we had good dippers off them. They rang about 3 days later and said they would be with us in the next week or so....did we need any more money etc etc. To cut a long story short they came one evening when it was blowing a fuckin hooley….torrential rain and all. Said they would be there at 6 and was still waiting at 7.30... they kept calling saying they were on their way. To cut a long story they dropped the cars and collected their new ones, they even said they were sorry for the state of their cars but they had been busy working and weren't as clean as when they brought them to px. We looked at the cars the next day when the valeters came to us and asked about the prep needed on the Mercs Fuck me..... the cars were not the same cars as we had seen a month or so. We had been absolutely stitched to the hilt, they had had paint all over, needed some more....holes in seats and a dog had eaten part of a headlining in one of them. Thank fuck I was a junior, my SM nearly got the sack as he had gone early and left me alone.... we blew 8k on the 2 cars trading them, funnily enough to an Irishman. I have never fallen for that one again but I chuckle about it now.

[trade vet 704]

17 minutes ago, stockedup! said:

I think we have all had a few but the most memorable ones for me were 2 irish gents who rocked up in 2 lovely mercs to px. The cars were absolute stars, absolutely mint!! They were tough to deal but got there in the end. I was a young lad(A JUNIOR) at the time so had a load of help off the sales manager. Delivery day came and went with no collection, I wasn't overly concerned as we had good dippers off them. They rang about 3 days later and said they would be with us in the next week or so....did we need any more money etc etc. To cut a long story short they came one evening when it was blowing a fuckin hooley….torrential rain and all. Said they would be there at 6 and was still waiting at 7.30... they kept calling saying they were on their way. To cut a long story they dropped the cars and collected their new ones, they even said they were sorry for the state of their cars but they had been busy working and weren't as clean as when they brought them to px. We looked at the cars the next day when the valeters came to us and asked about the prep needed on the Mercs Fuck me..... the cars were not the same cars as we had seen a month or so. We had been absolutely stitched to the hilt, they had had paint all over, needed some more....holes in seats and a dog had eaten part of a headlining in one of them. Thank fuck I was a junior, my SM nearly got the sack as he had gone early and left me alone.... we blew 8k on the 2 cars trading them, funnily enough to an Irishman. I have never fallen for that one again but I chuckle about it now.

Inside job.....?

[stockedup! 63]

3 minutes ago, trade vet said:

Inside job.....?

You old cynic LOL.

To be honest I don't think it was TV

 

[Casper 272]

4 hours ago, RJEauto said:

Not long after we opened, we took an old 1.3diesel Hyundai Getz in for sale. Customer was "devastated to part with it", decent MOT, looked fine offered him £500 to get the deal done (didn't bother driving it out of the yard). Happy customer leaves with his new i20, Ryan takes the Getz to the local shop, starts a 3 point turn and cuts out in the middle of the road. Managed to get it going again but there was no reverse! Ended up spares or repairs on eBay with fuel and gearbox problems.

Had another customer a week or two later, PX and old focus. Lives 2 streets away so had walked up to test drive the Volvo he wanted. Mileage on PX please, 103k he said. No problem, we'll give you £700 for it. Deal done, he returns that evening for handover, our mechanic test drives the PX which is fine and new car goes out. About to ring the guy who has our cheap stuff, looking through the MOT history - last MOT 180K miles, check the car 198k miles!!

A few lessons quickly learnt, thankfully they weren't too expensive!

-Kelly-

Bet it still drove well with 198k we had one with over 250 k and still pulled well sold it in the local auction  

2 hours ago, Nick M.K. said:

Last year I took a 2006 Jeep Cherokee 2.5 CRD (left hand drive!) from a very respectful looking couple in their 70s, returning in the UK from Portugal...

They drove to me in another car to view a newish Mercedes Estate and mentioned the Jeep. Because of the left hand drive it was difficult to arrive at a trade price "unseen" so we agreed I will go to them the next day. When I went at the arranged time the engine was running and the gentleman was cleaning the Jeep. The engine ran well, A/C was ice cold, the car looked spotless for a 12 year old 4x4 and had leather and lots of kit. I got in it, drove it around their neighbourhood, a deal was struck, hands were shaken and deposit paid. 

They would drive it to me the next day (a Saturday) at noon. When they came they parked it at the top of our drive with very little room to get the Mercedes out. We managed it somehow and off they went. A couple of hours later I go to start the Jeep and the key doesn't turn fully in the ignition, I can't start the thing! Plus my access for my other other cars is now extremely tight!

They weren't answering their phones so I got a trusted mechanic to come out and after some looking and checking he opened the bonnet, removed the starter relay and showed me how to start the car from the pins. Two thin metal sticks, touch them together and the Jeep fired up straight away. Perhaps my customers were the luckiest people in the history of part exchanging and the ignition failed after their very last drive.

The Chrysler / Jeep main dealers wanted to sell me a complete £1200 lower dashboard and ignition barrel assembly but luckily I found a company that imported only the plastic cylinder that was broken inside the original barrel. £90 all in. 

I took the Jeep to a very good garage that I use and a couple of hours later it was completely fixed, sweet as you like. "Your long screwdrivers are in the glovebox Nick"

"What screwdrivers?" I asked

"The two long thin flathead screwdrivers that we found under the driver's seat". 

They weren't mine though so my respectable elderly customers must've left them behind when the AA or RAC or whoever told them how to start their Jeep when their ignition failed :-))))

Least you got. 2 new screwdrivers nick ..lol

[Tim H 16]

Early this year we had a White Qashqai that was popular, and a good number of phone calls came in. First to get to us to see it loved it, and asked for a p/x price for their 55 plate X3.

The X3 looked tidy enough, up on miles, and a quick drive showed that it pulled well, and apart from the handbrake warning light on,poor tyres, and associated road noise, nothing too bad.

The owner advised that the handbrake light, stays on intermittently, most likely the switch he said. Sure enough, we had the handbrake on and off a few times whilst we were parked, and every time it went off.

We made a fair offer, and deal done.

Handover came, and we then took the X3 to the workshop we use for inspection. The report came back with dual mass slight knocking, and all tyres need replacing plus attention to the handbrake light. Apparently the handbrake light goes off, but then comes on again after moving forward.

We thought it'd make a good car, so approved the work...Dual mass done, tyres done, handbrake light is not so easy.

There are no other lights on the dash, however a full scan showed that the car had 4x4 faults...after a lot of head scratching we took the speedo cluster out and took it apart to find that the light tunnels for the 4x4, abs, and traction control warning lights, had been filled with black silicon sealant!!!

I'm sure if we asked them, they'd have no idea how it happened, it wasn't them, it's always been like that...

It's had hours spent on it, the transfer case motor has been changed but we can't get it to calibrate...all the light are still on,it's out of MOT and it's now dumped round the back where I can't see it...

We are now better at looking that the lights on the dash come on before we start any potential p/x.

 

 

 

 

[Boycie 30]

15 hours ago, trade vet said:

Seemingly straight forward easy to deal with punter with a clean Omega diesel upgrades to a slightly newer higher spec one.We retail his swapper very quickly.However when it is warmed up it,it cuts out and is difficult to restart.We get it in and have to replace the fuel pump which was expensive.A while later we are doing the same on a Omega diesel under the terms of our own warranty.We then remembered that the other one was from the same customer.He must have been using red diesel which of course he denied.I cancelled the warranty.....We finished up being well out of pocket on both cars.

My understanding is that Red Diesel is the same as White Diesel, except that it is red?

[Blenheim Car Sales 111]

Franchise dealer i worked at in early 2000`s had a  Mini Cooper S "john cooper works" come in as a Part exchange I was just a sales person and left it to others but we valued the car did the deal and  got on with it, Car went through prep and workshops then went on for sale, The mini customer who knew everything about these cars instantly  pointed out a john Cooper Works car has got this and that and this as part of a very comprehensive package, We went around the rear and pointed at the back...............but its got the badge 

Customer didnt purchase it turns out the £10 Works badge was all it did have and it was not a JCW car after all, I was not the one getting into trouble on that one but i still learned from it, Company lost a lot on that one because once we knew we had to remove the badge and price it accordingly

[trade vet 704]

55 minutes ago, Boycie said:

My understanding is that Red Diesel is the same as White Diesel, except that it is red?

It effects the lubrication in fuel pumps.

[Mark101 536]

12 minutes ago, trade vet said:

It effects the lubrication in fuel pumps.

It also depends on the quality of the storage.

Red diesel is diesel with a dye, that's all but, often found in farms, plant yards etc where storage of the stuff isn't anywhere near as clinical as a busy petrol station and tends to sit around longer.

In boats, diesel bug is a big issue when leaving the boat moored without an additive - trick was to brim the tank. That said, imagine a half full rusty bowser at the back end of the cow shed - that isn't going to be too healthy.

[BHM 994]

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

It effects the lubrication in fuel pumps.

An old wives tale. It’s the same diesel with a touch of red dye added.

I can categorically assure you from many years of use that it does nowt to fuel pumps. 

[Dan W 57]

Claiming a part exchange has a full service history but the handbook is at home..... but its deffo got it also it deffo has 2 keys.

customer arrives for handover 1 key and no history to be found,  we will be re revaluing your part ex now mr customer......
\

they hope we don't ask or they say its in the glovebox, right I will just nip out and get it.........

[Mark101 536]

Just remembered a CRV, not taken in PX by me but came via a Main Dealer.

Prop shaft removed by previous Owner at a guess prior to chopping in as had a typical noisy rear axle - fixed via the usual hack.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Mark101

[trade vet 704]

2 hours ago, BHM said:

An old wives tale. It’s the same diesel with a touch of red dye added.

I can categorically assure you from many years of use that it does nowt to fuel pumps. 

You have just jogged my memory.We bought a wagon load of repossessed 406 diesels described as ex hire cars out of Belle Vue.They turned out to be ex taxis  ( private hire ) and most of them needed fuel pumps. ? 

[Jack Regan 116]

Had some Gypo's come in 15 or so years back  in a 3 litre omega , wanted to chop it in cause they was doing beer runs to France and been tugged in it coming back through customs and couldn't use it no more cause its card was marked so to speak ....dealt with em, can't even remember what I sold em , few days later another lot came in looking for a big motor , you guessed it to do beer runs to France , I've got just the car lads , don't know how I kept a straight face selling it to em .