Visited a car dealer in Penarth Road...
Discussion
This afternoon I had to go to Cardiff, I had a spare 30 minutes so decided I would try and have a look over my potential next car (Nissan GTR), I went to Wessex Garages but they only had the face lifted version to look over. I then remembered there was another dealer down the road that was claiming to have a mki R35 GTR in stock.
Due to PH rules, I can't name the garage but to give you an idea it's a dealer that has Ferrari's, Porsches etc regularly for sale based in Penarth Road and also advertises on here.
I pulled up and entered the garage, had a quick glance at a grey exige they had in stock and then made a b line for the black GTR, cue sales man going to his desk right by the car, he ignored me and SWMBO despite being the only people in the showroom, feeling a little awkwud and a bit confused, I started talking to him and asked 'so these GTR's, are they as ridiculous to maintain as people make out?' his response was 'depends what you mean? How old are you anyway? You know what insurance will be like right?' I explained that insurance was not a problem and I have paid some extortionate prices over the years having had TVR's since 18 years of age, his response frankly staggered me, he stated in a cocky tone 'yeah but that's a £8-10k car, this is a £50k car', I told him the car in question was far from £10k and I had owned a t350 which he has in stock at £24k at 19 (5 years ago). I revealed I had sat in the newer GTR in geneva & was keen to buy a previous model. Sales man then tells me untrue facts about the servicing all whilst sitting at his desk & not showing me round the car or anything, I felt like I was actually inconveniencing him. At this point SWMBO was seething and the realisation of this guys attitude was starting to settle in, we quickly left with a very bitter taste in the mouth.
I get home and do a google search, it appears that they are far from the greatest car dealership around. It's a shame as GTR's are rarely stocked in South Wales and this place seems to stock them frequently, on sale or return it appears.
Due to PH rules, I can't name the garage but to give you an idea it's a dealer that has Ferrari's, Porsches etc regularly for sale based in Penarth Road and also advertises on here.
I pulled up and entered the garage, had a quick glance at a grey exige they had in stock and then made a b line for the black GTR, cue sales man going to his desk right by the car, he ignored me and SWMBO despite being the only people in the showroom, feeling a little awkwud and a bit confused, I started talking to him and asked 'so these GTR's, are they as ridiculous to maintain as people make out?' his response was 'depends what you mean? How old are you anyway? You know what insurance will be like right?' I explained that insurance was not a problem and I have paid some extortionate prices over the years having had TVR's since 18 years of age, his response frankly staggered me, he stated in a cocky tone 'yeah but that's a £8-10k car, this is a £50k car', I told him the car in question was far from £10k and I had owned a t350 which he has in stock at £24k at 19 (5 years ago). I revealed I had sat in the newer GTR in geneva & was keen to buy a previous model. Sales man then tells me untrue facts about the servicing all whilst sitting at his desk & not showing me round the car or anything, I felt like I was actually inconveniencing him. At this point SWMBO was seething and the realisation of this guys attitude was starting to settle in, we quickly left with a very bitter taste in the mouth.
I get home and do a google search, it appears that they are far from the greatest car dealership around. It's a shame as GTR's are rarely stocked in South Wales and this place seems to stock them frequently, on sale or return it appears.
I know what you mean about salesman with bad attitude's having been in the motor trade for over 15years ,the garage you have mentioned in particular hasn't got the best reputation a lot of their stock is S.O.R and would you really go and buy a supercar from an independant garage (not a dig at you Tuvra) There is only one main independant garage I would recommend (and I do constantly to people looking for high end/prestige motors) the service and aftersales are second to none imho
Pothole said:
..... think of the number of dreamers and wasters they have to deal with all day every day and you can kind of understand it.
No excuse, been in the motor trade forever and one thing I've learnt over the years is that everyone who walks through your door is a buyer at some point, somewhere. Never write a deal off, especially on first impressions.
The salesman in question was being an
arrogant dick. Unfortunately there are plenty of them around.
Eta I have no idea which dealership we are talking about by the way.
Eta again, a simple search answered that one. Should have guessed !!
Edited by Mr MoJo on Saturday 3rd September 23:57
Edited by Mr MoJo on Sunday 4th September 00:02
I know exactly who you are referring to! A friend of mine was selling his car on ph and this dealer emailed him sayin he could sell it for him pretty quickly for a small fee. We thought he seemed genuine, oh how wrong were we! He had it for several months with no updates, to cut a very long story short, we went to collect it and it had done about 300 miles! The bosses attitude was disgusting when challenged. I would warn anyone who comes into contact with this garage.
It is a total shame as he does seem to have some great cars, another friend was looking to buy an e92 m3 from him but it was covered in stone chips. The boss said "we can get it sprayed for £100" I'm sorry but not on a £27k car!!!
Anyway, it's very near halfords...
It is a total shame as he does seem to have some great cars, another friend was looking to buy an e92 m3 from him but it was covered in stone chips. The boss said "we can get it sprayed for £100" I'm sorry but not on a £27k car!!!
Anyway, it's very near halfords...
I had a feeling that I wasn't alone. I went in there totally open minded knowing that he had a GTR in stock, now if I was a dreamer would I not have headed to the bright yellow Ferrari rather than the over weight bloated Datsun? Also if I was a dreamer surely I would have asked the non sense questions like "whats the bhp", "top speed", "0-60mph" etc.
To be honest I would be dubious buying such a car off an independent garage, however, he seems to have sold a few GTR's over the years and regularly has them in stock, then again has he sold them or did the owners take them back?. It wasn't just his dick head attitude that I was some poor spotty teenager, but his obvious lack of knowledge that annoyed me, I quizzed him about servicing etc (trying to initiate a conversation really as I knew the answers), he told me stuff like:
t attitude and has absolute no desire to sell cars.
As a note, I have had quotes for Insurance today on a GTR, £1,950, I was paying more for a Focus RS less than four months ago. What a Grade A Tool! Google also turns up some interesting reads on said garage.
The worse thing is, no one seems to stock them in South Wales bar him & Wessex
To be honest I would be dubious buying such a car off an independent garage, however, he seems to have sold a few GTR's over the years and regularly has them in stock, then again has he sold them or did the owners take them back?. It wasn't just his dick head attitude that I was some poor spotty teenager, but his obvious lack of knowledge that annoyed me, I quizzed him about servicing etc (trying to initiate a conversation really as I knew the answers), he told me stuff like:
- They DON'T need servicing every 6 months/6k miles unless its within warranty, you can leave it go 12k miles or 12 months, really? I mean really?
- Tyres on "this sort of car" are expensive anyway, Didnt mention the odd wheel size and restricted tyre choices.
- Main dealer Servicing is "about £400", actually Litchfield cost more than that and their independent, Nissan Main Dealers are approximately twice as much or £900 (twice a year).
t attitude and has absolute no desire to sell cars.As a note, I have had quotes for Insurance today on a GTR, £1,950, I was paying more for a Focus RS less than four months ago. What a Grade A Tool! Google also turns up some interesting reads on said garage.
The worse thing is, no one seems to stock them in South Wales bar him & Wessex
Surely if you're planning on spending your hard earned on something special it's worth travelling to find the right car. Don't limit yourself by not looking outside the local dealers. Having just googled said dealer I am amazed how bad the reviews are !! Heard a few stories locally but didn't realise how bad said dealership is regarded.
Mr Mojo, I totally agree, when I owned TVR's I would travel regularly to view stock in "my" TVR dealership in Reading, I would only travel a few hours if I knew that was the model car I wanted and then It was down to stuff like Mileage, Spec & Color. I feel travelling tens or hundreds of miles to view a model you ain't 100% settled on wastes everyone's time.
To be honest the car this guy has in stock is not for me anyway as the color and mileage is wrong. I went in there with a hope of looking over the car and perhaps having a chat about the servicing and what kind of dealer warranty he could give, finance options etc. I suppose this could be classed as time wasting? But I didn't even expect to sit in the car, I just wanted a little chat and to make my self known to the (regular GTR stocking) dealer. If he was with customers/on the phone, I would have understood, the fact was he was in an empty showroom not on the phone.
If he would have treated me better I would have left my details and asked him to contact me when a more suitable car came in to stock (lower mileage, different color). Already knowing what sort of finance and warranty he offered would have then put me in a position to view and test drive a more suitable car at a later date making me more likely to deal or in other words, not to waste his or my time.
I never get this attitude of "Time waster" from people who's job it is to sell cars, everyone is a potential customer, even if its long term. My experiences of sales staff in dealerships has dictated what cars I will buy from stealerships, for example I will be happy to buy (another) Mercedes, Porsche or BMW but will never buy an Audi (despite local Audi & Merc being run by the same guy).
I have always been truthful and honest with dealers, I even told this guy I will be looking to purchase when I turn 25 (November 27th) for Insurance purposes. I once created a "test drive" day, booking four test drives in one day, I explained to all dealers what I had done, turns out I bought the first one I drove, once bought I was straight on the phone to the other dealers to explain the events.
Danny, I have my suspicions who you are going to suggest, there's only two dealers (bar the stealerships) that regularly stock a number of "proper" cars and one of them is the Penarth Dealer, I hope its the same dealer as his stock is always interesting and looks very well presented (sure iv seen GTR's on his website too). PM Sent
Edited to add: I just checked the website, said GTR is claiming 8,800 miles, sales man told me Friday that it was 18-20k, a fact that instantly put me off the car for the price
To be honest the car this guy has in stock is not for me anyway as the color and mileage is wrong. I went in there with a hope of looking over the car and perhaps having a chat about the servicing and what kind of dealer warranty he could give, finance options etc. I suppose this could be classed as time wasting? But I didn't even expect to sit in the car, I just wanted a little chat and to make my self known to the (regular GTR stocking) dealer. If he was with customers/on the phone, I would have understood, the fact was he was in an empty showroom not on the phone.
If he would have treated me better I would have left my details and asked him to contact me when a more suitable car came in to stock (lower mileage, different color). Already knowing what sort of finance and warranty he offered would have then put me in a position to view and test drive a more suitable car at a later date making me more likely to deal or in other words, not to waste his or my time.
I never get this attitude of "Time waster" from people who's job it is to sell cars, everyone is a potential customer, even if its long term. My experiences of sales staff in dealerships has dictated what cars I will buy from stealerships, for example I will be happy to buy (another) Mercedes, Porsche or BMW but will never buy an Audi (despite local Audi & Merc being run by the same guy).
I have always been truthful and honest with dealers, I even told this guy I will be looking to purchase when I turn 25 (November 27th) for Insurance purposes. I once created a "test drive" day, booking four test drives in one day, I explained to all dealers what I had done, turns out I bought the first one I drove, once bought I was straight on the phone to the other dealers to explain the events.
Danny, I have my suspicions who you are going to suggest, there's only two dealers (bar the stealerships) that regularly stock a number of "proper" cars and one of them is the Penarth Dealer, I hope its the same dealer as his stock is always interesting and looks very well presented (sure iv seen GTR's on his website too). PM Sent
Edited to add: I just checked the website, said GTR is claiming 8,800 miles, sales man told me Friday that it was 18-20k, a fact that instantly put me off the car for the price
Edited by Tuvra on Monday 5th September 11:04
SwanJack said:
Had a quick look at his stock list, didn't know a Chimaera had a cambelt that needed servicing 
. To be fair to the bloke though, he let me and a mate take a Tuscan out for a spin without a second thought.
It's been up for sale for a while I think, and I'm sure the price has been put up by 1k in the last couple of weeks! (after being reduced previously). To be fair to the bloke though, he let me and a mate take a Tuscan out for a spin without a second thought.They always seem to have some nice motors there, but my limited experience of them wasn't great. I'm not sure I'd really want to buy a car from there.
I am sure this is the guy that parked his ( company) Ferrari right outside St Davids Hotel....having revved it through Mermaid Quay.....several times.
I was in the pool one time, he burst from the Sauna, huffing and puffing about how hot it was in there. Covered in sweat, he proceeded to jump into the pool, allowing us the pleasure of swimming about in his sweat. He had a tattoo of what was supposed to be a prancing horse on his arm, unfortunately it looked like a fat donkey rearing up on its backside. Odious.
I was in the pool one time, he burst from the Sauna, huffing and puffing about how hot it was in there. Covered in sweat, he proceeded to jump into the pool, allowing us the pleasure of swimming about in his sweat. He had a tattoo of what was supposed to be a prancing horse on his arm, unfortunately it looked like a fat donkey rearing up on its backside. Odious.
Robbo66 said:
I am sure this is the guy that parked his ( company) Ferrari right outside St Davids Hotel....having revved it through Mermaid Quay.....several times.
I was in the pool one time, he burst from the Sauna, huffing and puffing about how hot it was in there. Covered in sweat, he proceeded to jump into the pool, allowing us the pleasure of swimming about in his sweat. He had a tattoo of what was supposed to be a prancing horse on his arm, unfortunately it looked like a fat donkey rearing up on its backside. Odious.
Classy I was in the pool one time, he burst from the Sauna, huffing and puffing about how hot it was in there. Covered in sweat, he proceeded to jump into the pool, allowing us the pleasure of swimming about in his sweat. He had a tattoo of what was supposed to be a prancing horse on his arm, unfortunately it looked like a fat donkey rearing up on its backside. Odious.
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