Buying from a 'Sale or Return' Dealer.. quick question
Discussion
This might be a simple one - its just something I've never done.
How can you be sure the money goes to the owner, after you have driven off in the car?
In all the years I've been buying cars its either been from the owner's house, or a dealer's forecourt - I've never dealt with a dealer selling a car on 'sale or return' on behalf of another owner.
The question came up when looking a dealer on Pistonheads that has a lot of quite expensive cars - but very little in the way of feedback on the internet (good or bad... just the fact there is virtually NO feedback / reviews almost seems more suspicious - their company house history shows they have been around many years) and a quick search lead me to another forum with people asking the same thing about this dealer.
Then I read about an unrelated case of a 'Sale or Return' dealer doing a bunk with quite a bit of money.
So - put my mind at rest, what questions and proof should you be asking for, and is it also rude to ask to speak to the actual owner in regard to ownership / vehicle history?
How can you be sure the money goes to the owner, after you have driven off in the car?
In all the years I've been buying cars its either been from the owner's house, or a dealer's forecourt - I've never dealt with a dealer selling a car on 'sale or return' on behalf of another owner.
The question came up when looking a dealer on Pistonheads that has a lot of quite expensive cars - but very little in the way of feedback on the internet (good or bad... just the fact there is virtually NO feedback / reviews almost seems more suspicious - their company house history shows they have been around many years) and a quick search lead me to another forum with people asking the same thing about this dealer.
Then I read about an unrelated case of a 'Sale or Return' dealer doing a bunk with quite a bit of money.
So - put my mind at rest, what questions and proof should you be asking for, and is it also rude to ask to speak to the actual owner in regard to ownership / vehicle history?
In some instances the owner would be happy to chat to the new buyer, other instances it may be more a case of if he wanted to speak to people then he would be selling it. So, worth asking the question. But all the history should be there, or you can ask the dealer to ask the questions for you.
In terms of will they see the money, that's the risk. The last 2 companies (Who were at one point well regarded) that started to pocket/utilise the cash elsewhere is always going to put a cloud over SOR cars. Having worked for a company that did this very rarely, we always kept the owner in the loop on sales/offers and knew what we had to return them so didn't bother them until we had sold or with a progress update. We did usually only do this for previous customers or friends of the owner though.
There isn't really any way you will know if he does get paid without disclosing the sales price which isn't probably going to happen. It'll be trust I think.
In terms of will they see the money, that's the risk. The last 2 companies (Who were at one point well regarded) that started to pocket/utilise the cash elsewhere is always going to put a cloud over SOR cars. Having worked for a company that did this very rarely, we always kept the owner in the loop on sales/offers and knew what we had to return them so didn't bother them until we had sold or with a progress update. We did usually only do this for previous customers or friends of the owner though.
There isn't really any way you will know if he does get paid without disclosing the sales price which isn't probably going to happen. It'll be trust I think.
Find a dealer who's been in business for a long time.
I bought a 911 (964) from a Porsche specialist who was trading from what I assume was his house. He had a fully-equipped workshop and a small showroom in the back yard, maybe half a dozen cars on the site.
As I was buying, I have no idea whether he actually owned the car, or if he was selling it on commission.
3 years later I wanted to move the car on. By this time he had teamed up with another dealer (joint directors I think), and they were operating from a much larger site on a small industrial estate - 5 or six workshop bays, several full-time employees, and a couple of dozen cars on site. He offered to buy the car from me cash, but said he'd get me a better price if he sold it on commission.
I plucked a figure out of the air, which was around 20% more than I'd expect to sell it for privately (and 50% more that I paid him when I bought it), and he agreed to try for that.
The car was provisionally sold within a month, and I had the money a couple of weeks later - exactly the price we agreed to. Totally painless transaction.
I bought a 911 (964) from a Porsche specialist who was trading from what I assume was his house. He had a fully-equipped workshop and a small showroom in the back yard, maybe half a dozen cars on the site.
As I was buying, I have no idea whether he actually owned the car, or if he was selling it on commission.
3 years later I wanted to move the car on. By this time he had teamed up with another dealer (joint directors I think), and they were operating from a much larger site on a small industrial estate - 5 or six workshop bays, several full-time employees, and a couple of dozen cars on site. He offered to buy the car from me cash, but said he'd get me a better price if he sold it on commission.
I plucked a figure out of the air, which was around 20% more than I'd expect to sell it for privately (and 50% more that I paid him when I bought it), and he agreed to try for that.
The car was provisionally sold within a month, and I had the money a couple of weeks later - exactly the price we agreed to. Totally painless transaction.
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