Dealer declines main dealer inspection
Discussion
Was considering buying a Ferrari at a non-franchise dealer based in Derby. I requested an inspection at Grey Paul in Nottingham (at my expense). The dealer declined so I pulled out of the deal.
Truly staggered by this. The dealer claimed that main dealers are looking to recoup losses taken during covid through inflated prices and issues.
Very odd - their decision A) assumed I'd use the main dealer prices as a baseline for negotiation and B) assumed that the main dealer would discover a list of issues
The car was 9 years old - so I was prepared to take a reasonable view of anything found, so the inspection was more to look for serious showstoppers than minor age related stuff.
I had to take the view in the end that if this was the attitude pre-purchase, imagine what would happen with genuine issues post purchase.
So disappointing. Anyone else experienced this approach to maim dealer inspections?
Truly staggered by this. The dealer claimed that main dealers are looking to recoup losses taken during covid through inflated prices and issues.
Very odd - their decision A) assumed I'd use the main dealer prices as a baseline for negotiation and B) assumed that the main dealer would discover a list of issues
The car was 9 years old - so I was prepared to take a reasonable view of anything found, so the inspection was more to look for serious showstoppers than minor age related stuff.
I had to take the view in the end that if this was the attitude pre-purchase, imagine what would happen with genuine issues post purchase.
So disappointing. Anyone else experienced this approach to maim dealer inspections?
If you explained your reasoning and they said no then you dodged a bullet.
If I was selling my Range Rover privately & someone wanted to have the main dealer inspect it at their expense I’d be all for it.
If it gets a clean bill of health then great!
If it doesn’t then I have an opportunity to fix what is wrong myself & then advertise it as having passed an MD inspection.
However if I knew it had an issue & I wanted to hide it then I’d not want the inspection done as I could never honestly sell it as being fault free.
If I was selling my Range Rover privately & someone wanted to have the main dealer inspect it at their expense I’d be all for it.
If it gets a clean bill of health then great!
If it doesn’t then I have an opportunity to fix what is wrong myself & then advertise it as having passed an MD inspection.
However if I knew it had an issue & I wanted to hide it then I’d not want the inspection done as I could never honestly sell it as being fault free.
With a cheap car, I would trust my knowledge and instincts. With a car in this league, in term of cost and complexity, I would want a 3rd party inspection.
Refusal to comply, suggest one of a couple of things, the dealer has something to hide or more likely, they don’t trust own abilities to choose perfect and fault free stock.
Either way it would be a walk, you did the right thing OP.
Refusal to comply, suggest one of a couple of things, the dealer has something to hide or more likely, they don’t trust own abilities to choose perfect and fault free stock.
Either way it would be a walk, you did the right thing OP.
Having owned a Ferrari and working as a dealer I can sort of see the dealers point of view but as suggested above is there not an Indy that could do the inspection?
On the one hand it's a Ferrari and presumably a lot of money so you want to make sure it's right. On the other hand if the Indy themselves is a specialist they may well know the cars a lot better than the main dealer.
I'm my specialty (Lotus) I'm very occasionally asked about inspections my answer is always that they are free to come to us but we would never invest half a day taking a car off site for someone else to look at because they won't know any more about the car than we do. There's also I have to say an element of how asking for an inspection comes across to the dealer. Are you going to be a headache to them going forward? Not trusting then to turn the car out well might not be a great start to the relationship. If they are a specialist I could see that point of view if they are not a marque specialist and simply don't want the car looking at it could be a red flag or it could be that they are just not needing to invest the time it would take them to present the car for inspection.
Now on the odd occasion I've had something like a Porsche these are cars people like an inspection and a rev report on I will ask for £500 none refundable to take the car over to Porsche deductable if the car is bought and also a fair warning that the report will not be used as a stick to beat us with on the price of the car. We try to get the balance right but often with the Porsche stuff you'll have more than one buyer to go with so we would always pick the guy that's more chilled and night not want an inspection. This could be the case here.
When I sold my 458 private I took it to Ferrari for inspection and to be honest it looked like a very cursory look over they did so I would be now inclined to go the Indy route. There's probably a mobile guy which could save the dealer hassle.
On the one hand it's a Ferrari and presumably a lot of money so you want to make sure it's right. On the other hand if the Indy themselves is a specialist they may well know the cars a lot better than the main dealer.
I'm my specialty (Lotus) I'm very occasionally asked about inspections my answer is always that they are free to come to us but we would never invest half a day taking a car off site for someone else to look at because they won't know any more about the car than we do. There's also I have to say an element of how asking for an inspection comes across to the dealer. Are you going to be a headache to them going forward? Not trusting then to turn the car out well might not be a great start to the relationship. If they are a specialist I could see that point of view if they are not a marque specialist and simply don't want the car looking at it could be a red flag or it could be that they are just not needing to invest the time it would take them to present the car for inspection.
Now on the odd occasion I've had something like a Porsche these are cars people like an inspection and a rev report on I will ask for £500 none refundable to take the car over to Porsche deductable if the car is bought and also a fair warning that the report will not be used as a stick to beat us with on the price of the car. We try to get the balance right but often with the Porsche stuff you'll have more than one buyer to go with so we would always pick the guy that's more chilled and night not want an inspection. This could be the case here.
When I sold my 458 private I took it to Ferrari for inspection and to be honest it looked like a very cursory look over they did so I would be now inclined to go the Indy route. There's probably a mobile guy which could save the dealer hassle.
CloudStuff said:
In Derby or Derbyshire? Humbel?
I’m pretty sure I know the dealer, Chris is a decent bloke, I’ve bought and sold without any issues and can see his POV, he knows his business and has done very well. I think an independent visiting site shouldn’t be a problem and would probably be just as good as Graypaul. Blue62 said:
CloudStuff said:
In Derby or Derbyshire? Humbel?
I’m pretty sure I know the dealer, Chris is a decent bloke, I’ve bought and sold without any issues and can see his POV, he knows his business and has done very well. I think an independent visiting site shouldn’t be a problem and would probably be just as good as Graypaul. Could be either way. I am sure we have all had free health checks performed on our cars when they are in for services. Much of this is marginal stuff, brakes half worn that need replacing etc etc. The retailer will be worried that you will take all of this at face value. The suggestion of using a marque indi instead is sensible. The car might have issues but equally it might not and at this time of year the dealer may feel a buyer may turn up who does not want an inspection. It is easy to walk away and blame others but the question is do you want the car?
Smifffy said:
Was considering buying a Ferrari at a non-franchise dealer based in Derby. I requested an inspection at Grey Paul in Nottingham (at my expense). The dealer declined so I pulled out of the deal.
Truly staggered by this. The dealer claimed that main dealers are looking to recoup losses taken during covid through inflated prices and issues.
Very odd - their decision A) assumed I'd use the main dealer prices as a baseline for negotiation and B) assumed that the main dealer would discover a list of issues
The car was 9 years old - so I was prepared to take a reasonable view of anything found, so the inspection was more to look for serious showstoppers than minor age related stuff.
I had to take the view in the end that if this was the attitude pre-purchase, imagine what would happen with genuine issues post purchase.
So disappointing. Anyone else experienced this approach to maim dealer inspections?
I can actually understand this as main dealers will find things that aren't an issue but if you have a good Indy near you suggest an inspection with them.Truly staggered by this. The dealer claimed that main dealers are looking to recoup losses taken during covid through inflated prices and issues.
Very odd - their decision A) assumed I'd use the main dealer prices as a baseline for negotiation and B) assumed that the main dealer would discover a list of issues
The car was 9 years old - so I was prepared to take a reasonable view of anything found, so the inspection was more to look for serious showstoppers than minor age related stuff.
I had to take the view in the end that if this was the attitude pre-purchase, imagine what would happen with genuine issues post purchase.
So disappointing. Anyone else experienced this approach to maim dealer inspections?
EC2 said:
Could be either way. I am sure we have all had free health checks performed on our cars when they are in for services. Much of this is marginal stuff, brakes half worn that need replacing etc etc. The retailer will be worried that you will take all of this at face value. The suggestion of using a marque indi instead is sensible. The car might have issues but equally it might not and at this time of year the dealer may feel a buyer may turn up who does not want an inspection. It is easy to walk away and blame others but the question is do you want the car?
I suppose that's true - the dealer could really go to town on it. I used to run a Merc for work and always had it dealer serviced to keep the Mobilo cover even though it was getting on a bit. It was usually worked on by the son of a neighbour but one time he was off and someone else did the service. It came back with a list of work that would have written it off. I took it to an indie and they only thing he did was replace a gearbox plug that had a slight weep.I bought a 4yo McLaren from a non-franchise dealer, requested an inspection, they ran it over to the nearest main dealer and back for me, I just paid for the inspection itself. Facilitating an inspection would certainly be my expectation at this level (I would have paid for transporting the car if asked).
Now tbh the main dealer inspection wasn't that informative and with hindsight an indy would likely have been better. But the selling dealer was helpful throughout.
I agree main dealers tend to find small or unimportant problems and offer very expensive fixes. Ultimately an inspection report is a starting point for negotiation.
As a seller I'm always happy for people to have a car inspected. Generally the willingness to pay hundreds of pounds for an inspection means someone is serious about buying, so you have a good chance of being able to make a reasonable deal with them.
As I see it there are two reasons a seller might decline to allow an inspection
1) They have another buyer interested in the car who is ready to commit immediately without waiting to schedule an inspection
2) They know that once you have the inspection report there's zero chance of you offering them what they want for the car.
The first one is ultimately legit, but it makes it tricky for a buyer.
I guess it would also be a factor how long the car's been on the market, if it's just gone on sale they could well have another buyer in touch. With my McLaren it had been on sale for several months, so the seller had little to lose by arranging an inspection.
To answer the question "should I trust the seller and buy a nine year old Ferrari without an inspection?", you could ask George...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Thx all. It was a frustrating situation.
There was no reason why this sale wouldn't have happened. Perhaps the dealer felt I'd have used unreasonable main dealer prices to negotiate - however I'm not clear on this as they could always say 'no' to any price change I suggested. On my side I wasn't looking for any price change at all - I saw it as a "check for hidden disasters" - not a negotiation point.
My understanding is that main dealers have the diagnostic equipment you'd want for these type of reviews.
I don't want to name the dealer or the principle's name as it would likely break forum rules on right to reply etc and would not be appropriate.
The dealer did not offer a specialist review - although the car had recently been serviced by a specialist so I may not have considered it truly independent.
So I have to conclude I did dodge a bullet and there is something amiss.
There was no reason why this sale wouldn't have happened. Perhaps the dealer felt I'd have used unreasonable main dealer prices to negotiate - however I'm not clear on this as they could always say 'no' to any price change I suggested. On my side I wasn't looking for any price change at all - I saw it as a "check for hidden disasters" - not a negotiation point.
My understanding is that main dealers have the diagnostic equipment you'd want for these type of reviews.
I don't want to name the dealer or the principle's name as it would likely break forum rules on right to reply etc and would not be appropriate.
The dealer did not offer a specialist review - although the car had recently been serviced by a specialist so I may not have considered it truly independent.
So I have to conclude I did dodge a bullet and there is something amiss.
fridaypassion said:
Having owned a Ferrari and working as a dealer I can sort of see the dealers point of view but as suggested above is there not an Indy that could do the inspection?
On the one hand it's a Ferrari and presumably a lot of money so you want to make sure it's right. On the other hand if the Indy themselves is a specialist they may well know the cars a lot better than the main dealer.
I'm my specialty (Lotus) I'm very occasionally asked about inspections my answer is always that they are free to come to us but we would never invest half a day taking a car off site for someone else to look at because they won't know any more about the car than we do. There's also I have to say an element of how asking for an inspection comes across to the dealer. Are you going to be a headache to them going forward? Not trusting then to turn the car out well might not be a great start to the relationship. If they are a specialist I could see that point of view if they are not a marque specialist and simply don't want the car looking at it could be a red flag or it could be that they are just not needing to invest the time it would take them to present the car for inspection.
Now on the odd occasion I've had something like a Porsche these are cars people like an inspection and a rev report on I will ask for £500 none refundable to take the car over to Porsche deductable if the car is bought and also a fair warning that the report will not be used as a stick to beat us with on the price of the car. We try to get the balance right but often with the Porsche stuff you'll have more than one buyer to go with so we would always pick the guy that's more chilled and night not want an inspection. This could be the case here.
When I sold my 458 private I took it to Ferrari for inspection and to be honest it looked like a very cursory look over they did so I would be now inclined to go the Indy route. There's probably a mobile guy which could save the dealer hassle.
I am sorry but that's not on, doesn't matter how well you know a car, as a customer they would like a third party to check it over and that's perfectly reasonable. What isn't reasonable is blocking that even though you are perfectly within your right to do so. On the one hand it's a Ferrari and presumably a lot of money so you want to make sure it's right. On the other hand if the Indy themselves is a specialist they may well know the cars a lot better than the main dealer.
I'm my specialty (Lotus) I'm very occasionally asked about inspections my answer is always that they are free to come to us but we would never invest half a day taking a car off site for someone else to look at because they won't know any more about the car than we do. There's also I have to say an element of how asking for an inspection comes across to the dealer. Are you going to be a headache to them going forward? Not trusting then to turn the car out well might not be a great start to the relationship. If they are a specialist I could see that point of view if they are not a marque specialist and simply don't want the car looking at it could be a red flag or it could be that they are just not needing to invest the time it would take them to present the car for inspection.
Now on the odd occasion I've had something like a Porsche these are cars people like an inspection and a rev report on I will ask for £500 none refundable to take the car over to Porsche deductable if the car is bought and also a fair warning that the report will not be used as a stick to beat us with on the price of the car. We try to get the balance right but often with the Porsche stuff you'll have more than one buyer to go with so we would always pick the guy that's more chilled and night not want an inspection. This could be the case here.
When I sold my 458 private I took it to Ferrari for inspection and to be honest it looked like a very cursory look over they did so I would be now inclined to go the Indy route. There's probably a mobile guy which could save the dealer hassle.
Chamon_Lee said:
I am sorry but that's not on, doesn't matter how well you know a car, as a customer they would like a third party to check it over and that's perfectly reasonable. What isn't reasonable is blocking that even though you are perfectly within your right to do so.
Its not the way I would approach it in my business. Was the dealer saying that no inspection could take place? I'm not sure that's the case they have pretty much just said they wont be taking it off site which I do think is fair enough. They probably don't need to take the car off site and have half a day out to sell the car. They can conduct business how they like and pick and choose who they deal with that's absolutely up to them. If however they are saying no to any inspection at all that's probably a red flag. Maybe the dealer did like the cut of the OPS jib for some reason and just didnt want to progress the sale. Smifffy said:
I don't want to name the dealer or the principle's name as it would likely break forum rules on right to reply etc and would not be appropriate.
The dealer did not offer a specialist review - although the car had recently been serviced by a specialist so I may not have considered it truly independent.
So I have to conclude I did dodge a bullet and there is something amiss.
Took me 2 minutes to find the dealer, not many car dealers selling Ferrari's in Derby.The dealer did not offer a specialist review - although the car had recently been serviced by a specialist so I may not have considered it truly independent.
So I have to conclude I did dodge a bullet and there is something amiss.
So then to conclude what you did is not on IMO.
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