Why would a dealer do this????
Why would a dealer do this????
Author
Discussion

DarkHorseTerence

Original Poster:

590 posts

269 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
No names mentioned here, but I'm a serious buyer and just phoned up an indie dealer to enquire about a 911.

The advert states the mileage as xx,900 miles.

I asked "Please confirm the mileage?"

"Its xx+2000,200 miles"

"Oh - that's 1300 miles more than the listing - is it in current use?"

"No we just wanted to show the mileage lower so it gets picked up on search engines"

rolleyes






MadMark911

1,755 posts

179 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
1. They're using it as a a "smoker" .....
2. They're immoral ....
3. It's been "test driven" a lot (but not purchased, for some reason)!

To ensure protection against any of the above - just walk away! smile


walm

10,644 posts

232 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
This is entirely common on the last couple of cars I bought.

If your car is close to a 10k boundary on the mileage, you lie in the advert (i.e. lower it slightly) in order to get picked up by a <50k mileage search say.

Dealers know that if they have the right spec car at the right price, they can probably haggle an issue like slightly higher than printed mileage.

I would be far more worried about "motorway miles, never tracked" type claims that can never be verified!

mr pg

2,067 posts

235 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
DarkHorseTerence said:
No names mentioned here, but I'm a serious buyer and just phoned up an indie dealer to enquire about a 911.

The advert states the mileage as xx,900 miles.

I asked "Please confirm the mileage?"

"Its xx+2000,200 miles"

"Oh - that's 1300 miles more than the listing - is it in current use?"

"No we just wanted to show the mileage lower so it gets picked up on search engines"

rolleyes
I assume you mean +2200 miles, not 2,000,200!

KPE

150 posts

169 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
I have seen this a few times. E.g. On autotrader, one of the search brackets is up to 80k miles. So if you are selling a car with 80,500 miles than it falls into a different bracket. So now your car is being compared to ones with 100k and the pricing is a different ball game for those in the 100k bracket because of this psychological issue some have with that mileage. Therefore your car of 80.5k might seem expensive.
Secondly for an extra 500 miles, a potential buyer might miss out on the car 80.5k car which might be the car they are looking for in terms of spec and condition but did not use a broad enough search if they selected up to 80k.
Hope that makes sense!

Wetwipe

3,019 posts

243 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
Saw this on a RR Sport ad recently. Listed on AT at 99,000 miles. Text said 109,000 rolleyes

Suppose it's no worse than HWM refusing to state prices or Keighley's policy of refusing to quote miles on their cars.

steve singh

3,995 posts

203 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
Condition more important that a couple of thousand miles here or there...

jonamv8

3,284 posts

196 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
Wetwipe said:
Suppose it's no worse than HWM refusing to state prices or Keighley's policy of refusing to quote miles on their cars.
How ridiculous - you wonder how they trade

Crimp a Length!

5,697 posts

253 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
Quite normal these days unfortunately

thegoose

8,077 posts

240 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
KPE said:
I have seen this a few times. E.g. On autotrader, one of the search brackets is up to 80k miles. So if you are selling a car with 80,500 miles than it falls into a different bracket. So now your car is being compared to ones with 100k and the pricing is a different ball game for those in the 100k bracket because of this psychological issue some have with that mileage. Therefore your car of 80.5k might seem expensive.
Secondly for an extra 500 miles, a potential buyer might miss out on the car 80.5k car which might be the car they are looking for in terms of spec and condition but did not use a broad enough search if they selected up to 80k.
Hope that makes sense!
Yep, I do this with my adverts for this reason - but I do include the specific mileage within the ad text. It's very rare anyone has an issue with it and it's meant people looking for an under 60,000 mile car have found, and gone away very happy with, their perfect car (with say 64,000 miles) that wouldn't ordinarily have even come up in their search. smile

DarkHorseTerence

Original Poster:

590 posts

269 months

Wednesday 15th May 2013
quotequote all
don't get it myself. If I want to search for my ideal spec, but disregard mileage I can do it. Its not rocket science. But when I look to establish if a dealer is honest and reputable and the first thing he says is that the mileage is 2k more than the listing I immediately think - well what else is 'slightly different' to the listing?



Wetwipe

3,019 posts

243 months

Wednesday 15th May 2013
quotequote all
Not so concerned about 2/3k as per Marcus' suggestion but I do think its very misleading to suggest a car has mileage x when actual is y= 10,000+

Kudos

2,674 posts

204 months

Sunday 19th May 2013
quotequote all
Sold my X5 to a dealer and they've it advertised for 10k miles less than when I sold it. I've pics of the odometer...