Buying a good car from a dodgy dealer...
Discussion
Would you?
Looked at a car at a 'specialist' recently. Lots of pretty expensive stock. Cars seem 'honest', i.e. with little prep.
Liked the car. Needs a little tidying but nothing major from what I could see. Great history, low owners, loads of paperwork. Very local to me.
At the time I spoke to the mechanic who seemed very upfront, no pretence, and straight talking.
Tried to research the previous owner and in doing so found that the car had been advertised on Instagram for £2k lower. Still very well priced and at least 10% cheaper than the next nearest car, and very much to the spec of my liking.
Online reviews were either 5 star or 1 star, citing pressure to leave good reviews on collection, or basic denial of consumer rights and ghosting when after sales service needed. No great!
Bit more research shows that the dealer has phoenixed less than a year ago, allegedly to avoid a court claim liability.
Spoke to the dealer/owner and challenged him on the difference between advertised prices. Says that the IG price was in case he had someone want it immediately, and would be sold 'off the books', no company invoice/warranty etc. incidentally their 'retail' warranty is with no T&C's, drivetrain only, and self funded. Totally cringe wide boy pitter patter and very off-putting.
Lots of red flags, but I do like the car and it's a good price. Ironically I would have been much more confident buying direct from the previous owner, knowing there would be almost zero consumer protection, but this guy seems to want to sell on his own terms, irrespective of the law - basically very high risk!
Would you?
Looked at a car at a 'specialist' recently. Lots of pretty expensive stock. Cars seem 'honest', i.e. with little prep.
Liked the car. Needs a little tidying but nothing major from what I could see. Great history, low owners, loads of paperwork. Very local to me.
At the time I spoke to the mechanic who seemed very upfront, no pretence, and straight talking.
Tried to research the previous owner and in doing so found that the car had been advertised on Instagram for £2k lower. Still very well priced and at least 10% cheaper than the next nearest car, and very much to the spec of my liking.
Online reviews were either 5 star or 1 star, citing pressure to leave good reviews on collection, or basic denial of consumer rights and ghosting when after sales service needed. No great!
Bit more research shows that the dealer has phoenixed less than a year ago, allegedly to avoid a court claim liability.
Spoke to the dealer/owner and challenged him on the difference between advertised prices. Says that the IG price was in case he had someone want it immediately, and would be sold 'off the books', no company invoice/warranty etc. incidentally their 'retail' warranty is with no T&C's, drivetrain only, and self funded. Totally cringe wide boy pitter patter and very off-putting.
Lots of red flags, but I do like the car and it's a good price. Ironically I would have been much more confident buying direct from the previous owner, knowing there would be almost zero consumer protection, but this guy seems to want to sell on his own terms, irrespective of the law - basically very high risk!
Would you?
I have, yes. As far as I was concerned I wanted the car, and accepted that that is what I was buying, knowing the dealer would be off no use. It's an E91 335i, one of less than 100 left on the UK roads. It had one owner +BMW, good provenance (loads of services/work) but had numerous faults and aesthetic issues. 3.5 years on, all of these are now sorted, the car is near perfect, and it drives absolutely amazingly. The dealer was in Keighley.
Yes have bought from such dealers, use your sniff test as it seems you have, so if solid car, the value is right and you're not expecting any after sale warranty then go for it
Personal preference, I've never bought from a shiny dealership ever, they look too pricey for my appetite
Personal preference, I've never bought from a shiny dealership ever, they look too pricey for my appetite
Edited by v8notbrave on Saturday 12th September 09:39
Wills2 said:
Buying "good" cars from dodgy dealers only keeps them in business when it would better that they stopped trading, saying things like "off the books" sales etc...tells you all you need to know.
I think that is my biggest turn off. Not the risk itself, but more that it propagates such shabby outfits. Think that is the point here regardless of whether the risk can be priced in etcInteresting to get a variation of opinion on this. Financially I'm probably cutting my nose off to spite my face, so to speak - it's a car in the 50s, 9 years old, but at a main dealer the same car is probably a minimum if another 10k on top. Unsurprisingly the trade / resale value would be much less than the lower price so would really be putting myself out there for taking a hit if I wasn't in it for the long term.
Edited by rix on Saturday 12th September 14:19
rix said:
Would you?
Looked at a car at a 'specialist' recently. Lots of pretty expensive stock. Cars seem 'honest', i.e. with little prep.
Liked the car. Needs a little tidying but nothing major from what I could see. Great history, low owners, loads of paperwork. Very local to me.
At the time I spoke to the mechanic who seemed very upfront, no pretence, and straight talking.
Tried to research the previous owner and in doing so found that the car had been advertised on Instagram for £2k lower. Still very well priced and at least 10% cheaper than the next nearest car, and very much to the spec of my liking.
Online reviews were either 5 star or 1 star, citing pressure to leave good reviews on collection, or basic denial of consumer rights and ghosting when after sales service needed. No great!
Bit more research shows that the dealer has phoenixed less than a year ago, allegedly to avoid a court claim liability.
Spoke to the dealer/owner and challenged him on the difference between advertised prices. Says that the IG price was in case he had someone want it immediately, and would be sold 'off the books', no company invoice/warranty etc. incidentally their 'retail' warranty is with no T&C's, drivetrain only, and self funded. Totally cringe wide boy pitter patter and very off-putting.
Lots of red flags, but I do like the car and it's a good price. Ironically I would have been much more confident buying direct from the previous owner, knowing there would be almost zero consumer protection, but this guy seems to want to sell on his own terms, irrespective of the law - basically very high risk!
Would you?
No chance.Looked at a car at a 'specialist' recently. Lots of pretty expensive stock. Cars seem 'honest', i.e. with little prep.
Liked the car. Needs a little tidying but nothing major from what I could see. Great history, low owners, loads of paperwork. Very local to me.
At the time I spoke to the mechanic who seemed very upfront, no pretence, and straight talking.
Tried to research the previous owner and in doing so found that the car had been advertised on Instagram for £2k lower. Still very well priced and at least 10% cheaper than the next nearest car, and very much to the spec of my liking.
Online reviews were either 5 star or 1 star, citing pressure to leave good reviews on collection, or basic denial of consumer rights and ghosting when after sales service needed. No great!
Bit more research shows that the dealer has phoenixed less than a year ago, allegedly to avoid a court claim liability.
Spoke to the dealer/owner and challenged him on the difference between advertised prices. Says that the IG price was in case he had someone want it immediately, and would be sold 'off the books', no company invoice/warranty etc. incidentally their 'retail' warranty is with no T&C's, drivetrain only, and self funded. Totally cringe wide boy pitter patter and very off-putting.
Lots of red flags, but I do like the car and it's a good price. Ironically I would have been much more confident buying direct from the previous owner, knowing there would be almost zero consumer protection, but this guy seems to want to sell on his own terms, irrespective of the law - basically very high risk!
Would you?
Timref81 said:
I have, yes. As far as I was concerned I wanted the car, and accepted that that is what I was buying, knowing the dealer would be off no use. It's an E91 335i, one of less than 100 left on the UK roads. It had one owner +BMW, good provenance (loads of services/work) but had numerous faults and aesthetic issues. 3.5 years on, all of these are now sorted, the car is near perfect, and it drives absolutely amazingly. The dealer was in Keighley.
What… thee dealer in Keighley? Multi-storey car park…If its rare and you cant get better and your able to sort mevery issue out, then maybe
But I would want to give it a real going over
And make sure you check all the vin numbers stamped into the body are untouched and match.
I almost bought a daisy yellow (yes really) evo v then noticed the missing vin plate and the aluminium plate riveted over the stamped shell number. Car was great but I would have lost 20K.
But I would want to give it a real going over
And make sure you check all the vin numbers stamped into the body are untouched and match.
I almost bought a daisy yellow (yes really) evo v then noticed the missing vin plate and the aluminium plate riveted over the stamped shell number. Car was great but I would have lost 20K.
rix said:
Wills2 said:
Buying "good" cars from dodgy dealers only keeps them in business when it would better that they stopped trading, saying things like "off the books" sales etc...tells you all you need to know.
I think that is my biggest turn off. Not the risk itself, but more that it propagates such shabby outfits. Think that is the point here regardless of whether the risk can be priced in etcInteresting to get a variation of opinion on this. Financially I'm probably cutting my nose off to spite my face, so to speak - it's a car in the 50s, 9 years old, but at a main dealer the same car is probably a minimum if another 10k on top. Unsurprisingly the trade / resale value would be much less than the lower price so would really be putting myself out there for taking a hit if I wasn't in it for the long term.
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