Grrr! Shame on you Car Dealers!!!!!

lenny007

Well then, went into the local dealership on Saturday to answers some queries i had about a 5 years 0% finance deal they have on offer and i just thought i'd vent my frustrations at the experience.

Went in and discussed the deal with the salesman. the offer only covered 50% of the purchase price of the vehicle and my trade in didn't have the other 50% so there was approx £1800 to finance. I didn't have my car with me at the time so i couldn't sort the deal there and then (which is just as well) but the practices that went on astound me. By this i mean.....

1. Getting a finance quote which includes another £1000 on the deal to cover GAP insurance, additional warranty, Diamondbrite treatment, 6 months tax and £20 of diesel. So by adding it onto the finance quote, i'm paying interest on it over 60 months. No ta.

2. Even after taking all of the extras off, he then proceeded to try and baffle me by quoting an interest rate of 10.3% on the balance to finance figure. However, instead of adding this rate to the £1800, it was added to the full amount i.e. the £1800 plus the amount on the 0%!!!!! As such, interest over 5 years on £1800 came to the not insignificant sum of over £900!!!!!!!!!

3. When i had asked him to go and "see someone" in order to try and increase the trade in figure for my car, i met the slick Eddie Finance Manager who tried to fob me off with "we're subsidising the 0% deal and can't offer anymore" and "no-one would believe me if i told them we only made £200 on the deal". Fair enough, i understand people have to make a profit, but as far as i can see, the 0% deal was in place before i arrived and therefore it's up to me as a prospective purchaser to get the best deal on offer.

4. "How much do you want to spend?" Arrgghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

5. I was told that i couldn't have a print out of the finance package as it was to do with "data protection". More likely it was to do with "not letting our competitors get the same info". Fair enough, but then to write down the finance figures on the back of a business card and then transpose the figures so they don't agree is a bit amateurish don't you agree?

6. Finally, when the finance chappie asked me how far apart we were on making a deal and i replied "about a grand", he stated "oh, well if it's only that then i'm sure we can come to some arrangement".

I despair, i really do. Apologies for this unstructured rant, but i was sitting in the showroom with families and older people and thought to myself "most of these people are going to be taken to the cleaners here". It was only because i did my research and new my figures that i wasn't "stiffed".

I've spent the weekend looking around and reckon that i'll be able to get a better deal elsewhere.

The point of my post i guess is this - don't settle for the first thing offered. Don't sign anything straight away. Take the information away and go through it with a fine toothcomb. And most importantly of all - do your research on the car you're selling and the car you're buying. Know what to expect trade in and know what to pay for the next car.

Thanks for letting me vent!!!!!

tomstickland

By doing your research you are an enemy of the consumer state. You should immerse yourself in the want-want-want culture. Just think about that shiny new car and don't waste time on the boring money side.

Yes, it's all about catching the lazy or stupid.

lenny007

It's not even that people are lazy or stupid - it's just the blatant try-on that infuriates me. When you catch them at it, there's not even the blink of an eye to admit "fair cop". Are we now at such a state where we accept attempts at being conned and think this is normal practice?

chrisw

I don't think you have to be lazy or stupid. They apply clever and intense psychological pressure, from calling you by your first name, to confusing you with figures. I am fairly strong minded but still find it difficult to get away. Most of us are pre-programmed not to be rude to people who are being friendly. I purposely go on my own so I can say I have to speak to my wife (I've even had them say 'Here's a phone, phone her now'), or go late when they're closing soon.

Exemplar

Well if you came to my dealership I guarantee things would be different. We only shift 30-40 cars PCM from one site and we do it by being relaxed!
We never take names and telephone No's unless offered, if you walk then our deal was not right for you and we wish you the best.
We will only give you the price to swap, not an over/under inflated figure.
If you had a question ref finance we would get the rep from the finance company to ring you direct.
Please believe me not all dealers are the same and sorry you have had a bad experience.

Exemplar

PS Chris W, we only ever call customers by their first names as no one is better than someone else.

stumpjumper

this wasn't Carcraft by any chance? We went in there to have a 'sit' in the cars in the showroom when a salesman insisted on taking us through their finance package which was the same rip off as you mentioned with the same confusing sales techniques. Add to that the cars there were already about £2k overpriced - some folks are getting severely fleeced! Needless to say we made our excuses and left.

chrisw

No, it was Drive Direct. They were a Rover dealer and folded at the same time as Rover. They refused to give me a price to swap because they said I'd just go to another dealer with the figures and they must have asked about 6 times to have a test drive in the one I was part-exing despite me saying no each time.

Alcot33uk, I hope you do great business and the others learn from you, you must get plenty of repeat business. I finally bought my car from a similar garage who simply handed me the keys to look round it by myself but were nearby if I wanted to ask a question. I felt comfortable and not pressured in the slightest. I wouldn't hesitate to go back.

emh_2

I empathise with you Lenny007, today I have been comparing two cars from different manufacturers, one with a 0% offer (genuine), when asked what the other could offer in terms of finance the sales guy eventually came back and said 'the best they could offer is 2.9% which isn't far off the 0% deal we could get'. However, on further investigation it came to light that this was a 3% (2.995%) flat rate each year and whilst your oustanding balance goes down each year you are still paying the same amount of interest. When asked what the total amount payable over 3 years would be on for example a £10k car he couldn't tell me unless they did a quote. It worked out that the true apr was over 6%!! but for a while I believed it was 2.9% and they were very sneaky about it.

boo to Honda!!!

burbs_2

Why do people seem to think that car dealers owe them a favour? Im a dealer and have been for the past 3 years or so and the amount of people who come in and want something for nothing is ridiculous. Everyone seems to think that we make a fortune on every car we sell and that we should be grateful if we are given half of what we are asking for!! We are running a business, the same as anybody else and we will try to make money. Im slightly different to the companies that you are talking about as i just run my own business selling high performance sports cars but i now own 2 sites, this doesnt happen by giving cars away.

People bring in wrecks that they see as their pride and joy. When you make them an offer thats not good enough. Then you drop £500 of the window price of the car, thats not good enough. Throw in a few extras, full tank of juice, 12 months ticket, no thats still not good enough. What do people want? Us to pay them to take the car away?

As you said in the OP, you realised that the finance deal was not up to scratch and you moved on, the deal doesnt sound the best organised. However not every dealer is trying to rob you of your hard earned.

Exemplar

Hi Burbs, had to laugh at your comment as I know too well what you are talking about! It seems amazing that people do the following:

1) Tell you their car is immaculate (As they always are.... Then turn up with three badly scuffed alloys (£50 each to sort), an inside that looks like it's been lived in by tramps, bodywork that has seen more trolleys than Sainsbury's and been sprayed by Stevie Wonder!)

2) Demand that you give them a price for their car over the phone before they drive the three miles to you!

3) Expect retail money for their P-EX

4) Walk in and say 'what's the best price for cash' without realising that most dealers now have to pay £75 for every £1000 that they pay in the bank.

5) Arrive with their copy of Parkers Guide (Written by Hans Christian Anderson) pointing at the figure that they think that their car is worth when normally you divide by two, then two again

6) (My favourite) Walk away saying 'Ill think about it' or 'Call me when you sharpen your pencil', then moan if you sell it!

7) Say that you should fill it up, when their P-EX limps in so dry that Camels wince.

8) Tar us all with the same brush

9) Stand by the car they have come to see, test driven for an hour, revved the so and so's off it then say 'But I don't like the colour.......' Then we have to get it valeted again!



Just joking!
Most of our customers are really cool (We are a specialist dealer so people travel) But most of the above is a little bit true!

Alex