Car supermarkets - a twist on the bait and switch model ?

property.advert

I've been following a couple of models on Cargiant and I wonder if they really exist at all.

I spoke to them on the phone yesterday and they admitted that the only cars they actually had were the ones with pictures, which often appear to worse value than the ones without pictures.

Having followed this for some time, there are vehicles which never receive photo listings and I just began to wonder whether this was a variation on the bait and switch sales model.

Any comments ?

harveybobbles

CG are the biggest ones for advertising ghost cars. The idea is it gets them at the top of search engines etc then when you phone up for that perticular car, its always "just been sold" but they "do have another one just like it" -p which is always about 1500 quid dearer.

They have been doing this for years and IMHO it stinks.

bigjl

The reason the cars haven't got pictures yet is they havwen't been delivered to the main site, if you go into the main building on the left side of the road as you drive in you will see a big curtained off area, that is where the photographs get taken, or it was last year when we bought the wifes Clio Dci there, if you review the site for a few days then the photos will get updated, however remeber that if somebody comes in looking for a specific car and it hasn't had its pictures taken yet they will still sell it.

Have you ever actually visited the site, it is a very sales orientated place, not like a big car dealer, they get thousands of phone calls a day so haven't got time to spend time on the phone like more traditional dealers, you may have misunderstood what the person on the phone meant, he might have meant that the car wasn't on site yet.

They also sell up to 100 cars a day sometimes, my wifes Clio for example was still on the website till the day we collected it. And yes I have bought several cars there, normally when I wanted a car on finance for personal use.

property.advert

bigjl wrote: »

The reason the cars haven't got pictures yet is they havwen't been delivered to the main site, if you go into the main building on the left side of the road as you drive in you will see a big curtained off area, that is where the photographs get taken, or it was last year when we bought the wifes Clio Dci there, if you review the site for a few days then the photos will get updated, however remeber that if somebody comes in looking for a specific car and it hasn't had its pictures taken yet they will still sell it.

Have you ever actually visited the site, it is a very sales orientated place, not like a big car dealer, they get thousands of phone calls a day so haven't got time to spend time on the phone like more traditional dealers, you may have misunderstood what the person on the phone meant, he might have meant that the car wasn't on site yet.

They also sell up to 100 cars a day sometimes, my wifes Clio for example was still on the website till the day we collected it. And yes I have bought several cars there, normally when I wanted a car on finance for personal use.

How do you know they sell up to 100 cars a day ?

Also, you seem to know their business practices as you describe them very well, perhaps too well. Are you a connected person ?

As for watching cars, well I tell you, I never list 10 items for sale, all with meticulous details, but only actually have 1 available. In the time it takes to note down the car's details, someone could have taken a few pictures. I don't buy the "wasn't on site yet" argument very well.

bigjl

I have lived in London for 20 years, and have bought cars from them, first from the old site that was on the A40, before it was compulsory purchased for the aborted A40 widening, then after the money from that CP was used to expand the site at scrubs lane, they bought almost the entire road, one was previously owned by rolls royce so I was told.

No, I have no affiliation with CG, other than buying cars from them, and checking cars out that friends where purchasing from them.

The way that I know that they sell up to 100 cars a day is that I have been there looking at cars and seen the constant stream of people collecting their cars from the collection department, and also been in the que of people picking their cars up, have you ever been there, I suggest that you do, any business that stocks up to 4000 cars wouldn't be able to do so if they weren't selling them, don't forget that the business has been building for the best part of 20 years.

I also know loads of minicab/private hire drivers, as was in that industry for a fair few years on a FT basis, and most of us bought our cars there.

Have you actually ever been there?

property.advert said "Also, you seem to know their business practices as you describe them very well, perhaps too well. Are you a connected person ?"

What exactly do you mean by that! Did you read the part of my post that stated that I bought a car there last year, or is that too complicated a thing to understand.

property.advert

My feeling is that when someone doth protest too much, I question the reason. I have never really understood why people go out of their way to defend businesses to which they have no allegiance nor interest. I was not firmly suggesting you were connected, merely asking. It did however seem to cause a ruffling of your feathers

In the context of this thread, I think they may be falsely advertising cars which do not exist. For instance, I called today and they asked which car I was interested in as they had multiple cars with the same reference number. That would seem odd as the reference number is akin to the registration plate. They also did not know where the cars were even though they previously said that they were in preparation, then had not arrived yet etc. All too weak excuses from their staff when pushed by, dare I say it, someone with a greater intellect and a more inquisitive mind. Their "lies" were not consistent.

bigjl

The reference numbers are just the first part of the registration, and can therefore be the same on several cars registered at the same time in the same area, for example at work we have Zafiras, all the 55 plates have the same reg apart from the last three letters, The same goes for the 56 plate Zafiras and the 57 plate Zafiras. And all the other vehicles the service owns, so in the unlikely event that CG was to buy all our 55plates, they would all have the same reference number and be the same colour.

You state you have a greater intellect, and yet you don't now the first thing to check under the bonnet of the car, might I suggest that you take your greater intellect and go and visit, using your greater intellect you should see the scale of the operation. And also the reality that such a widely known company they can't spend time answering the questions of the people on the phone that may have no intention of purchasing a car from them.

Also if you go down to visit you will see that they have no reason to bait and switch as it would be a waste of time, they have transporters arriving all the time, some dropping off, some taking the trade-ins to be disposed of at the auction.

As far as ruffling my feathers, you asked for advise and where advised accordingly, by somebody that knows the company after being a customer for a long period of time, the same person that has many friends and colleagues that have also bought many cars from them, you question the intelligence of their employees, but fail to realise that the first four digits of newer cars can be the same on thousands of cars, only the last three really identify the vehicle, though there could be a case when to identical cars have been registered with just one letter difference, for example at work we have some vehicles where the reg nos are simliar, such as LJ53FKN, LJ53FKU. Both of which casued much mirth when they where delevered, hence why I can still recall them easily.

But my best bit of advise is to go down and visit them, have a look around, but make sure you have an hour or so spare as it can take time to locate individual vehicles. And the stock that hasn't got pictures will not be easy to find as some hasn't been delivered, they are trying to sell the stock as quick as possible, that is why they are in business, and also why they out the details up as soon as they have bought them, as somebody might be looking for a car that is in group stock but not physically on site yet, why risk losing the sale when you can stick it on the website. But a very good reason for not telling everbody the reg no is to prevent cloning or vehicle identities, if the full reg number was on there the unscrupulous could get plates made up, even apply for a logbook, tax it and insure it. Then sell it to some unsuspecting punter. Why could they do this, because the car is in trade and the original owner will be expecting a letter to say the car they have sold has had a request for a logbook so would see no problem, and CG wouldn't be on the logbook so would not be in the loop anyway, not until they sold it and the vehicle was reregistered by the new owner, then the police and dvla would realise what has occured.

When you stand back and realise that there are people without good intentions out there, you will realise why over several years companies like CG work the way they do. This doesn't stop people coming down and getting vehicle details by themselves but that would result in them showing their face on cctv.

If you really think they are falsely advertising cars then report them to trading standards, I don't think they are, and have explained why I don't think they are, after all you still haven't confirmed if you have even been to their premises yet, I honestly don't think you have, but that is just my opinion.


Maybe my answers aren't intellectual anough for you.

But remeber that it is a standard sales tactic to get the punter to your premises, until they arrive they are just a timewaster on the phone.

Kilty_2

TBH they probably sell so many ex-hire wrecks that they're told how many they'll have and what colours they'll be and just go from there - the actual cars are pretty indifferent between those.

property.advert

Kilty wrote: »

TBH they probably sell so many ex-hire wrecks that they're told how many they'll have and what colours they'll be and just go from there - the actual cars are pretty indifferent between those.

You see, this is the predicament I'm in. Lots of people use words such as "probably" whereas in reality, it is pure speculation and conjecture. I am not getting at you here, far from it, but it harks back to car auctions 20 years ago when people were scared of them and viewed them, probably quite rightly, as places where the non professional was going to be ripped off hook, line and sinker.

On the other side we have those who praise them to the hilt. Where the truth lies is probably somewhere in between.

bigjl

Actually kilty's post made no sense to me.

property.advert is this your first car?

Have you actually ever visited CarGiant?

Bear in mind you have started a thread saying you suspect them of bait and switch, you have been given good solid reasons why this is unlikely, given explanations of why a large company that stacks 'em high and sells 'em cheap would have cars that may have the first part of the reg the same, due to the fact they buy entire fleets direct from lease companies.

And then you infer that you feel you are intellectually superior to the staff that answer the phones.

You then say that anybody that has dealt with them, or puts forward rational answers to your posts, must work for them, or onfer this on more than one occasion.

Yet you haven't confirmed or denied that you have ever visited their premises, by doing so would dispel most of your misgivings.

In your last post you state that auctions as "places where the non professional was going to be ripped off...", actually the opposite is true, you can normally spot the "professionals" with their Parkers guide or printouts from Honest John on how to buy at auction, getting their bids pushed up by the savvy auctioneer, who can spot a "professional" at fifty paces, with his bidding technique lifted from a ten year old TV show by quentin wilson.

I must admit that I have never started multiple threads on a forum for something as simple as buying a car, then when those who have done it hundreds if not thousands of times answer your queries in good faith you ignore or insult the person answering you.

If you think they are doing something illegal, then report them to trading standards, if a business has been running for the length of time they have, with a stock of cars as large as they have, with the turnover that they have, and the number of staff that they have, why do you think they would bother to try things like bait and switch. Isn't that something that the Escort agencies do. The fact is they sell too many cars to have the time to do anything other than sell cars, yes you may look on the website and travel down and the car has been sold, that isn't bait and switch, that is the retail environment the car dealers operate in, when it is sold it is sold, they can't make a new one.

Surely you understand the business they are in, they don't want to have long meaningful conversations about cars on the phone, they want you to phone up, ask if a car is in stock, theu will check, you come down, look at it and buy it, then come back in a day or so to collect it. They have some sharp business practices, such as now charging you a fee if the car you are buying has RoadTax on it, they also charge you an indemnity fee, basically protecting you from buying a stolen car or one on finance so basically HPi check, they have already done this in the same way as all dealers do. But as the cars are cheaper than pretty much anywhere else in London, then why not, the sticker price is to bring you in, but the indemnity fee is clearly advertised, so fairs fair.


You repeatedly infer that you have are intellectual but seem unable to grasp their business model and how it works, even when it is explained in detail, buying a car isn't that difficult, take sensible precautions, maybe even get an AA inspection. I presume that you don't think anything as lowly as selling cars can have anything to it other than a sheepskin coat, do you think it is all about Arthur Daly and Terry McCaan, these are huge businesses, with huge turnovers, it is a pity that you seem to view them as just some people of lower intellect trying to steal ones money, what.

Just so you know when the old site was compulsory purchased he was paid a fair few million for it, he reinvested the money in the site at Scrubs Lane, all of it. The land that the CG sits on is probably worth £20 million, if not more. My opinion is good luck to him. Can't you see that there is no way a company of that size would put that at risk.

There is a car supermarket further out towards Slough, can't remember the name, but they where done by Trading Standards a few years ago, they where putting Vauxhall badges on imported Opels, I wouldn't buy from them.