Outside Lane - car buying service

thelawnet

Anyone seen this?

http://www.outsidelane.co.uk

Basically they claim to be a car finding service. They say they check the cars http://www.outsidelane.co.uk/ucq.php.

For £675+Vat (fee varies, some are £875), it appears they buy the car, check it and deliver it. They have a checklist they use for the cars: http://www.outsidelane.co.uk/_pdf/UCQ_form.pdf


What they don't disclose is that they are buying the cars from BCA.

Example, on BCA website:

VOLKSWAGEN EOS 3.2 V6 FSI SPORT DSG COUPE/

2 Doors, Convertible, Petrol, Auto Clutch, Blue, Margin

• RegistrationMC07ZSP
• Registration date18/06/2007
• Mileage63611 Warranted
• Colour Blue
• Log bookn/a

Equipment

SH - 2 STAMPS TO 56K (04/10), Air Conditioning, Alloy Wheels, Leather Trim, Rear Parking Sensor, Satellite Navigation Syst


And on Outsidelane website:

Model EOS 3.2 V6 FSI SPORT DSG COUPE/ CONVERTIBLE Dealer price* £0Save £0 Year 2007 Supermarket price £0Save £0 Plate 07 Our guide price


Mileage 64,247 Our fee (ex VAT) £600 What you get Colour BLUE Price to pay Explained » Transmission AUTO CLUTCH
It's unquestionably the same car, but for some reason they've inflated the mileage, presumably to put people off the scent.


It seems they also give you 3 months warranty.

So basically they are acting as auction agent and you have a little more legal comeback, in return for £800-£1000.

Thoughts?

Hintza

Sounds like how the industry works except this guy does not carry any stock. He is going to auction and doing the work so I don't see the problem.

If you have the time and inclination go to the auction yourself and save his fee.

motorguy

thelawnet wrote: »

Anyone seen this?

http://www.outsidelane.co.uk

Basically they claim to be a car finding service. They say they check the cars http://www.outsidelane.co.uk/ucq.php.

For £675+Vat (fee varies, some are £875), it appears they buy the car, check it and deliver it. They have a checklist they use for the cars: http://www.outsidelane.co.uk/_pdf/UCQ_form.pdf


What they don't disclose is that they are buying the cars from BCA.

Example, on BCA website:

VOLKSWAGEN EOS 3.2 V6 FSI SPORT DSG COUPE/

2 Doors, Convertible, Petrol, Auto Clutch, Blue, Margin

• RegistrationMC07ZSP
• Registration date18/06/2007
• Mileage63611 Warranted
• Colour Blue
• Log bookn/a

Equipment

SH - 2 STAMPS TO 56K (04/10), Air Conditioning, Alloy Wheels, Leather Trim, Rear Parking Sensor, Satellite Navigation Syst


And on Outsidelane website:

Model EOS 3.2 V6 FSI SPORT DSG COUPE/ CONVERTIBLE Dealer price* £0Save £0 Year 2007 Supermarket price £0Save £0 Plate 07 Our guide price


Mileage 64,247 Our fee (ex VAT) £600 What you get Colour BLUE Price to pay Explained » Transmission AUTO CLUTCH
It's unquestionably the same car, but for some reason they've inflated the mileage, presumably to put people off the scent.


It seems they also give you 3 months warranty.

So basically they are acting as auction agent and you have a little more legal comeback, in return for £800-£1000.

Thoughts?

I'm not sure i see the issue here?

Dealers buy cars from car auctions??

Why would you expect the dealer to disclose where he gets his stock?

thelawnet

pgilc1 wrote: »

I'm not sure i see the issue here?

Dealers buy cars from car auctions??

Why would you expect the dealer to disclose where he gets his stock?

They are not a dealer, they claim to be a 'car buying service'.

I'm not entirely sure if your rights are the same as they would be from a dealer.

Steve_Myers_2

As the MD of Outside Lane I wanted to contribute to this thread. Firstly many thanks for commentating on Outside Lane and clearly detailing what we do.

I'd like to attempt to answer the two outstanding questions;

1) Mileage inflated
We do inflate mileage to a figure we expect to be more accurate when our client takes delivery of the car. We certainly don't reduce the mileage to make it seem like a good deal.

2) Our source
We like to offer our clients a transparent service and clearly state that we purchase from the trade (How it works). As one author has highlighted, BCA are a source and we also show data from other trade sources.


We offer a transparent service that is consumer centric. If you did have any further questions then I would be happy to try an answer them.

Once again many thanks for your interest.

thelawnet

Thanks, could you please advise how you decide which cars to list?

For the aforementioned Eos 3.2 BCA say

SH - 2 STAMPS TO 56K (04/10)]

According to VW however, for low-mileage cars there should be an annual service, and for higher mileage it should be between 10 and 18,000 (maximum) miles between miles.

So this car should have had between 3 and 6 stamps, not 2, and this car seems like one most people would reject.

OTOH, there's an 81k mile example in the same spec with 4 stamps to 64k miles, which is probably FSH, but you don't list that one.

There seems to be a problem in that most of the vehicles have no guide price, and as a result, a 2008 Eos with 2,648 miles, for example, is listed under 'Vehicle value Less than £8k', which I think is wrong.

I'm not sure about the mileage estimates:

Example car - Honda JAZZ 1.4 I-DSI SE CVT-7
Selling 23rd November. Blue, 58 plate. Mileage 16,838


Which is
HONDA JAZZ 1.4 I-DSI SE CVT-7
5 Doors, Hatchback, Petrol, CVT/Manual Mode, Blue, Margin

• RegistrationDE58CPU
• Registration date23/10/2008
• Mileage16672 Warranted

I.e. 162 miles.

Compare with
JAZZ 1.2 I-DSI S HATCHBACK
Selling 23rd November. Mileage 28,357 Grey manual Z7 Plate

HONDA JAZZ 1.2 I-DSI S
5 Doors, Hatchback, Petrol, Manual Transmission, Grey, VAT Qualifying

• RegistrationMJZ7753
• Registration date31/08/2007
• Mileage28077 Warranted

I.e. 280 miles.

As they are both in the same auction this is a bit odd.

Not a real problem, just odd.

frothey

What I don't get is for £800-£1000 above auction you're not far off getting one from a dealer, warrantied/prepped/ and a bit more comeback?

Steve_Myers_2

Some good questions raised so many thanks.

As a general rule of thumb we show vehicles that are a maximum of four years old and generally less than 75,000 miles. We do this to limit some vehicles that aren't of a suitable quality. In addition we like to pass on the balance of the manufacturers warranty where possible - something that generally occurs for vehicles under three years old.

In the VW example you quote, you are absolutely correct in that vehicles should have a certain level of maintenance to ensure conformity to manufacturer guidelines and in some instances to maintain manufacturers warranty. In some instances our clients are looking for a 'bargain' and are happy to purchase a car that might have missed a service or two as long as this is reflective of the price.

At Outside Lane our

skill set

lies in identifying quality vehicles for our clients and purchasing them at a great price and this is what our fee represents. We also undertake some vehicle preparation work and the logistics in addition to the hard work of researching and finding great quality vehicles.

With regards to the data for each vehicle, given the speed in which vehicles become available some data is limited. If a client registers within our system then and specifically requests further information then we go away and collate a full specification including photographs.

I hope this answers your questions.

Kind regards

Steve

Steve_Myers_2

With regards to our prices, we believe we are slightly cheaper than car supermarket's and franchised dealerships, however acknowledge that some independent dealerships might be a little cheaper however they don't offer the hassle-free service and choice that we do.

Rolandtheroadie

What legal comeback would I have if I purchased a car via yourselves and it turned out to be a lemon?

Steve_Myers_2

We go through regerious processes to ensure all vehicles we purchase are of a quality indicative of age and mileage. If, by independent inspection, a vehicle supplied by Outside Lane was not deemed fit for purpose or indicative of age the mileage then we would refund the vehicle and we would not expect you to pay our fee. Needless to say we wouldn't have a business if we continually supplied 'lemons' which is why we have an insurance policy and over 146 checks we go through when purchasing from our range of sources.

We have also just set-up debit and credit card payments so this also offers our clients further peace of mind in addition to conforming with the Distance Selling Regulation.