2 questions re safety of buying car from dealer

Mercdriver

loskie wrote: »

I wouldn't pay before I have seen and agreed to buy the car or remedy any blemishes and faults you spot. Otherwise the garage has the upper hand.
If it is Arnold Clark avoid at all cost.

As OP says it's John Clark Motor Group in Perth.

OP out of interest, why did you sell the car that had everything you wanted and settling for one that doesn't?

stormCat99

Mercdriver wrote: »

As OP says it's John Clark Motor Group in Perth.

OP out of interest, why did you sell the car that had everything you wanted and settling for one that doesn't?

Just because of the age. The one I've just sold was a 12 plate, so it was getting to the point where I either needed to keep it a long time (which I dont want to do ) or get a newer model.

I sold privately to get a better price, so that I could bide my time to find the right one to buy. It's just that I seemed to have lots of spec on the old car which is hard to come by unfortunately

Hoof_Hearted

Just take a day off and buy on a working day. Too much risk for me.

macman

If there is something you don't like when you test drive it, and you decide not to proceed, then you've not just lost a day, you will lose your deposit as well, unless the garage agreed otherwise.
By paying a deposit, you are contracted to purchase it.

stormCat99

macman wrote: »

If there is something you don't like when you test drive it, and you decide not to proceed, then you've not just lost a day, you will lose your deposit as well, unless the garage agreed otherwise.
By paying a deposit, you are contracted to purchase it.

No that's fine, the deposit is refundable if there's a problem and we decide not to purchase. So am not worried about that side of it.

stormCat99

Just thought I should post back with an update on how we got on, in case anyone comes across this thread when searching for the dealer group in future.

They provided me with an email confirming that if we didn't want the car, that we'd get the full amount refunded.

They picked us up from Edinburgh train station and drove us up the last hour or so to their dealership in Perth, the guy was very friendly and easy to deal with, not at all pushy.

When in the showroom he said he had to go through the usual options (GAP insurance, tyre cover, etc etc) but in no way even tried to sell them to us, just read out the minimum info and then asked us to sign to say we'd had everything offered but had declined.

I'd expected to be at least 3 hours at the garage based on all previous experience of buying a car. But amazingly we were in and out within an hour, including a test drive! They were clearly fully prepared and were very organised.

All in all, one of the most painless car buying experiences we've ever had, they made it all so quick and easy. Would highly recommend them!