Ex FMRC cars on dealer forecourts

daveyjp

There are also hundreds of thousands of cars which are merely rented until the PCP ends so the three year old cars are just handed back.

Selling private is a pain for the potentially limited amount of extra you make over trading in at a dealer, so very few now bother.

motorguy

... and things would have had to have went badly wrong for someone to have bought a brand new car and then be selling after a year - there'd be a huge chunk of depreciation

Richard53

My Mondeo was sold to me as a 'Ford ex-director's car'. When I looked at the V5 the first and only keeper was ERAC. So an ex-rental, then. Nothing wrong with the car, which was great, but the bullsh!t left a nasty taste.

vikingaero

Lulu58 wrote: »

Out of interest, anyone know where all the private cars for sale are these days?!

Years ago, you could buy Auto Trader, local newspapers etc and they were choc full of ads from ordinary people selling cars. There are no car ads in my local papers and when I was searching through AT, only 3 out of 100+ cars within a reasonable driving distance of where I live were private.

Quite simply, it's a nightmare selling cars privately these days. For every decent buyer out there, there are 1001 a-holes. Put a car up for £5k and you'll get endless texts: "What's your lowest you'll take bruv?" or "£1,000 and I'm doing you a favour". Everyone is a wannabee trader. There are also the endless scams in selling cars, from companies that scalp your advert and claim to have a buyer for a £149 fee to foreign buyers who have never seen the car wanting to pay you via escrow/PayPal/pay more than it's worth and then the bank claws back stolen funds leaving you with no car and no money.

When someone does turn up they'll try it on rather than make an honest deal - "It needs a new flux capacitor mate, I'm going to offer £2k less".

The supermarket style returns system and endless online refunds for changes of mind makes people think this applies to privately sold cars. In the past caveat emptor and sold as seen ruled. Now on MSE we've had a few cases where County Court Judges have changed that. People have the expectation that they can buy a 5-15 year old car that is fault free and that wear and tear does not occur.

In the past more people would have sold cars privately than traded them in. Now we trade in more. This explains the rise of companies such as We Buy Any Car. Deal with one guy for £1,000 less or deal with 101 idiots.

Lulu58

I know exactly what you mean, Richard53. I just want to be in a position to make an informed decision, and the dealers bare-faced lying to me really winds me up :mad:

Lulu58

Thanks vikingaero, motorguy and daveyjp.

I have never purchased a car from a dealer until now. I always used to buy from a private seller back in the day, but now I wouldn't dare - too many scams and scammers.

Unfortunately I don't know much about cars and I don't know anyone who does who could come to dealers with me. I go over the bodywork, interior, tyres etc with a fine tooth comb but beyond that I'm clueless in terms of the vehicle.

Today I asked to see the V5 on a car I was thinking of buying. You would have thought I asked the salesman to chew off his own arm. He acted as though he was terribly affronted and responded that no-one had ever doubted his word before, we are a main dealer, we have a reputation to protect etc. He's going to have to speak to his manager tomorrow to see if he can let me have sight of the document so we shall see where that takes us!

vikingaero

Lulu58 wrote: »

Today I asked to see the V5 on a car I was thinking of buying. You would have thought I asked the salesman to chew off his own arm. He acted as though he was terribly affronted and responded that no-one had ever doubted his word before, we are a main dealer, we have a reputation to protect etc. He's going to have to speak to his manager tomorrow to see if he can let me have sight of the document so we shall see where that takes us!

On the flip side, if he were that honest, the V5C would have been produced without hesitation. In my mind if a salesman reacted like that I would either treat him as a liar or walk (unless the localness and financial aspect of the deal is too good to walk away from).

There's no reason for them not the have the V5C, even though since 2015 they do it online, as you have to sign the yellow part (I think).

daveyjp

Last car we bought the V5c was shown on screen as part of the purchase.

motorguy

Richard53 wrote: »

My Mondeo was sold to me as a 'Ford ex-director's car'. When I looked at the V5 the first and only keeper was ERAC. So an ex-rental, then. Nothing wrong with the car, which was great, but the bullsh!t left a nasty taste.

There was a guy over on Pistonheads who was quite smug about his year old 3 series main dealer purchase as he had been told that the car had been a demonstrator however "had only been offered on test drives to the most discerning customers, pre-vetted and previously known by the sales manager".....

:rolleyes:

motorguy

Lulu58 wrote: »

Thanks vikingaero, motorguy and daveyjp.

I have never purchased a car from a dealer until now. I always used to buy from a private seller back in the day, but now I wouldn't dare - too many scams and scammers.

Unfortunately I don't know much about cars and I don't know anyone who does who could come to dealers with me. I go over the bodywork, interior, tyres etc with a fine tooth comb but beyond that I'm clueless in terms of the vehicle.

Today I asked to see the V5 on a car I was thinking of buying. You would have thought I asked the salesman to chew off his own arm. He acted as though he was terribly affronted and responded that no-one had ever doubted his word before, we are a main dealer, we have a reputation to protect etc. He's going to have to speak to his manager tomorrow to see if he can let me have sight of the document so we shall see where that takes us!

Yeah hes scurrying off to his sales manager to see if they can cobble up an "explanation" as to why the V5C is registered to a finance or hire company.

Its always nice to put them on the back foot though. :T