The best / worst dealer chain to try and buy a second hand car from?

k6chris

I don't want to go into details yet (I will later once it has all played out) but I'm curious if there are well known best / worst national dealer chains to deal with?  It's old fashioned I know. but all I want is to PX my existing car and buy a second hand one outright.  Not interested in paint / fabric / GAP / dent / wheels / extended warranty / finance / servicing / sponsoring a unicorn etc.  Is it as simple as my type of transaction is no longer wanted?  I fear it might be.  I don't mind being pitched to on these subjects, but the level of aggression is staggering.  DOH, gone into the details!    Is there a good national chain out there??

AdrianC

Rough rule of thumb: National chain = faceless corporate money-grabbers with zero customer service.

Simple solution: Cross off anything that's at a national chain.

jimbo6977

Define "good". They all make money and that's what they exist to do so you could argue they are all good.

Here in the NW of Eng there's a regional group called Chorley who I've found generally pretty good for customer service. 

[Deleted User]

FOW have a decent approach to selling cars. The sticker price is the price everyone pays, there is no haggling. They wont pester on the forecourt, you are free to look at as many cars as you like, they will only offer you assistance when you approach them.
They will try and upsell Gap and warranty etc but just say no thanks and that will be it. I did take out an extended warranty for 3 years (Motorway direct) and it is actually quite comprehensive and paid out on the both occasions I needed it without quibble.

I will use them again for my next used car.

noclaf

In similar boat to the OP... I think you will find that some dealers are terrible and others are ok within national dealer chains.
Personally I don't really want the hassle of selling privately so would prefer to p/x...I've heard Evans Halshaw should give reasonable p/x rates but again it's based on someone's experience at a specific dealer. I've also heard plenty of negative about both Evans Halshaw, Arnold Clark etc  My friends have used Car Giant and were happy with the overall experience albeit it took some effort to have to keep explaining that you don't want paint protection and other extras..all that stuff and esp finance packages is where they make their profit hence they can be quite annoying with their persistence to flog you the extras.
I have a Motorpoint near me too but they seem pricey compared to Car Giant.

Ruprecht

I was in the same position as OP a few weeks ago and looked nationally at a few cars that caught my eye, travelling from London to Newcastle (and I live kind of centrally).
To cut a (very) long story short I ended up selling my car to a "webuyany" -type place for £1k more than the PX's I was offered on a car worth around £10/11K and then buying from the dealer.
If (as I suspect) like me you will be paying cash for your next car don't expect much in the way of discount on one that's not brand new because nowadays most of a dealers' profit is in selling the finance and the extras you mention.
I bought at an Evans Halshaw, a main dealer one .............. only because they had the car I want at the price I wanted to pay, and the sales staff were okay & didn't push the "extras" once I had explained. Firmly.  I drove away in the newer car the same day too.
The "webuyany" quotes you get (if you choose that route) will all give you inflated prices to temp you in, but one in particular came extremely close to their initial offer (and it wasn't "webuyanycar" who honestly I found awful) - for the second time too, since they bought off me two years ago as well.

Dealers? You'll hear horror stories about most of them but honestly if you're sensible and check everything yourself before parting with your cash, I don't think there's an awful lot of difference between them all.
Check for two keys; check the V5; check the service history; check that it's got all the bells & whistle's it's supposed to have .............. I'm sure you know all this.
Then explain clearly what you want and be prepared for a "where'd you get the money from"-type question (though I wasn't asked when I spent far more on a brand new car recently) and then don't expect much in the way of discount.
Try by all means, but many factors influence your chances.

I'm sorry to post such a long-winded waffle but to end, here's my experience of a car supermarket in London - a big one (that's a hint):
They had one of what I wanted on offer, at a reasonable price when there weren't many models of this around.
I had a test drive & then found out that the car, lovely as it was & with low (under 10k) mileage had been owned by a national hire company. Not necessarily a problem in itself except the car was now well overdue the first service, the retailer wouldn't do one at the price or offer warranty at the price AND the P.Ex offered was awful -below £10K. The service - no problem, but the "biggie" was the warranty because very, very few good warranty companies will guarantee any car that hasn't been serviced to manufacturer spec's.
All this meant nothing to the dealer who wouldn't budge, so I walked - and the car is still for sale three weeks later having been in their stock since last autumn.
So don't expect car supermarket type places to budge at all on price, even if they should; they'll just wait for the next mug.
All in my own experience, of course.

I hope that's helped.
 

noclaf

Ruprecht - I'm not the OP but that's a helpful post. I am pretty sure I know who you are referring to and I have also noticed a number of their cars that appear to be well priced are overdue services...doesn't look good on their part and yes they are known to be v difficult on price negotiation unless it's something blatant such as paintwork damage etc my plan is to go anyway as for convenience of looking at different car models in a single place it's convenient.

daveyjp

The days of smaller family owned dealerships are rapidly declining as the large chains take over.  For ten years my dad used a great Honda dealer that he was prepared to drive an hour to.  Due to Honda now having such a poor range they aren't selling so they closed.

Skoda have some smaller family dealers as do Suzuki and for top service, as they prefer dealers who sell pick ups to farmers and they know owners who are very loyal, in my experience it has to be Subaru.  I have bought, sold and had servicing through three dealers and all have been great to deal with.  No flannel, no upselling, in and out in less than an hour when buying.

treeroy

AdrianC said:

Rough rule of thumb: National chain = faceless corporate money-grabbers with zero customer service.

Simple solution: Cross off anything that's at a national chain.

Think that's a bit warped thinking. Yes there are plenty of "faceless" large chains... but compare it to the vast swathes of used car dealers who are dodgy dealers, I'd say there are far more bad independents than good independents; a worse rate than large chains I'd say. 

Herzlos

If it's been around for a while and has a good reputation, they are going to be more likely to honour the warranty. If it keeps phoenixing every few months with a new name then run a mile.

If it's part of the franchise then it's more likely to have the 'A' stock in.

A lot of the experience is down to the salesman - some are great and some just seem dodgy.

Treat it like a private sale and you can't go too far wrong - verify everything you've been told, check everything over.

Herzlos

If it's been around for a while and has a good reputation, they are going to be more likely to honour the warranty. If it keeps phoenixing every few months with a new name then run a mile.

If it's part of the franchise then it's more likely to have the 'A' stock in.

A lot of the experience is down to the salesman - some are great and some just seem dodgy.

Treat it like a private sale and you can't go too far wrong - verify everything you've been told, check everything over.