Dealer refusing to sell me a new car.

Grumpy_chap

flaneurs_lobster said:

Neil49 said:

Just out of interest, have you tried getting a quote from a dealer in the Irish Republic? 

Don't think the OP would be interested in a left-hand drive car...

Why would a car from RoI be lhd?

prowla

flaneurs_lobster said:

redped said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Neil49 said:

Just out of interest, have you tried getting a quote from a dealer in the Irish Republic? 

Don't think the OP would be interested in a left-hand drive car...

Is this a serious comment???  If so, then the lack of general knowledge some people have about neighbouring countries is unbelievable!

I beg you pardon?

The Republic of Ireland is a Foreign Country.

All cars in Foreign Countries are Left Hand Drive.

Fact!

That is quite funny (I hope it was intended to be)!

Undervalued

Xenon123 said:

TELLIT01 said:

You can be as annoyed as you want, but no organisation has to do business with you if they don't wish to, as long as their reasons for not doing so don't break discrimination laws.

What further action do you think you can take against the dealership?

Well I am annoyed, and with justification.  I do not like to be told I am different from the next man in the street just because of my postcode (which is a UK postcode).  Your second point is the exact reason I raised my first post.  If this is indeed classed as discrimination, they most certainly do not have the right to refuse my business, any more so than they would if I was black or Asian. They will sell a car to someone 400 miles away in Newcastle, but not 430 miles away to my address in another part of the UK?

Yes they do!!

A business can "discriminate" in any way they please, except for a handful of reasons that are protected by law.

The race example you mention is one such reason, and there are a few others such as gender and religion. Even then the complainant would need to show that was actually their reason for refusing the business.

Distance is not a protected reason so if, for some crazy reason, they want to exclude any customer over 400 miles they can.

user1977

There does seem to be a common misconception that "discrimination" means something which is at least negative, if not unlawful. Discrimination can be a perfectly proper thing to do. If I said you had a discriminating palate, I wouldn't mean that your tongue was bigoted.

Money_Grabber13579

flaneurs_lobster said:

Neil49 said:

Just out of interest, have you tried getting a quote from a dealer in the Irish Republic? 

Don't think the OP would be interested in a left-hand drive car...

🤦‍♂️      

eskbanker

Money_Grabber13579 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Neil49 said:

Just out of interest, have you tried getting a quote from a dealer in the Irish Republic? 

Don't think the OP would be interested in a left-hand drive car...

🤦‍♂️      

Looks like there have been a number of posts deleted in response to an apparent attempted joke that fell flat, so probably best to move on!

Xenon123

Guys and girls.  Sorry for my delay in replying, for some reason I couldn't get back in to my account and I couldn't get a password reset to work, turned out it was a Safari bowser issue that I have now sorted.

Wow.  Such a range of replies.  Thankyou to those genuinely offering advice (which is after all the reason I posted here in the first place??).
To the others who would rather refer to me as being "entitled" for asking a perfectly valid question on a consumer forum.....    Well, every platform online has those types of "contributor", I'll leave it at that.

Ok, I can accept that much as it may be discrimination, it may not be what is regarded as legal discrimination.  At the end of the day, it is just a purchase and I do not feel "that" put out as to have to "suck it up" .
A lot of the thoughts above on the reasons are simply wrong.  There arent any customs, tax or Brexit issues buying a car in England from N Ireland. It can remain as an English registered car, or I can re register and put an NI plate on it if I want to. Many people transact car business across the Irish Sea every day, including with the aforementioned Arnold Clarke Group, and I have completed sales myself many times.

It is not a warranty management issue compounded by the distance.  If something is wrong with the car within the warranty period, it is a warranty claim which can be addressed at my local dealers workshop.  If it is not a warrantable issue within the warranty period, the selling dealer has no liability anyway.  If its outside of warranty its on me.  If for any other reason I feel a return to the dealership is unavoidable, I would not expect the dealer to arrange that, I would deal with that myself.

As it happens, I filled in a post contact survey the dealer automatically sent me and raised the issue.  I then got a call from a senior manager to follow up and advise on their reasoning.  In the end it is due to a regional selling agreement which they said would cause an issue with my local franchise dealer area.  I smell bull.... to be honest, but from what I can gather from further investigation, the English dealer should not be selling this particular vehicle at the price they are and have been "pulled" by the manufacturer before for this as its beyond what my local seller can even match.

So thats where we are.  I think I might head south and buy one of those Republic of Ireland left hand drive cars, better than nothing I suppose.

oldagetraveller1

"I think I might head south and buy one of those Republic of Ireland left hand drive cars, better than nothing I suppose."

You could find that most of them are converted to r.h.d. prior to sale.

Jumblebumble

Xenon123 said:

It is not a warranty management issue compounded by the distance.  If something is wrong with the car within the warranty period, it is a warranty claim which can be addressed at my local dealers workshop.  If it is not a warrantable issue within the warranty period, the selling dealer has no liability anyway.  If its outside of warranty its on me.  If for any other reason I feel a return to the dealership is unavoidable, I would not expect the dealer to arrange that, I would deal with that myself.

If there is a warranty issue when the car arrives and the original dealer fixes it and then something else fails it is possible that the dealer in Ireland may blame the UK dealer's handywork for the problem and claim it is not under warranty and then what?
The uk dealer has no idea if you would when the chips are down actually deal with a return to them yourself.
Don't also forget that ultimately  until the car is in your hands and the money is in the dealers hands the deal does not exist

eskbanker

Jumblebumble said:
If there is a warranty issue when the car arrives and the original dealer fixes it and then something else fails it is possible that the dealer in Ireland may blame the UK dealer's handywork for the problem and claim it is not under warranty and then what?

It's not an Ireland versus UK issue being discussed but a (potential) NI v GB one!