Due diligence, used car £18.5k, consumer protection?

WellKnownSid

fatbelly said:

If something goes wrong...?

With a JLR product you need to have a £2000 emergency fund continuously on standby. 

And preferably a cheap banger as back-up transport

As long as you are aware of that, then you enjoy it while it's working

I think the wise strategy for these cars is to pay the £2,500 - £3,000 up front to get it 'sorted' once and for all.  New timing chain, tensioners and guides.  Sort the DPF, clean out the oil feeds to the turbo.  Once that's all done and you change the oil religiously twice as often as recommended, this should hopefully be okay.  Providing the block holds up.

It's definitely an enthusiasts car though.  There are a few JLR specialists out there with the time and equipment who could make it viable given enough beer tokens.

The problems you hear about are from people who don't have £3k ready cash and have tried taking their cars to either the main dealer or some random garage that doesn't have a clue hoping that it's either a 'good will' freebie or a £99 sensor.  Both establishments will be happy to quote the price of a brand new engine just to get the customer to clear off.

WellKnownSid

DullGreyGuy said:

WellKnownSid said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Ectophile said:

All too often, if a company doesn't do cards, it's because no bank will give them a card account.  Because the banks consider them too high a risk.

Assuming you are going to be only taking deposits by card then anyone can open a Zettle account and use their smartphone as the card reader or pay £50 (often discounted)  for a dedicated reader within 20 minutes. Maximum transaction per card is £2,500 and £500,000 per day, plenty enough for most motor traders. 

Long gone are the days that banks held the keys to being able to accept cards. Zettle, Square, SumUp, Dojo etc are being used by substantial businesses these days not just craft fairs and market stalls. 

Off topic - but it's a little more complicated than that - the traditional way is to handle the risk and compliance DD up front so you end up with a lot of checks - ID, KYC, KYB, Beneficial Owners, PEPs, etc, etc.  Fintechs have reversed that model with software but the outcome can be massively disruptive to businesses with huge sums of customer money put out of reach because one of the brothers of one of the directors of one of the holding companies happens to be away scuba-diving...

So you think that only banks are the way to be able to accept card payments these days? Based on what you decided to make bold.

It can, if it happens that the brother is a material shareholder and is not only away on a scuba trip but in somewhere where there is no internet etc. For the majority of businesses you get your first payout within days of the first time you take a payment. On the basis that many traditional card processors would hold a reserve then not only are you slower getting the ability to take payments but it's also slower to receive your first payment and so at least as disruptive if not more. 

Just-in-time onboarding means that the risk and compliance is handled in reverse.  You get your first payments straight away.  At some point you go over a threshold which will trigger further KYC / KYB / Beneficial owner / PEP / etc checks.  Companies like Square up, iZettle and Stripe all have the same model and will have six or seven such thresholds which become gradually more invasive.

Amex was one of the investors in my last startup - who also funded Stripe - and they helped us onboard our first 1,000 or so customers.  A couple of years later we had some issues with tens of millions of pounds being held up - and I contacted Amex to ask if they could put any pressure on Stripe to resolve it.  The reply was - 'Sorry, I know we are also an investor in Stripe, but they're bigger than us now..." 

We ended up going full-circle - partnering with VISA and a couple of major banks in the US and France.  It was cheaper because of the aggregated volume - customers loved the white-glove experience and the fact they could talk to actual people rather than pick a fight with an algorithm and a call centre full of students based out of Peru.

paul_c123

Dealers typically don't take credit cards for two reasons: 1) It introduces the bank as, at least initially, an "interested" party which will mediate and enforce CRA2015 obligations. Many low-end dealerships don't like the idea of this. 2) the 2.5% transaction fees. Nobody likes this. The bigger franchise dealers are likely to be able to put a much greater volume of transactions through, so they will be able to negotiate a much lower (but still not nothing) rate. They will also have a significant income stream from servicing/parts, for which not offering card payments would make it much less attractive, so at some point it makes it worth accepting credit cards.

Bigwheels1111

You have given 2 great reasons not to buy from the dealer.

No credit card.

Car is a 19 plate jag F pace.

If you want to give up all hope in life, switch to a Range rover.

caprikid1

The exact reasons you want to be buying by credit card is the same reason the dealer does not want it.

You are trying to effectively obtain a warranty with  the dealer paying for it.

DullGreyGuy

caprikid1 said:

The exact reasons you want to be buying by credit card is the same reason the dealer does not want it.

You are trying to effectively obtain a warranty with  the dealer paying for it.

Given S75 is paid by the card issuer not the Dealer its almost the inverse of reality @caprikid1 esp as those that do accept cards typically only do so for the token deposit and so not material from a chargeback basis.