Is this standard practice?

[Tagnut]

Ive just been to see about trading one of my cars in, i fancy something different and so i tried a place in Sheffield who said they would look at my car and give me a price. I took it to them and they used a sheet with a diagram of a car from the top down and used this diagram to show where all the damage there is on my car. There were quite a few marks made on the sheet suggesting lots of marks on my car. Thing is, there arent any. I mean none. Not one. Shes in pristine condition. I asked the person to take me outside and show me these marks which they couldnt do no matter how hard they looked at the bodywork. I then suggested the marks be taken off the sheet of paper as its not really all that accurate and could be considered a little dishonest.

I had to ask a couple of times, 3 to be exact to get all the marks taken off but hey ho never mind. The price they gave me was derisory but expected after that performance and im glad it was as im not sure i like to idea of what this person tried to do.

So, is it standard practice?

[yellowperil]

Yes unfortunately.

A private sale may suit you better and then bargain with the cash.

[Allen]

Yes unfortunately.

A private sale may suit you better and then bargain with the cash.

How did you come to that conclusion?

Standard practise suggests it happens everywhere.

 

Well,it certainly wasn't when I traded in my last vehicle.

In fact they just gave it a casual glance and offered £800.

I laughed and told them the last garage offered £1200.

We agreed on £1100 and two days later the deal was completed after I insisted on a full service of my purchase.

[Billy Mack]

Ive just been to see about trading one of my cars in, i fancy something different and so i tried a place in Sheffield who said they would look at my car and give me a price. I took it to them and they used a sheet with a diagram of a car from the top down and used this diagram to show where all the damage there is on my car. There were quite a few marks made on the sheet suggesting lots of marks on my car. Thing is, there arent any. I mean none. Not one. Shes in pristine condition. I asked the person to take me outside and show me these marks which they couldnt do no matter how hard they looked at the bodywork. I then suggested the marks be taken off the sheet of paper as its not really all that accurate and could be considered a little dishonest.

I had to ask a couple of times, 3 to be exact to get all the marks taken off but hey ho never mind. The price they gave me was derisory but expected after that performance and im glad it was as im not sure i like to idea of what this person tried to do.

So, is it standard practice?

 

Never ever say you want a trade-in. Make a deal agree a price. Then mention you have a car for trade-in. You then start bargaining from the first agreed price. I.E you have talked them down to £3000. You then say cool , Oh by the way I just remembered I have a car to trade in. Bla, Bla. Let them hang themselves first before playing your trump card.

[yellowperil]

How did you come to that conclusion?

Standard practise suggests it happens everywhere.

 

Well,it certainly wasn't when I traded in my last vehicle.

In fact they just gave it a casual glance and offered £800.

I laughed and told them the last garage offered £1200.

We agreed on £1100 and two days later the deal was completed after I insisted on a full service of my purchase.

 

In your instance the profit for them was in the car you bought.

Ive been in the motor industry in various forms for longer than i care to remember.

If you are happy with the deal you got then all power to you.

Car dealers arent charities and will screw you to the wall every opportunity they get. They are there to make money.

 

---------- Post added 14-10-2014 at 00:54 ----------

 

How did you come to that conclusion?

Standard practise suggests it happens everywhere.

 

Well,it certainly wasn't when I traded in my last vehicle.

In fact they just gave it a casual glance and offered £800.

I laughed and told them the last garage offered £1200.

We agreed on £1100 and two days later the deal was completed after I insisted on a full service of my purchase.

 

Never ever say you want a trade-in. Make a deal agree a price. Then mention you have a car for trade-in. You then start bargaining from the first agreed price. I.E you have talked them down to £3000. You then say cool , Oh by the way I just remembered I have a car to trade in. Bla, Bla. Let them hang themselves first before playing your trump card.

 

Couldnt agree more.

You have to be canny to get a reasonable result that youre happy with.

[geared]

Yep Yellowperil is right, they are business people and they need to make money to keep going.

 

Used cars are an utter minefield anyway, you've next to no idea how well the previous owner(s) have looked after the car - they could have repeatedly ran it around with sod-all oil in and ignored signs of problems, or repaired things with substandard/cheapest parts.

 

To protect themselves they need to buy the car as cheap as possible, because if they buy an utter wreck they'll spend tons of money fixing it up enough to be able to sell it on.

[Tagnut]

Yep Yellowperil is right, they are business people and they need to make money to keep going.

 

Used cars are an utter minefield anyway, you've next to no idea how well the previous owner(s) have looked after the car - they could have repeatedly ran it around with sod-all oil in and ignored signs of problems, or repaired things with substandard/cheapest parts.

 

To protect themselves they need to buy the car as cheap as possible, because if they buy an utter wreck they'll spend tons of money fixing it up enough to be able to sell it on.

 

That lot i can agree with 100% but my initial question was about if its standard practice for them to lie on the paperwork and fabricate faults in order to get the price of your car down?

 

---------- Post added 14-10-2014 at 10:38 ----------

 

Never ever say you want a trade-in. Make a deal agree a price. Then mention you have a car for trade-in. You then start bargaining from the first agreed price. I.E you have talked them down to £3000. You then say cool , Oh by the way I just remembered I have a car to trade in. Bla, Bla. Let them hang themselves first before playing your trump card.

 

Yeah, i hold up my hands a made a noob mistake. lol. I wont make it again though (fingers toes and teeth crossed )

[skinz]

In your instance the profit for them was in the car you bought.

Ive been in the motor industry in various forms for longer than i care to remember.

If you are happy with the deal you got then all power to you.

Car dealers arent charities and will screw you to the wall every opportunity they get. They are there to make money.

 

 

Couldnt agree more.

You have to be canny to get a reasonable result that youre happy with.

 

That's why generally most dealers ask you prior if you're trading in, not be told later or ask you later, their canny like that.

[Cyclone]

I've never traded in a car and seen such a sheet. So whilst trying to offer you the minimum possible is standard practice, using some sheet of paper and making up damage isn't.

[geared]

That lot i can agree with 100% but my initial question was about if its standard practice for them to lie on the paperwork and fabricate faults in order to get the price of your car down?

 

Not standard across the industry, as many places won't even use those paper forms.

They're not legally binding or anything, just to indicate where a fault may be on a cursory visual inspection.

 

Might be standard practise in the place you went, or maybe it was just that salesmans way of getting things done??