Main stealer = time stealing wasters

[One percent 48,535]

The long saga in the persuit of a new cheap car (yeah I know, comes with free unicorn); the next instalment.

so, long story short, 20 percent discount offered on new mini through car wow. Local stealer (best price is equidistant) phoned me following a test drive I did with them in the early summer. Could match (not beat note) carwow. I requested a test drive as I'd only tried the diesel and want a petrol.  All arranged, did not have one but would get hold of one.  This was over a week ago.  

Turned up today.  No petrol to test drive 

oh well, I knew what I wanted but took a countryman out instead. Sat down to do the deal.  Three fucking hours later they could not match the carwow deal.  Tried every trick in the book to bamboozle me.  Tricks too numerous to mention, I just kept bringing them back to the carwow quote which I happened to have on my iPad in front of me.  

Idiots. I feel like billing them for my time. 

/rant 

[Malthus 3,682]

Invoice them for 3 hours of your time, they don't pay small claims court 

fair chance you'd win 👍

[Bedrag Justesen 20,856]

35 minutes ago, One percent said:

Tricks too numerous to mention, I just kept bringing them back to the carwow quote which I happened to have on my iPad in front of me.  

So you had the name of the person at the dealership that said they would match the CarWow quote over the phone, no e-mail or anything, so they are just denying they would do it ?

They probably thought you would buy anyway.

Think that would kill my interest in buying from there.

.....but first I would write to dealer principal.

[One percent 48,535]

14 minutes ago, Bedrag Justesen said:

So you had the name of the person at the dealership that said they would match the CarWow quote over the phone, no e-mail or anything, so they are just denying they would do it ?

They probably thought you would buy anyway.

Think that would kill my interest in buying from there.

.....but first I would write to dealer principal.

It was the person I had been dealing with and she said she had been unable to source one.  I really don't want to complain as she is the same age as my daughter. On the phone, she trotted off to her boss who promised to match the deal.  It's the reneging on this that I'm more pissed off about. I do have this confirmed in email. 

Yes, I do think that they thought I would buy anyway. However, I wandered in with a thick file of research and had my iPad open to the carwow deal.  

My take was that the boss bloke was either reallly stupid or their usual customer base is.  

The most laughable was that he even tried to sell me a lower spec car for a couple of grand more than the carwow deal. Making the best deal they could do about 3k worse. Oh and this was for a stock car, not even the colour I wanted  

😂

Idiot.   

[Dipsy 3,224]

Three hours, blimey I'd have been off after 30 mins.

[One percent 48,535]

2 minutes ago, Dipsy said:

Three hours, blimey I'd have been off after 30 mins.

They kept wandering off to huddle over a laptop in the corner. How fucking difficult is it to work out percentages?  

The games...  it's why I only change my car every ten years or so.  Can you imagine the queues in the supermarket if they took this approach?  

[whitevanman 6,998]

Just go for the Carwow deal. Trying to do local businesses a favour is a waste of time. I tried to get a set of tyres from my local place, I walked in and told them the price I had on Blackcircles. They refused to match it so I went for the online quote and ended up getting the tyres done at the same place. They lost whatever commission was taken by the online agent. 

[Bedrag Justesen 20,856]

22 minutes ago, One percent said:

Idiot.   

Quite.

[One percent 48,535]

13 minutes ago, whitevanman said:

Just go for the Carwow deal. Trying to do local businesses a favour is a waste of time. I tried to get a set of tyres from my local place, I walked in and told them the price I had on Blackcircles. They refused to match it so I went for the online quote and ended up getting the tyres done at the same place. They lost whatever commission was taken by the online agent. 

Already on it.

i needed new rear brakes the other month. Went on the mini website which has a list of prices.  Fair price so booked it into (same) stealer. Had the work done and they tried to charge more. Argued the toss till I pulled out the printout. 

Idiots. Feel I'm better taking my business elsewhere. 

Edit to add, the carwow dealer is the same distance from home in the opposite direction so,still local)

[Bedrag Justesen 20,856]

2 minutes ago, One percent said:

Edit to add, the carwow dealer is the same distance from home in the opposite direction so,still local)

Properly equidistant that. 

[gibbon 5,523]

1 hour ago, One percent said:

The most laughable was that he even tried to sell me a lower spec car for a couple of grand more than the carwow deal. Making the best deal they could do about 3k worse. Oh and this was for a stock car, not even the colour I wanted  

This is a common dealer trick actually. You say you're looking for X car, they'll then show you the shittiest spec/oldest model they can find then show you the top spec of the car you want with all the bells and whistles you don't need but then again you don't want the shite mobile. They create a false choice pushing you to overpay.

[One percent 48,535]

3 minutes ago, gibbon said:

This is a common dealer trick actually. You say you're looking for X car, they'll then show you the shittiest spec/oldest model they can find then show you the top spec of the car you want with all the bells and whistles you don't need but then again you don't want the shite mobile. They create a false choice pushing you to overpay.

Preempting this, I went in with a list of what I wanted. When they went to the stock car, I wanted this as a minimum and anything over, not interested unless free. They would not play ball.  Over the phone, they said they would factory build to my spec if they could not source from stock.  Reneged on this promise of course.   

[Panther 5,273]

They do it to everyone, including the manufacturer (parts free of charge for warranty work are sold over the parts counter)

[Great Guy 11,381]

Lol, I always love when a car salesman has to go and phone his manager to make sure he can give you a special discount. You know full well he's away for a coffee, then he comes back 5 minutes later with "manager says he can take an extra £500 off".

[twocents 12,575]

21 minutes ago, Great Guy said:

Lol, I always love when a car salesman has to go and phone his manager to make sure he can give you a special discount. You know full well he's away for a coffee, then he comes back 5 minutes later with "manager says he can take an extra £500 off".

As if they're on your side negotiating on your behalf 

Any suspicion of funny stuff (for instance broken agreement) just leave and just like that, just get up and leave.  You don't have to say anything - just leave.  That applies to dodgy employers at interviews as well - they've proven they'll stitch you up on that so they'll be looking to stitch you up on everything else they can lay their hands on.  Unfortunately it's typical of rip off Britain.

[onlyme 9,240]

Made just one visit to a main dealer for last car change. Car was ok but not prepped, asked whether the (quite visible) scratches would be puffed out. Nope, no spray equipment, they would have a go buffing out. Walked.  In the end bought from a small independent dealer with good selection of cars all in tip top condition, basically they just cherry picked auction lots and the odd trade in but only picked the best.

[SNACR 7,176]

If you're really after a deal I'd hang on and buy in December now. I wouldn't ever be too picky on options the best deals will always be for what's on the forecourt.

[longtomsilver 2,671]

6 hours ago, SNACR said:

If you're really after a deal I'd hang on and buy in December now. I wouldn't ever be too picky on options the best deals will always be for what's on the forecourt.

I bought a new BMW R9T  a couple of weeks back from Northampton and the service was top notch. They could only hold the quote until new registrations came along in September. 

I also did a carwow search on an i3 and the same dealership showed up at the top of the list. They also do Mini... give them a call.

[One percent 48,535]

6 hours ago, SNACR said:

If you're really after a deal I'd hang on and buy in December now. I wouldn't ever be too picky on options the best deals will always be for what's on the forecourt.

Re the options snacky, im not wanting all the bells and whistles. I want the same spec as I have now. One on the most difficult things to source from stock appears to be an auto dimming mirror.  I would have thought these would be standard, it's only 125 quid extra to spec it on a new car. 

[SNACR 7,176]

5 minutes ago, One percent said:

Re the options snacky, im not wanting all the bells and whistles. I want the same spec as I have now. One on the most difficult things to source from stock appears to be an auto dimming mirror.  I would have thought these would be standard, it's only 125 quid extra to spec it on a new car. 

TBH I would have thought any decent dealer would just throw one in to seal the deal and just fit the part before handover then flog the factory fit one through their parts counter.

Probably won't be many on ebay for the newest models unless they're the same part as before, if that was the case you could just pay an independent to fit it.

[One percent 48,535]

2 minutes ago, SNACR said:

TBH I would have thought any decent dealer would just throw one in to seal the deal and just fit the part before handover then flog the factory fit one through their parts counter.

Probably won't be many on ebay for the newest models unless they're the same part as before, if that was the case you could just pay an independent to fit it.

That's good to know.  Are they an easy swap as I've seen a couple of second hand ones and the only bit missing is the auto dim mirror 

[SNACR 7,176]

2 minutes ago, One percent said:

That's good to know.  Are they an easy swap as I've seen a couple of second hand ones and the only bit missing is the auto dim mirror 

Yes, won't need any dismantling probably endless online guides. Will need to make sure it fits the latest model as they have changed a lot recently.

[One percent 48,535]

For the interested, the stealer is madly trying to contact me today. 

probably good as the carwow stealer is not responding so guess they have met their targets. 

anyhow, calling on the dosbods massive here as I know we have a lot of petrol heads. Auto or manual (1700 difference). Auto is an 8 gear box with manual paddles on the steering wheel. Manual six gears 

[whitevanman 6,998]

Auto. The ZF 8 speed is amazing and gets just as good economy as the manual, maybe better as they have a taller top gear. 

[One percent 48,535]

9 minutes ago, whitevanman said:

Auto. The ZF 8 speed is amazing and gets just as good economy as the manual, maybe better as they have a taller top gear. 

Ta.  I know about the fuel efficiency. I test drove one too and came away impressed. I am drawn but for two reasons.  a) I can't work out what type (is it one of those rubber band ones?) and, b) complexity, will they go wrong and then cost loads to repair? Oh, and, c) I'm a stick person, like working the gears, unless stuck in traffic.