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Evans Halshaw Stockport Fiat / Alfa Romeo have, so far, impressed me.
Ok, I might have been able to save a couple of hundred by going to a small garage forecours dealer, but I don't trust them even as far as I could throw them. They're noticeably cheaper than the Toyota main dealer next door, stock older cars as well as brand new shiny Fiats & Alfas, and have an attached workshop.
I was initially irritated by being shadowed by the salesman, but when he found out what I wanted he checked all their other branches until he found one. Last night he was quite happy when I turned up early to see the car in daylight and (although he hovered for a while, left me to it when I slid underneath to poke the exhaust & took the cover off the engine to check for oil in the radiator water. He stopped trying to tell me stuff after that :)
I didn't end up haggling; the price is in line with what Parker's says (which is a surprise; according to most dealers, the part-ex prices are inflated and the buying ones too low...), they're giving it a full service (with logbook stamp) and 12 months MOT, and their warranty covers all labour & parts (because just parts would be "rubbish").
All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised. I don't feel cheated or patronised at all, and that's remarkable.
Ok, I might have been able to save a couple of hundred by going to a small garage forecours dealer, but I don't trust them even as far as I could throw them. They're noticeably cheaper than the Toyota main dealer next door, stock older cars as well as brand new shiny Fiats & Alfas, and have an attached workshop.
I was initially irritated by being shadowed by the salesman, but when he found out what I wanted he checked all their other branches until he found one. Last night he was quite happy when I turned up early to see the car in daylight and (although he hovered for a while, left me to it when I slid underneath to poke the exhaust & took the cover off the engine to check for oil in the radiator water. He stopped trying to tell me stuff after that :)
I didn't end up haggling; the price is in line with what Parker's says (which is a surprise; according to most dealers, the part-ex prices are inflated and the buying ones too low...), they're giving it a full service (with logbook stamp) and 12 months MOT, and their warranty covers all labour & parts (because just parts would be "rubbish").
All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised. I don't feel cheated or patronised at all, and that's remarkable.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-14 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-14 04:17 pm (UTC)It was a ludicrously profitable business - about 1M pounds of profit per week, for a department of 60 pathetically underpaid and low-morale people - but had they been willing to let the dealers do what they wanted (and risk being party to the ensuing frauds), it could probably have been even more profitable.
There were all sorts of regulations on how much over the list prices dealers could be permitted to go - after all, the car in question _might_ be in mint condition in spite of its mileage - yet many of the dealers routinely tried to break both the base price restrictions and the cap on interest rates charged.
The highest rate I saw put forward was 40% APR. I was asked by the dealer to put through the deal because the customer was "a good friend". I'd hate to think what he'd try to do to someone he didn't like. Similarly, we often saw attempts to double the list price because the car was in good condition, or had a sun roof, or...
Some of the dealerships were fundamentally dodgy to the core, and you knew as soon as you heard the voice on the phone or saw the name on the proposal that it'd either be at or over the limits of what was acceptable and that pressure would be applied to accept it regardless of any flaws the deal or the customer might have.
There was one big dealership near London I caught in a blatant attempt to defraud a prospective customer (attempting to have us rush through a contract in an effort to make it binding after the client had said they didn't want to proceed with the application).
But here and there, there were genuinely honest (and competent) people involved in the business. One assistant manager shopped his own customer to me to undergo fraud investigation because he didn't think they were honest - even though doing so cost him a significant commission and infuriated his boss. A couple of dealerships were consistently an active pleasure to work with, because you knew that they'd have a good relationship with their customers and weren't out to rip off anyone.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-14 05:23 pm (UTC)So, what's it like?
no subject
Date: 2007-03-14 05:55 pm (UTC)