The Car thread

[Bellend Sebastian]

24 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

I genuinely didn't even know there was a soundsystem upgrade in the Skoda!

 

I drove one as a demo for a while, a 67 plate, but the 2 litre. Very good on fuel and a good, practical car. I actually had it in lockdown 1 and was brilliant for lugging around a load of DIY equipment. 

 

The Superb is worth a look too in the estate.

 

With a car like that, I'd almost certainly say a car supermarket would be your best bet as a lot would have been lease cars from new.

 

Some people have negative thoughts about lease cars, but to be honest, they're usually well looked after so the company or individual who leased it doesn't incur extra costs when they hand the car back, plus they will have had regular services as part of the lease.

 

There's a place in Rushden, Croyland Motors, who have a sister company that leases cars. Instead of sending them to auction, they cut out the middleman and sell them themselves after being fully prepped, I'd recommend having a look on there. I sorted out a deal for my father in law there and they were very good.

 

SW cars in Peterborough are also good. I said about them months ago and I have a contact there now too.

 

If and when it does come up mate, by all means, give me a shout. It can be an absolute minefield.

Thanks, I really appreciate that - especially the SW motors shout, they'd appeared on a couple of searches and I was wondering what they were like. They've got a lot of good looking stock of the sort of age and mileage I'd consider.

 

I'd cheerily have an ex-lease car. It's the ex-rentals I'd be more nervous of.

 

I do like the Superb, but it's MASSIVE isn't it? Practically a limo

 

 

 

[tom27111]

8 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Thanks, I really appreciate that - especially the SW motors shout, they'd appeared on a couple of searches and I was wondering what they were like. They've got a lot of good looking stock of the sort of age and mileage I'd consider.

 

I'd cheerily have an ex-lease car. It's the ex-rentals I'd be more nervous of.

 

I do like the Superb, but it's MASSIVE isn't it? Practically a limo

 

 

 

No problem. They've always had a good reputation and a guy I used to work with is a sales manager there now, he's a good bloke, so I can always drop him a message to sort someone out as much as possible. 

 

It's a unit shifted at the end of the day and that's what it's all about.

 

The Superb is huge!!

 

The boot space in an Octavia always amazes me too. I think you could get a Fiat 500 in there 

[Leicester_Loyal]

 

I want a 911 Turbo S, it's unbelievable.

[tom27111]

@Bellend Sebastian, and anyone really, just spoke to my old boss (the good one), he's at Carworld now, also Peterborough. 

 

Have a look, Kev will definitely do what he can to sort you out 

[Kingleicester]

Had my heart set on the Skoda vrs 2017 being being priced out though, so I think I’m gonna go for the seat leon 2.0 fr 184 technology, both near enough the same engine, but a good. 2-3k cheaper 

Edited 3 April 2021 by Kingleicester

[tom27111]

10 minutes ago, Kingleicester said:

Had my heart set on the Skoda vrs 2017 being being priced out though, so I think I’m gonna go for the seat lesson 2.0 fr 184 technology, both near enough the same engine, but a good. 2-3k cheaper 

The Leon is a superb and underrated car. Get it re-mapped to well over 200bhp.

 

I was lucky enough to have one as a demo car for a few weeks, great fun.

 

I still say the Polo GTI is the best fun drive for around 10k, but it's a Polo.

 

That's why I didn't buy one. Lightning quick though. 192bhp in something that small is scary 

Edited 3 April 2021 by tom27111

[Kingleicester]

3 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

The Leon is a superb and underrated car. Get it re-mapped to well over 200bhp.

 

I was lucky enough to have one as a demo car for a few weeks, great fun.

 

I still say the Polo GTI is the best fun drive for around 10k, but it's a Polo.

 

That's why I didn't buy one. Lightning quick though. 182bhp in something that small is scary 

I can imagine 🤣 the polo being so light as well, yea I have heard good things about the Leon so not that disappointed 👍

[tom27111]

1 minute ago, Kingleicester said:

I can imagine 🤣 the polo being so light as well, yea I have heard good things about the Leon so not that disappointed 👍

That model your thinking of is practically a Golf GTI, not quite as tuned, but it could be.

 

As I've said on here before, please give me a shout if you want some advice/help with any of it.

 

I don't mind even trawling through websites that aren't on AutoTrader to help find something. 

 

Believe it or not, I've never been a petrol head, but it's amazing how you pick things up from working in a particular trade.

 

Most of your typical car salesman are motivated by money, and money alone.

 

I liked the money, but I got job satisfaction from knowing a customer would love the car I'd found them for the next few years.

[Kingleicester]

3 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

That model your thinking of is practically a Golf GTI, not quite as tuned, but it could be.

 

As I've said on here before, please give me a shout if you want some advice/help with any of it.

 

I don't mind even trawling through websites that aren't on AutoTrader to help find something. 

 

Believe it or not, I've never been a petrol head, but it's amazing how you pick things up from working in a particular trade.

 

Most of your typical car salesman are motivated by money, and money alone.

 

I liked the money, but I got job satisfaction from knowing a customer would love the car I'd found them for the next few years.

  Cheers for the offer buddy👍

[tom27111]

1 minute ago, Kingleicester said:

  Cheers for the offer buddy👍

Anytime.

 

I don't pretend to know everything, but a little industry knowledge can help.

 

There's a lot of arseholes in the car trade. 

 

I hate the bad reputation they give to the few good guys out there.

[Kingleicester]

14 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

Anytime.

 

I don't pretend to know everything, but a little industry knowledge can help.

 

There's a lot of arseholes in the car trade. 

 

I hate the bad reputation they give to the few good guys out there.

Yea tell me about it, me misses got a Skoda fabia from a garage In Loughborough, only turned out to have a faulty gear box, moved heaven and earth to get a full refund, but like you say all you need is one bad experience 

[tom27111]

3 minutes ago, Kingleicester said:

Yea tell me about it, me misses got a Skoda fabia from a garage In Loughborough, only turned out to have a faulty gear box, moved heaven and earth to get a full refund, but like you say all you need is one bad experience 

 

Exactly. If you spend 500 quid or 50k on a car, it's a lot of money, you need to get it right.

 

I'm not gonna pretend we didn't sell some that went wrong, because we did, it's a machine at the end of the day, but it's how it's dealt with.

 

We had a guy who bought a Jag XF. Broke down within 2 days. Sent it to Jaguar, gave the bloke a courtesy car.

 

Even Jaguar couldn't diagnose and fix the problem.

 

We found him another XF with less miles and a better spec within a week.

 

We moven heaven and earth and his monthly payments went up by less than a quid. 

 

That's how to look after a customer. 

[tom27111]

I've just been speaking to the guy I know at SW in Peterborough. 

 

He's obviously more than happy to help anyone out that he can.

 

If there's anything anyone sees on their website, or a motor that they're specifically after, give us a shout and I'll pass the details on to Liam to try and sort you out a decent deal, or track a car down for you 

[Steve_Walsh5]

2 hours ago, tom27111 said:

I've just been speaking to the guy I know at SW in Peterborough. 

 

He's obviously more than happy to help anyone out that he can.

 

If there's anything anyone sees on their website, or a motor that they're specifically after, give us a shout and I'll pass the details on to Liam to try and sort you out a decent deal, or track a car down for you 

Just had a look on the SW website. Always puts me off dealers when I see an admin fee. 
 

I would rather they add it on to the price of the car so at least you can’t see you’re being ripped off.

[tom27111]

5 minutes ago, Steve_Walsh5 said:

Just had a look on the SW website. Always puts me off dealers when I see an admin fee. 
 

I would rather they add it on to the price of the car so at least you can’t see you’re being ripped off.

I get what you're saying, but an admin fee is genuinely there to cover the prep costs of the car.

 

To get it looking good for retail can cost a fair bit. Some companies average is around £800.

 

The admin fee go into a pool to pay for the prep costs. 

 

The days of haggling are gone. A retailer has to advertise for the lowest price possible, otherwise, why would you go and see it?

 

At Imperial, we had breakdown costs of everything. Original purchase price, prep costs...sometimes, we sold at a loss of about 800 quid.

 

But big retailers get their cars by what is called a stocking loan. Basically your preffered finance company lend you the money to buy stock from the auction. The quicker you sell them, the less interest you pay.

 

You can't afford to outright buy 3000 cars at an average retail price of 17k.

 

If you hold out, chances are your admin fee will be halved. At least. 

 

But it's standard practice across the industry now.

 

It's a game. Play it. Argue for the admin fee off, or push your px value up 200 quid. Same outcome.

 

All about the cost of change, don't forget that.

[Bellend Sebastian]

3 hours ago, tom27111 said:

I've just been speaking to the guy I know at SW in Peterborough. 

 

He's obviously more than happy to help anyone out that he can.

 

If there's anything anyone sees on their website, or a motor that they're specifically after, give us a shout and I'll pass the details on to Liam to try and sort you out a decent deal, or track a car down for you 

Don't go to any trouble, Tom, but if you speak to him any time soon do ask how often Skodas come in with the Canton audio upgrade. There's literally one on Auto trader at the moment where it's mentioned, so it would be interesting to know if they're genuinely that rare. For future reference, you can tell when it's fitted as there's quite a big Canton badge on the tweeter behind the wing mirrors. The upgrade is 600 quid, so I can see why a lot of folk wouldn't go for it

[tom27111]

Just now, Bellend Sebastian said:

Don't go to any trouble, Tom, but if you speak to him any time soon do ask how often Skodas come in with the Canton audio upgrade. There's literally one on Auto trader at the moment where it's mentioned, so it would be interesting to know if they're genuinely that rare. For future reference, you can tell when it's fitted as there's quite a big Canton badge on the tweeter behind the wing mirrors. The upgrade is 600 quid, so I can see why a lot of folk wouldn't go for it

I'll mention it to a couple of guys in the trade. 

 

As I said before, genuinely wasn't aware that the upgraded sound system was an option. We certainly never advertised it.

 

It was a big thing on a BMW to have the Harmon Kardon upgrade though.

 

I'll put some feelers out and let you know mate, but unless you worked for a Skoda main dealer, I think it'll be news to us.

 

Which could work in your favour if you strike lucky and find one with the upgrade that a garage isn't aware of! 

 

Cars specs are normally stored on an enhanced HPI, so we know how to price them, but occasionally, they're wrong.

 

I once sold a BMW 220i with all the toys, the spec was wrong and the guy who bought it saved about 2k. He knew it, I knew it. But it was all about how much we bought it for. Everyone was happy. Especially the customer! 

[tom27111]

Just as an add on to what I've just said, buy a car at the end of the month. 

 

Especially from a car supermarket if you're in a position to do it all in a day.

 

They have monthly targets. But it's done on deals delivered, not agreed.

 

You'll definitely lose the admin fee that way!

 

But stand your ground over an admin fee anyway.

[Steve_Walsh5]

3 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

Just as an add on to what I've just said, buy a car at the end of the month. 

 

Especially from a car supermarket if you're in a position to do it all in a day.

 

They have monthly targets. But it's done on deals delivered, not agreed.

 

You'll definitely lose the admin fee that way!

 

But stand your ground over an admin fee anyway.

Do the salesman normally give in on the admin fee? My mum was buying a car in 2016 from Evans Halshaw a Golf GTD 6 months old around £20k if I remember correctly. She viewed it, drove it liked it, my dad then went after work to have a look and discuss the money side of things. 
 

He noticed the admin fee and questioned it, the car was also coming without front & rear matts. They wouldn’t knock the admin fee off but instead said it will come with a full tank of diesel. The matts they said when they get another golf in they would take them out of it and ring them when available. My dad being a stubborn person he is walked away without purchasing. 

[tom27111]

13 minutes ago, Steve_Walsh5 said:

Do the salesman normally give in on the admin fee? My mum was buying a car in 2016 from Evans Halshaw a Golf GTD 6 months old around £20k if I remember correctly. She viewed it, drove it liked it, my dad then went after work to have a look and discuss the money side of things. 
 

He noticed the admin fee and questioned it, the car was also coming without front & rear matts. They wouldn’t knock the admin fee off but instead said it will come with a full tank of diesel. The matts they said when they get another golf in they would take them out of it and ring them when available. My dad being a stubborn person he is walked away without purchasing. 

Sounds like a typical deal I've dealt with mate.

 

The salesman has no control over the deal, the sales managers/controllers stack the deal.

 

The sales guys make commission on a unit sold, a 5k car or a 50k car, same commission per unit. Unless it's finance, then you take a cut of that.

 

The sales manager wants the admin fee on, because it's maximising profitability, which they are targeted on.

 

But a decent one will give in. Its about shifting units. As I said, stocking loans. If the company has borrowed 40k for a BMW X5 to be in the showroom, we want that shifted ASAP, because the company is paying interest on it. A decent boss won't argue over £200 

 

We very rarely gave away fuel, £20 max.

 

Mats are a funny one. Everyone would love a set of tailored mats. But they're 20 quid on ebay.

 

If a car came in with mats, we'd sell them with them, if not, we'd simply explain the situation. 

 

Spare keys was another big issue...

 

Most cars came with 2 keys, but if you'd bought an ex lease car at auction with 1 key, it is what it is. But...the car would be 200 quid cheaper. All priced accordingly. 

 

The problem came when the salesman didn't make that clear. I've worked with some horrible people who wouldn't make it clear and only cared about the £££.

 

I've known a sales manager to dock the commission of a lying salesman to pay for a new key, or mats.

 

There are some absolute arseholes out there, they're the lazy ones who won't move cars around to make the place look good. The ones who give the genuine people a bad name.

 

That's why, even though there's nothing in it for me, I'm happy to advise people to make sure they don't deal with one of those.

 

 

Edited 5 April 2021 by tom27111

[Steve_Walsh5]

4 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

Sounds like a typical deal I've dealt with mate.

 

The salesman has no control over the deal, the sales managers/controllers stack the deal.

 

The sales guys make commission on a unit sold, a 5k car or a 50k car, same commission per unit. Unless it's finance, then you take a cut of that.

 

The sales manager wants the admin fee on, because it's maximising profitability, which they are targeted on.

 

But a decent one will give in. Its about shifting units. As I said, stocking loans. If the company has borrowed 40k for a BMW X5 to be in the showroom, we want that shifted ASAP, because the company is paying interest on it. A decent boss won't argue over £200 

 

We very rarely gave away fuel, £20 max.

 

Mats are a funny one. Everyone would love a set of tailored mats. But they're 20 quid on ebay.

 

If a car came in with mats, we'd sell them with them, if not, we'd simply explain the situation. 

 

Spare keys was another big issue...

 

Most cars came with 2 keys, but if you'd bought an ex lease car at auction with 1 key, it is what it is. But...the car would be 200 quid cheaper. All priced accordingly. 

 

The problem came when the salesman didn't make that clear. I've worked with some horrible people who wouldn't make it clear and only cared about the £££.

 

I've known a sales manager to dock the commission of a lying salesman to pay for a new key, or mats.

 

There are some absolute arseholes out there, they're the lazy ones who won't move cars around to make the place look good. The ones who give the genuine people a bad name.

 

That's why, even though there's nothing in it for me, I'm happy to advise people to make sure they don't deal with one of those.

 

 

Thanks some very good info that the normal customer wouldn’t know. I’ll definitely drop you a message when purchasing my next car. I’m leaning towards the Golf Gti.

[tom27111]

Just now, Steve_Walsh5 said:

Thanks some very good info that the normal customer wouldn’t know. I’ll definitely drop you a message when purchasing my next car. I’m leaning towards the Golf Gti.

 

Anytime mate. Happy to pass on the knowledge and as I've always said, I hate people getting ripped off. A deal can suit buyer and seller.

 

My job satisfaction came from finding something that they'll love for years. It's very rare a customer comes in to look at 1 specific car and buys it.

 

The Golf is absolutely awesome. The R is my realistically priced dream car, but the GTI is still scary quick. All in a practical car.

 

Like I say, I don't pretend to know it all, but don't get ripped off.

 

No commission in it for me, but will happily help out. I'm sure at @UpTheLeagueFoxwill back me up on that.

 

Geoff gave me a purpose in life finding him a new motor  Fvcking Covid 

[tom27111]

6 minutes ago, Steve_Walsh5 said:

Thanks some very good info that the normal customer wouldn’t know. I’ll definitely drop you a message when purchasing my next car. I’m leaning towards the Golf Gti.

Also, budget depending, look at the Seat Leon. 

 

You could genuinely get something incredibly quick, yet still practical, for the same money.

 

And it's the same chassis!

[tom27111]

19 minutes ago, Steve_Walsh5 said:

Thanks some very good info that the normal customer wouldn’t know. I’ll definitely drop you a message when purchasing my next car. I’m leaning towards the Golf Gti.

I've posted this a couple of times if you look back through the thread (there's a few cars that you realise are great value)

 

This is the Leon Cupra 310.

 

Basically a Golf R, but without the VW price tag. If you're considering the Golf GTI, please don't rule this out.

 

I didn't have this as a demo, but I had to bring it home, then drop it off at another branch. 

 

Don't be snobbish about a brand, this is absolutely fvcking insane 

 

 

[UpTheLeagueFox]

40 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

No commission in it for me, but will happily help out. I'm sure at @UpTheLeagueFoxwill back me up on that.

Geoff gave me a purpose in life finding him a new motor  Fvcking Covid 

@Steve_Walsh5

I cannot vouch highly enough for @tom27111 and his help when I got a motor. Bloody superstar.