A real scam or smoke and mirrors?...

CBRadio

our story began in Limerick. Having looked at a number of cars in garages down there we came across a 2002 Ford Focus asking price €9995. We were looking for a focus or corolla around years 2000-2001 with a 1998 Opel Corsa to trade in against it. We liked the look of this car and spoke to the dealer. He said although our car was only worth €800-€1000 he would give us €2250 for it against the Focus. This seemed like a good deal. However there were a few things that needed to be done, timing belt for one, replace wing mirror, fix a dent in the side of the car so he said he would offer us €150 less to get all this done. (is it only me that things this should all be done for free before you get the car??) Anyway we agreed on all of that. Meaning the car was costing us €7895 in total. All ok until this morning when I looked on carzone.ie and saw the same car advertised with an asking price of €8495 (not €9950) which means he gave us €600 for our car and no other discount. Anyway sorry for the length of the story but I'm just wondering do you think he'll do anything about all of this if we ring or will he talk it all away as part of the negotiation. Buyer beware and all that!! We haven't signed anything just put down a €50 deposit to hold it. Any suggestions???

peasant

If you mention the "internet price" to him, he'll most likely give you the spiel that that price is for a straight sale only, and that by taking your old car in, he's actually doing you a favour, and how he has to make some money as well, and how Christmas is coming up what with his kids wanting presents and all that ...

And then he'll do another calculation and give you 3000 for your old car and yet somehow you'll still end up paying 7895 in total anyway.

Car dealer ...'nuff said

Churchy

Its not a scam , but your right in the title. It is smoke and mirrors.
Very common in the motor trade and perpetuated by punters inability to gauge "the cost to change".
"But garage X up the road is giving me £3,000 for my 96 Punto" - punter
"Yes but they're charging you £2,500 more for the same car" - dealer
"But its worth £3,000 as a trade-in....................." -punter

Its the honest dealers that give "fair" trade prices for part-ex's that suffer. As most punters are taken in by the smoke and mirrors approach and think they have lost less on their beloved last car.

CBRadio

well just rang the dealer with my new information. Shock and disbelief at the price I quoted from the internet. Said they would investigate and ring me back. Rang back and said it was a mistake plain and simple!!! Don't know how it happened, could have been on the part of carzone.ie even!!! To make up for the upset I must have felt they would put a full tank of petrol into it when we picked it up. You can imagine my joy at that!! Have found a similar car, 10,000 miles less for sale in Dublin, asking €7800 for cash sale and around €1000 trade in on our car so about €6800 in total versus €7850. Told them this and they said we should have a look at it, it seemed very cheap to them, so no budging them. Suppose it's up to us now to decide what we want to do. Have learned some lessons anyway :-)