Buying a car

Yesterday, after taking a car for a test drive I decided to buy it. I paid a deposit and the garage then reeled off a list of additional costs which were on top of the purchase price for the car - admin fee £99, Diamond Bright £349, Fuel £20 and 36 months warranty £999. As I haven’t bought a car for a number of years, I wasn’t expecting these additional costs.

I understand the admin fee and fuel are standard and I won’t bother with the Diamond Bright however, the garage were really pushing this Gold Automation Warranty at £999 for three years. Are they just plugging it for their commission or is it really worth buying this warranty? The car is a 5 year old Mini.

 

When we changed the car 4 years ago the garage knew our budget and we agreed on a deal that was within budget. We returned to the garage to pay the deposit and the price had gone up by over £1000. The salesperson told us that it was because the new car was on a 3 month waiting list and our p/x would have devalued in this time. They had also added extra nonsense costs. All costs and valuations that they knew at the time of agreeing the first price.

Needless to say we walked away and went to a dealer for a different car and agreed a deal.

If a garage will rip you off before they have your money, they wont improve once they've sold the car. Take the deposit and run

 

Get your money back & run as fast as you can! They are just ripping you off.

‘Diamond Bright’ this is the wonderful polish/protector which they charge the earth for which is total & utter cr@p!l? I have a family member who works at a prestigious car dealership, he is always moaning about the polish not being put on properly & how one bottle of top polish is never put on a car because it takes too long! Don’t ever fall for that sales pitch, this is a scam which car dealers have been getting away with for years .

I actually refuse to change my car (Vauxhall’s Astra, 07 plate, 150,000 miles on the clock ) mainly because I cannot put up with the cow pat I have to listen to from car sales men! I bought my car when it was 6 months old & im still trying to forget the experience of dealing with drive Vauxhall! Kev keeps telling me it’s going to need updating soon & I keep changing the subject! .

I hope you manage to get your deposit back @Peter K & find a car elsewhere x

 

Tell 'em to stick it! If they cannot swallow the "admin fee" alone then they're no good. On a new car I might be tempted by the Diamond Brite at about a third of the price quoted but not on a five year old car as it can amplify any paint imperfections.
But if you are looking at five year old Minis (especially diesel ones) get the best warranty that you can afford that covers just about everything.

 

That's what you'd expect from a decent dealer.

This salesperson was amazing. After putting the price up, he then came out with the line "well I've moved on our price, its up to you to move on yours". What he seemed to fail to grasp was that by increasing the price of the car, he'd moved in the wrong direction for us.

 

What's wrong with a 5 year old Mini? Not everybody can afford a brand new car.

 

Andrew, tell the dealer to swivel :rasp:

 

To be fair I would say the same of any five year old car, especially a diesel (unless it is used mostly for fast cross country or motorway work). Modern cars are built to have an eight to ten year life expectancy and even run of the mill faults can be very expensive.

 

Lets just say that when he called to check on where we were with the purchase that we let him know that the way to close a deal is to stick to the agreed price or offer a reduced price - not to raise the price. Seemed a very arrogant way of operating to me.

 

Have you been back to the dealer and challenged them about the Admin Fee etc ?

Are they a full Mini dealer or just a general car sales.

Assume the car has a main dealer service record book ?

You can buy a third party warranty anytime not just on purchase eg Warranty Wise etc.