Mostly useless piles of jobby really. The Den
Only worthwhile product out of the Dragons Den for me was…still is…Reggie Reggie Sauce.
Don’t worrry…be happy…
Not directly related to this but some while ago I used to deliver new cars and one of the Dealerships handled Fiat as well as 3 other franchises. The other drivers refused to take the 124 Spiders, especially the Abarth versions out so I was only too happy to oblige. Every single car they received required sometimes extensive paint rectification before delivery. This was put down to the need to store them for some considerable time due to Type Approval problems.
Presumably they were stored somewhere near the import centre as all had well rusted brake discs as well as paint contamination. I actually delivered one car to a customer who had rejected two previous cars from another Dealership but didn’t tell me until he had been over the car I delivered with a very fine tooth comb. Fortunately our body people had done a good job and he accepted the car.
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When you see those pictures of hundreds of stored cars on airfields, it makes you wonder what they are like when delivered. I suspect many go as company cars and just get accepted.
You wouldn’t believe how secondhand some brand new cars are. Damage is common, age related (long term storage) problems…I’m glad to be out of the new car loop now.
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Depends on the individual business user. Some just don’t care, their return car has never been cleaned inside or out. Others go over the new car for about half an hour before they are prepared to accept the vehicle. Some want to go over all the controls and user features others just take it as is with no formal handover. Doesn’t even depend on seniority either.
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When my daughter took a new company car she circled all the defects with pink lipstick & took pictures. They got charged if they sent it back with any damage.looked quite comical on a black insignia.
I had a guided tour around both the Rover 200/400 production line and the Range Rover production line in the mid “90’s”. Not only did we get to see the RR Freeloader before the launch date but we also came across a team of men doing body repairs on the Range Rovers.
When we asked our guide he explained that it was common for vehicles to get body damaged on the production line. Neither the person or the garage who had ordered the vehicle would be told of the repair!
Richard.
And also a ‘paint correction’ is sometimes a codename for an ‘expert’ ‘using a DA’ and covering the area in buffer trails.
One of the reasons I’ve never tried a ‘DA’ even thought I’m very obsessive with car detailing. Needs someone who totally knows what he’s doing. The amount of cars I see in car parks in general, or even after ‘corrections’, sprayed with buffer trails made me think no way I’m trying that.
Do you know if you lose your £500 deposit, say, if you reject a car?
Meaning, you put a £500 deposit down when ordering. 3 months later the car at arrives at the dealership, they phone you and you’ve excited as you go to get it. But when you arrive you see swirls, the odd panel gap, say a soft top hood ‘hitting’ the back of the roll bars if you were getting an ND, say. If you say ‘nope, no way mate’. ‘I’m not taking that’. Full stop.
Do you lose your £500 deposit or do you get it returned ‘easily’?
Consumer rights act 2015 gives you the right to reject faulty or not fit for purpose goods and obtain a refund within 30 days of receiving it and I would expect this to cover the full purchase price of the article including deposit, but I’m not a lawyer. I would recommend you look at the above Act for more info on what grounds enable you to reject a vehicle on delivery. There is no Statutory definition of Satisfactory Quality and it may be that minor paintwork defects would not be grounds for rejection, at least until the Dealer had failed to rectify the problem(s).
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Sounds probably how it is.
But if you haven’t paid for it, and you didn’t want a ‘DA’ all over it it had swirls, or if it was an ND, say, and didn’t want whatever the latest ND gizmo spacer ‘solution’ to ‘rectify’ the hood if it was touching the roll hoops when down (you know, like only 5+ years into a production cycle), I guess worse case is that you could still walk away and lose your deposit.
Probably… unless the Dealer says Contract and starts to talk about loss of profit, special order etc etc. The only winners then are the Solicitors if it gets that far.
Yes maybe, but I reckon if something was wrong with it, you’d be fine. Granted if you do a no show or don’t buy it even it it’s perfect, it could get messy. Also court is probably going to cost more than the profit they’d make
I wouldn’t want anything done to a brand new car and I wouldn’t take it if it had to go backstage.
Also, i often wonder if many new cars on AutoTrader, shown all there in the showroom are prior orders which had the would-be owner bail, for whatever reason, not necessarily down to issues with it.
This wasn’t by any chance a red Mk4 purchased in Dorset?
Interesting to hear of your great buying experience. I thought I was the only one who had been so lucky!
I bought two new cars this year. One from Mazda In Beckenham (MX-5 RF) and one from Lexus Croydon (RC F). Both dealers were incredibly helpful.
The MX-5 looked great and was perfect inside and out.
The Lexus dealer appreciated that I am something of a perfectionist and, instead of getting the car valeted, they paid for a “proper” detailer to do the job.
They were so impressed with the result (as was I) that they have decided in future to have all of their more expensive cars detailed by this chap. It seems that both the finish, and the car itself (which is a rare site on UK roads) caused quite a stir amongst people at the dealership.
It was a real pleasure to buy a car from both of these dealerships. I should mention that I have nothing to do with either of them, other than as a very satisfied customer.
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@ coconino Reminds me of a trip to my local Ford dealer in the 80s where I was friendly with a salesman and there was an unregistered Capri in the showroom with its front wing stoved in. He casually told me it would be repaired before being sold. The eventual buyer probably never knew.
In those days, if the repair was done well, it may have shown up the rest of the car!!
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Fair play, bit of a car there and some serious coin to buy it 
Not my type of motor with the auto, but a full fat machine.
You’ve got a PHENOMENAL warranty with that, now that Toyota and Lexus have switched to the new ‘Relax’ scheme. After your 3 years you just get it serviced in your Lexus/Toyota dealership to continue the MANUFACTURER warranty for up to year 10! A grade and them some.
Makes my just now out of warranty ND with my recently purchased £366 ‘third party’ warranty seem even more lame.
I don’t mind the look of the the GR86 coming soon, which would of course have that same 10 year thing as your RC F monster has
I did have to think twice about the auto box but most high performance cars available in the UK today e.g. Porsche Cayman or 911, either only come with an automatic (DCT) gearbox or the difference in 0-62mph times is such that reselling a manual would be difficult.
There was a used manual Cayman S at the dealership that they struggled to shift for exactly that reason.
I am fortunate that I have the best of both worlds - a “GTI - quick” manual MX-5 and a “Porsche - quick” automatic RC F (being the only transmission available).
I shall be keeping both of these cars, as long as I am able to drive (safely) - hopefully about 15 years!
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Hi All
I wanted to update you on my paint issues on the bonnet of my new 2nd July 21 soul red mx5 rf gt sport tech. To recap when i collect my car from EMG at Cambridge i did not notice any marks on the bonnet, it was a bight morning and all looked well. I had a leisurely 44 mile drive home and i was happy. The next morning i washed the car and i noticed what i thought was a small stone chip in the middle of the bonnet but when i looked closer there was no surface damage just a small mark with faint scratch marks to one side. I was upset and upon looking harder i noticed a further 12 marks the largest of which was like a hologram about the size of a 20p piece. I complained to the dealer and they sent me to Cooper Barnes to prepare a warranty report for Mazda. The chap at Cooper Barns immediately dismissed the warranty side and told me it was bird droppings that had not been cleaned off properly and then sealed in by the lifeshine. He got out his polishing machine and he did polish out the hologram mark. The first time i left the car out in the sun the the hologram returned. I complained again to the dealer and they said they would get it repaired by Revive a company in an adoining building to EMG. Im affraid the dissatisfaction and disappointment got the better of me. I sold the car back to the dealer at a substantial loss. I have bought 10 cars from this dealer but that will be my last. Whether or not i buy an another MX5, never say never.