My sister recently lost her husband far too early in tragic circumstances.
She had been intending to replace her car and in a bit of a muddled state,sold her own car privately and traded in her husband's car against a one year old Fiesta LX with 20k miles.
As the saying goes, act in haste.....
She was a bit miserable about the whole thing and this was reflected in that she was unhappy with the colour. Ultimately the whole affair is now aggravated by the clutch failing. On it's own it could be dismissed as one of those things as the dealer was happy to sort the problem, unfortunately this was dealt with in a matter of fact way, dealer naturally being ignorant of my sister's bereavement.
However, as she was sat in the car park in floods of tears, a sales person saw the state she was in and had the grace to ask what was wrong. The upshot being that an offer to sort the matter out and replace the car was suggested.
This is where I am a bit concerned. Sales man says he will keep losses to a minimum! My sister in her fragile state believes she will not lose out. I am not so sure.
She has had the car 4 weeks tomorrow, when it is in for the clutch is to be replaced. Now, I do realise that she does not have much come back but what would you Backroomers suggest?
Me, I have taken her to Motorpoint today where she has realised that the prices there are far lower. But she thinks that the best bet is to try to thrash out a deal with the dealer. Any suggestions in keeping her losses to a minimum? I know the solution would be to keep the car, if only it was that easy.
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A sad story, Dave.
Remember Motorpoint probably aren't going to give her the best offer for her car. Wait and see what the dealer offers.
Be prepared to bite your tongue, whatever she decides, and just bear in mind the last thing she may want at the moment is somebody telling her she's just given away a grand unnecessarily, and remember we aren't a totally rational animal
I'd love to be able to add something more helpful, but that's the best I can do at the moment.
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
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Dave, you both will have the sympathies of all the backroomers.
I wonder if this is a good time to do anything, just yet. She might change the car for something much worse, then wish she had it back.
There are good, charitable dealers, but they are in business to make money. They open 7 days a week for this you know, not for our convenience.
I well remember when I was a lad of 15. i used to work at the local Renault garage in my long, summer holidays.
A lady came in, crying. Her hubbie had just died and she wanted rid of his R16TL. Would the garage sell it for her?
They truly were rogues.
They took the car in and sprayed it with water-based emulsion paint. All fuel was drained and 1 gallon of petrol and 1 pint of 2-stroke oil were put into the tank, so the exhaust smoked. A headlamp was removed and put in the boot. Ripped seat covers were put over the immaculate upholstery.
The car was entered into the local auction and there was just 1 bidder, the garage I was working for.
£20 paid, receipt given from trhe auctioneer.
Over to carwash, emulsion paint washed off.
Headlamp removed from boot and installed in place
Tank filled with clean petrol
Seat covers removed.
Back through auction. Lots of bids now and sold for £400.
At the garage, poor tale. We could only get £20 for the car, madam. Here is your money and the receipt we got. We won't charge you for our trouble, in view of the circumstances.
I have never forgotten this. It made a profound impression on me.
I wish you good luck.
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Losses to a minimum? Pah!
The fact is that the dealer is going to have to work very, very hard not to fall foul of the Sale of Goods legislation and will essentially be unable to show that the fault wasn't there when the car was sold.
While clutches are generally seen as wear and tear items by warranties, one month would be an absurd amount of abuse to inflict on any car. In that respect, your sister is in a better position than if she'd bought new.
As for changing the car? Well the clutch problem is unfortunate, and it suggests that this isn't a car she'd want to keep, even if it's been caused by being rented by Americans used to one-footed driving.
Go with her and hold her hand. If he makes a fair offer - say within £400 of what was paid, which is the cost of a month's rental of a Fiesta from Sixt - then you should probably bite her arm off. He almost certainly won't do that though. Assuming it's a new shape, if she paid £7995 for it, she'll be doing extremely well to get £7k back. Motorpoint will give what it's worth, which means probably about £6200.
Personally I'd swallow the cost now and get rid of the car in two years or so, once the warranty is up and before any really serious problems have had the chance to develop. There is no point in putting her through the trauma of another car purchase just yet, whether or not she likes the colour, unless it really is financially an offer she can't refuse.
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Charitable dealers bit like aeronautical pigs...
Words of real wisdom here from David HM
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Really sorry, Dave.
Good advice from BoraSport. It's easy, in focusing on the money, to lose sight of the bigger picture.
rgds
Peter
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I'm really sorry to hear this Dave, my condolances.
Might I suggest that you take a softly softly approach?
Sit your sister down and suggest that you work together on this.
Liaise with the dealership with your sister, as human beings they should understand the gravity of the situation.
You, with a clearer frame of mind, should be able to sort out what your sister really wants and negotiate with the dealership, even if you have to talk to the dealer principle.
My Aunt recently bought a new Kia. Although she was not suffering from any type of berievement at the time, to put it politely, she can be as batty as a fruitcake - God bless. So I worked with her and the dealership to help the deal go through smoothly. To be honest, I think they appreciated my involvement, to the extent that they were more ready to throw in a couple of hundred £s worth of extras. At least they knew that there was someone with a clearer mind involved.
Anyway, I wish you and your sister well for the future whatever the outcome of this.
Regards
H
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