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I had a similar experience with another car supermarket when I bought my present car last year, they wanted an extra £410 on the road charge. When I asked them to specify what the charges were for they told me it was £250 extra for metallic paint and £160 12 months VED, at which point I pointed out to them that the car was eight months old and the original purchaser (when the car was new) had already paid the extra metallic paint charge and I was not prepared to pay for it and that the 12 months VED was only £135 for a diesel Mondeo. I walked away from the deal on the basis that there are plenty of mondeos for sale. They phoned me back next day and said they would be prepared to do the deal with only £135 for the VED and no charge for the metallic paint, so I said I was going to look at another car that day, so they offered in a free first service (basically an oil & filter change which was due at the current mileage), so I accepted the offer. By walking away I got the car I wanted, in the colour I wanted, at the price I wanted to pay, it's a buyer's market with mainstream cars like the Mondeo, Vectras etc. so don't sign before you've got exactly what you want.
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I have just checked the t and c of the breakdown and can cancel within 14 days so will do so. I am so annoyed about the whole process. Here is what happened when I tried to puchase using their finance:
Bought a car Deal was £9299. They then tagged on some compulsory service charges ( which I have already explained...)
Gave me £250 for my old car. Unfortunately I could not use credit cardsa or cheques so had to pay by bankers draft or finance. I said I would raise £2000 by bankers draft and they could give me finance for £7000. No problem. Salesman quotes price of 7.9% over 3 years. Fair enough. (didnt realise this was flat rate....)
Went home and next day mum says she will lend me £4k so I will only need to borrow £3k. Great. Decide to do this over one year. RIng finance woman again who says no problem and then tells me the figure I will be paying each month. Tells me minimum term is 13 months. I say fine. She tells me number which I vaguely think sounds a little steep but don't worry too much.
Turn up next day with all papers etc. Go and get tax disc etc. Come to sorting out finance. She goes through everything and then tells me monthly payment. I ask for APR and she says 29.8%!!!!!
I WAS GOBSMACKED and she simply said...well, we judge it by the amount people are happy to pay each month. You said you were happy to pay this amount over the phone. I said, yes but you didnt tell me the APR she said you didnt ask! She explained that this was a standard rate over this period and I would be offered similar deals elsewhere. I told her it was outrageous and she said that it was only £500 interest! and not as much as if I had paid over 3 years.
Amazingly, when I threatened to walk away, she said, well you could just pay for it all now ....(tongue in cheek as she must have realised I didnt have the readies.)
Ready to explode and walk away....
Fortunately my dad was there ,and they changed their tune and we could pay miraculously by credit card at 2% (costing only £64). We again decided not to bother and were about to walk away when they said we could use debit card without interest.
So as you can see the whole experience has not been great. (No car mats either..!)
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It's up to you to check how much interest you are going to pay. You can't blaim others for trying to make as much as they can, this is business!
If you have got 2K and your mum lends you 4K, I would buy a car for 6K, this saves paying interest.
It is up to you to look after yourself, when doing anything.
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I know quizman, but when SWMBO went to buy her Golf, the dealer tried to flog her finance (mistake she is a forensic accountant) by saying something along the lines of "you may as well leave your money invested and take finance" when she questionned this he said "we'll charge you 5.8%" not mention was made of the rate - in this case flat which equtes to something like 11% APR. Reasonable enough but you won't get that on many savings accounts !
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It's up to you to check how much interest you are going to pay. You can't blaim others for trying to make as much as they can this is business!
This is true of course. But some of these salesmen are under a lot of pressure and tend to sometimes step over the line. They should make it clear what the APR is. Similarly, charging for number plates and metallic paint as 'extras' on a USED car is distinctly dodgy - I don't think any purchaser would be expecting that.
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I really can't understand why people stomach some of the interest rates banded about by dealers.
You go to a car supermarket for the cheap prices, and then pay way over the odds on a loan - rather defeats the point of going to the supermarket in the first place!
There are no end of finance houses doing loans in single digit APRs. Set your budget yourself, get the loan arranged, and then spend it on the best deal you can find. Don't look at cars before you have set your budget because a salesperson will simply do his job and persuade you to go over your budget.
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It's not just car supermarkets, many franchised dealers make most of their money on the finance side of the deal.
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Ford USA make more money from financaing the sales of their cars than from actually selling them. 29% APRs are remininiscent of the not lamented Y*s Car Credit and others who have moved into the sector of the market where customers are only concerned with the amount of the monthly payments and not the rate at which they are calculated or the fact that they are payable for 5 years
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sarah, when you originally requested advice about buying a car a few of us provided advice, BUT it seems you didn't take much notice of it. You just seemed to rush in and buy a car. You'd have been better off renting a car whilst you did some research before buying the car you actually wanted.
Learn from this experience so the next time you buy a car you'll be better equipped at understanding the car buying business.
Having said that, always always read the small print before signing anything rather than reading it after you've signed anything. The 14 day period is a cooling off period to protect customers, same type of thing for opening savings accounts etc.
There is no point blaiming Motorpoint, it's a customers responsiblity for knowing exactly what they want to buy and for finding out what they are paying for, how much they will pay up front, APR %, guarantee, liability, etc.
If you don't like the way Motorpoint have dealt with you as a customer then fair enough, find another dealer. However, there are plenty of satisfied customers who would recommend the company based on their experiences, same goes for plenty of other companies, and the same goes for people who wouldn't recommend abc for whatever reason. That's the way business works, it has its ups and downs and things can go right or wrong, but there is always more than side to a deal.
When you're spending thousands of £ of cash that's a lot of money to most people, it takes them time to earn that kind of money, using credit masks that part which is why so many people get themselves into debt so easily these days. Do you really need to buy a car for over £9k or can you manage with something that costs less ?
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Wow Dad !
Any company that masks there charges or doesnt declare them as they should deserve to go out of business. Just because some people are unaware of how to compare deals; or have limited choices odf finance doesnt make it right for cowboys to take advantage unfairly.
if a business declares its finance charges fairly and people use them; then thats ok.
Borrowing money is no better or worse than what most (?) people do. In fact its virtually what our economy is based on.
I dont like debt either, but other people use credit to give themselves items such as as cars.
Surely its not right to moralise to others what they should or should not do? Give suggestions and advice by all means; but let people choose !
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Any company that masks there charges or doesnt declare them as they should deserve to go out of business. Just because some people are unaware of how to compare deals; or have limited choices odf finance doesnt make it right for cowboys to take advantage unfairly. if a business declares its finance charges fairly and people use them; then thats ok.
All car dealers quote 'flat rate' interest charges (interest charged on money you've already repaid), which are typically about half the true APR. Should be banned, because people don't understand what 'flat rate' means, and how 6% flat rate is twice as expensive as a 5.9% APR loan.
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exactly!
Thats why APR was introduced as a comparison term?
Should be made compulsory (I thought it was !)
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Turn up next day with all papers etc. Go and get tax disc etc. Come to sorting out finance. She goes through everything and then tells me monthly payment. I ask for APR and she says 29.8%!!!!!
>>So as you can see the whole experience has not been great. (No car mats either..!)
Eh, I'm not sure what the problem is. You get a cheap price on the car and then you can choose whether or not to be stiffed on the finance costs.
It's a *choice*.
A normal dealer will stiff you on the price and on the finance as well.
I can't understand people going to buy a car without having arranged finance in advance. It makes no sense.
I bought from a car supermarket, and deposited the cost of my car into my current account, made sure I could pay by debit card, and then went to buy.
When it came to pay, they tried to sell me warranty, finance, gap insurance, and I just said no. Quite simple.
I don't understand people who say they don't realise they are paying extra charges, or didn't know what they were signing. When you sign, you read what you're signing. If you don't like what you see, just walk away.
These companies make their profit on people signing for unnecessary rubbish like this. I don't see how you were surprised that you found items on your invoice, because you would have received the invoice before paying.
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Thats why APR was introduced as a comparison term? Should be made compulsory (I thought it was !)
yorkiebar
the bit about you thinking it was "compulsory" to quote apr - i thought it was compulsory too.
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yorkiebar the bit about you thinking it was "compulsory" to quote apr - i thought it was compulsory too.
Compulsory in ads and written quotations, unfortunately this is no protection from being blinded by numbers if you only hear the verbl guff.
My own expererince loking for a Picasso two years ago was that by the time the documentation charges and menu priced warranties were added on the car supermarket prices were quite close to those in the franchised dealers. Clear impression that cars were ex fleet/hire, that supermarket had them on sale or return and that thare was a marked loss of sales enthusiasm when I said it was a cash purchase without finance.
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Would anyone take out a loan with a bank and not check what the APR rate was, in order to compare it with the competition? If a loan is required, it is up to the individual to shop around for the best deal.
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Agree Machika, but the smell of the showroom floor tends to hypnotyse buyers into the "I want it now" mode. PLus that many punters buy to the monthly cost with little or no thought as to the real cost.
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In terms of stock, most supermarkets will have a buyer (one or more) to do sourcing. Lots come from fleets, but this is also true of franchised dealer nearly-new stock. Franchised dealers will also try to add on 'stoopidglaze' paint protection, GAP insurance, tyre insurance etc etc. - selling these is by no means unique to supermarkets. Similarly dealers will offer higher APR's on used cars (low interest loans on new cars are often subsidised). Bascially there is not much difference I would say, assuming you are looking at 'non-specialist' cars and a supermarket is as good a place as any.
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