Hi
I'd really appreciate any advice on this
ready? its quite long....
Okay, I bought an Audi S3 from an Audi main dealer with a good local reputation. I bought the car on lease purchase as it was to be a company car, and the finance agreement seemed to suit my situation
Long and short of it is I am selling the car as I've changed jobs and dont need it, I accept I'll have to take a hit as I gave a relatively low deposit, and seeing as a large chunk of the value of the car is deferred for a final payment, the loan is not quite paid off at the depreciation rate of the car
Car was 2001 Y reg, cost £21995, just about the going rate at the time for a UK S3 bought from a main dealer. I need to get shot of the car quick, so I've taken it to a local independent Audi dealer purely with a view to settling the finance. The first thing they said when they saw the service book was "this is an import". And sure enough, it is
Now the price I paid (22k) was the price of a UK car, and Audi never mentioned it was an import. I appreciate I'm at fault, as its in the book, but I'm very naive with cars, and assumed being in a main dealer, the car coming with the 3 year warranty, and of course paying the going rate for a UK car etc etc
The warranty on imports is 1 year, so I rang and asked when the warranty ran out and they mentionmed its not unusual for them to sell imported S3's, and that they 'make up the balance' so that the car comes with the full 3 year uk warranty. They've sent a copy of the warranty paperwork, and its come through with the price of £19995 as the purchase price. I'm pretty sure if I take them up on this, they'll just say its a clerical error
I'm probably going to sell it to the independent dealer this week, although I plan on speaking to the dealer I bought it from on Monday to see if they would like to buy it
Have I been stitched up and should they have told me it was an import? Or, much as I expect, have I just been a little foolish and need to swallow the difference between trade price and finance owed
thanks !
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Nick,
If you'd not changed jobs this issue wouldn't have arisen would it. You'd have enjoyed the A3 and they would have extended the warranty to 3yrs. Frankly the difference between import and UK car values (if there is/should be one) would have been quite minor if you'd sold after 3yrs in the normal course of events.
I assume you are happy to take the new job, and the company car that goes with it.
Just sell the A3 for whatever and don't even waste five minutes worrying about it....these things happen.
MM (Chilled out in the Fens)
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okay thanks for the advice
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Nick,
Well do wait for those that might urge you to firebomb the showroom and poison his pet hampster...just to expand your options!
Did you get an even better new car??
MM
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All Audis are imports - unless they have a factory here that we haven't heard about! The problem seems to be that the trade know what you paid for it and try to stitch you on trade-in values. A UK spec Audi is just that, regardless of how you came by it and what you paid for it (IMHO)
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"A UK spec Audi is just that,"
Exactly right. The trade always try it on. They say it makes no difference when they are selling the car, but it is another story when they are buying,
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I understand that all Audis are imports, and that theres no difference other than where the car was first registered
However, buyers expect you to pass the savings on to them with regards imports, the fact that I paid the price of a UK car for an import will be of little interest of course...
ho hum
And no, I didnt get a different car. The S3 (awesome car) was for zipping between our offices around London, now I'll be tubing it into work and therefore only driving to the station and back, so I'll be buying a cheap run around and sharing my girlfriends sports convertible. The new job pays more and is a far better job so its worth it
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For what it's worth, you may want to firebomb the showroom and poison the dealer's pet hampster...
:o}
No Dosh - but then who has?
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For reference, I could've bought a brand new 225bhp 2002 model RHD UK spec from sportimport for £21k
Instead I paid £22k for a 2001 RHD 210bhp UK spec import believing it (rather foolishly) to be a UK registered car
Still, learn by your mistakes I guess
And you're right, its of course immaterial to the dealer when they're selling the car, but when they're buying 'ooh, import? not really interested mate, we'll give ya 17k'
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Depends on how much you value your time and sanity...
I'd be tempted to sell it back to the supplying dealer. Logically they can't beat the price down if they sold it to you as a UK car. If they give you a poor quote I'd take it up with the dealer principle. Might get you an extra 500 notes
Good luck
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It might be worth checking the small print on your contract, because on my BMW contract I was able to give the car back to them despite the fact that I owed more on finance than the car was worth (and it's all perfectly legal). The deal seems to be that if you have paid more than half the agreed cost including interest, you can return the car at no extra cost to yourself (you do have to return the car in good order)
In my case I still owed 12k and the car was only worth 7k trade.I simply returned the car to a dealer. I was told at the time that they would not give me finance again, but I bought another 530i straight from the same main dealer, and I've noticed that the contract has the same clause in it! Only last week I recieved a credit note from BMW finance for 11K which somehow ended up as the balance, and a letter to say that there were no futher monies due.
And before you feel sorry for the dealer, when I bought the first 528 I was told by the salesman that after 3 years I should be able to get 60% of what I was paying for it in a trade in,Yeah right! After only two years it was worth only 45%.
And at the time BMW were swearing on everybodies mothers that they would not reduce the price of their cars, and 4 months after I bought mine they kealed over and reduced their prices killing the residual for all of us mugs who believed them. And after all they write the contract.
So read the contract carefully, you never know.
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yeah, I've actually used that before myself, part of all car finance agreements, i believe
i had an N reg RS2000 that was worth about 6k at the time, which was also what i owed, but the dealer taking it as part exchange was whining about "its an x year old escort and you want 6k" he didnt seem to grasp the concept of an RS2000 being worth more than a standard....
so anyway, he suggested i give it back if i was over 50% through the deal, which i was, and saved myself a few grand by doing so
thought i'd get a mark on my credit record, but they put me straight through to their sales department and sold me another loan, and i've never had any credit problems since
anyhoo, its immaterial with this car as i've only had it a few months, and so i owe slightly more than i borrowed :(
still, dont have to sell, so i've had to make sure its financially worthwile to do so, just felt a little peeved at buying an import at a stupid price from a main dealer
my fault, but....grrrrrrr
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I spoke to my father-in-law who has just retired from his job as a general manager of a major ford dealership. He seemed to think that their behavior was dubious to say the least. Parallel imports do not have the same residuals as normals new cars as many buyers steer clear of them. I'm sure had you known that it was imported you would have put more consideration into buying it and should have at least been able to make an informed decision.
It's probably worth going back to them to see what they offer you, and if they offer you less because of it's history then my father-in-law suggests that it would be worth talking to the Citizens advise Bureau.
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petronus,
I appreciate you doing that, thanks
It sort've echoes my thoughts, that the price really suggested it was not an import. For instance, they had another identical car in a different colour for the same price, would be interesting to know if that was an inport
simple fact is that imports and UK cars, though identical, are subject to different pricing structures
had i known this, i wouldnt have bought the car, certainly not for that price anyway
I spoke to their buyer today who said they're currently not looking to buy S3's of the colour mine is
so i guess it sort've ends here... :(
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