ProperCharlie

Hello,

wonder what your thoughts are on this: i want to buy a mondeo tdci estate - ok, laugh if you want , and i want to trade in the wife's mini cooper. so i look on the ford website and there's a shed load of well spec'ed less than 1 year old mondeos for 15-17k. anyway i arrange to go and see the people and they ask what i want for the mini (it's a 51 plate with a good spec) and i decide to start high so say 9.5 to 10k. the agent beside the one i am talking to laughs uproariously at this, which i find a bit pathetic. i tell them i am looking for a one year old or less car and will spend up to about 16k including the trade in. the agent goes away for ages and much huffing and puffing (1/2 an hours worth) comes back and says we've found you a 52 Ghia which we can do for your mini plus 6.5k. She says it's the only one which they can find that matches my criteria (even though it doesn't as i specified less than 1 year old). I find this strange as on the ford direct website there are about 30 cars that match my criteria. she says that these cars "may have already been sold". In principle i am reasonably happy as i am getting more or less whta i want for the money i want to spend. what annoys me is they deliberately try and obscure the issue by not coming straight out and saying "we'll give you 8.5k for your car, here are a list of cars we have available and the prices we want for them." instead they indulge in this farce of trying to pretend they are giving me 9.5k for my car and then searching for a lower value car to sell me, and then make out that it's really worth 16k when it would no way have gone for that price for cash.

oh well - got it off my chest in any case!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I paid 3 grand for my Y rep new shape 1.8 LX with 44k !

Go to autotrader.co.uk and do a search.

Tiggs

thats the point of a trade in....you're to lazy to sell private so they shaft you like a mug.

you may as well say "give me an undisclosed amount for my car and sell me a new one for as much as you can without me having a clue as to its real value"

if i needed a used modeo it would come via autotrader...and if it cost £16k!!!! i'd want a free mini with it.

T

ProperCharlie

Jacko - i'm sure i could get a car cheaper privately but i can't be @rsed with the hassle of it. I was gonna go for a private sale but then the buyer for the MINI decided that she didn't want it after all so i decided to go down the trade in route. the main thing that annoyed me is how they try to treat you like a mug. yours sounds like a pretty good deal though.

ProperCharlie

Tiggs - i forgot to ask about the "free mini" offer

skiddus_markus

I thought Minis were fetching a premium and easy to sell-not much effort needed there.

dazc2

Go to a different dealer......

ProperCharlie

yeah - i admit that i went to a main dealer cos i am too lazy to mess about with timewaster private buyers, and i am too lazy to mess about with private sellers, unless it's for a cheap car. i looked on autotrader a while back, and all the cars that matched what i wanted were at ford dealers in any case. i tried a car supermarket but they didn't have anything close to what i wanted.

i should have put the question a bit differently - i expect to pay a bit of a premium by going to a main dealer with a px, but i also expect to get a good level of sevice and not be mugged. i just find their sales methods a bit rubbish. maybe i shoud have just walked in and said 'please print me off a list off all these sort of cars that you have available at the moment' and gone from there.


[Edited by ProperCharlie - 11/25/2003 8:55:56 PM]

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Lazy will cost you about three grand !

How long do you have to work for that ?

ProperCharlie

up to £1500 i wouldn't be too bothered but 3k for being lazy is a bit much!

my recent track record with cars is not too great. that's probably why i'm not a car dealer

OTOH my dad buys a vauxhall astra every 18 months and they practically pay him to take them away. but of course there are some cars which could *never* be cheap enough.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Have to say, performance (mines a 1.8 and its not very fast but ok when you dont think about fast) and image (hasnt got one) apart the Mondeo is a really good car, handling and grip are amazing for a big lump of a car, interior nice, brakes superb, get one as I dont think you can go wrong with them.

kinky

A 2001 Mini One - standard spec with 20k should give you a trade-in of £9,158, with the dealer knocking it out for £10,995.

If I was buying a Mondy (and am considering at the mo) I would firstly go the MEG (Mondeo Enthusiasts Group) site at: http://www.fordmondeo.org. Click on "Forum" on the top navigator and then "For Sale".

Secondly I'd try Ebay, thirdly I'd try lease companies (high miles, but properly serviced).

The very last place I would go to is a Ford Dealer. It is my own personal opinion that they are the absolute pits. The fact they laughed when you stated what you wanted says it all.

Bottom line - you're being shafted on the trade-in and on the new car.

K

kinky

Plus ...

DrEvil is considering a 1-2 year old Mini One or a Honda Jazz(about 15 postings down from this one at the moment).

Sounds like a match to me.

K

Reffro

Did you actually buy the car ProperCharlie?

I've become very adept at car buying over the years, being an ex-car salesman helps I suppose. With a little bit of leg work, you can improve the deal. Drop me a line to my e-mail for more help if you want.

ProperCharlie

ref - i have bought it dependant on veiwing and test driving. as long as the car is as described i will probably go for it as i have a sh*tload of things on the go atm and i don't want anything else on my tea tray. OTOH the mini has a couple of marks from being parked on the street that they didn't notice last night (it was dark and raining after all) and if they start trying to get more money out of me for putting these right i will probably have a hissy fit and walk away. one of the reasons i didn't try too hard to sell privately was i knew potential buyers would be whinging about bodywork. I had offered it to a friend of the missus for 9k but she went to mexico instead

thanks for the offer though

CraigH

You can get a brand new one from motorpoint for £14.5k......

ProperCharlie

just had a look at that Craig. interesting....

Reffro

Seriously mate, drop me a line, from what you have described, I can do better for you, i.e. save you money. What have you got to loose?

ProperCharlie

ref - i had to give them a deposit to get the car from whereever they keep them, so i'll have to go and have a look at it in any case. if it doesn't work out i'll mail ya.

Cheers.

MikT

PC

Remember that the deposit that you have paid is refundable if you change your mind when you see the car. You don't have to give a reason you can just say that you don't like it and they'll refund it to you.

I bought a Mondy earlier this year through the FordDirect route and it was well discounted but the dealer was a complete pain in the erse trying to get them to say what they were giving you for my trade in. All they banged on about was a changeover figure. I ended up going round all the Ford dealers near me and they were all as bad as each other.

At the end of the day its the product that you are buying and not the salesman so haggle like mad, free servicing (my father-in-law got free servicing for life), mats, bootliner, air freshener, anything! They will give you a deal eventually its just a pain trying to get there.

Aren't they doing a deal that you get free fuel for life if you buy a TDCI at the mo?

Good luck.

PEE1

Anyone who spends £16k on a Mondeo wants their head read.

Be worth 8 grand within 12 months!

ProperCharlie

but so will a lot of cars. the £26k scoob with 2k of extras was worth worth 15k after 18 months. i intend to keep the moneo for 4 or 5 years so i don't really care if it halves its value in the first 6 months. if it's worth 2k in 5 years time then depreciation will be under 3k pa so that's fair enough to my mind. cars lose money - it's just how things are.

dosenöffner

If they are offering 8.5k for the Mini I'd be interested for cash.

What are the details of it?

Means a better deal for cash when you are buying.

JoeyDeacon

I too don't quite understand why you are swapping one of the lowest depreciating cars you can buy (MINI) for one of the quickest depreciating cars you can buy (Mondeo)

Surely if you are looking at spending this sort of money you have to be looking at an Audi, BMW or Mercedes? The fuel savings in buying a Diesel Mondeo are going to be nothing to the depreciation of the thing.

I too have sworn I am going to keep cars for 4-5 years in the past only to get rid of them after a year or two. Keep your options open and get something that isn't going to depreciate like the Mondeo.

ProperCharlie

joey - getting rid of the MINI cos of impending arrival of child in january.

looked at 320 bmw but there is **** all room in the back of it, either the back seats or the boot. A 530d is out of price range. I've had mondeos before and while they are not exactly the be all and end all of motoring they are nice enough to drive, have been reliable in my experience and it's only going to get covered in sick and sticky food in any case.

when i have recovered financially from everything that is happening at the moment i intend to get a bm or something else reasonably nice for myself in any case. and i won't be fitting a child seat .

dosenöffner - the details are:
51 plate MINI Cooper Chili pack
red with white roof, white bonnet stripes and front fogs (the grille mounted ones) it has a small dent in the bonnet where i think some oik must have sat on it, also a small dent in one of the rear quarter panels where another oik tried to break in. the condition throughout is fair but not A1 - why do women keep cars in such a ferkin mess?
It has traction control, air con, cd player and remainder of TLC free servicing, 19.5k miles.

I have signed something with xxxxxxxx motors saying i will sell it to them - don't know if this matters or not.

[Edited by ProperCharlie - 11/26/2003 5:16:21 PM]

logiclee

PC.

If you have signed before seeing the car your deposit should be subject to you accepting the car when you see it. Just tell them it's not what you expected and you no longer require the car.

I have bought 3 Fords from www.matlockford.co.uk they specialise in Ford Direct cars and are first class.


Does it have to be a TDCi Estate? The hatch is pretty big and the economics of buying a used TDCi only work if you do monster miles.

They currently have an 03 Mondeo Ghia.

Spec.....
Specification includes Climate control air conditioning,alloy wheels,anti lock braking,Quickclear screen,all electric windows,in-dash CD autochanger,6x airbags,remote central locking,front fog lights,power and heated mirrors,adjustable steering and just 4,900 miles from new

The price is only £11700.

If it does have to be a TDCi Estate they have two 52 plate GhiaX's with Full Leather, heated seats, Cruise Control, parking sensors etc. for £14999

They do decent trade in prices as well far better than Motorpoint which is not too far away.

Lee



[Edited by logiclee - 11/26/2003 5:50:11 PM]

dosenöffner

You have mail.

ProperCharlie

dosenöffner - i'll drop you a mail when i get home (soon )

PEE1

ProperCharlie

Check out www.ukcarbroker.co.uk/fordmondeo.htm

Brand new Mondeo TDCi Zetec 5drs S4 6 speed UK cars not imports
£13800