LG John

Just had a phone call from a guy that says he'd bought my old scooby from the garage I sold it to. I assume he got my number from old paperwork that I'd have left in the car from servicing, etc. Anyway, it turns out he's been having some trouble with the car and the garage are giving him the cold shoulder so he wanted to know the history of it - which I duely filled him in on.

It turns out that he bought the car for £10,500!!!!!! The garage only gave me £7300 for it!!!!! Now admittedly it needed a big service there and then but this would only have cost the garage £500 MAX. It would also have benefited from some paint work too so another £200 would have sorted that meaning they 'effectively' got the car for £8k and made a £2.5k markup. Yes, they have to pay staff, electricity, showroom hire, etc, etc but bloody hell!! Don't take their cr@p when they offer you a poor price guys!

wrxmania

That sounds poor - particularly for the guy who bought it

Brian.

Oranoco

That's how garages work mate. If you'd wanted the proper money your car was worth you should have sold it privately. This can be difficult when you need to gain money quickly for the replacement. Don't forget the garage will not have paid the same prices for parts that you would have either.

Even though £3000 is a lot they either pulled your pants down or the guy who brought its down.

sulli

That's why it cracks me up when people go to dealers, pay a premium of maybe 30-40%, just because they think it's going to be a better car or there will be more comeback.
OK, sometimes the comeback is more, but you don't half have to fight for it, and how many people can be bothered?
Spend some effort genning up on a car, or get an AA full check, and you are just as safe buying privately, and will get a better deal. you will also be able to ask about all of the intricacies of the car, what sort of oil is always used, and other handy bits, that a garage would never know or ever care.

robby

Blimey - what year, mileage was it?

Jap2Scrap

Don't forget the garage pay a hefty whack in corporation tax on the profit they make (circa 40%). I px'd a GT4 on the Saxo, virtually a swap, and they put a measly 800 quid on it. By the time they'd reshod the rear end and serviced it, plus offered a three month warranty there was sod all in that for them. However they did mistakenly include the receipt for the Saxo from when they'd taken it in px. They'd given the guy £1500 for it! I paid nearer £5000. There's a serious mark-up there for the outlay.