please help

just been in to local dealer where i have ordered my car from to pick some parts up for current car

just had quick chat with sales man and he said they are hoping car should be in mid/late august so should beable to have car by end of august .... !!!

i said ill wait for spet and have new plat, and he said that i owuld have to have it by the end of august as the car costs them and it would need to be collected really as soon as it arrives .....

is this true

My understanding of it is.

It might cost them in space, but as you are paying for the vehicle at it's present value it will be sold at that value.

Car's only start depreciating once they have been registered, if you tell them you want to delay registration until the plate change there is no reason they shouldn't..

Please feel free to correct me.

The dealer may not get paid until the car is handed over. All companies work on cash flow hence they will want to get paid as soon as they can so they can then use the money to pay bills etc. If there is a delay in payment then the shortfall in cashflow needs to be made up somewhere, this couild mean borrowing money or incurring interest on money already borrowed. Hence it could cost the dealer money to delay giving you your car. It is often not the amount of orders/business a company is doing that makes it go under but an interuption in cashflow so maintaining cashflow is important to a company. Also they may have bonuses for the number of cars sold in a given month, due to August being quiet month (due to new reg in Sept) they may get more bonus for every car sold (I am only speculating here and have no information if this is correct or not) which may be another reason they want the car out before the end of August.

Edit: Assume everyone delayed their car in August to September then this would soon add up to a large amount of money the dealer would not get during August, close to £100k for every 5-6 cars. This would really hurt cashflow.

Edited 21 July, 201015 yr by PSM

I think it sounds more like the salesman would like to get the car into his August sales figures, August being a quiet month (for the obvious reason highlighted here). If its arriving half way through the month or later I think its not unreasonable to insist on Sept reg. If he won't budge I would try and get something extra on the deal from him as there is an immediate difference between the value of a 10 reg from the last week in August and a 60 reg from the 1st Sept. In the end they should be flexible..I suspect you've had to wait longer than you were originally promised for the car.

My guess is that they want to release it in August to bump up their sales units and meet that month's sales targets. It's not worth their while rolling it into September because they'll know that September's targets will need no help and will have already been met due to the plate change.

PS I guess the moral of the story is to tell the dealer when you order that if it arrives in August you want the new reg, but I still think its unreasonable for them to be unwilling to negotiate under the circumstances.

My guess is that they want to release it in August to bump up their sales units and meet that month's sales targets. It's not worth their while rolling it into September because they'll know that September's targets will need no help and will have already been met due to the plate change.

Damn right, bonuses are everything in this game. Tell the dealer you are on holiday (cruise in Far East!) and that you'll be back in middle September. Don't forget you are the customer and until you part with your cash you have some say.

I'm ex-motor trade. Yes, this is most likely to be bonus related.

Still worth haggling though.. you've got nothing to lose. Keep escalating (sales manager, dealer principle.. ) until you get someone who's willing to let you have what you want.

A later reg car can be as much as +£500 more when you come to trade..

do a forecast of the difference between 2 cars on parkers, 1 at say 06 plate, and 1 at 56 plate, and see the difference between the 2, then take it with you when you go to see them (if it makes a difference, do a few variations until the best one suits you.....)

Steve

If the car has been delivered in the agreed time frame then you must have been aware that you would end up with it before Sept 1st if not you would have asked for a Sept delivery?

Funny isnt it, the way car manufacturers can mess the customer around with changes in delivery dates, but it cant be the other way around.

The tales, on here & other sites where a car has been promised in 3-4 months & people have signed contracts based on that, only to be told suddenly, that its 6 - 9 months, when the customer finds its not acceptable & wants to pull out the dealers make it extremely difficult / impossible to do this.

Why do people put up with it?

prior to my car being delayed, it was due on teh 23rd of august. I asked for it to be delivered on the 1st sept, and there were no issues.

now that it has been delayed further, they are having to supply me with a car....

when did you order yours? and more importantly, when did they tell you it woudl be delivered.

if it is any more than say 2 - 2 1/2 weeks late, I would tell them that you are not going to pick it up earlier than sep1.

prior to my car being delayed, it was due on teh 23rd of august. I asked for it to be delivered on the 1st sept, and there were no issues.

now that it has been delayed further, they are having to supply me with a car....

when did you order yours? and more importantly, when did they tell you it woudl be delivered.

if it is any more than say 2 - 2 1/2 weeks late, I would tell them that you are not going to pick it up earlier than sep1.

The answer should be in the terms and conditions on the order form you have signed. Best to have a good look through that.

The answer should be in the terms and conditions on the order form you have signed. Best to have a good look through that.

Yep - if I remember correctly from when I bought mine, the terms said I had to accept and pay for the car within two weeks, so if it's available for collection before 15th August then you'd have to take it - any later and you could wait until 1st Sept. That's assuming the dealership doesn't just register it in Aug regardless to meet the figures for that month.

If it's arriving after 15th Aug, and you have the two week clause in your contract, then I'd insist it doesn't get registered before Sept 1st, and if it does then you don't want it. Make sure you are both perfectly clear on that, preferably in writing.

On a side note - I ordered a new car back in June for 1st Sept delivery, and asked the dealer if it would be a problem if the car arrived early (as they were suggesting they only needed an 8 week lead time) and they said no, they would be more than happy to have the car sat in the showroom for a month on display. Not sure how I'd feel about punters climbing in and out of my new car for a month though so lets hope it doesn't arrive too early!

Edited 22 July, 201015 yr by Phil_P