Yes, we all may wonder.

 

In my search for a S/H Elegance 1.4 Manual box I have come across a common factor in adverts. Many dealers show only 3 pics pics of a vehicle, which I assumed they have 'for sale', on a large rotary table and what I assume to be the same table.

 

So, assuming they had the car at their site, I emailed one dealer asking for additional pics. The reply came back, we don't have the car but will do in 5 days. Two days after asking I am told it sold before reaching them and it was coming from Skoda UK.

 

So who are Skoda UK and why do they have all these S/H vehicles and where are they.

You're quite right it's annoying as I've been done by this.

I don't know how it works but I assume they just distribute cars around the country so that they don't get them all sat around at the same place and other dealers with nothing to sell.

Very frustrating when you ask for more details or a test drive and they can't actually do it, though. Unfortunately my experience (speaking generally) has been that skoda customer service is now like any other manufacturer, i.e. poor, they seem to have lost that friendly anf helpful edge they used to have

Edited 21 January, 201610 yr by Dr_Pepper

The annoying part also being that I found that car fairly local at a good price. Now it has popped up with another dealer much further away and +£1000 on the price.

In my experience, the cars photographed on a turntable are ex-lease cars that have been returned to Skoda UK and are then distributed to/purchased by dealers. Presumably the photographs are all taken at the same location by Skoda UK or one of their agents.

Edited 21 January, 201610 yr by RapidPaul

Skoda UK have nothing to do with it.

The cars are listed for sale by individual franchised dealers, some big, some small. The larger ones will have branches dotted all over the country and to maximise sales potential will advertise a particular model as being local when in reality its not.

Skoda UK operate a fleet of vehicles themselves...as do the whole of VAG UK.

Some are ex-rentals supplied to the big rental outfits....I think Skoda agree buyback with them on supply...good for the rental firm and assures Skoda of certain age/mileage vehicles for their used programme. The cars tend to be held at Milton Keynes (I believe) and dealers can take dibs on them as "central" stock. Should a customer be interested, the dealer can agree to take on the car and it will be delivered to the dealership...should the sale fall through the dealer will usually be stuck with it as stock.

These cars are also ex management cars, so cars from their own company car fleet...more senior staff also get the incentive of leasing cars for a number of friends family at significant discount and I believe these end up back with Skoda UK once thier term/mileage allowance is met.

I have asked the second company for more pics so lets see where this pans out.

I had the same thing. 

 

Tried searching the Skoda UK website for used stock, and found that my local dealer apparently had a TSI DSG Hatch in stock, along with a TDI in Rallye Green. (I'd not long ordered a new green tsi hatch). 

 

As I hadn't (and still haven't!) driven the tsi, nor seen a rallye green in the flesh, I was going to pop down to have a look.

Spoke to the dealer, and he wasn't sure what I was talking about, and didn't have them in stock (despite the skoda website saying so). 

Skoda UK in terms of used cars creates a virtual network of all the used cars in stock across the franchises. It will direct you to your nearest dealer to say 'in stock' even if it isn't on their forecourt. They will transport between dealers for you to have a look if you are interested in the car and will process the sale at the local dealer.

I remember before you lucky lads were driving around in your MkIII's and I was looking to buy my nearly new MkII back in 2009 that all the Skoda used cars on their own website and many of their dealers websites were all photographed in the same location, on an airfield somewhere.

 

You could see the hangers, aircraft and lines and lines of used and pre-registered Skoda's all lined up in the background.

I have had NO reply from the original dealership who I asked to tell me about Skoda UK vehicles.

 

I have had NO reply from the dealer now advertising the vehicle from who I requested more pictures and a video.

 

I have had NO reply from my local dealer ref buying a new car with cash and could they match 12% (they offered 8%). I have bought 2 Skodas from them before.

 

It does not bode well or instill confidence in dealers.

 

Two years ago when I lost confidence in Suzuki I picked Skoda because they were local and thought they were a good choice.

 

EF'EM I think I will look private and use 3rd party garage servicing with OEM parts.

As said a lot of them are ex rental or ex Skoda UK company cars. Most of them seem to be on G prefix reg numbers, like this one:

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201601140084203?page=1&postcode=gl31nw&sort=default&radius=1500&make=skoda&search-target=usedcars&maximum-age=up_to_1_year_old&model=octavia&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&logcode=p

 

As others have said, they are available to all Skoda dealers, so get advertised a lot. Bit misleading really...

I have had NO reply from the original dealership who I asked to tell me about Skoda UK vehicles.

 

I have had NO reply from the dealer now advertising the vehicle from who I requested more pictures and a video.

 

I have had NO reply from my local dealer ref buying a new car with cash and could they match 12% (they offered 8%). I have bought 2 Skodas from them before.

 

It does not bode well or instill confidence in dealers.

 

Two years ago when I lost confidence in Suzuki I picked Skoda because they were local and thought they were a good choice.

 

EF'EM I think I will look private and use 3rd party garage servicing with OEM parts.

Most dealers respond better if you are in fornt of them rather than emailing/calling them.

 

If you are sat in a showroom with an offer from carwow or similar on the table .........

 

The tactic I took was go armed with the carwow or whatever offer, go to 1st dealer - match this and I order now, or I am off 15 miles down the road to the next dealer etc. etc.

 

The second dealer did the deal.

Mine's an ex Skoda UK owned vehicle. It was delivered to me from Milton Keynes where it was SORNed. OV reg.

I've just bought my 3rd Octavia Estate 2.0 DSG. 

 

The 1st I bought brand new from my local dealer.

 

The 2nd was a Skoda UK car I bought from a dealer 25 miles away.  I visted my local dealer but the salesman, the same guy I'd dealt with when buying my first, made a classic salesman's error of not listening to what his customer was saying, and instead wanted to push his own agenda.  This 2nd dealer did what I wanted and checked Skoda UK and found a car which suited me.

 

The 3rd one, just bought, is a Skoda UK car too, bought from a dealer 240 miles away.  It had sat somewhere, untaxed, for about 6 months, and was then bought by the dealer who had had it for about 6 months, also untaxed.  There aren't too many 2.0 TDI Elegance DSG estates around!

Interesting find.

When does the warranty start, when you bought it or a year previous

Cars on the used car section of the website with K* or O* registration prefix's are often VW (or Skoda) employee ex-company cars, or ex-press cars. They run them for a few months or so from new and then release them as used stock. They often show up on the website as being stock at your local dealer when you do a search even when they can be parked up in a field hundreds of miles away. If you put in a different postcode and search again under same criteria, you may find the same cars then show as stock at a different dealer from when you did your original search.

 

I once got done in a similar way to the OP when I tried to buy a Golf GT TDi from my local dealer about 5 or 6 years ago. The car was listed on a Sunday evening, when I rang up on the Monday morning they had no idea what I was talking about but searched the UK used stock database and found the car had already been sold to someone else in a different part of the country. It seems it's pot-luck with these cars, if the sticker price looks on the low side, they're often gone before you get chance to see them.

Most manufactures operate this system. Ford Direct, Vauxhall have a name for Thiers. The I've had an ex lease Astra that came from central stock. It must also help to control used car prices. Recently I heard of 500 BMW's coming onto the open market following a major contract lease replacement scheme. If just dumped on the forcourt over availability could hit used prices.

I decided to jump ship to VW and a private purchase.