Good deal or not - taking over remainder of lease?

[DICEYUK]

I've had a Cupra (Company car) since May 07 when the car was first registered. I am due to retire at the end of January and I've been quoted £12,490 to buy the remainder of the lease - this will drop a bit at the end of January but a few hundred quid.
The car's done 22,000 miles and is in perfect condition.
It's just had it's 20k service and 2 new tyres on the front
Personally, I think it's a pretty good deal but I'd welcome any comments.
I love the car to bits and ideally I want to keep it.

 

[m0rk]

are you looking to buy to keep, or buy to sell?

 

[DICEYUK]

As I said, I really want to keep it.

 

[phil3012]

I would say its not a bad deal.

I part ex'd my Cupra at the end of October for £13550 (based on a deal done in August).

My old car is now up at a main dealer for £14,500. Less miles than yours and was July 2007 but otherwise quite comparable really.

The advantage you have as well is you know the car from new.

It might be of interest I was told in August that a Cupra loses £500 a month.

 

[si-mate]

According to Parkers you would pay around £15,000 at a dealers.

Seems like a good deal to me as you know the history of the car. Just make sure you get everything possible done before you buy it

 

[alx_chung]

Sounds like a good deal but like the guys have already said make sure everything is in working order before you part with your cash.
Alex

 

[m0rk]

good price to keep - so do it. you know it's maintenance history as well as driving history.

I doubt you'd get much more than that if you tried to sell it now - and it's a good car to start your retirement with

 

[DICEYUK]

Thanks for all the advice & comments - I've decided to keep it. The good thing is, which I didn't tell you before, is that my Company contributes 50% of the remaining lease. Therefore, the car will only cost me about £6k.
Furthermore, and maybe as a matter of interest, I took it to a Ford dealer at the weekend. I had been interested in a new Fiesta Titanium 1.6 - lower insurance, higher mpg, etc etc.
However, after totally pissing me about for nearly 2 hours, they offered me £9.5k for the Leon. I, not very politely, told them to stuff it.

 

[microgerry]

Whoah. For only 6k I am surprised you needed to ask! Keep the bugger, it's a bargain

 

[phil3012]

Thanks for all the advice & comments - I've decided to keep it. The good thing is, which I didn't tell you before, is that my Company contributes 50% of the remaining lease. Therefore, the car will only cost me about £6k.
Furthermore, and maybe as a matter of interest, I took it to a Ford dealer at the weekend. I had been interested in a new Fiesta Titanium 1.6 - lower insurance, higher mpg, etc etc.
However, after totally pissing me about for nearly 2 hours, they offered me £9.5k for the Leon. I, not very politely, told them to stuff it.

Bargain at £6K.

They probably spent 2 hours trying to get an underwrite on the car. Apparently they will put it on an online auction for dealers to make a bid if you went ahead with the deal.

What colour is the Cupra by the way? I have read that yellow is apparently a nightmare to sell on and dealers aren't interested.

 

[DICEYUK]

It's Emocion Red.
I'll expand on what happened when I visited the Main Ford Dealer in Milton Keynes.
I phoned them on Thursday, they took all the details and said I'd need to go in so they could look at the car - we arranged 3.30 to 4.00pm.
We got there at 10 to 4, some guy asked if he could help, we explained why we were there (i.e. interested in a Fiesta etc), he wrote down all the details and he went away to get us a coffee. When he came back he said he was the 2nd hand car saelesmen so he couldn't help - the new car salesman, who turned out to be a woman, was tied up but she wouldn't be long. Twenty minutes went by and we were just left sitting there. Another guy turned up and asked exactly the same questions as the first guy. I mentioned that I hadn't seen a brochure - he said they didn't have any but he could print me one off. Fine I said so he went to the Ford website, set the print in motion and then dissapeared. Ten minutes later he came back with the printed brochure. However, this was in black & white and the printer had jammed so he'd only got half of it - great.
He also explained that the new car salesman was tied up but she wouldn't be long.
Another 20 minutes went by so by now we'd been there nearly an hour.
During this time, despite the "interest" of the 2 guys mentioned above, no one had even bothered to show me the car I was interested in - I found this amazing.
After another 15 minutes the new car salesman finally appeared. She then proceeded to take all my details (again!) and eventually asked to see my car. By this time it was dark & pissing down with rain - she opened the door and checked the mileage and that was it.
She then said that she'd need to go and see the second hand car salesman (yep, the very same guy I'd seen earlier who damn well new why I was there) to get a price. This took another 20 minutes and when she finally came back she then entered all the details in her PC, again asking me questions that I'd already answered at least 3 times before.
Finally she got to the final page showing my "quotation". "Fine" I said, "I assume you'll print that off so I can take it with me to consider".
"No", she said "we're not allowed to print off quotations but you can write it down"
This just did it for me, all this bloody cloak & dagger stuff and pissing about - I mean, when I went in there I was seriously interested in spending about £14k on one of their poxy cars and in reality I was treated like a piece of ****.
I haven't had to buy a car, second hand or new, since 1980. I was obviously wrong in thinking that the industry might have got it's act together since then, particularly as sales are slow at the moment. But no, not in this case.

 

[phil3012]

Thanks for the details, the Ford dealer I use is exactly the same regarding cloak and dagger.

They won't put sutff in writing as it would make it clearer how bad the deal is. They are often funny about APR which I think by regulations they must tell you but will only tell you when forced. We were looking at a 2nd hand Ford Ka and the APR was 26% still bought the car but with a bank loan.

I was in once really keen in buying another Focus to replace my 3 year old one. Went in on the Sunday deal not bad but could be a little bit better. Went home and backed worked the APR and the figures didn't add up based on the monthly payment.

Went back in a few days later to try and get a better deal only say £10 a month less on the payment and the guy (who I'd bought 2 cars off b4) said oh we messed up the repayment figures and it would be £25 a month more.

I ended up complaining to the director of the dealeship who is now an owner of the chain and he invited me in for a meeting and just gave me verbal abuse. Not a nice guy at all.

I have bought cars for other people there since but only because they are the only Ford dealer in that area.

 

[microgerry]

Nice story! I find that typical of many dealers.

Some years ago I arranged to drive over 30 miles to view and test drive a car after a full day in work. On arrival I informed the first person I saw who I was and why I was there. I was not offered a drink and was told the guy I needed to speak to was with another customer and wouldn't be long. Two other members of the sales team would not help me as I had spoken to first one on the phone already. I waited for the best part of an hour before deciding I had enough. When I got up to leave salesman no 1 wound up his conversation with customer to prevent me from leaving. After being told he has only ten minutes to show me the car before I walk away, he informed me that the car we discussed was at another depot in their group because the sales manager had nicked it for the day!

When I bought a car from another dealer some weeks later, he was very surprised I didn't return to him for another appointment. My second word was indeed OFF.

I think these people are a different breed from the rest of us!

 

[si-mate]

And the motor trade wonders why it's in such as state

 

[phil3012]

Nice story! I find that typical of many dealers.

When I bought a car from another dealer some weeks later, he was very surprised I didn't return to him for another appointment. My second word was indeed OFF.

I think these people are a different breed from the rest of us!

I don't know what planet some dealers are on.

When I bought the Cupra I test drove a Mini Cooper S on a Sunday I said right give me a part ex price for mine. He goes can't do that the sales manager isn't in today and I need to know what spec you want. Told him a rough spec which would be right bar maybe one or two £100 options and said speak to the manager 2morrow get me a price for the Celica in part ex and call me. 2 weeks passed he eventually called me, do you still want to buy one? Didn't understand I was still waiting for a price to change from him but had ordered the Cupra in the meantime.

The first SEAT dealer I went to was no better. They had a black Cupra in the showroom said I'd like a test drive to which they said fine its going on demo next week ring to confirm. Booked an appointment during the week to drive the Cupra and FR back to back the following Saturday. Got a call Friday "The Cupra is getting a spoiler and skirts fitted so will be in the bodyshop over the weekend", so I could only test drive the FR.

I suspect as it was bank holiday weekend one of the staff had taken it for the long weekend, probably the manager.

Saleman was understanding when I wouldn't do a deal without driving a Cupra and ended up buying elsewhere.

 

[DICEYUK]

And the motor trade wonders why it's in such as state

I mentioned that, or something similar about new car sales being down by 30% and the Boss of Ford willing to work for a $ if the US Government bailed them out.
She said "No, we're doing really well, selling lots of new cars"
Interestingly, while I was there waiting a very smartly dressed guy came and said he was interested in a new top of the range Mondeo - there was a white one in the show room. He then got the same wait as me but spent about 20 minutes looking at it, lifted the bonnet, looked in the boot, sat in the front, sat in the back etc etc. He picked up a brochure (they had one for Mondeo) went outside & came back with his glasses. He started to inspect things more closely, he found the handbook & started to read it. After another 15 minutes of complete inactivity from anyone connected to the dealership, he just walked out.
I find it incredible that these people can treat potential customers like that and apparently think nothing of it - it's a shambles.

 

[webhype]

I bought my cupra from Ted johnson in Barnsley.... they left me sitting around for an hour and i dealt with several people much like you guys above mentioned... to be honest, i would have bought the car elsehwere but they had a showroom model with the spec i wanted, color etc. and they ****ed up the price so it was a grand or so cheaper than it should have been (they didnt include bluetooth and xenons in price) so i bought it from them after some bargaining. Then when it was sold i went to collect it and just got given the keys...a serious brief tour of the car (heres the door...thats a steering wheel...and i quote "Your young im sure you will figure it out") and that was it. off i went.

Il never go back and recently got some work done at David Cooks in Oldham, its 30mins away and they were very helpful.

 

[leonfr170]

my Seat purchase was not plain sailing either. went to JCT and they were pretty helpful to start with - took an FR TDI out for test drive and then got back to garage. i told them from the start i was interested in a couple of cars and wouldn't make a decision until i had driven both options. as soon as i got back to garage the lady tried very hard to make a sale and i repeated my earlier statement. she must have taken offence and said she couldn't give me a price and walked away! sod it, i bought elsewhere and when she called back after 3 weeks told her what i thought of her sales skills - you suck!
Similar issue when my wife was interested in a Focus recently - dealer pissed about, lied to us about the price of the cars (i had checked Ford website prior to visit on models we were interested in) and then arranged a test drive and forgot to tell us that the car we would be driving was a different engine, different spec, oh and it wasn't a Focus but a Mondeo he could do us a deal on!

 

[Poverty]

It's Emocion Red.
I'll expand on what happened when I visited the Main Ford Dealer in Milton Keynes.
I phoned them on Thursday, they took all the details and said I'd need to go in so they could look at the car - we arranged 3.30 to 4.00pm.
We got there at 10 to 4, some guy asked if he could help, we explained why we were there (i.e. interested in a Fiesta etc), he wrote down all the details and he went away to get us a coffee. When he came back he said he was the 2nd hand car saelesmen so he couldn't help - the new car salesman, who turned out to be a woman, was tied up but she wouldn't be long. Twenty minutes went by and we were just left sitting there. Another guy turned up and asked exactly the same questions as the first guy. I mentioned that I hadn't seen a brochure - he said they didn't have any but he could print me one off. Fine I said so he went to the Ford website, set the print in motion and then dissapeared. Ten minutes later he came back with the printed brochure. However, this was in black & white and the printer had jammed so he'd only got half of it - great.
He also explained that the new car salesman was tied up but she wouldn't be long.
Another 20 minutes went by so by now we'd been there nearly an hour.
During this time, despite the "interest" of the 2 guys mentioned above, no one had even bothered to show me the car I was interested in - I found this amazing.
After another 15 minutes the new car salesman finally appeared. She then proceeded to take all my details (again!) and eventually asked to see my car. By this time it was dark & pissing down with rain - she opened the door and checked the mileage and that was it.
She then said that she'd need to go and see the second hand car salesman (yep, the very same guy I'd seen earlier who damn well new why I was there) to get a price. This took another 20 minutes and when she finally came back she then entered all the details in her PC, again asking me questions that I'd already answered at least 3 times before.
Finally she got to the final page showing my "quotation". "Fine" I said, "I assume you'll print that off so I can take it with me to consider".
"No", she said "we're not allowed to print off quotations but you can write it down"
This just did it for me, all this bloody cloak & dagger stuff and pissing about - I mean, when I went in there I was seriously interested in spending about £14k on one of their poxy cars and in reality I was treated like a piece of ****.
I haven't had to buy a car, second hand or new, since 1980. I was obviously wrong in thinking that the industry might have got it's act together since then, particularly as sales are slow at the moment. But no, not in this case.

my local ford did exactly the same when I wanted to buy a fiesta, couldnt give me figures, or mark down the price of the car unless I said that I definetly wanted it

Ford dealers are just stupid.

My SEAT experience was quite nice though!