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Desperate car dealer - "Your new car is only good for two years"

16 January 2009
By Paul Smith

You've got to feel sorry for car salesmen. No, hang on a minute, you don't have to do any such bloody thing, because they're a bunch of smarmy, grease-oozing individuals who, for the love of all that is holy and sacred, will not let you look at a car for a more than a nano-second without sidling up to you and attempting to push the thing up your arse.

I'm not a fan, as you may have detected, and less so after my mother received a letter from the local dealership she bought her motor from:

Dear Mrs Smith,

It's nearly two years since you purchased your car and I trust that during this time it has given you good service and happy motoring.

Still, two years is a long time, therefore we would like to invite you to visit our dealership to look over our extensive stock of new and used cars.

Seriously? Promote your MOT facilities, regular servicing, sat nav fitting - any service that might cost a reasonable amount given the economy, still provide a healthy profit margin and increase footfall through your salesroom. No, it won't help you shift the hundreds of low-powered jalopies to hit your quarterly targets, but then that really isn't anyone's problem but yours, now is it? Suggesting that a car is good for two years before it's time to consider replacing it is mad as bat shit, frankly.

6 comments

  • James
    Here we go again. Another "Motor Trade" knocker. With declining values, this is actually a good time to change caers as the "cost-to-change" will be lower now than it would have been a year ago, and with a two year old car, it's resale/trade in value will be higher as a result of having manufacturers warranty still on it.
    Reply ·
  • Joff
    You can't blame them, they're desperate! 2008 was a terrible year for the majority of car sales in the UK - http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/News/Search-Results/Industry-News/UK-2008-car-sales-analysis-winners-and-losers/ and it's likely to get a lot worse before it gets better.
    Reply ·
  • doober
    to try and suggest 2 years is a long time for owning a car is ridiculous, bloody leeches. and it would not be a good time to change a 2 year old car as the secondhand market has suffered a massive crash in prices and you would get a miniscule ammount for your trade in. every manufacturer has hundreds of thousands of cars parked on dissused runways because they cannot sell them, try lowereing the price of the cars and start shifting them, rather then going begging to the government for a handout. if they cant make a profit, they should not be in business.
    Reply ·
  • Saramond
    I take it they won't be selling any used cars that are over 2 years old then, as they are evidently old and clapped out by then?!
    Reply ·
  • well w.
    i went looking last Sunday and went down to browse at about 10 secondhand dealers. only one actively came up to us but when we said we were just looking that was the end of conversation. was looking around the 3 to 4k mark. Their approaches do differ. one we saw was 3k5 on the forecourt, looked on ebay and it was 3k, emailed them via eBay saying i would consider it at 2k5 and was told that would be ok. one dealer as we browsed said take £500 of the screen price of all the cars. The local nissan dealer wouldnt take a penny of a car at £3995. Seems best to go in at really stupid price. you've got to have balls to go for a grand off but what have you got to loose. OK self dignity but I've little of that now at my age
    Reply ·
  • Steve
    Actually they're not saying you need to replace your car. Newer cars mean you don't have to pay MOT, get the prestige of a new car and so on. I'm not sure how the wording of the letter would offend Mr Smith. I'm more annoyed that my used car dealer sold my details to a 'portrait gallery' who keep phoning me to tell me my 'gift voucher' is going to expire. Now THERE'S a story (or boring article, depending how you see it).
    Reply ·

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