marty_t3

I'm (hopefully) trading in my 94 WRX this weekend. I'm wondering if the garage are likely to want to test drive my car before agreeing to the trade. I wouldn't imagine they would normally do a test drive but in this case i'm trading in for a car at the same value (ie. no cash either way).

Are they likely to test drive it? or will i get away with just giving it a good clean?

austen_wrx

I hope your not trying to sell them a bag of old sh1te! That would be awful!

taffyboyo

IMHO I think they will test drive it,they will allways be
looking at making money and if they can then they will,
(bloodsuckers) these people make money out of us all day long!
please dont think you might be able to get one over on them,
cause you wont!

marty_t3

It's a better bag of sh1te than it was when i bought it 3 months ago. However, it does have a slipping clutch and hesitates a bit when the boost starts picking up Does have a new turbo though.

chris singleton

Depends on garage, when I traded in my old MY96 at a subaru dealer the salesman took it for a test drive and razzed the **** off it (or to use his exact words "to check it had 5 forward gears and 1 reverse"). Then he pulled back up at the garage and turned the car off without letting it idle for a few minutes

Chris

marty_t3

I'm pretty sure he will test drive it but i'm just hoping he wont. I'd get away with taking him out in it as long as he doesn't want me to boot it. I'm gonna drop the boost and hopefully hide the clutch slip but i dunno if he'd notice the lack of power.

The last car i traded in was an old banger i was using between "proper" cars. The salesman told me it didn't matter if i pushed it to to garage, he'd still give me the 5% deposit for it. Don't think i'll get away with it this time though. I'll give it a try anyway.

Andy Porter

As you say Marty, have a go, whats the worst that could happen ?
He tells you to F off ?
I'd be VERY suprised if he didn't test drive it, I nearly chopped mine last week as a straight swop and the guy wanted to pull it to bits FFS !
Andyp

marty_t3

I'll give it a try. If they notice the clutch i'll just offer a few hundred on top of the trade and see what they say.

The dealer i bought it from in the first place has already agreed to swap the car anyway but i'm just hoping i can get it done sooner rather than later.

banshi

If it's a specialist they'll surely notice the lack of power.
Depends how bad but anyone should spot the clutch is on the way out.

You can guess the traders response but to some extent extent it's a case of pot luck. e.g.

Main dealers will already have underwriten the value and won't care. A smaller operation hoping to retail will be a different matter

The last car I traded in, 98 turbo, the whole deal was done over the phone. Having described it honestly, didn't want to do 500 wasted miles. So I cleaned and polished it to perfection, put the original signature mats in, left the unmarked replacement wheels/tyres on & a full size spare in the boot.

On arrival I picked a sunny corner to show it at it's best and as they'd offered more than someone on the bbs got ready to haggle. The sales manager made me a coffe took the keys and never even stepped out of the showroom

At the other extreme, a Porche dealership put our car on their ramps drove it around 15 miles and then offered below book for a perfect motor with existing mfr warranty!!

Car supermarkets will probably start her up, give the panels a glance and bid low irrespective.

Just act confident have a credible reason for swapping so soon and cross your fingers

marty_t3

The clutch isn't that bad, i only noticed it myself now that i'm running it at full (standard) boost. It was hitting about 6psi before and there was no noticable slip. The power difference is noticable though (well.. to me anyway now that i've finally experienced both).

It's an import dealership i'm trading in to. He provisionally agreed on the phone. No great details were given over the phone but he already knows the model/mileage and that my car has a very limited history.

Fortunately my car looks ok from the outside so i'll just have to give it a good polish before hand. I was gonna give the engine bay a quick clean too. Suprising how much better an engine bay looks with clean fluid bottles

banshi

Ok, he may hope to retail it then.

If the car has no obvious defects confidence remains the key. As far as your concerned there's nothing wrong with it so try not to appear too desperate/eager to dump it.

He will expect to do work on most p/ex cars, some need more some less and that will be factored into the mark-up. If you haven't inspected the new car focus your mind on that and don't dwell on the old one. December is not going to see people hammering on the door so he will be just as keen to cut a deal.

Remember at Christmastime presents are for friends and family don't extend it to the motor trade

Dan B

If he does take it out, go with him, and when he say "wots that then?" tell him "they all do it mate."

p.s. I went to look at a civic type-r, took my 93WRX in late summer, all shiny and black, standard on the exterior. Dealer offered me £3000 p/x value. Told him to p1ss off. Didn't like the typeR anyway.

Reffro

In the dark old days when I was a car salesman, I would always drive every car I took in part exchange, unless it was worth less than £1000. And I always checked for slipping clutches within 200 yards of leaving the showroom, plus tracking, CV joints etc etc. And the test drive would be extended if it was a performance model just to make sure I didn't miss anything that pointed to less than caring owner. I never ragged the **** off cars but I would always check that a car would accelerate cleanly through its entire rev range, but in all the test drives I ever did on a customers car i never went above 80mph, as there is no real need. If there was anything I was unsure about then I would ask a mechanic to come out with me once more for a short trip to confirm any problems.

X2WRX

And people call us poor dealers Bandits

[Edited by X2WRX - 12/18/2002 5:25:51 PM]

chiark

I wonder if he checks scoobynet...

banshi

X2
If the mask fits....

The term buyer beware is equally applicable to the trade. And the deck is heavily stacked in their favour, generally the public have little if any mechanical knowlege and are easily suckered by an unscruplious trader.

Dealers should have the expertise to make a accurate assessment. If that judgment is flawed they have the capacity to absorb an occasional poor deal. Mrs/Miss/Mr Jones having paid thousands for a lemon does not and may face some stark choices.

paul w

Disconnect the boost solenoid then it will boost less and no slip.

what you replacing it with?

marty_t3

Just gonna connect the compressor housing nipple directly to the actuator. Should only boost to 1/2 a bar then i hope. I'll leave the solenoid plugged in, just not plumbed in. It ran without slip at 1/2 a bar before so hopefully it will again.

I'm replacing the car with a 300ZX twin turbo with any luck.

edited cuz i'm a numpt.

[Edited by marty_t3 - 12/18/2002 10:51:22 PM]

marty_t3

chiark, It didn't occur to me that the dealer might be reading this until about 2 posts ago

flashheart

the trick with test drives is to horse the **** off their car and dont let em in yours . I have given many a greasy greedy salesman a white knuckle experience. If i is bored i test drive for a few hours scream the **** off them and walk away fun fun fun

StudentScooby

But what problems is HE worrying about you finding with the 300ZX! works both ways in the second hand car market...

I sold my scooby the guy didnt even test drive it and brought it in the dark! now ive got a cossie took me a week to start noticing some minor problems...

[Edited by StudentScooby - 12/19/2002 12:07:00 AM]

marty_t3

I might try this approach... "yeah ok so mine needs a 300 quid clutch... but the Z needs an 800 quid cambelt change and service in a few months" and see what he says.

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

When I traded my MY99 in the Alfa dealer didn't test drive it, saw it only in the dark and didn't even look under the bonnet or in the cabin! Didn't even walk round the car to check for any damage. Car with filthy and I said I'd give it a clean prior to the swap but he told me not to bother - they'd do that when they passed it onto the garage that was underwriting it.

Very strange - but suited me

marty_t3

I don't think i'll get away with that here. The garage i'm trading in to are probably gonna sell my car on themselves (probably for a lot more that i trade it in for) so i guess they'll wanna know it's ok before they take it off my hands.

I got a less than flattering review of the garage over on the 300zx BBS. Apparently the cars they get in are in a bit of a state. They just tart them up and sell them on. I'll be approaching this one with caution i think....

GM

Well, you said it.....

EvilBevel

I can see the future...

In a months time, we'll get a newbie post "Hi, just got my first Impreza and it is fantastic".

Few months later "Hi, I fitted a boost gauge, and it only seems to boost to 7 psi, is this normal ?" followed by a "Hi, that solved it THANKS, but now I think my clutch is on the way out." ...

marty_t3

Maybe,

but at least i'll be able to point them in the right direction and they wont spend 3 months in and out of garages trying to find out why their car is running like a b1tch.

The dealer provides warraties with his cars so i won't feel too guilty. This is the first car i've bothered to get a warranty on, and it's saved me over a grand in 3 months.