It seems like I have bought countless Renaultsport Clios from the Southampton, Romsey and Salisbury region. The thought crossed my mind yesterday as I travelled home from Amesbury having purchased a lovely Clio Trophy from a customer who is going on a world trip next month. Something had to give, and it was the car - he's hopefully going to check out the website on his return.
There's either some pro-active dealers in that area who like to sell the sporty hot-hatches, or just a good following for that kind of car. On my way back I also saw a sign for Janspeed in Salisbury so i guess they have their business there.
Just took a call from a customer looking to dispose of his car. He had offered it to a number of BMW dealers who all offered (in our agreed estimation) about £1500 less than it's real value. I can't say this is a surprise, there's a certain amount of arrogance that goes with the marque, but probably just as likely one of the ways that they pay for those £7M showrooms you buy BMWs from.
Received a car yesterday that I had bought in the trade. All this kind of business is done on description and you have to trust the other party to describe accurately the condition and status of the car on offer. Disappointed to report that the car arrived with a checklist from the logistics company describing the car as too dirty to check properly, no service book in the book pack and four tyres needed. Needless to say I was 'disappointed' the vernacular not quite as polite as that. Luckily the previous owner lived in Cheltenham and a call to the local dealer resulted in a stamped service book already in my possession less than twenty-four hours later. Top marks to all the staff at Hylton Renault in Cheltenham for coming up with the goods for me and being incredibly efficient considering the sum total of my bill was £7.25! Oh, they have lost the franschise as far as I know, so it just goes to show the thin line between holding a franchise and relinquishing it, even with good staff in after-sales. The point is that I would never send a car off to anyone in the kind of condition this one set off in. It's blatantly obvious from the new V5 that the car had been bought cheap at an auction with no V5 and history but they are content to sell it on and blag their way through excuses for the missing history and bald tyres. Postscript, they will pay for the tyres (as long as they are mid-range) and 'have no idea' what happened to the history. Having valeted the car it's actually a very nice bit of kit and should do the trick for anyone wanting that particular model.
I had the conversation with a garage owning friend this moring that we're convinced you have to be dishonest to make any real money in business, and that accordingly we may be condemned to only 'make a living' as long as we trade ethically.
