Is buying a car from a dealer much more expensive?

armabelle

I see a lot of cars advertised and most seem to be from dealers. I was wondering if someone with more experience could tell me if buying a car from a dealer is more expensive than buying priavtely and if it the extra cost is justified for some reason?

thank you

Henry Ford III

In general yes dealers are more expensive. Your consumer rights will be protected though.

If you do your homework and buy a good car it's arguable how valuable these are.

armabelle

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Your consumer rights will be protected though.

Thank you. And what are these exactly?

Atlantic Dawn

armabelle wrote: »

Thank you. And what are these exactly?

You will have a warranty. Buying private it's sold as seen, you could drive it down the road and the engine could fall out of it, you would have no comeback.

Typically unless you or a friend of yours knows something about cars it's best to buy from a dealer to avoid being ripped off.

armabelle

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

You will have a warranty. Buying private it's sold as seen, you could drive it down the road and the engine could fall out of it, you would have no comeback.

Typically unless you or a friend of yours knows something about cars it's best to buy from a dealer to avoid being ripped off.

Wouldn't the dealer want to charge you for the warranty as an extra? Or is it always included in a car purchased from a dealer?

Call me Al

armabelle wrote: »

Wouldn't the dealer want to charge you for the warranty as an extra? Or is it always included in a car purchased from a dealer?

You have consumer rights. They can't visibly charge you for these, and most main dealers will have the warranty, of varying lengths and t&c's, as standard (but you are paying a premium dont forget).

armabelle

Call me Al wrote: »

You have consumer rights. They can't visibly charge you for these, and most main dealers will have the warranty, of varying lengths and t&c's, as standard (but you are paying a premium dont forget).

Thank you. I am new to Ireland so please could you explain what these consumer rights are how they matter when purchasing a vehicle?

horse7

How much can you spend?

ironclaw

armabelle wrote: »

Thank you. I am new to Ireland so please could you explain what these consumer rights are how they matter when purchasing a vehicle?

Without going into terribly boring detail, you have very good rights in Ireland as a consumer. If you are sold something, in good faith, that later turns out to be defective, the seller is nearly always obliged by law to repair or replace the item at no cost to you. For example, you buy a car and a week later you find the entire gearbox is going to need to be replaced. When you bought the car, its reasonable to assume that the gearbox would last a length of time given the age and condition of the car you were sold i.e. A gearbox should last more than a week. Likewise, if you were sold a car that was 'serviced' and a month later it needed a turbo because it had no oil in it, you would be in a good position for the dealer to pay for the repairs. However, if you were sold a car that you were explicitly told was NOT serviced or you were explicitly told had a gearbox that needed replacement, and this is present in writing on a receipt for example, then you are not entitled for the dealer to repair it as you knew before the purchase.

It gets slightly complicated with cars and other daily use items as the definition of 'fair use' and 'wear and tear' are debatable. Should a 10 year old cars gear box last a year? Or 6 months? When is it reasonable to find a cut off when the dealer is no longer liable and the consumer is? That's an area of massive legal debate and not one for this thread.

The short story is: When buying a car in Ireland, unless it is very new or from a main dealer, you should always bring a friend who knows about cars when you go to view. If you like it, put down a deposit and find a good mechanic to look at the car. Only, and I mean only, after a mechanics inspection should you buy the car. My rule of thumb is, the older the car, the more cautious you should be.

bazz26

Most dealer prices have the cost of warranty included in the price, along with their profit, overheads and other costs. Most large or reputable dealers will give you a proper warranty where they will fix the car if it falls within the terms of the warranty. You need to read and understand the terms of the warranty as a used car warranty varies in detail and will not cover everything.

Alot of smaller dealers these days tend offer a third party warranty from another company (usually a warranty company). You need to be careful with these type warranties as they tend to have alot of exclusions as to what is and what is not covered and most of them will only cover the cost of repairs after you have spent money proving that it is a defect that is covered. Also these type of warranties can be used by some dealers as a way of telling you go away and don't bother them if you have an issue.

With a private sale, the buyer has no legal comeback with the seller unless they can prove that the seller knowingly sold them the car with an issue. Proving things like that can be near impossible. It is really up to the buyer to have the car properly inspected before paying for the car.

colm_mcm

It really comes down to how much you're spending, and how much of a percentage of the cost of the car is the premium over buying privately.

biko

My 2 cents:
if you don't feel confident you can spot a bad/good car by yourself, then go with a dealer.

Privately you have no warranty at all. With dealer you have warranty.

colm_mcm

With cars in a certain price bracket though, say sub 3k, I'd have more confidence buying privately, you're often dealing with the absolute bottom of the ladder where your consumer rights don't mean a thing.

I did a tour of Dublin dealers when my wife was looking for a car for about 3k, mainly just to show her different models etc, and most of the cars on offer were shocking.

ironclaw

biko wrote: »

My 2 cents:
if you don't feel confident you can spot a bad/good car by yourself, then go with a dealer.

This is the best advice but as the OP isn't from Ireland, I'll hang a slight caveat on it. Not all dealers in Ireland are created equal. There are generally two tiers: Franchised main dealers and local, small time operations. You're less likely to be sold a 'bad' car from the former and far more likely to get sold one by the latter. Generally in the case of local, unbranded garages its low cost cars, sold cheap for maximum profit. No matter the story they spin, understand that the price you buy a car for, even as a dealer, and the price you sell it for, has such little in the difference they'll likely do nothing for the car except maybe give it a quick wash and hoover. The quality will generally be extremely low and the after-sales service non-existent. Many garages of this kind open and close their doors within a year, often opening again under a different name in another part of the city. Understand, no matter how strong consumer rights are, its very hard to take such a dealer to court. It will cost you far more than the car is worth.

Now that we've probably rightly scared you, once again, any car no matter what should not be bought without the firm approval of a competent and impartial mechanic

Idbatterim

unless the car is brand new, id be getting the car checked out, in a mechanics garage with a proper ramp etc. What cars are you looking at Op? some of the dealers here are absolute gangsters, with the kind of cars i am interested in, give me one from an enthusiast any day!

I would trust it far more than some small time dealer, just trying to make a quick buck, no idea or care for the cars history...