Why do cars that dealers sell seem mroe used than they really are?

regi3457

I went to a place called "Right Price Cars" in Dublin which have a lot of cars and I wanted to buy one but I had never purchased a car from a dealer before. I liked that they had a big selection but I didn't like the state of the cars. I mean, some were alright but they all seemed to have something damaged or paint scraped off or wheels all rusted. They all seemed to be older than what they were saying. I found one car that I almost purchased - a 2008 Nissan Note - with only 60000km but it just seemed much older than a car that has only done 60000km so I checked the NCT but it didn't say the mileage of the last time the car was checked so I guess you really either believe it or you don't. How do you know that a cars mileage is really honest? I mean... a lot of these cars come from leasing companies or car rental companies so is that why they look older for their KM or is it because the odometer has been tampered with?

Sam Kade

It can't be any older than what's on the number plate are you saying it seemed to have been clocked?

regi3457

Sam Kade wrote: »

It can't be any older than what's on the number plate are you saying it seemed to have been clocked?

It seemed to have more KM's than what the odometer said. I do believe it is a 2008 but the condition was of a car that has done much more than 60000 KM's.

colm_mcm

Right priced cars sell cheap, well worn cars. It's what they do. Some are ex rental alright, but they wouldn't have been rental cars for 8 years.
Spend more money and you'll get a nicer car

Special Circumstances

colm_mcm wrote: »

Spend more money and you'll get a nicer car

Niet, capitalist pig dog.

Button_y

I was buying a car from a dealer a couple of years ago. I had my suspicion that the mileage was not as it seemed. I took a photo of the chassis number, the dealer got spooked when I did this and stumbled over how they normally don't allow that. I went away to think about the car. When I checked online at the car when I got home the ad was changed and the dealer had stated that there was an issue with the odometer and mileage was incorrect.

regi3457

colm_mcm wrote: »

Right priced cars sell cheap, well worn cars. It's what they do. Some are ex rental alright, but they wouldn't have been rental cars for 8 years.
Spend more money and you'll get a nicer car

I didn't go there with a budget. My budget is flexible to finding the right car. When I meant that the cars seem older for the amount of mileage they have I mean that relative to the age of the car. Even newer cars seems more used. I think either

1) the cars have incorrect mileage or
2) they were used in leasing or rentals and seem more used because of how cars are treated when they are not owned by one person

regi3457

Button_y wrote: »

I was buying a car from a dealer a couple of years ago. I had my suspicion that the mileage was not as it seemed. I took a photo of the chassis number, the dealer got spooked when I did this and stumbled over how they normally don't allow that. I went away to think about the car. When I checked online at the car when I got home the ad was changed and the dealer had stated that there was an issue with the odometer and mileage was incorrect.

They really know how to manipulate cars those guys... I guess not all but a lot of them I am sure.

allibastor

Lots of dealers sell cars which come back from fleet.

They never really announce it unless pressed.

Some places like autoxchange make it there business model to sell ex-fleet cars.

Vote 4 Pedro

I recently drove from Galway to Right price cars to look at a Polo for the wife, It was in "mint condition"
The car was as ruff as sh!te, the paint was badly chipped all over the place, in fact it would be very hard to get so many paint chips if you were trying to collect them. Cracks in the bumpers, dents in on the doors as well.
The sales guy was very pushy and said "I'll buff them all out and it will look like new"
When the salesman realized I was not going to buy there and then (within about 3 minuets) he lost interest and basically ignored me from then onwards.
some were down the the bare metal and would never be right, It was the worst car I've seen in a garage.
They were lots of cars there and all the ones I looked at were very bad.

Definitely a trip never to be repeated but someone must be buying these cars or they wouldn't be selling them and they would be out of business.

colm_mcm

regi3457 wrote: »

I didn't go there with a budget. My budget is flexible to finding the right car. When I meant that the cars seem older for the amount of mileage they have I mean that relative to the age of the car. Even newer cars seems more used. I think either

1) the cars have incorrect mileage or
2) they were used in leasing or rentals and seem more used because of how cars are treated when they are not owned by one person

Right price cars sell cheap cars, as in the ones main dealers don't retail due to condition or mileage, great if you're just going on price or age. As a lot of people do - but look elsewhere if you want to find the nice more expensive stuff
Main dealer cars are almost always the best presented and in best condition, but you pay that bit extra. They usually don't sell that many older cars unless they're exceptional or they're costing the garage so much that they can't sell them to the trade without losing money.

A non franchise dealer is great for a bit of variety, you can see lots of different makes side by side. Handy if you don't really know what you like yet.