Has the art of Sales & Service disappeared?

[britnordic]

Hi All

Last Saturday I went to a Mercedes Dealership to view a used W203 Estate, I had phoned in advance just to ensure the car was still available. I might add it was quite a distance from where I live.
On arrival I was greeted by a friendly salesman who immediately offered coffee and biscuits and sat both my wife and I down, thanking us for travelling such a long distance. Outside the front door was this amazing CLK, highly polished and so tempting! Both my wife and I wanted on first sight, but it had been sold that morning.
We were eventually shown over to the Estate, same year as that CLK, same price!! BUT the Estate was filthy both inside and out, smelt heavily of a smoker (sorry but I don't smoke) and was no charmer whatsoever.
After a test drive my hands were dirty and my wife said her coat should now be dry cleaned. So off inside with a disappointed heart to talk price. I wanted a discount, so after talking to the Sales Manager 4 times the salesman gave me their final offer of £150 off the sticker price. I was assured me the car would look like new if I purchased it and I'm sure he's right, but by then it's to late.
Solely by the look of the CLK, we would have bought, emotion took us over but by the look of the Estate, my motivation was price! Even though the Dealership knew we were coming, they had made no attempt to smarten up the car. Nice friendly salesman, let down by the service of his company.
They do a better job on my local secondhand car lot!

Tony

 

[st4]

There is not too much they can do with a smoker car, the smell never goes away. Not a car by the sounds of thing you'd want. Plenty more fish in the sea.

 

[jibcl500]

Tony

Sounds bad, Me i'd have left on first sight of the car and I'd have told the saleman how important it was to make sure the stock if booked for a test drive was perfect, first impression count and all thet.

So what dealership was it then??

jib

 

[britnordic]

Hi Jib

Best not to say, but they know how I felt!


Made me think mines worth keeping !
Looked better, smelt better and who knows... serviced better !!!!!!!!!!

Tony

 

[jibcl500]

Tony

Must admit I cant see why you want to sell it, Ive said before its the best W203 Ive seen and as its the most common car thats comes to me for service then I think thats saying something.

Thats why I said if you want to part with it !!!! just desperate to get the wife out of the A class before it costs a lot.

jib

 

[britnordic]

Jib

always have looked after my motors, I rely on being mobile so much. At the moment business is suddenly pretty good and I thought I might see about a later model with low mileage.
Came away thinking that mines the better car altho nearly 3 years older. However, that CLK got me thinking !!!

Tony

 

[PeterCLK]

CLK has E class trim so looks good on the inside as well

 

[True romance]

I'm sorry but did I read you post correctly.....£150 off screen price? surely you mean £1500 off???

 

[britnordic]

Nope !!!

£150 off and I quote..."we have to spend a lot of money cleaning and preparing the car"

 

[SilverSaloon]

Nope !!!

£150 off and I quote..."we have to spend a lot of money cleaning and preparing the car"

£150 off is a joke. assuming the car was quite expensive, i've had much more off cars costing just a couple of grand before. not sure why you even discussed a possible deal after the test drive if it was that bad. a bad car will never clean up to be "box fresh" with replacement of trim and even then you'll never get rid of that smokers smell.

i'm a bit confused though; your car is apparently mint and well maintained and is a w203 estate. why do you want/need one that is the same model but 3 years newer? just for mileage? mileage is only an issue if its starting to break down and become unreliable..... otherwise its just a number on the dash....

i'd keep what you have and spend your money elsewhere or save it. to me, it sounds like you are trading in a car that is well maintained and mint and getting something that you know little of its history and isnt mint, and paying (i assume) ££££'s to get......

whats good over your model year vs the later one?

 

[britnordic]

sorry for the delay in responding.

From 2004 the W203 was updated and is frankly a far better car in my opinion, also prices seem to be on the way down except at Merc Dealers.
However, me thinks I will keep it now for a few more months and take it over the 100k mark, there are a few things need attention but overall its a good mover and economical to boot.

BUT the main reason is that the wife got in first and bought a Polo to replace her Honda, which now falls to my daughter! Seems the girls always win!

Tony

 

[Alex M Grieve]

From 2004 the W203 was updated and is frankly a far better car in my opinion, also prices seem to be on the way down except at Merc Dealers. However, me thinks I will keep it now for a few more months and take it over the 100k mark, there are a few things need attention but overall its a good mover and economical to boot. Tony

Always an interesting issue - why do we change our cars? Sentiment has a lot to do with it, a full ash tray, or just fed up with the colour.

If your current car is going well, as Siver Saloon said, mileage is just a number on the dashboard. Or at least it is, until you come to sell, when you may well find that the fact it has done >100,000 will be a disincentive to others, or they will see it as a means of offering less.

Fixing any faults on your own car may well be less expensive than the costs of change. Then you will know the car is in good order - the car you might buy instead may not have been sold for reasons of sentiment, so it could be a step backwards.

Unless your car is getting into progressive corrosion and MB have lost interest in helping, it is well worth thinking through. The mileage you have should not be a problem but it may be held against the car when you change.

 

[britnordic]

Well Alex
Don't smoke, but ashtray hole is good for using Tom Tom !
Still love the colour, but.. I have noticed in the past that resale values are hit hard when the magic 100k comes up, a big reason for nudging the price downwards.
Do I keep it for another year, well it seems I may do as I still love it, but have that nagging feeling that I maybe better off trading for a newer one, an E or even a CLK as I have seen some very tempting prices. But for now its back to saving!!

Tony