[Merton]

I ordered a new factory built B Max in late November and was advised that it should arrive about the third week in January. I have agreed the finance to get the discount and will pay it off after one month. No deposit asked for and none given.
I have just been called to say the car is 'on its way' and been asked to go in and sign the finance docs tomorrow. I asked exactly where it was and the rep was not too sure (this is the same one that thought they were built in Belgium and didn't know about the Romanian factory shut downs before Xmas until I told him).
The are asking for payment before delivery and are claiming that Ford are insisting that the car be registered before the 1st Feb as 'Fords have a new- higher- pricing structure coming in then'. I have pointed out that, as the car will not be ready until February, I would effectively lose a month's tax if I went along with this. They have offered to put extra petrol in to compensate for this (1 month's tax is only about £ 10).
They are also asking for full payment tomorrow. I said that I don't pay for goods 'sight unseen' and they are insisting that this is the way all garages work now. I am sure that this is all to do with quotas rather than anything else but it is b****y annoying and unprofessional. More to the point, if I do pay, I lose any leverage over them if there are further delays in delivery. The supplier is actually a Ford Retail subsidiary, so I am not really that worried about the security of the payment.
Would just like to know if this is indeed the 'norm' for the industry?

Anyone with similar experiences?

 

[JOHNWALES]

NO NO NO !!!!!!!!!!!!

Do not do this; they can agree the finance on the phone without you needing to complete any forms, let alone sign them.

It is acceptable for them to require a deposit, and £ 500 should be sufficient. The balance should not be paid until you have seen the car, and agreed a pick up day and time. If you do as they request, and they went bankrupt you lose everything.

 

[Pete J]

I had to sign the finance documents a week before delivery, which included them seeing items of ID such as driving licence and a domestic bill. I checked with another dealer and they told me that sometimes there is a delay in Ford finance completing their transfer of monies to the dealer so most dealers complete the arrangements before the car is delivered but when it has arrived in the UK. I did not have to leave any monies as my car was being used as part payment.

 

[Specialk]

Hi Merton,

I'm with JOHNWALES on this one. I have never bought a brand new car and paid up front in the sense of the word.

I was in the same position as you 12 months ago, in as much as they said the car had to be registered before the end of February and I was told that the price they had quoted me was valid till then and if it went over then the price would be different. I believe that this was to fulfil their monthly quota.

I also lost a months tax for doing this, and was not compensated as you are going to be however, my car was in the showroom and all they were waiting for was Ford finance to confirm the finance to ensure that they( The Dealer ) wouldreceive the finance amountbefore they would let the car go.

As for payment my part/ex ( £12000 worth of Nissan Juke ) did not get signed over to the dealer until the day I went to pick the new car up. I cannot see that full payment to them makes any difference in the sale of the carand like in my situation, it is your dealer or subsidiary who needs to get the finance confirmed and receivedprior to sale, and once this is done they can go ahead with the rest of the paperwork.

I would in no way pay thousands of pounds up front for anything, for reasons already discussed in the prior posting and if they have an issue, then there are plenty of dealers who you can go to and do business in a way that you are happy with.

 

[Dan]

Registering it before the end of the month will be so that they reach their quota. However they often do give good discounts on cars they need to sell that month. If they reach higher monthly sales then Ford will pay them a bigger bonus so it can work out better for them.

 

[Dizzyblonde82]

I had to sign my finance forms the day before collection to ensure that ford had released the funds to the garage prior to collection. I put down a £500 deposit a week before collecting the vehicle.

 

[JOHNWALES]

Specialk sums it up nicely. Use your own discretion by all means, but you would be unwise to part with anything other than a token deposit. I dare say signing the application for finance would be in order, but make sure you sign in the right places, and not where it says you have taken delivery of the goods !!!

There are a lot of things that can go wrong prior to delivery, the dealer could have finance issues with Ford, the vehicle could drop of the back of the delivery lorry, and the worst scenario the dealer could be forced into liquidation and a receiver appointed. You will then be in a queue headed by Customs and Excise to even get part of your money back; meanwhile you could be without your money and a car !!!

 

[Bilbopup]

My gut feeling is definitely NO! Plus with a new car you only pay for the part of the month the car is first taxed, unlike later on. So the tax renewl is from the first full month you pay is that makes sense. See nothing wrong with a token deposit but have never paid upfront for a new car until it arrives and I can inspect it!

 

[JOHNWALES]

Another thought, there are several people on this forum who have serious problems with their B Max cars; there was one guy from Dublin last heard of more than a month ago who had to have new brake discs and a new gearbox, amongst other repairs. If you should be reading this, I hope you and the car are o.k. So what is the point of buying a new car ? There is a wide selection of demonstrators and very low mileage vehicles in the market, the specification may not be exactly what you want, but look at the advantages. First it will be several thousand pounds cheaper than new; and then more importantly you can give the car an extended run to check for the nasty little problems that often occur on cars whether new or used.

One tip worth noting if you are going to buy 'used' ; check what the average fuel consumption indicator is displaying. If it is a demonstrator, 19 times out of 20 the dealer will not have reset it, and you will get a worst scenario read out for short journeys. Reset the reading to zero; do your test run, say 20 miles or more, then you will get a realistic idea of what the consumption will be for your driving. If you are not satisfied, you know what to do.

Incidentally most cars produce very disappointing consumption figures in the real world. I note however, that Peugeot are pretty well close on to being accurate.