The state of Fiat Dealers

Let me warn you straight away this is a bit of a rant, but it needs to be said.

Having been an avid browser (and previous poster - lost password) of this forum for the last year I would like to just post my story of WILSON'S of epsom (bold on purpose I am quite angry).

I have owned from new a Fiat punto sporting on a 51 plate (picked it up september 1st 2001 at 7.00 a.m.:-) ) and thought it was time to trade her in (she being Polly - g/f named her).

Whilst browsing this forum I noticed in this posting http://www.fiatforum.com/punto-grand...ey-anyone.html that Autotrader had a cheap sporting and so I went a searching. I tracked it down to WILSON'S of Epsom - a main Fiat Dealer and duly trundled the 30 odd miles from dartford to epsom round the lovely M25.

I had a great start - lovely testdrive, found the clutch slightly light and the bitting point difficult to master but overall liked the car. Now comes the bad part.

Part ex - Well they only offered me 2K despite the fact that lil' old polly has only done 41,000 and has a FSH but I really wanted a new car so I ask about Finance.

So we get taken into a very accomodating finance office were we are told that they offer lots of good deals at 7.9% Now I wasnt sure that that really counts as a good deal but I thought perhaps this is sales patter and I might be able to lower it.
"Ok what does that work out a month" my rather youthful face kept straight so as not to look over eager.

He replied" ok so it would be £290 a month over 3years"

"Gulp" - Brain starts to whirl

"over 4 years it would be £240" he continued

" And £198 over 5 years" he finished.

Now I am not silly, I worked for the MOD for 9 years been through university and I am now a teacher and something doesnt seem right.

"But that is (thinks in head 24 x 5) over 3000 in interest alone" I respond thinking he must have made a mistake

"Yes about that" he replied nonchalently

"And thats 7.9%apr" I responded

"yes"

Well to cut a long story short he then proceeds to offer to drop it to £180 a month over 5 years.

Now if you have managed to read this far and are still awake, well done her comes the punchline.

According to the government Loan calculator http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/04_CR...alculator.html that works out at between 17% and 18% not to mention of course the massive drop to 13% that he offered us to seal the deal.

18% are you Joking How can they get away with this, if I hadnt had a reasonable head for figures I would have thought well 7.9% thats not bad and would have taken it. Its just not funny. I am tempted now to not ever buy a Fiat again, despite the memory of Welling Ancaster who made the first time so good.

OK rant over, here at least. Think I will contact someone if I am still annoyed tommorrow.

what was your old username?

like i have said before the dealer don't like you he wants Ur money. Beneath the fake smiles & false hand shakes there are shady dealings a foot.. That's how people in business make money. There ruthless I know this too well.. I used to be a postman once I worked for consignia plc. This company used to steal finger prints WTF... still consignia dint last long before I changed things. Nothing surprises me in this country I know things not many people do, including Mr Blair nothing is ever how it seams thats how company get away with what ever they want

That's crazy! Fiat are currently offering 0% finance on the Grande Punto sporting, with no deposit (you can obviously use your car as a deposit) and don't have to start paying your monthly payments until January.

With no deposit your looking at £297.08 a month for 36 months. Or...
With 2K trade-in deposit your looking at £241.53.

That's for the 1.4 16v Sporting. They're also doing 0% for the MultiJet version aswell, but obviously that'll be a few extra £s a month.

Check out http://www.fiat.co.uk/cgi-bin/pbrand...OID=1074088032

It seems to be the way some dealers try to make money. The best ones know that if they can keep your loyalty they will stay in business. No pissing off customers, or overcharging, etc, as word gets round and people don't use them.

I remember when I was buying my Punto I nearly went for £1000 of it on finance, which was 6%. When it was explained that there was a £60 fee to set it up, doubling the interest I asked if I could use a credit card - meaning I could pay it off when the following months salary came in. I probably paid a £15 fee for that, but it worked out cheaper to do it that way!

I think the strongest position to be in when buying a car is to not need finance, and be patient about when you need the car. Of course not everybody has those luxuries. If you order a new car, get the supplying dealer to confirm in writing when your car WILL be available to you, and say that it's up to them to write the date. Tell them delays from that date wouldn't be tollerated etc.

If you can sell a car privately, you will get more money. There is the hassle of doing it, and being without a car for a time. My father-in-law got a new Golf this year, and before it arrived he managed to sell the P-X privately and just paid the cash equivalent to the dealer who then didn't need to shift the car.

Its not the dealers that are doing this!! Its all down to the individual salesman!! If they get an extra % its worth more money to them!! As all salesmen are on commision its worth them trying (wouldn't you??).

I once worked for a NISSAN dealership and we had a lovely old couple which were the nicest customers, we had an excellent rapor with them regarding servicing etc and they were probably the most ideal advert for the company... UNTIL... they decided that their Almera was due for a trade in @ 3years old as they'd done 3years before with their previous Primera. They had asked if the salesman that had sold them the Almera could do the deal as he was 'lovely'... little did they know! When the sales manager looked at figures for their trade in he was shocked to say the least...
They had had the Almera for 3 years and still owed nearly 10k on it!!!
I cant remember the numbers etc but their car was worth about 4k if i remember! (i'd love to have had his comission for the month he sold the car!)
In the end the manager managed to do them a ridiculous deal on a pre registered car that would bring them about even after 3 more years!! He helped them right out. Unfortunately the world of finance is very tricky to anyone unsuspecting!!! When buying my schuey i was offered 17% at my own dealership!!!
I believe that the base rate for motor finance is around 7%ish (may be wrong!)
always best to get it checked BEFORE signing anything!

First its not just Fiat...all car dealers are the same so its unfair to say you are not going to buy a Fiat now because of this...however its your money/choice so do as you wish.
Secondly the money is in the finance agreement not the sale of the car as far as the salesman is concerned,why not get a loan out at a better rate makes sense.
Thirdly,good friend was offered £1600 for 53 plate punto F.S.H this car is minted cause I have been the only one thats serviced it!

Its the same with any big purchase you make,do your homework,shop around & get advice,personally i'd get a loan at cheap rate(5.9% are common)& sell car privately or even advertise it here

Oh arent all car dealers the scum of the earth!
well so everyone seems to think!
Firstly, when doing finance on a car, check that the rate they are charging is the APR and not a flat rate.
Quite often the rate given is the flat rate which is the % charged each year on year of the finance
e.g.
10,000 over 36 months would be worked out at 5% FLAT
10,000 x 15% (3 years at 5%) += making 1500 interest on your 10,000
therefore your payments would come out at 11500/36 = 319.44 per month.
most dealers work the fionance out as a flat rate as it is the easiest way, all you have to do to work out the APR is double it (almost but not totally exact)
if you are paying mroe than 13% interest on a deal over 3 years then you are kinda getting screwed.
2ndly. banks lend money for anything, car finance is for cars only, yes you pay 1-2% more but that makes little difference over the term really. keep your bank finance for a rainy day!
3rdly, for those who havent already guessed, i am a dealer who worked for THE best FIAT dealership in Northern England and very very rarely stitched up custiomers like a lot of other dealers seem to be doing.
Try to keep away from the big REg Vardy's of this world and try the smaller family sized dealers. yes everyone is out to make money, but some are greedy tw@ts and some are there to keep the world going round.
Hope i havent gone on too much and helped out slightly!

Along the same lines.....

I ordered a GP last week, haggled a lot and got what I thought was an excellent deal. I usually hand my old car back (halves and thirds agreement-ask if you don't know, it's very handy) but this time it appeared that the salesman had made a mistake and signed me up to a repayment loan. This left me owing £5600 on the car with it worth £4400 as trade in, £1200 dif.

The garage added the £1200 on to the price of the GP to my horror, but then lowered the finance rate to keep my payments the same as I had agreed the day before. How much were they originally making out of me on the finance deal!

Then look at stuff like PureGuard £300 (mechanic said they buy it for something around £25) and GAP Insurance £300 (costs them around £150).

A licence to print money is what it is

i think its every dealer's right to take advantage of people who cant add up. if you have a brain you'll shop about and get the cheapest loan possible, if you're really bright you'll save up or get interest free loans from family and friends. if you're thick (or you cant afford the car) you get finance. thats the way its been since i was born, why should it change? survival of the fittest is nature's way. its a fair system. i like thinking about all the idiots who've got finance, it makes me feel warm inside knowing that they dont ever realise how far they've been bent over. finance isnt the problem, its a lack of education. blame schools, blame the government, but dont blame dealers for taking advantage of idiots, thats business. if you sign on the dotted line you deserve everything you get, i have no sympathy.

i suppose thats one way of looking at it.

Some people don't have the cash to buy outright...
Some people aren't fortunate enough to have family with deep pockets...

Sometimes finance is the only option!

To laugh at people for finance is like laughing at people with a mortgage!!!??

I hope what you mean is idiots who dont check their deals and end up getting their ars*s slapped????...

lol deep man

fitteset, thats ballocks, these guys r ripp off arstist, thats what they do, its sad

so are goverments,local councils,plumbers,lawyers,electricians,bilders etc etc....


55stiloschuey...if you can get credit you can get a loan,like I said loans are available at low rates these days & you can take 'cooling off' periods etc,re-arrange payments etc all to the customers advantage