As a newb to Ontario, I was sort of surprised at one thing. Long story short, needed a beater for the wife, found a 99 Volvo S70 T5 for a good price.
The car very obviously needed brake work, so I low-balled the guy appropriately. Suddenly he's all "We offer it certified for $300",
Right, you're going to replace the pads, calipers, and rotors on this car for $300? Sure. Anyway, Otherwise the car was pretty good, I got it, did the brakes, brought it to my favoured shop, boom. Certified. Good to go.
As I cruise kijiji, lots of places are offering cars safetied for an extra $$$. Doesn't seem legit, how the heck do you know what the car is going to need?
Scam? Or am I missing something? Guys have a deal with a mechanic, or have one on staff or something? Gambling? (charge 800$ extra, car needs a 50$ part?)
A lot of people will not buy a car that hasn't been certified and as of late,e-tested so for an additional value many offer a safety.
They will then use it against the bartering for a better deal... no gimmick, just the way Ontario works.
Remember, you are dealing with Canadians, the folk's who's country has been reputed as honest.. Welcome to our little piece of the world..
Cheers,
Chris.
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Buying selling and trading garage toys and big kid stuff.
I think usually when a guy says he will certify it for $300 more, he figures it will pass the safety, but doesnt want to take that chance, or bother taking it in. When I bought my truck last year, he wanted $4000 or $4200 certified.....He just didnt want to take it in, the shop was 20 miles away....I opted for the $4200 cert......It needed a caliper
It does sound like your guy was pulling something though......he would have had a fake safety and not done the brakes, I think
It seems to me a lot of dealers don't waste anytime checking cars over for safety until they are sold. I don't think they want any added expence in the car/truck.
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slab----67 chevy II 2dr post and 66 chevy II hardtop
I have a friend that has a car rental business but sell cars as a side business to offset the rentals. i asked about the safety thing when i bought my last car from him. some of the cars sit on the lot for months and a safety is only good for 30 days or so. that being said the mechanic has already looked at the car and they already know what is needed for a safety and are using that as leverage for an extra 300. they wouldn't offer the 300 if it needed more.
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There are 106 miles to Chicago. We have a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
I do a lot of work as a dealer operations consultant. In this economy a lot of the smaller dealers are in a cash crunch and credit is tough. They use this to split their inventory and not tie up resources or over invest in case they auction off stale stock. It's never a surprise to them what it needs as service and sales department revenues are kept very separate at 99% of the dealerships I've visited. Hence the in-fighting and BS that happens at most dealerships....don't get me started on this one.
Back to the original question : Basically offer it at the low price for those buyers looking for a bargain that will handle the paperwork/repairs and the additional costs for those buyers that want no trouble ready to go.......some so called dealers may doing a "legal" bait and switch though.
I do think that dealers that don't fix the small things that effect the sale are losing out though!!! I went looking a few yrs. ago for car for 'ex' STEPSON & MOST OF THE cAR LOTS HAD VEHICLES WITH SO MANY WARNING LIGHTS BLINKING on the dash, we just walked away from those as we both thought these have some serious issues!!!! That was before the "new" emm. testing came to be, so even worse now. Pete
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I can only please one person a day, Today is not your day!!Tomorrow doesn't look good either !!!!
a lot of these so called small dealers are nothing more than curb-siders anyway. it is really more predominate in the bigger citys. i know of a couple of guys around here that have bought higher end used cars in the toronto area and just got plan ripped off when the real condition of the car was discovered a short time later. the one guy started chasing them about the safety check aspect of the car, audi-beamer ?, and discovered many layers of the hidden truth and lies but by the time any lawyer got involved it wasn't worth the chase. he says the more he pushed the bigger the turban got. lesson learned.
