Dodgy car salesman or normal practice?

[Arkengarthdale]

Hi. Any car sales people about? Not comfortable with this...

We're trying to buy a demonstrator from a fairly prestigious dealership. We were told that we couldn't have the car straight away (early August) as the manufacturer required the dealership to have that model available as a demonstrator. So we would have to wait until the new car of the same spec arrived. Obvs at this time of year it is going to be September, no problem with that.

Called into dealership yesterday to confirm a delivery date, saw new unregistered car of same spec in the car park (not customer order as they are in the compound). Salesman says he meant that we couldn't have the demonstrator until his new demonstrator arrived (different model) as the salespeople are allocated specific cars and they can't be 'released' from their current demonstrators until they are 'allocated' a new demonstrator.

AIBU to think this is utter bollocks, that a customer comes second to a sales person? The car is six months old. I asked if he could drive something else for a week until his new demo arrived and he said it wasn't allowed. But when I said I was unhappy about extra mileage going on the car and he said if he had to go on a long journey like a training course, he wouldn't go in 'our' car as the mileage is being minimised.

Is this ok or is he talking out of his backside? It makes me really uncomfortable and I am fast losing trust. AIBU?

AIBU to think this is utter bollocks, that a customer comes second to a sales person?
UANBU at all.

'Demonstrator' cars are ones that are allocated to salespeople as their daily runaround/commuting to work cars.

That car may be his or another salesman's, but they will not let it go until they have their replacement to drive. He comes first.

Also he may have already sold his quota of cars for this quarter and wants to push the sale into the new registration year.

I think he is being awkward to be honest. They will have a number of demonstrators and could possibly swap for the time being. However they will have various registration targets and ( I think) can be forced to have set demonstrators available.

The point above about pushing it back to the next quarter may be valid but with new reg coming out I would think was unlikely..

Realistically you can wait or you can walk away...

Thanks for responses. I do believe they have to have set demonstrators available (which is what we were told) but when we pointed out that they had a replacement same-spec unregistered one in the car park, the salesman changed his story. They had previously said the new car only had to be en route to the dealership and ours could be released. Now that's all changed.

I'm tempted to walk away but it's actually my husband's car and I've wanted one of this make for 30 years. DH makes his decisions and sticks to them - if I suggest he walks away he'd probably go and get a different make.

I'm the petrolhead of the two of us, and I do a lot of the driving by choice. My own car is my absolute dream of bliss so I'm probably B a bit U by getting over-invested in DH's car too

However, when you're spending a lot of money, I want the experience to be unalloyed joy.

I think what he is saying is likely to be correct. Demonstrators have to be kept for 'X' amount of time before they can be sold - they can also have a target mileage before they can sold on to a customer.
Appreciate it's frustrating when you are desperate to drive your new car

We went to another dealer just for a look, ended up buying their demonstrator (slightly higher spec too). It was the sales manager's demo and it was due to be released for sale in a week or two. It got parked up there and then and the sales manager went home in another car that day. We collect it tonight

DH is a salesman for a large dealership. His demo car has to be kept until he's allocated a new one, if he sells it he can't handover until he's given the OK.

The unregistered of the same spec is no good to him because using it as a demo depreciates the value.

Ask to speak to the dealer principle for a form timeline. Is it financed or cash? You could also expect free service, valet etc for your inconvenience.

Thanks Rock. We just could not get a delivery date out of the first dealership although the car was six months old. Their story as to why we couldn't have it yet kept changing. The second dealer gave us a date their demo was to come 'off plan' and stopped using it until it was able to be released. It's only three months old and will be ours in a few hours

My cousin works for a dealeship and she too has to wait for the new allocation before the old demontrator can be sold on.

I think you just got a salesman who couldn't explain himself well... which suggests yours won't be the only sale he has lost!!

OurBlanche we were told the manufacturer decreed that they dealership must have a demonstrator of the same spec of the one we wanted on site (not volume manufacturer) but when they got one they changed their story. Then when challenged they changed their story again. You have to have a very good memory to tell porkies - i think the salesman just tried to silver tongue us and failed dismally. The second dealership is being a pleasure to deal with and they do everything they say they are going to do. So we ended up with something even better and a nice experience too. I'm so excited! Petrol head here