Buying 2nd Hand Cars Experiences. Share at will.

[TOMEI-R]

After going through these posts here, I'm here not to defend the used car dealers or anything. I am a used car dealer and I can say there are rogue dealers as well as good dealers out there. There are always the good and the bad ones. But what I want to mention here is regarding the procedures on the test drives, the charges and the issues brought up by all bros here.

1) Test Drive
For my company, our policy is to provide test drive to "serious" customers. Serious customers means customers that are really keen in buying the car. Yes, some of you will argue "how to buy the car if we dont test". I truly understand this statement. But please bear in mind that the cars on our showroom are not insured as the previous owners has withdrawn his insurance and sometimes even the road tax has lapsed. We do not have cars that are purposely registered for test drive like some new car dealers do.
So what we do in order to accomodate 'serious customers' are that we only provide to those who have made up their minds on the car they want to buy and agreed on the price of the car as well as the terms and conditions. So if the customer test the car and find no fault with it they should put up a deposit for the car. Fair?
The other thing some dealers are reluctant to let any Tom Dick and Harry that walks into the showroom is due to security. We've had cases of salesmen robbed, cars being car jacked and of course accidents.
We also cant simply provide test drives for every Tom, Dick and Harry because we have a lot of people who rather have nothing to do just come in to the showroom and request to test drive whatever available model in the showroom just to kill time. Come to our showroom and I'll show you such people.

2)Processing Fees
While I do agree some dealers charged excessively for processing fees, we charged around Rm1500 for it which is the lowest amount by current market standards.
So what does the Rm 1500 covers for
-Inspection (Puspokom B5 and B7)
-Agreement Fees & FIS/CTOS checking (for customers whose taking loans)
-Transfer Fees (JPJ Charges Rm100 + Rm50 Ownership Claim Fee for Loans but bear in mind that Banks perform Tranfer of ownerships, Not used car dealers. We have to pay to banks to get your name transferred and banks charged more than the above charges.) There is a lso surat sumpah / comissioner of oaths for both buyer and seller)
Above that we have to arrange the runners to to perform all these tasks. We have to send the cars and the runners takes sometimes up to half a day to get the car inspected. Not to mention making an appointment with Puspakom which takes ages and removing the tints before sending the car to puspakom etc.
And NO, our company policy never allows buyers to perform their own Puspakom inspection and ownership transfers. WHY?" you may ask. It is our duty as a DEALER (Middleman) to both the SELLER of the car to get his/her car transferred to the New Owner and to the BUYER that the ownership is transferred to his/her name. So it is our resposibility that nothing happens in between.

I can assure you that each procedure and charges has a reason to be there. I hope this clarifies your doubts and questions and you can ask me any questions and I will be happy to answer.

Like I said before there are good and bad dealers out there. Just dont let some bad experience or some rotten apples in the basket spoil every dealer's reputation. If any of you would want to buy a used car, you are welcome to contact me as well and I will try to provide you with the best service.

Thank you.

 

[Izso]

Suprafan : I'm surprised that fella let you test drive the car without the salesman. Like what Tomei-R said, usually it's to prevent theft which happens too frequently these days.


Personal experience with buying a Mazda3 (the generation before the current one). Friend was buying and they had come across this 3-year old 2nd hand accident free Mazda3 supposedly owned by an expat which is why it was so new and ridiculously cheap (sub RM70k). I was suspicious of the car and went with her and the non-car-savvy husband.

Upfront the car looked new, looked good, no weld marks or wavy lines, but hey.. what's this? Different coloured engine bay paint? Upon closer inspection I saw the bumper was tied into place with a very discreet cable tie which the salesman seemed genuinely surprised by. He looked pretty distraught and further investigation in the engine bay showed some minor undercarriage scratches that were could be physically felt, looks like this car had an accident that involved some minor scraping, either going up a car or going over a high island or something. Drunk driving case perhaps?

Anyway, point was the car was damaged before therefore not as advertised. Salesman apologised profusely and wasn't aware of the damages. I believed the guy cuz he wasn't very well informed about the engine specs and all that. But because the rest of the car was pretty pristine and the damage was pretty much only a loose bumper and scratches, it wasn't really much to worry about and my friend haggled on the price and got a handsome RM8000 discount off the asking price.

Sometimes an ignorant salesman who is genuinely friendly and honest is fine too. He may not have known much about the car specs and details but at least he didn't try to bullsh*t me and try to make excuses for the damages I found.

 

[ixeo]

Personal experience with buying a Mazda3 (the generation before the current one). Friend was buying and they had come across this 3-year old 2nd hand accident free Mazda3 supposedly owned by an expat which is why it was so new and ridiculously cheap (sub RM70k). I was suspicious of the car and went with her and the non-car-savvy husband.

snip

A friend won't let a friend buy a car that was in an accident?
[youtube]yjxM9chAe1k[/youtube]

Not worth the savings IMO. Then again, depends on how severe it is. If its just the crash beam and radiator, no under carriage damage, ok la.

 

[keeltha]

Make it short...
Used Recond car, AP not proper but the salesman keep said no problem no problem... :hmmmm:

Lucky I familiar with the banker who advise me not to take it.

The dealer refuse to fully refund me the booking...

 

[Supra_Fanatics]

After going through these posts here, I'm here not to defend the used car dealers or anything. I am a used car dealer and I can say there are rogue dealers as well as good dealers out there. There are always the good and the bad ones. But what I want to mention here is regarding the procedures on the test drives, the charges and the issues brought up by all bros here.

1) Test Drive
For my company, our policy is to provide test drive to "serious" customers. Serious customers means customers that are really keen in buying the car. Yes, some of you will argue "how to buy the car if we dont test". I truly understand this statement. But please bear in mind that the cars on our showroom are not insured as the previous owners has withdrawn his insurance and sometimes even the road tax has lapsed. We do not have cars that are purposely registered for test drive like some new car dealers do.
So what we do in order to accomodate 'serious customers' are that we only provide to those who have made up their minds on the car they want to buy and agreed on the price of the car as well as the terms and conditions. So if the customer test the car and find no fault with it they should put up a deposit for the car. Fair?
The other thing some dealers are reluctant to let any Tom Dick and Harry that walks into the showroom is due to security. We've had cases of salesmen robbed, cars being car jacked and of course accidents.
We also cant simply provide test drives for every Tom, Dick and Harry because we have a lot of people who rather have nothing to do just come in to the showroom and request to test drive whatever available model in the showroom just to kill time. Come to our showroom and I'll show you such people.

2)Processing Fees
While I do agree some dealers charged excessively for processing fees, we charged around Rm1500 for it which is the lowest amount by current market standards.
So what does the Rm 1500 covers for
-Inspection (Puspokom B5 and B7)
-Agreement Fees & FIS/CTOS checking (for customers whose taking loans)
-Transfer Fees (JPJ Charges Rm100 + Rm50 Ownership Claim Fee for Loans but bear in mind that Banks perform Tranfer of ownerships, Not used car dealers. We have to pay to banks to get your name transferred and banks charged more than the above charges.) There is a lso surat sumpah / comissioner of oaths for both buyer and seller)
Above that we have to arrange the runners to to perform all these tasks. We have to send the cars and the runners takes sometimes up to half a day to get the car inspected. Not to mention making an appointment with Puspakom which takes ages and removing the tints before sending the car to puspakom etc.
And NO, our company policy never allows buyers to perform their own Puspakom inspection and ownership transfers. WHY?" you may ask. It is our duty as a DEALER (Middleman) to both the SELLER of the car to get his/her car transferred to the New Owner and to the BUYER that the ownership is transferred to his/her name. So it is our resposibility that nothing happens in between.

I can assure you that each procedure and charges has a reason to be there. I hope this clarifies your doubts and questions and you can ask me any questions and I will be happy to answer.

Like I said before there are good and bad dealers out there. Just dont let some bad experience or some rotten apples in the basket spoil every dealer's reputation. If any of you would want to buy a used car, you are welcome to contact me as well and I will try to provide you with the best service.

Thank you.

Glad to have you here bro, at least we get some details from used car dealers.
Yes, you are right that there are rotten apples for sure and of course there are
good ones which is why I manage to get my 2nd hand car too.

I truly understand the reason why dealers prefer not to let customers test drive.
1st like mentioned, car is no longer insured and roadtax is not valid. Secondly,
some just test for fun. Thirdly, some after test, didn't make the purchase.

But seriously, if the 2nd hand cars are cars like Subaru, Evo, Audi, Aston Martin
and other luxury car then I understand the reason of just test drive for fun.
Therefore, I was only wanting to test drive a Myvi to confirm its condition. Yet,
they did mentioned if test drive, just test drive around the lot compound. So,
expired road tax and insurance not valid is not really an issue at that time and area.

But then again, like mentioned due to company policies, only serious buyers with the
agreed price are allow to test drive. This I'm okay with, but then most of them required us to
pay upfront a deposit of RM500 to test drive a car. Anything that is not right with the car
will be repaired/replaced. But due to many rotten apples out there, how are we suppose to take
their words for it? And after test drive, the deposit is surely burn if the car is not right.

I believe as used car dealers, if they were to buy a car or to accept a trade in, they themselves
have to test drive as well. If the car has problems, that's where the negotiations starts.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Is the same as us buyers on the reason why we want to test drive the car.
Cuz we are not at the wet market where we can judge vegetables freshness
and condition by looking and smelling it. We need to test drive the car, to make
sure it is okay, that's where we decide whether to purchase the car or not and also
negotiate further.

If not, is just difficult to make the decisions for us buyers. Seriously, if i really have nothing
to do, I rather not waste time on a Myvi.

Still is hard to say which buyers are actually there to test drive for fun or really looking
around. I choose to believe all walk-in customers are potential customers.

Is just like customers walking into a LV shop and end up not buying anything.
I almost bought the 2nd car from the same Dealer when hunting for the Myvi,
due to his honesty and service.

Did nego on the price, after nego, he didnt ask if the price is confirm or anything
when we ask for a test drive. He answered "Sure, just test drive, after test drive
if everything okay and satisfied or anything not satisfied we discuss further."

That's how he manage to close the deal after inspecting the car and test drive.
Everything was fine except the Engine Mounting which he mentioned before we
test drive that he will replaced it.

Anyway, just stating my POV on this. Apologise if anyone felt offended.

Suprafan : I'm surprised that fella let you test drive the car without the salesman. Like what Tomei-R said, usually it's to prevent theft which happens too frequently these days.


Personal experience with buying a Mazda3 (the generation before the current one). Friend was buying and they had come across this 3-year old 2nd hand accident free Mazda3 supposedly owned by an expat which is why it was so new and ridiculously cheap (sub RM70k). I was suspicious of the car and went with her and the non-car-savvy husband.

Upfront the car looked new, looked good, no weld marks or wavy lines, but hey.. what's this? Different coloured engine bay paint? Upon closer inspection I saw the bumper was tied into place with a very discreet cable tie which the salesman seemed genuinely surprised by. He looked pretty distraught and further investigation in the engine bay showed some minor undercarriage scratches that were could be physically felt, looks like this car had an accident that involved some minor scraping, either going up a car or going over a high island or something. Drunk driving case perhaps?

Anyway, point was the car was damaged before therefore not as advertised. Salesman apologised profusely and wasn't aware of the damages. I believed the guy cuz he wasn't very well informed about the engine specs and all that. But because the rest of the car was pretty pristine and the damage was pretty much only a loose bumper and scratches, it wasn't really much to worry about and my friend haggled on the price and got a handsome RM8000 discount off the asking price.

Sometimes an ignorant salesman who is genuinely friendly and honest is fine too. He may not have known much about the car specs and details but at least he didn't try to bullsh*t me and try to make excuses for the damages I found.

Yup 1st time he did come with me for the test drive. 2nd round he allow us to go on our own.
Then, when I came back to look for a myvi for a friend, he was not there but his partner was
there. So, also gave us the key to test drive ourselves.

Yes, lots of car theft and etcs, but then maybe my looks are the type that can be trusted
Not sure why he trust us but then, I'm always very relax and happy when I hunt for cars at his place. Unlike other place where I feel very uneasy with the salesman...

Make it short...
Used Recond car, AP not proper but the salesman keep said no problem no problem... :hmmmm:

Lucky I familiar with the banker who advise me not to take it.

The dealer refuse to fully refund me the booking...

Guess, since agreement was made and u paid for the booking, in this case seriously
cant get refund, unless it is the deposit placed for test drive. That one confirm cant get back too..

 

[EvolutionZ]

Usually u can demand refund minus 10%. That's common if the dealer has done their job.

 

[TOMEI-R]

Glad to have you here bro, at least we get some details from used car dealers.
Yes, you are right that there are rotten apples for sure and of course there are
good ones which is why I manage to get my 2nd hand car too.

I truly understand the reason why dealers prefer not to let customers test drive.
1st like mentioned, car is no longer insured and roadtax is not valid. Secondly,
some just test for fun. Thirdly, some after test, didn't make the purchase.

But seriously, if the 2nd hand cars are cars like Subaru, Evo, Audi, Aston Martin
and other luxury car then I understand the reason of just test drive for fun.
Therefore, I was only wanting to test drive a Myvi to confirm its condition. Yet,
they did mentioned if test drive, just test drive around the lot compound. So,
expired road tax and insurance not valid is not really an issue at that time and area.

But then again, like mentioned due to company policies, only serious buyers with the
agreed price are allow to test drive. This I'm okay with, but then most of them required us to
pay upfront a deposit of RM500 to test drive a car. Anything that is not right with the car
will be repaired/replaced. But due to many rotten apples out there, how are we suppose to take
their words for it? And after test drive, the deposit is surely burn if the car is not right.

I believe as used car dealers, if they were to buy a car or to accept a trade in, they themselves
have to test drive as well. If the car has problems, that's where the negotiations starts.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Is the same as us buyers on the reason why we want to test drive the car.
Cuz we are not at the wet market where we can judge vegetables freshness
and condition by looking and smelling it. We need to test drive the car, to make
sure it is okay, that's where we decide whether to purchase the car or not and also
negotiate further.

If not, is just difficult to make the decisions for us buyers. Seriously, if i really have nothing
to do, I rather not waste time on a Myvi.

Still is hard to say which buyers are actually there to test drive for fun or really looking
around. I choose to believe all walk-in customers are potential customers.

Is just like customers walking into a LV shop and end up not buying anything.
I almost bought the 2nd car from the same Dealer when hunting for the Myvi,
due to his honesty and service.

Did nego on the price, after nego, he didnt ask if the price is confirm or anything
when we ask for a test drive. He answered "Sure, just test drive, after test drive
if everything okay and satisfied or anything not satisfied we discuss further."

That's how he manage to close the deal after inspecting the car and test drive.
Everything was fine except the Engine Mounting which he mentioned before we
test drive that he will replaced it.

Anyway, just stating my POV on this. Apologise if anyone felt offended.



Yup 1st time he did come with me for the test drive. 2nd round he allow us to go on our own.
Then, when I came back to look for a myvi for a friend, he was not there but his partner was
there. So, also gave us the key to test drive ourselves.

Yes, lots of car theft and etcs, but then maybe my looks are the type that can be trusted
Not sure why he trust us but then, I'm always very relax and happy when I hunt for cars at his place. Unlike other place where I feel very uneasy with the salesman...



Guess, since agreement was made and u paid for the booking, in this case seriously
cant get refund, unless it is the deposit placed for test drive. That one confirm cant get back too..

Let me clarify on this.. We dont make our customers pay us a deposit first before test driving the car. Rather we try to confirm every details like agreed selling price, downpayment, loan amount and of coz the model and colour of the car with the customer first. If he/she has agreed to the above said terms then if he/she asks for a test drive, we allow it WITHOUT collecting the booking/ deposit with the condition that if there is nothing wrong with the car then he/she should pay the booking. If lets say he/she cannot confirm on the same day, we advice the customer to bring their mechanic to inspect the car first before confirming. Though said this, some customers do test drive but never pay the said booking fees.

 

[Supra_Fanatics]

Let me clarify on this.. We dont make our customers pay us a deposit first before test driving the car. Rather we try to confirm every details like agreed selling price, downpayment, loan amount and of coz the model and colour of the car with the customer first. If he/she has agreed to the above said terms then if he/she asks for a test drive, we allow it WITHOUT collecting the booking/ deposit with the condition that if there is nothing wrong with the car then he/she should pay the booking. If lets say he/she cannot confirm on the same day, we advice the customer to bring their mechanic to inspect the car first before confirming. Though said this, some customers do test drive but never pay the said booking fees.

Yup, that's more like it. At least now we got another used car dealer to go to if we want a 2nd
hand car

 

[Izso]

A friend won't let a friend buy a car that was in an accident?
[youtube]yjxM9chAe1k[/youtube]

Not worth the savings IMO. Then again, depends on how severe it is. If its just the crash beam and radiator, no under carriage damage, ok la.

Yeah I've seen this vid. I do know the basics of checking for accident hints and I did do that. I mentioned some undercarriage scratches right? I actually brought my 3-tonne jack with me to look under the car.

 

[Supra_Fanatics]

Yeah I've seen this vid. I do know the basics of checking for accident hints and I did do that. I mentioned some undercarriage scratches right? I actually brought my 3-tonne jack with me to look under the car.

Hey that's a good idea bro! Really SMART! Cuz I was thinking how to check undercarriage if got a car which have bodykits and lowered?

 

[Izso]

Hey that's a good idea bro! Really SMART! Cuz I was thinking how to check undercarriage if got a car which have bodykits and lowered?

I had to ask the salesman for permission first to jack up the car, then I jacked it up based on the manual instructions in this case one of the points was the lower arm itself, so I did that.

For lowered cars with bodykits, if you have the permission you just need to get creative. With a brick and some planks of wood or some elevation point

 

[6UE5t]

Let me clarify on this.. We dont make our customers pay us a deposit first before test driving the car. Rather we try to confirm every details like agreed selling price, downpayment, loan amount and of coz the model and colour of the car with the customer first. If he/she has agreed to the above said terms then if he/she asks for a test drive, we allow it WITHOUT collecting the booking/ deposit with the condition that if there is nothing wrong with the car then he/she should pay the booking. If lets say he/she cannot confirm on the same day, we advice the customer to bring their mechanic to inspect the car first before confirming. Though said this, some customers do test drive but never pay the said booking fees.

Hmm when I bought my Mark X, I test driven probably close to 10 cars from various dealers before I finally decided on one, and none of those dealers/salesmen ask for any confirmation first, even agreement on the car price etc2 before they let me test drove the cars. They all seemed quite friendly, easy to deal with, none were pushy. Maximum they only called me to follow up once afterwards to ask whether I was still interested or not. Of course I was a genuine serious prospective buyer and most likely my intention was genuinely apparent, hence I got no problems testing so many cars.

 

[Supra_Fanatics]

I had to ask the salesman for permission first to jack up the car, then I jacked it up based on the manual instructions in this case one of the points was the lower arm itself, so I did that.

For lowered cars with bodykits, if you have the permission you just need to get creative. With a brick and some planks of wood or some elevation point

Ya have to know the points to jack up the car...forgot about that

Hmm when I bought my Mark X, I test driven probably close to 10 cars from various dealers before I finally decided on one, and none of those dealers/salesmen ask for any confirmation first, even agreement on the car price etc2 before they let me test drove the cars. They all seemed quite friendly, easy to deal with, none were pushy. Maximum they only called me to follow up once afterwards to ask whether I was still interested or not. Of course I was a genuine serious prospective buyer and most likely my intention was genuinely apparent, hence I got no problems testing so many cars.

The best of both worlds...a win win situation is what both sides want. :top:

 

[TOMEI-R]

Hmm when I bought my Mark X, I test driven probably close to 10 cars from various dealers before I finally decided on one, and none of those dealers/salesmen ask for any confirmation first, even agreement on the car price etc2 before they let me test drove the cars. They all seemed quite friendly, easy to deal with, none were pushy. Maximum they only called me to follow up once afterwards to ask whether I was still interested or not. Of course I was a genuine serious prospective buyer and most likely my intention was genuinely apparent, hence I got no problems testing so many cars.

Those are re-cond car dealers. We are Used Car dealers. Procedures are different.:wavey:

 

[6UE5t]

Those are re-cond car dealers. We are Used Car dealers. Procedures are different.:wavey:

Why have to be different? Recond cars are also used cars, just direct from overseas and not yet used here, right? Actually FYI I also did test drive some used Mark X & some other cars too from used car dealers, not just recon ones.