[Frank Bullitt]

Just before I left work last night I checked Autotrader - lo and behold, my local dealer has an ex demo 1.6HDi 92 Allure with 10k on the clock for £10,300 - sounds too good to be true, but I hot foot it down there on the way home - sure enough the car is there but the salesman has taken the keys home (...), car looks clean and straight - standard Allure in pearl white with Beijing Bronze interior - salesman explains it's a keen price (I should say), confirms the keys will be on-site today and agrees to ring me first thing. Mrs FB calls him so he can come to her work, price the Picasso and she can take a spin - he rolls up at 9.15, kicks the Picasso's tyres and they go for a spin; she likes it (doesn't give it away) saying it feels quite similar to the Picasso (heavier controls than the petrol) but a bit slower joining the A1 which surprised me (less power but the same torque in a lower weight car), calls me and tells me the salesman will be calling me with a part ex price and we can talk mullah.

I get to speak with him a while later at which point he drops the bombshell - the price is wrong, sadly they discovered the 'admin' error before I could get a deposit down - the price will be £14,500; the sales manager realised when they'd had two calls and there emails overnight/ first thing on the car, it only went on some time late yesterday.

Pants - we didn't want a e-HDi really but the price would have been perfect, so that's twice in 5 days they've not covered themselves in glory...

 

[jonnyg30]

gutted! £10k would have been a steal!! you could have bought it sold it on strait away for a profit and bought the version you did wan't.

 

[Frank Bullitt]

Yes, I had suggested we could keep it a short while and then sell it when deals become more readilly available on the 1.2e-THP without loosing much (if any) cash.


My A2 was an ex-demo that was 5 days away from being sent to auction as part of some tax management (dodge...), I think it is VAT related - as a result I paid £10,500 for a car that retailed at £15,700 with the options it had, and comparable cars were all up at £12,500-£13,000 (they had dropped the price to £11,495 only a week before I bought it); the dealer explained I could have it at that price on the basis I collected by a certain (short) date, which I did as the cash was lined-up so whilst this deal on the 2008 looked to good to be true I was half-hoping it would be a similar set-up.
I have seen this car a fair few times (the salesman who used it drives the opposite way to me) and it's always doing 60-65 on a dual carriageway so the higher miles didn't bother me at all...

I had been told it would be removed from sale immediately but it's still on Autotrader.

 

[Frank Bullitt]

...and here it is...

2008 that got awayEdited by: Frank Bullitt