fontain

[batty]

hi, has anyone bought a car from fontain's recently. ?
is there any "marjin for negotiation" in their prices ?
i'll be looking for an outright purchase & sell my existing car privately, as i find that usually gets the best results.
many thanks for your experiences.....

[s4marsh]

there is always room for negotiation but first you need to find something to negotiate over..if you were selling a car that was in perfect condition/spec and limited availability would you drop your price???? NO. so what you need to do is find similar cars/spec selling privately
cheaper elsewhere 1st, find something their car hasnt got that you would want or pretend to want
use book price as a guide only its not the book buying the car is it. the best way to get a good deal is to use the sales techniques on the salesman,start by having a bit if crack and get them laughing. try to get them to agree with you as much as possible and say YES its called mind conditioning and works very well. the most important phrase you can use is "I WILL BUY THE CAR TODAY IF" you get a good price/deal or whatever you want out of it they will counter your request and bingo your negotiating...if they point blank refuse to negotiate walk away but leave your number they WILL phone you back with a better offer. try to make it a quick simple deal for them as the less time they put in the more they will drop their price and can get on with selling other cars, dont just expect them to drop the price for no reason other than you asking, you need to find valid points for negotiation

[ShaneyB]

Hmm,
Took my old B5 S4 Avant to them in p/x for a B6 and they agreed at the time mine was mint and would go on their forecourt for £8k...........they offered me £2.9k for mine!!
Needless to say I laughed, walked away and bought mine elsewhere. All that after I've dealt with them for 8 years!!

Depends which sales guy you get I suppose.

[s4marsh]

any garage will try and have your pants down especially if they dont want your px thats the reason i stopped selling cars i couldnt face ripping people off everyday even though i was good at it....you must look like a flash harry or have upset the salesman lol
another point to consider is that a private car may be £1500 cheaper but if it falls in half at the end of the road your screwed whereas a garage will be there to help you.£1500 is not a bad price for total peace of mind in my opinion. there is a vw/audi specialist near me called lawsons and they will still try and sell a car for 5 times more than they give you px for it like when i was gonna buy a 91 golf gti 16v for sale £6595 i wanted to px the same car but 3 years older they offered me £900 some dealers are just like that where as i have give 10k for a px and sold it for 9k because i was making money on the finance package and the new car, Cash is no longer king in car sales

[Silversea]

another point to consider is that a private car may be £1500 cheaper but if it falls in half at the end of the road your screwed whereas a garage will be there to help you.

That "should" be the case.

I was interested in a B5 RS4 that Fontain had just bought from a private seller on PH.

I had arranged a flight to go and view and luckily a forum member sent me a PM to say that he was sure the very same car had been at a well known tuner a few years earlier, it had been stolen and fairly badly damaged.

I managed to get in contact with the original owner who confirmed it was in quite a bad way, required a quarter panel, wing, bumpers and a load of other bits. I contacted the tuner who carried out the repair, again they confirmed the work and also that Fontain knew about it being stolen and smashed.......

I contacted Fontain again and asked them directly, had the car ever been stolen or involved in any accident regardless of severity??? I was told "not to their knowledge"!!!

I wouldn't touch them with a barge-pole.....

I’m sure some must have had good experiences with them but after that I wouldn’t use them regardless……

[batty]

thanks for the replies, guys.
i must admit, i regularly check their stock list & the cars do seem top condition and spec, and at the right price.
i thought they were a highly trustworthy establishment, but i guess you still have to be very careful and do your homework.

[Silversea]

i thought they were a highly trustworthy establishment.

So did I.... Clearly not the case though!

[hogansghost]

Just had my car looked at by them today. Did a great job, just refitting the exhaust but explained and, despite it taking longer, didn't charge me more than the hours labour they quoted. Can't say fairer than that I suppose.

I've never bought from them. They had a few nice cars in but frankly I wouldn't buy anything over £20k from an independent anyway - nothing against them but I'd rather spend their markup on a warranty I know will work and an inspection to help me understand what I'm buying. Suppose it comes from living with a dad who always felt that anyone other than a main dealer just bought a car from auction and gave it a wash

Either way good luck & hope you get the car you want.

[s4marsh]

[quote="Silversea"]
I contacted Fontain again and asked them directly, had the car ever been stolen or involved in any accident regardless of severity??? I was told "not to their knowledge"!!!

I wouldn't touch them with a barge-pole.....

[/quote

they sound like complete tossers then avoid like the plague..i've had to phone customers and tell them they cant have the car they bought because of a slight mileage discrepency coming to light never mind selling a write off and blatently lying

[HYFR]

Suppose it comes from living with a dad who always felt that anyone other than a main dealer just bought a car from auction and gave it a wash

Either way good luck & hope you get the car you want.

dont put that past Audi dealers !

[RS6Steve]

I'm new to this forum and just purchased my new toy.

I looked at Fonttain as they are not to far away from me. They had some really nice motor in good condition, but I felt they were a little on the pricey side and hard to negotiate with.

Anyway, I got mine elsewhere. Exellent condition, had Full RAC inspection, plus HPI Checks, and ofcourse I did all the usuall walk arounds myslef. For £230 you can get someone with quite a bit more knowledege than many people, and they point out things you might not even notice! Like cross dill holes on the disc blocked!

[MOR8A]

I have spoken to these guys twice, I only called the second time to check to see if perhaps it was just the guy I spoke to who was having a bad day or something. Both times and different people they were totally uninterested in what I had to say, they had no time for me when it came to a little bit of guidance.

I would never put a penny in their pockets!