I learned something today that I had never thought about. I have been shopping for a clean late model Vantage for the last month or so.
I spoke at length today with a high end dealership ( not an Aston martin dealer ) about a Vantage that they had. After looking over the car fax carefully, I noticed that the car had been to the local Aston Dealer in their town multiple times this year. When I inquired about this I could tell the salesperson started to stumble a bit. He tells me that they have a program where clients pay a monthly fee and they can pick up any used car in their inventory and drive it while it is for sale. Now, had I not asked questions , he surely would not have told me that this car has been in their inventory for a year and has been leased out to anyone who participates in their leasing program. I can see where this makes financial sense for a dealer to do this with their cars. But once again, buyer beware of non OEM dealers as they can be letting the car out to customers on lease who may or may not rag the hell out of the car. You think you are buying a one or two owner car from the carfax report, yet it may have had dozens of drivers who leased the thing for a day or a week, or a month. I am so glad that I caught this as the car was low miles, spec'd well and priced fairly.
I think the lesson learned for me is that I am now more willing to pay a bit more to buy from an Aston dealer going forward.

 

Haven't heard of this before but glad you've flagged it, wonder how widespread this practice is. Used car dealers certainly earn their bad reputation. I'm starting to think there isn't a single good one out there.

 

Think about the cars that are used for exotic driving day on small road courses. The cars are generally wrapped so they'll look like new when they come for sale. All have been beaten to hell and back with one owner on the record.

 

Since I have a bit of a mean streak in me, I followed up again with the shady dealer about the car in question. I asked them to forward me all the receipts from the local Aston dealer to show me what they had done to the car during the time they had this thing. Once again, more lies and stories came to light. The Aston dealer had suggested several small items to be dealt with. In every case the used car dealer declined and was only concerned with getting the check engine light to go away. It also was evident that the shady dealer had this car for 1.5 years . There is no telling how many weekend rentals that cars has been flogged during this year and half. The shady dealer had installed a tracking device which the Aston dealer finally found to be the culprit of the check engine light. I feel bad for the unknowing soul who will eventually purchase this car and probably have a few headaches after their purchase.

 

That is unfortunate, and you're wise to steer clear. Tell us the dealership.

 

I would rather not publicly call out a dealer. I will say it was not an Aston Martin Dealership.

 

Could post the VIN as a reference in case a forum member is looking at said car?

 

Can you DM us then? Be great to know. ty.

 

White 2020 Vantage. VIN. SCFSMGAW6LGN03988

 

You need to be aware, even when dealing with Aston Martin dealers!! I bought a 2015 V12S - Certified (I've in the past detailed in this blog my nightmares with this car). Purchased from a well known Chicago dealer that rhymes with Stapleton, this certified car was previously an experimental factory tracked car that should have never been resold, and certainly NEVER been a Certified car. Right upon delivery it had a dozen obvious flaws that a blind person would have caught. I did some research and found it's past history (which Aston conveniently lost most of the paperwork). Aston Martin Corporate replaced the car with a one owner one (I lost the B/O Stereo) with 1/3rd the miles. That car was resold and within a month the engine blew up. The car (a friend bought it) continued to have problems and spent 11 months of the next two years in the shop. After that two years, Aston paid a hefty settlement and extended the warranty another two years. In all, I can't even imagine how much money Aston Martin Corporate lost deciding a car that should have met the crusher - somehow got to a dealer to resell Certified. When that dealer that rhymed with Stapleton told me they had no idea of it's past history, I found a document that proved otherwise. Before Aston Martin settled with me, I demanded that same dealer trade me on a different V12S they had certified and I was told they did not want me to have that 'Certified' car because it had been in an accident which was not divulged because factory cars would be repaired by Corporate and perhaps not reported anywhere. In their ads for that car, it was sold as accident free.

I also had a nightmare experience in dealing with trading my 2015 V12S for a 2017 V12S from Beverly Hills Aston Martin, the worst experience in my entire life buying any product. They were condescending, insulting, rude, and failed on several levels to pay the shipper, my licenses (that I paid for), and took forever on getting paid back the $5K out of pocket to get licensing and taxes they were paid in advance for. The experience was so terrible, I found no joy owning the car. It was like having a wedding night and having all of the wifes exes join in on the fun - you'd never look at that beautiful wife the same. In fact after delivery, I rarely drove the car that first summer.

My current V8 2011 Vantage I bought used from Fairfield Jaguar was also a deceptive sale. I had asked for full pictures and videos and they avoided every problem spot and must have photoshopped the car as in the pictures there were no scratches. I should have had Lemon Squad inspect the cars (I've used them ever since). The car had a dent in the bonnet the size of a quarter, the grill was wavy, and the car head to toe completely scratched from cheap car washes, as well as a blemish on the passengers front fender. The interior was pristine and mechanically OK, so I modded the car instead of demanding a refund. - see below.

Of the past Aston's I've bought, Newport Beach, San Diego, and Morries have been good experiences.

 

Morries tends to get high accolades from the threads I've read on this forum.

 

I had nothing but headaches with the dealer I just bought my Vantage from, in this case another Chicago area dealer. The worst experience I've ever had buying a car. Luckily for me, the car itself is actually very good, the only thing that ended up costing me was correcting some minor cosmetic issues. But that was random luck, the dealer certainly had no idea how good or bad the car was, and didn't care.

My bigger concern is the response I got back from Aston Martin corporate. I really wasn't looking for them to do anything buy acknowledge that the kind of behavior exhibited by this dealership is not what they find acceptable. Instead, I got a whitewash response from Aston's used car manager. I also sent a 10 page write of everything that happened to Aston customer support, who said that forwarded to the regional after-sales and sales managers. The response I got? NOTHING. No response at all. My only conclusion has to be that just just don't care. It really puts a damper on my enthusiasm to buy Astons in the future.

On the bright side, I've had nothing but good experiences with a couple of Aston dealers, Long Island Sports Cars and Aston Martin Summit NJ. So there's hope.

 

We probably should start a good guy dealer thread for all to see. Call out the dealers who don’t care vs the dealers who value a relationship with their clients.
I will say that I have had two good experiences with the Aston Martin dealer in Austin TX over the last 5 years. Very pleasant to deal with from the purchase to taking the car in for service.

 

That's a great showroom in Austin. Texas sized!

 

The service facility in Austin is a beautiful thing to see. It is as clean as a hospital with quiet music playing in the background !