Hi all,

There seems to be quite a disparity in pricing on the used CGT's and FS's on the market. I have been shopping a 2010 and several other years and there often can be a 20k-30k difference in seemingly similar cars.

Is there a good source to help determine the true FMV of these cars? Also, do you think Autotrader is the best source for vehicles available in the U.S. or is there a more comprehensive listing service?

Also, what, if any, are the inherent advantages from purchasing a used car from a Bentley dealer? Are the advantages so great that one should only purchase from a dealer?

Thansk for your thoughts!

 

I just got an '10 FS and used eBay, Autotrader, Cars.com, and Car Gurus. The site CarGurus was nice because it lists cars by best deals by comparing FMV to listing price, although I don't know how they determine FMV, although it seems pretty accurate. Here is link:

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invento...#resultsPage=1

 

. It seem there are two main categories of dealers for these cars, reputable dealers that bought the car directly from owner or traded it in and is familiar with cars history, and then there are usually smaller lots that buy high end cars in auctions around the country and normally sell them cheapest to make quick flip. The problem with the latter, is that these auction purchasing lots, usually don't know any of the cars history and do very minimal checking.

One other thing I just thought of. When you are buying a car out of town, it's a good idea to find a backup deal in the same place. I did that with my Ferrari and glad I did. I was told the car had no paintwork. Yet when I arrive at place, there is overspray on the black molding. The dealer points to the clean carfax, which I told him that is not factory overspray. Since I had a comprable car already looked into at a dealer 10 minute up the road, it just took one call to arrange to get other dealer to pick me up to see their car which I ended up purchasing. The thing is, once you're at dealer and have spent money on tickets, taken time off of work, maybe spent money to ship trade ins, most people are pretty much

 

Very useful info!

Like you I always have a backup plan. Several years ago I flew 800km to another city to look at an Aston Martin by a private seller. Even though I had checked a number of issues with him before I traveled, the car turned out to be not what I was after, and I walked (flew). He was amazed, no doubt thinking that with all my effort he had a sale in the bag. But I was happy to walk away and save $600 for the sake of bigger outgoings further into the ownership.

This model was reasonably rare which is why I didn't wait. Others obviously saw the same problems because it was on sale for months.

But I wouldn't do this very often. Time and money is a valuable resource when you can't add any value to the trip.

For high-end purchases I ALWAYS buy from the dealer. You need the protection of a consumer's guarantee, and that's hard to enforce when the seller has your money!

 

It seems like the moral of the story is purchase from a dealer if you are looking at a 120k plus Bentley! I know that the original dealers who know the history of the car seem to be willing to vouch for all aspects of that history.

 

Not necessarily, the Maserati QP I bought had some of the service history listed on the carfax report, so a quick call to Maserati of Atlanta and VIN # got me copies of all the receipts from every repair and service the car had had from the time it rolled off the truck. Some dealers say they need the owners permission, but most will just black out the name on the receipts of you ask nicely and especially if you can send them proof you own the car.

Bottom line, I purchased my QP from a very small lot in Atlanta that no doubt probably got it at an auction and had no history on the car. Yet, it only took a few calls to find out everything I needed to know anout the cars service history within 11 miles of what the odometer currently read. Most dealerships are tied together, so even if you don't know who serviced the car, call the closest dealer and give them the VIN# and that should get you all the info from visits to dealer.