Jerry Crockford
19th October 2006, 09:00 PM
I was trolling around the web, (as you do!), and found this little gem.
Thought I'd share it with you...
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* Battery Chargers: Never buy a battery charger. If your battery keeps going flat then a) It's stuffed. b) Your alternator is stuffed. NEVER discharge a battery through your headlights. If you do, you will stuff it forever. They are designed for high discharge current for 30 seconds to feed your starter motor, not low discharge for 4 hours to feed your headlights without the engine running. The batteries plates sulphate and the electrolyte SG goes to water and won't recover so do yourself a favour, buy a new battery, not a battery charger. Your battery will charge up very quickly if your alternator is good. Many people also make the mistake of replacing their battery only to find that the fan belt wasn't tight or the alternator itself wasn't charging. If the alternator light comes on, your exhaust pipe isn't busted. So don't change your battery, change your alternator.
* Servicing: If you want to pay $110 per hour in labour then take your car to a motor mechanic. If you want to pay $10 for a genuine oil filter and $15 for 15W40 oil then spend 20 minutes servicing your own car at home with genuine Holden parts and you will pay $25 service for a VT-VZ Commodore. No bull.
* Exhausts: I am ambivalent about buying Holdens or Fords but here is some food for thought. ALL Holdens across the range since the VT model have painted, stainless steel exhaust systems. Ford has mild steel. The difference? Your Ford exhaust will rust out in six years whilst your Holden one lasts forever.
* Part Numbers: When you come to sell your Holden or Ford don't be surprised if you get less for your Ford than you anticipate. Why? Ford puts stickers on just about every panel with your vehicle number on it. If your car has had a panel replaced or has been painted over, the sticker will be missing. That tells the car dealer to knock thousands off your trade in price.
* Warranty: Don't be surprised if your Holden dealer says your car is out of warranty by one day. Holden is very strict on warranty. You get three years, not three years and one day as I found out when something blew up on a Sunday but when I went there on Monday, it was one day out of warranty.
* Ford however replaced a water pump after six years (at the same time the exhaust fell off which they didn't pay for) but because the car had done only 40,000kms, they did the water pump for free, and came to my home to do it. Now that's service! Ford do however sell a no name exhaust brand through their dealerships. You can get the same genuine Ford exhaust at half the price at most Ford dealerships. Its made by the same manufacturer.
* Don't be surprised if your door locks aren't covered under new car warranty. Virtually no dealer covers door locks. Don't know why.
* Trims: Don't expect Holden to stock interior trims two years after the car is stopped being produced. I found out the hard way when the drivers seat back pad wore out on the side you get in and out due to the flimsy material they use to let the side airbag come out. The supplier Air International had plenty of stock but as they only supply Holden, not the public, they couldn't sell the seat trim even though Holden had deleted it from their spare parts lists. It took me three weeks of haggling to get the seat back pads that I wanted. It took me 20 minutes to fit it. The point is the model (but not my car) was still under warranty yet Holden had already deleted items from the VX range.
* Selling your Holden/Ford: Doll the car up with some shiny stuff from Kmart then park it at the Holden/Ford dealer of a Sunday. (Find one that isn't open). Park it out front. They can't do anything, but I think you would test the friendship on a week day. People like to shop car dealers when they don't get harassed. It's a prime opportunity to use the dealers premises to show off YOUR vehicle when they're not there! Complete with PRIVATE buyer signage and phone number. Make sure you make it look as good as theirs in the lot but charge less. I have sold six cars that way so far. Beats advertising in the Saturday papers, and you ALWAYS sell the car first go.
* Commodore Supercharged VX: These are the things I have had go wrong since new. Three Eurovox radios CD players stopped working. Indicator stalk caught fire. 18 spark plugs in six months. One set of spark plug leads. Rocker cover gasket started leaking for no reason. Front suspension loose after one week from new causing steering to do a right turn. All four brake disks replaced under warranty due to shudder. Paint peeled off under door handles after one year. Power steering hoses leaking. Numerous plastic clips fall off from under vehicle at various intervals. Radiator cooling water turned to sludge. Handbrake shoes didn't hold after 70,000kms. Button on rear fold down seats sent a shard of metal through 10 year old daughters hand when button pressed down. But after three years, the car is actually starting to settle down...
* Buying a new car: Always buy at a runout but never at a substantial shape change. You just lose too much money when you come to sell it again. You would be crazy to have bought a VZ Holden last week or a VE for that matter. Wait till the runouts just prior to end of year or just prior to model change i.e. series 1 to series 2 (not shape change). The SS Commodore for example has been $39,990 from VS right through to VZ on runouts so why would you $55,000 at the moment?
* Always buy at the end of the month. Always buy on a Saturday at 5.30pm. NEVER have a trade in. Sell privately (see dealers on a Sunday above). Always know the recommended retail price before you go in (so that you never pay it) and how much other sellers are advertising them for in the Saturday Paper's Car Section. NEVER pay recommended retail price. Don't option your car up at the dealer. Buy what they have in stock. They want to move it. Don't buy Ming finishes, burglar alarms etc. Remember, it adds to the new car price, and adds to the STAMP DUTY you have to pay. Extras are always at full recommended retail. Buy these later if you have to.
* NEVER buy a Demonstrator. Chances are it is one of the employees cars at the dealership rather than a demonstrator. Demonstrators are never more than a thousand off yet if you tried to sell your six months old car it would be $10,000 less. You can always buy a brand new car SOMEWHERE for less than a demonstrator price. If they won't play ball, get up and leave. If they are genuine you will get what you want before leaving the premises at 6.00pm. After 6.00pm on a Saturday they know you won't be back until Monday, and probably never so that's when the deal is done.
* Drive the car you want to buy and don't take no for an answer. 90% of people don't test drive a new car before purchase and 50% don't like it after they buy it.
* CHOOSE CAREFULLY. There is NO COOLING OFF period on a new car, only a used one. The legal eagles think that even if you make a hasty purchase, you still got a new car, so you HAVEN'T been ripped off. Get it?
* Constantly get up and go outside for a chat between yourselves. Then come back. Chances are the dealer has had time to think too. When they see you are taking stock of the situation they get nervous and the price collapses. Believe me. I used to be a car dealer...
* Hope this helped someone. " R Cornish, Melbourne VIC
Thought I'd share it with you...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
* Battery Chargers: Never buy a battery charger. If your battery keeps going flat then a) It's stuffed. b) Your alternator is stuffed. NEVER discharge a battery through your headlights. If you do, you will stuff it forever. They are designed for high discharge current for 30 seconds to feed your starter motor, not low discharge for 4 hours to feed your headlights without the engine running. The batteries plates sulphate and the electrolyte SG goes to water and won't recover so do yourself a favour, buy a new battery, not a battery charger. Your battery will charge up very quickly if your alternator is good. Many people also make the mistake of replacing their battery only to find that the fan belt wasn't tight or the alternator itself wasn't charging. If the alternator light comes on, your exhaust pipe isn't busted. So don't change your battery, change your alternator.
* Servicing: If you want to pay $110 per hour in labour then take your car to a motor mechanic. If you want to pay $10 for a genuine oil filter and $15 for 15W40 oil then spend 20 minutes servicing your own car at home with genuine Holden parts and you will pay $25 service for a VT-VZ Commodore. No bull.
* Exhausts: I am ambivalent about buying Holdens or Fords but here is some food for thought. ALL Holdens across the range since the VT model have painted, stainless steel exhaust systems. Ford has mild steel. The difference? Your Ford exhaust will rust out in six years whilst your Holden one lasts forever.
* Part Numbers: When you come to sell your Holden or Ford don't be surprised if you get less for your Ford than you anticipate. Why? Ford puts stickers on just about every panel with your vehicle number on it. If your car has had a panel replaced or has been painted over, the sticker will be missing. That tells the car dealer to knock thousands off your trade in price.
* Warranty: Don't be surprised if your Holden dealer says your car is out of warranty by one day. Holden is very strict on warranty. You get three years, not three years and one day as I found out when something blew up on a Sunday but when I went there on Monday, it was one day out of warranty.
* Ford however replaced a water pump after six years (at the same time the exhaust fell off which they didn't pay for) but because the car had done only 40,000kms, they did the water pump for free, and came to my home to do it. Now that's service! Ford do however sell a no name exhaust brand through their dealerships. You can get the same genuine Ford exhaust at half the price at most Ford dealerships. Its made by the same manufacturer.
* Don't be surprised if your door locks aren't covered under new car warranty. Virtually no dealer covers door locks. Don't know why.
* Trims: Don't expect Holden to stock interior trims two years after the car is stopped being produced. I found out the hard way when the drivers seat back pad wore out on the side you get in and out due to the flimsy material they use to let the side airbag come out. The supplier Air International had plenty of stock but as they only supply Holden, not the public, they couldn't sell the seat trim even though Holden had deleted it from their spare parts lists. It took me three weeks of haggling to get the seat back pads that I wanted. It took me 20 minutes to fit it. The point is the model (but not my car) was still under warranty yet Holden had already deleted items from the VX range.
* Selling your Holden/Ford: Doll the car up with some shiny stuff from Kmart then park it at the Holden/Ford dealer of a Sunday. (Find one that isn't open). Park it out front. They can't do anything, but I think you would test the friendship on a week day. People like to shop car dealers when they don't get harassed. It's a prime opportunity to use the dealers premises to show off YOUR vehicle when they're not there! Complete with PRIVATE buyer signage and phone number. Make sure you make it look as good as theirs in the lot but charge less. I have sold six cars that way so far. Beats advertising in the Saturday papers, and you ALWAYS sell the car first go.
* Commodore Supercharged VX: These are the things I have had go wrong since new. Three Eurovox radios CD players stopped working. Indicator stalk caught fire. 18 spark plugs in six months. One set of spark plug leads. Rocker cover gasket started leaking for no reason. Front suspension loose after one week from new causing steering to do a right turn. All four brake disks replaced under warranty due to shudder. Paint peeled off under door handles after one year. Power steering hoses leaking. Numerous plastic clips fall off from under vehicle at various intervals. Radiator cooling water turned to sludge. Handbrake shoes didn't hold after 70,000kms. Button on rear fold down seats sent a shard of metal through 10 year old daughters hand when button pressed down. But after three years, the car is actually starting to settle down...
* Buying a new car: Always buy at a runout but never at a substantial shape change. You just lose too much money when you come to sell it again. You would be crazy to have bought a VZ Holden last week or a VE for that matter. Wait till the runouts just prior to end of year or just prior to model change i.e. series 1 to series 2 (not shape change). The SS Commodore for example has been $39,990 from VS right through to VZ on runouts so why would you $55,000 at the moment?
* Always buy at the end of the month. Always buy on a Saturday at 5.30pm. NEVER have a trade in. Sell privately (see dealers on a Sunday above). Always know the recommended retail price before you go in (so that you never pay it) and how much other sellers are advertising them for in the Saturday Paper's Car Section. NEVER pay recommended retail price. Don't option your car up at the dealer. Buy what they have in stock. They want to move it. Don't buy Ming finishes, burglar alarms etc. Remember, it adds to the new car price, and adds to the STAMP DUTY you have to pay. Extras are always at full recommended retail. Buy these later if you have to.
* NEVER buy a Demonstrator. Chances are it is one of the employees cars at the dealership rather than a demonstrator. Demonstrators are never more than a thousand off yet if you tried to sell your six months old car it would be $10,000 less. You can always buy a brand new car SOMEWHERE for less than a demonstrator price. If they won't play ball, get up and leave. If they are genuine you will get what you want before leaving the premises at 6.00pm. After 6.00pm on a Saturday they know you won't be back until Monday, and probably never so that's when the deal is done.
* Drive the car you want to buy and don't take no for an answer. 90% of people don't test drive a new car before purchase and 50% don't like it after they buy it.
* CHOOSE CAREFULLY. There is NO COOLING OFF period on a new car, only a used one. The legal eagles think that even if you make a hasty purchase, you still got a new car, so you HAVEN'T been ripped off. Get it?
* Constantly get up and go outside for a chat between yourselves. Then come back. Chances are the dealer has had time to think too. When they see you are taking stock of the situation they get nervous and the price collapses. Believe me. I used to be a car dealer...
* Hope this helped someone. " R Cornish, Melbourne VIC