Hi All, just had a very weird (looong) afternoon at Stratstone in Perth. After 2 hour of them test driving, checking over my car, lots of paper work. Someone else checking my car over and more paper work, all so they could give me the best possible trade in value, I eventually got to test drive the car I was looking to buy. When we returned there was another half hour wait before they produced the bomb shell - the trade in price. 2K less than minimum book price.

Then it started to become surreal - I know its very low but its the best price we can sell it on for as its not a land rover. Then they went even further when the financial expert got involved, he starts talking about 'special' finance deals that are higher than my building society standard rate before trying to prove a point by pulling up their CAP used car guide prices and putting in the wrong car details, when I pointed this out it ended up higher trade-in than Glass and Parkers I had checked with.

Oh - it looks like the trader we deal with is trying to steal your car at that price - a long uncomfortable silence while the dealer and finance guy looked at each other with glazed expressions - before me and my wife laughed and walked out.

Is this the way that Stratstones operate? or did we just go to the wrong dealer?. I know their prices are competitive, though not always the cheapest, as they like to point out quite often.

It wasn't all bad they did recommend a very good Indian restaurant and I now know what car I will be buying, only not from them.

Not called sh.tstones for nothing

Try James at sponsors Hadley Green Landrover, they might be a trek away, but the deal will be the best he can give and the drive hope will put a smile on your face in the new FL2  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

We were looking to buy a new Golf a few years ago. After test driving it at Beadles in Bromley we decided we liked it and wanted to talk about price and trade in. The salesman wanted near retail price for the new car and offered me less than a competitor for my trade in. I told the salesman that we could get the car a bit cheaper plus a better p/x from JCB in Ashford which was about an hour's drive away. He wasn't interested at all in any negotiations and his reply was "Well, I suggest you go there then". We did and saved over £600 on the deal. I later wrote to the sales manager of Beadles and asked him to pass on my thanks to the salesman concerned for his money saving advice. My wife said I was being petty but he was there to sell me something, which usually includes some negotiations, not to tell me to off! Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Last edited by Steve D on 27th Apr 2013 7:43 am. Edited 1 time in total

I went to Pratstones last Saturday, they gave mine a quick look over, offers me £19k the vehicle I went to see looked as though it had been through a hedge, the paintwork as atrocious, scratches, scuffs, the base oat was showing in three places. Went elsewhere, was offered a much better deal.

ad210358 wrote:

........ Went elsewhere, was offered a much better deal.

And that elsewhere was Sponsors Hadley Green LR  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

you could try Town & County Aberdeen but it has changed ownership to Peter Vardy and now a lot of the workers have walked out, when my car had a problem it was going to be 6 weeks before they could look at it, so my recommendation would be Frank Ogg Elgin 1995 P38 now dead
2012 FL2 GS Fuji White
winter pack
arm rest pack

I use Strastone Cupar and can't fault them on sales or service, especially Alistair Mcbain top salesman deal with him everytime.

I do agree that Stratstone Perth are hopeless, I once took my D3 to their bodyshop as Cupar didn't have one at that time, and they were just not interested. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

frawdder - I'd recommend Morrisons at Stirling - I can't fault their service

j77 wrote:

I use Strastone Cupar and can't fault them on sales or service, especially Alistair Mcbain top salesman deal with him everytime.

I do agree that Stratstone Perth are hopeless, I once took my D3 to their bodyshop as Cupar didn't have one at that time, and they were just not interested.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Npinks - I had heard a few bad things about them but that can be said about most dealers and I was prepared for it. Or so I thought but 3hrs to get a test drive and a trade in price, where they agreed that the trader they used would get >40% mark up on my car.

Big al - plan to spend a week touring up your way might try and swing by Frank Ogg's when I'm there.

j77 - One of the reasons I was asking if all Stratstones worked the same was the good feedback from the Cupar branch. I go up to St Andrews a few times a year so was thinking of dropping by. It was a toss up which branch I was going to between Perth and Cupar as they were sourcing the car from down south, looks like I picked the wrong one.

Wedge - I wouldn't entertain them now if they use the same method for trade in's for. Think it would have been different if it was trading a LR.

IanH - will keep an eye on them but they haven't had anything suitable since I started looking. Though they do seem to price their cars higher than book price.

In no rush to change, so will wait till the right car comes along. Just noticed they have dropped the price £150 today.

npinks wrote:

ad210358 wrote:

........ Went elsewhere, was offered a much better deal.

And that elsewhere was Sponsors Hadley Green LR

Lets just say that it's very difficult to speak, Severe dose of Permagrin has struck Buckinghamshire

James  Follow us on Twitter: @GrangeBarnetJLR

When you go to a Land Rover dealer to trade- in remember that they will want to make a minimum £5000 on the deal. Stornaway grey SE auto with 18" alloys

ad210358


that only ever happens in the movies  1995 P38 now dead
2012 FL2 GS Fuji White
winter pack
arm rest pack

Just had the Stratstone Perth driver pick up the FL2 for some repairs.

Anyway, i've had the car for only 6 weeks and pretty happy with it, but.....the 2x rear shocks are leaking, noticed this after the first long drive home and the suspension taking a bit of use, must have been steam cleaned previously. The leaks i saw were two days after it was MOTed, it should never have passed.
The rear diff is on it's way out, wasn't noticable when i test drove the car, but started becoming noisy really quickly. The diff wear was probably exacerbated by the fact the rear suspension is now totally shot.

So, it took a while to get Stratstone to take the car in - this centralised service booking just doesn't seem to work very well, but hopefully that is the car going to be sorted now. Also, took a bit of persuasion for them to drive up to Aberdeen and pick up the car, but i'm not using my time to return a car which wasn't up to scratch.

Opinion reserved on the dealer until the car is returned.