On the face of it, selling cars seems easy. Buy a car, take a few pictures and off it goes. Unfortunately, it couldn't be further from the truth. Our preparation process can be long & arduous and if you ever wonder where our mark up on vehicles come from, it's more often than not from our preparation.
Browse a wide range of quality used cars at Goldheart Automotive in West End. Whether you're looking for an SUV, hatchback, or something else, we have affordable options to suit your needs. Visit us today to find your perfect car.
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Before we even purchase a car, we invest our time and money doing background searches including (but not limited to): HPI check, VOSA mileage check, MOT check, V Check (for salvage history), online service history and other general background searches such as social media activity. Here, we're building up a picture of the history and ownership of the vehicle. For example, we've rejected a number of cars owned by YouTubers and other influencers where the car has clearly been abused and is documented all online for all to see! Once initial background searches are concluded, we then move to purchase the vehicle.
One of our experienced buyers conducts a thorough physical check around the vehicle including (but not limited to): evidence of accident damage, mechanical faults, interior, tyres, brakes, suspension and physical service history. We test drive the vehicle and plug our diagnostic machine to diagnose any faults. All used cars require some form of preparation and we have a rule of 3. If a vehicle requires more than 3 separate preparation jobs we don't purchase the car. Examples of preparation jobs can be wheel refurbish or servicing.
An underrated step that many miss. Although our buyer is well-versed in spotting any cosmetic issues, you can only truly tell a vehicles condition once it's been fully cleaned. Here you can spot small dents, alloy curbing and light scratching. We can also plan on how to detail this car i.e. it may only require a single stage polish or it may require some paint correction.
Now things get a bit more serious. As you can understand when we initially purchase the vehicle, we can't keep the seller waiting for 2+ hours while we check the car over as this isn't a very good customer experience. And our initial buyer can only do so many checks on the sellers driveway so once the vehicle is back ta base, we conduct a 2 hour mechanical inspection. The vehicle is raised, and all the internals, suspension and main mechanical components are checked. Unlike other dealerships, we don't claim to perform a 1000-point inspection. For us, its quality over quantity but we do genuinely check over 150 different touch points. After this step, we know exactly what we need to do to prepare the car for sale.
On to the fun part. Preparation can include anything from: alloy wheel refurbishment, PDR (paintless dent removal), new tyres, servicing, MOT, bodywork respray, seat repair and cosmetic enhancements. For each brand, we have specialists in each area. For BMW's we use a specialist based in Berkshire and for Land Rover a specialist based in Dorking. We use a wheel refurb company in Surrey who we trust from bodywork experts who have over 40 year's experience. Rest assured, when we prepare cars we do it properly.
Once all mechanical and preparation work has been concluded, we can finally begin to make the car look great. This includes a full detail including stage 1 or 2 polish and deep interior clean. For more on our detailing, please see here. If any preparation work has been missed, it will surely be picked up here.
So, you see... slightly more than just 'buy a car, take a few pictures and off it goes'.
There's a lot more to the above but we count 5 genuine separate mechanical and bodywork checks to give you AND us ultimate peace of mind.
