WeBuyCars under siege

  • Thread starter Thread starter Daily Investor
  • Start date Start date
Ag shame, I am sure they going to cry foal play and demand China cars be restricted and should pay more TAX!

Always the same with a little competition, and we customers end up losing because of GREED!
 
You don't get to complain when it's cheaper to buy a brand new car then it is to buy one of your second hand ones. South Africa has always had the reputation of overcharging and high profit margins.
 
Bad Ballie said:
You don't get to complain when it's cheaper to buy a brand new car then it is to buy one of your second hand ones. South Africa has always had the reputation of overcharging and high profit margins.
Click to expand...
“South Africa” overcharges?
 
konfab said:
I would never buy a car through WBC, however selling one was an absolute pleasure.
Click to expand...
They offered the most for an Urban Cruiser I sold in 2024. Though they were the lowest during covid when I sold another car in 2022.
 
purrr said:
“South Africa” overcharges?
Click to expand...
South African profit margins are in general higher than their western counterparts. While the alleged 50% higher claim was never proven, the fact that South African business is much more predatory in nature has never been successfully disputed
 
Bad Ballie said:
South African profit margins are in general higher than their western counterparts. While the alleged 50% higher claim was never proven, the fact that South African business is much more predatory in nature has never been successfully disputed
Click to expand...

Has it ever been successfully proven, first?
 
They have incurred a lot of reputational damage by selling people lemons. Their whole model is based on getting stock in at prices under market value from people desperate to sell, or too lazy or unable to drive around to multiple dealerships to get the best price on a trade in.

Those desperate to sell were either in financial distress - or had a car with issues they could not get rid of otherwise.

So if you buy from them you don't know which of the above you are getting - so they added the Dekra report as a way of trying to make the possible lemons visible - problem is they never marketed it like that and individual sales people still kept quite when an unsuspecting buyer thought they were being clever by buying a car under retail value from them. And the Dekra reports were way wrong in some cases anyway.

What they should do is find a way to give customers the same sense of security they would get from buying a new Chinese car.
A new car might have issues, but at least the customer knows that there is a warranty in place and recourse should it be a complete dud.
 
die_koos said:
What they should do is find a way to give customers the same sense of security they would get from buying a new Chinese car.
A new car might have issues, but at least the customer knows that there is a warranty in place and recourse should it be a complete dud.
Click to expand...
They would run at a loss. You can't sell lemons and offer a decent warranty, it must be one or the other...
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
They would run at a loss. You can't sell lemons and offer a decent warranty, it must be one or the other...
Click to expand...
The traditional model for second hand dealers allowed for that, the step that WBC is missing is taking the lemon and fixing it before selling it. But that also means putting in the work when they are buying the car to check it thoroughly and determine if they can make a profit.
 
Splinter said:
Has it ever been successfully proven, first?
Click to expand...
As far as I am aware yes, the only thing disputed was the profit margin which was claimed i.e. South African business enjoys a profit margin 50% higher than their European counterparts. The only thing disputed was the specified 50% profit margin and I will accept the word of the head of the IMF over anything someone says locally.
 
die_koos said:
So if you buy from them you don't know which of the above you are getting - so they added the Dekra report as a way of trying to make the possible lemons visible - problem is they never marketed it like that and individual sales people still kept quite when an unsuspecting buyer thought they were being clever by buying a car under retail value from them. And the Dekra reports were way wrong in some cases anyway.
Click to expand...
Their Dekra RWC can show "perfect" but when you stick your head under the car you can easily find big problems (WHICH DEKRA REPORTS ARE SUPPOSED TO CATCH)... for me personally it's too common for the Dekra RWC to be "clean and green" but the car is not in good condition to consider purchasing from them.

Even Dekra testing stations cut corners... back in the day I bought a motorbike that came with a "perfect" dekra RWC... with no number plate. So I guess humans being humans the seller told the person at Dekra "ag I've got a plate it's just not on, I'll make sure it's on before I hand the bike over".
 
warrenpridgeon said:
Their Dekra RWC can show "perfect" but when you stick your head under the car you can easily find big problems (WHICH DEKRA REPORTS ARE SUPPOSED TO CATCH)... for me personally it's too common for the Dekra RWC to be "clean and green" but the car is not in good condition to consider purchasing from them.

Even Dekra testing stations cut corners... back in the day I bought a motorbike that came with a "perfect" dekra RWC... with no number plate. So I guess humans being humans the seller told the person at Dekra "ag I've got a plate it's just not on, I'll make sure it's on before I hand the bike over".
Click to expand...
They are quitting DEKRA and doing their own report now.
 
Bad Ballie said:
As far as I am aware yes, the only thing disputed was the profit margin which was claimed i.e. South African business enjoys a profit margin 50% higher than their European counterparts. The only thing disputed was the specified 50% profit margin and I will accept the word of the head of the IMF over anything someone says locally.
Click to expand...

Got any legitimate source for this?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X