Dealers..

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rooooosie

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Have you ever bought from a dealer?

Im forever seeing or hearing people say 'id never ever buy from a dealer!' but in a lot of instances i think dealers are more trustworthy than private sellers. They have a reputation to uphold, whereas private sellers it makes no difference if they sell a dodgy horse or dope it or lie etc.
 
I have not bought from a dealer but I have known some very good ones who are very honest. I would consider buying from a dealer if they had the right horse, I dont think they are any more dishonest than anyone else. In fact I can see great advantages in going to a dealer - telling them what you want and your price range surely avoids driving all over the country to see 3 legged donkeys when you were expecting a nice dressage prospect or PC pony
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I think there are always going to be good and bad sellers, regardless of whether they are a dealer or not.

Do some research into dealers first, some have websites that you can see pics of the horses on. Generally most will give some sort of offer, ie 7 day trial, that sort of thing.

I bought one from a dealer and they were very genuine. Don't be put off looking into it. Good luck!
 
I bought one from a dealer and it was a complete nightmare. She was a master at selling unsuitable ponies for Show Jumping and I have ( through various websites and court actions) met other people who were treated in exactly the same way as me. She still trades and still advertises regularly... so if its a 'quality 14.2' jumping pony you are going to look at PM me and I will confirm if you have to take extra care....
On the other hand, I have also heard that some dealers are honest, descibe horses accurately and are willing to exchange if necessary.
Its the same old thing... buyer beware....
 
Yes, from a very dodgy dealer, but I knew that before I got the horse, and I knew I was letting myself in for a lot of work.

I probably would consider buying from a dealers if they had the right horse.
 
I bought from a dealer for my first horse and had a very bad experience. I'm sure there are good dealers and im even sure the dealer I bought from has sold good horses. The horse I bought turned out not as described and very luckily I managed to get a full refund (I know of one lady in the same position as me who as far as I know has been refused a refund) but I have to say some dealers (not all) do not try out the horses enough to be able to describe them correctly.

I went to a private genuine seller after that and got a nice horse. But I am sure there are private sellers who are not genuine either.
 
I have always bought from dealers. I have not yet had any problems and horses have always been as described. Though you do hear FAR too many horror stories about it.
 
I prefer to buy from auction and dealers. I have just bought a pony off a dealer - i have known him years. The pony my youngest daughter has just grown out of i bought from Jamie Gray. The little chestnut jumping below.
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Special little chap he is.
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I also recommended him to someone else who bought a Haflinger from him. They were delighted with the horse until recent activities. They contacted me unhappy. I asked if the horse was o.k. and they are still thrilled with it. I had no idea of what was to come and was as shocked as them.
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I see dealers as supermarkets for horses. Good and bad in everyone also comes to mind.
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I do know a dealer i would not buy anything off at all.
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i'm classed as a "Dealer" because i sell more than 4 animals a year..

the "dodgy" ones are widely known..both in the media and T'internet...

as for being better for "comebacks"...i wouldn't know TBH...
 
I prefer to buy from dealers as you can see more horses at once & don't have to worry about hurting feelings as you would with a private seller. I prefer dealing with detached business people rather than 'owners'.

Cat came from a dodgy dealer dealer (altho I didn't realise at the time) & he was fantastic. Adrian came from a different dealer & is 100% as described.
 
I work for a person who buys and sells although i wouldn't call them a dealer as such as it is fairly small set up... we do a lfew part exchanges and that sort of thing.

My boss has mostly successful sales but I have known him take back one or two that proved unsuitable... He is definitely aware that he has a reputation to maintain which is why he takes them back if the sale doesn't work out.

Having said that, I've known some ridiculous 'return' stories including a horse that "wouldn't stop cantering round the field and was ruining the grass" (this was a 5yr old point to pointer who had been in 24/7 for 3 months at racing fitness... returned within 24 hours
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I mean what did they expect him to do when turned out!!!!!!), a perfectly nice chestnut who I used to love riding who was returned after 6 weeks as he was 'napping' - something he never did with us and he was in a shocking mess when he came back, and a tough, intelligent but sweet haflinger who went away for 3 months and was then returned because he "kept bucking"... he wasn't the same horse when he came back - clearly he'd been allowed to get away with murder until he got really naughty... then they phoned my boss up complaining that he had sold them an unsuitable pony
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the trouble is,a lot of sellers have a habit of 'overhorsing' themselves then blame the dealer when the partnership doesn't work out in my experience.
 
I have bought 4 from 2 different dealers. One was dodgy as hell, but I got the most amazing and perfect pony (the dealer ended up in prison for sexual assualt!) and another three wonderful mares from a very honest and caring dealer.
 
^ yes i think that is the case more often than not.. people get them home and after a couple fo weeks the horse starts playing up.. and usualy the new owners fault/problem than whoever sold it!


also dealers horses tend to be much better mannered and well behaved - they dont take [****], wheareas private sellers often are guilty of spoiling their horses and letting them do what they like because they are there 'pet'

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oooo DonkeyMad I know who you are on about. My friend broght a 2 year old off him just as he was going down. Poor horse was screwed up in the head.

Do you know what dealer Im on about?
 
[ QUOTE ]
I bought one from a dealer and it was a complete nightmare. She was a master at selling unsuitable ponies for Show Jumping and I have ( through various websites and court actions) met other people who were treated in exactly the same way as me. She still trades and still advertises regularly... so if its a 'quality 14.2' jumping pony you are going to look at PM me and I will confirm if you have to take extra care....
On the other hand, I have also heard that some dealers are honest, descibe horses accurately and are willing to exchange if necessary.
Its the same old thing... buyer beware....

[/ QUOTE ]

How interesting, this sounds like exactly the same dealer that we bought a totally misdescribed pony from. And like you we have since heard of many instances of the same thing happening. Beware, beware!

I am however not of the all dealers are tarnished with the same brush. Robust investigation is needed and trust has to be established first, I think.
 
I bought K from a dealer and couldn't be happier. I tried a few of her horses and they just weren't 'right'. She then phoned me up a week or so later telling me she had the perfect horse and had kept him on hold for me as she just knew he would be right for me. She didn't let anyone else look at him and you know what? He was perfect!

I think you need to know what you want and try to do as much digging as you can. A friend of a friend had bought from this woman and was really pleased with her purchase. I think SouthWestWhippet is right - it isn't always the dealers fault!

Dare I say it - horses for courses!
 
We've bought from two dealers as well as privately and could not have been happier with either of them. In fact we got so disillusioned with private sellers when we were last looking that unless from a friend we won't purchase privately now. You have more rights buying from a dealer too. Although thankfully haven't had to go down that route.
 
All our three horses are from the same dealer (Ru, Bodey and Badger), we also had another cob from him - wouldn't go anywhere else now as they have all been excellent and we can trust him
 
Eric was from dealer, a few of my others were too (from same one) I had Stanley (17.1 TB x) BigMac (16.3 TB) Lucky (13.2 NF) and Herbie (15.1 AA)Stanley is still going strong at 22 in new home, BM is dressage horse somewhere, Lucky in RS and H with me.
Never had a problem, dealer sells horses exactly how they are thankfully.
 
My boy was bought by his previous owner from Lyn Russel, and apparantly she was very good to deal with, if a little on the pricey side.

I wouldn't hesitate to go to a dealer if they had a good reputation.
 
I bought from a 'private' seller, who turned out to be a dealer, a TOTAL lying b*tch and lied so much about the horse it was untrue. It's taken a year and a half of work to be able to get him 'sane' ish. Horse was also in such poor health when I got him too, poor thing.

WATCH OUT ANYONE BUYING IN PEMBS!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I bought from a 'private' seller, who turned out to be a dealer, a TOTAL lying b*tch and lied so much about the horse it was untrue. It's taken a year and a half of work to be able to get him 'sane' ish. Horse was also in such poor health when I got him too, poor thing.

WATCH OUT ANYONE BUYING IN PEMBS!

[/ QUOTE ]

Equaally, be aware of buyers pretending to be private
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I sold an Irish cob to a lovely family, they were very good with horse, asked all the right Q's, had nice home (saw pics). Nothing untoward I thought.
Except 2 weeks later I saw him for sale, huge price tag and a lot of lies (I sold him as bolshy, rude and not particularly good in traffic as he would reverse into buses) He was advertised as suitable for young riders (not) easy to handle, 100% in traffic and suitable as 'mothers dream horse for child'
I did however get onto them and the site where he was advertised, as they had really lied about him. They changed their ad after it was removed. You can never tell with people eh?
 
I think a lot of problems arise from a buyer not knowing an awful lot about what they want and sometimes expecting a horse to be a bit like buying a car whereas in reality it is an animal and, where it may be fantastic for one person this may not be the case for another. Obviously there are good an bad vendors whether private or dealers and think it shows a very good dealer when they're prepared to take an animal back.

As someone said, many people over estimate their abilities and are NOT truthful to the seller.

We have bought 2 from a reputable dealer and both horses were as described and we knew what we wanted at the time. The rest we have bought privately. We also sold a horse privately as he had rearing issues when put under pressure and was slightly nappy. He was lovely as a normal hack or even hunting but wouldn't have suited a competition home. We were VERY honest about him and a lady bought him who assured us she just wanted to hack him. Turns out this wasn't the case and he promptly threw someone off when they took him to a SJ event! She then sold him on and I think made out we'd lied about him which was totally untrue.

I hindsight we shouldn't have sold him to her, it was quite obviosus she wasn't the most confident of riders but buyers are also inclined to tell you exaggerated stories about their abilities!
 
Ive never bought from a dealer and wouldn't tend to. However, there are decent and dodgy ones out there which you hear about by word of mouth (ie. reputation) so Id maybe visit a decent dealer, but TBH Id rather buy privately as you generally know more about the horses history etc.

I dont agree with saying private people are more likely to dope the horse / lie etc. as nowadays you get sued for that! You can't really dope a horse since you get a blood test with any 5 stage vetting (it up to the buyers if they choose not to do this and therefore their problem IMO) and its very dodgy for a seller to lie because again, you could be taken to court over it! I think most private sellers love their horses and want the best home, Id personally always tell the truth (I say the bad bits too) because I want the horse and owner to be happy!
 
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