Prices!

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Tue 7 Aug 2001 20:00
Prices! - Colin
This has certainly been asked before but...
I'm lucky enough (?) to live within reasonable distance of Trade Sales Ltd at Slough, which has been mentioned by HJ from time to time. A friendly salesman there reckons he can save me up to £2k in a medium sized new car. against the Renault dealer just up the road.
Being a suspicious sort of guy (i.e. cynical) I want to know more. Has anyone bought through this type of firm? What are pros and cons? Are they grey imports?What about UK specifications, warranties and servicing?
Any advice will be appreciated!
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Tue 7 Aug 2001 20:03
Re: Prices! - crazed idiot
see discussion recently about replacement for golf
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Tue 7 Aug 2001 20:18
Re: Prices! - crazed idiot
also you could just try asking him where they come from, i think they get a lot from southern ireland (one EEC country with a ready supply of right hand drive cars) Ask to look at the Paperwork! No paperwork - dont buy...

but be very suspicious, give trading standards in slough a ring and ask to speak to the appropriate person, and see what the complaint history is like...
Get the car checked by a professional, make sure its UK spec (or the spec u want) since some sources seem to have power steering or ABS when UK car wouldnt or dont have them when a UK car would etc

They did to my certain knowledge try to sell Puntos without Red keys (when they were necessary) They probably got away with this with numerous punters... And they had nice little signs up to say "we only supply one key"... Now Puntos (in those days) without red keys were a liability... And I guess they were getting them cheap cos the red key was missing...

So any car that has special keys or alarm fobs etc needs checking that you are getting all the bits and bobs you need, check the radio code you are given is the correct one... Stuff like that

Treat them like you were buying at auction, but you have longer to check the car out, but dont put a deposit down until you have seen everything is Ok, all they keys and everything!
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Tue 7 Aug 2001 22:33
Re: Prices! - crazed idiot
u could take a weekend break to ireland yourself and see how much the renault main dealer over there will deal for? or ring round a few... less hassle than personal import from elsewhere since right hand drive is not a special order...
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Tue 7 Aug 2001 22:53
Re: Prices! - Alvin Booth
Colin,
A friend of mine bought a Laguna from Motorpoint Derby with a very high spec.
It was one of a bunch which was designated for Cyprus.
He paid about 5k less than the dealer just down the road from Motorpoint.
he has had no problems regarding warranties etc.
I bought a Vectra from them and also had no problems with main dealers regarding warranties etc.

Alvin
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Wed 8 Aug 2001 13:44
Re: Prices! - MikeL
I bought a Citroen Picasso from Trade Sales last October for about £3,000 less than the local Ciroen dealer wanted. It was a UK sourced car with 48 miles on the clock but was pre registered so I am the second owner. Only came with the one years warrenty but I have no complaints at all so far. The 1500 mile inspection and a problem with the steering wheel radio volume control were sorted out by the said local Citroen dealer under the warrenty with no problems.
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Wed 8 Aug 2001 13:47
Re: Prices! - MikeL
One day I'll learn to spell Warranty!
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