Autofinders.ltd.uk has given me a quote for a new Skoda £1555 less than the official OnTheRoad price, but I'm wondering if it's too good to be true.
I've waved the quote in front of the local Skoda chap. He can't possibly beat it and he has given me a stack of reasons to go with him and not Autofinders. Most of these don't trouble me, but I do wonder if I should take him seriously when he says theirs is a small garage, their own customers come first, and I may have trouble booking a car in for servicing and so on iwhen it's not bought from them.
Anyone else been down this road with Autofinders, DrivetheDeal with experiences - positive or negative - to help me with my decision?
Thanks
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Just used drivethedeal as local dealer couldn't come near their quote and service was excellent. Car ordered 17 December and was with us four weeks later. Car hadn't been in a field for months either - all parts are stamped either 30 November or 1 December 2006.
Ours had a warranty job done at a local dealer last week and no problems getting the work done within 2 days. It's from another UK Toyota dealer and on their system, they don't care how it was bought.
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I think you'll find that dealers 'sales' & 'service' depts. operate fairly independently with the result that wherever you bought your car, the 'service' side would be only too happy to get your work, be it service or warranty (signifigant warranty work paid for by the manufacturer, when you 'sign' for it, that's their 'invoice' to the manufacturer effectively) I'm sure also that from franchised dealers are obliged by their franchise contract to offer all services inc. warranty work, on a non-partial basis (yes I know human nature can come into it)
My one concern would be that as the salesperson has attempted this sales 'ploy' - you might now question the whole basis of their way of doing business - be it sales or service. That would certainly sway me somewhat.
Isn't there another dealer within a reasonable distance?
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Just used drivethedeal as local dealer couldn't come near their quote and service was excellent. Car ordered 17 December and was with us four weeks later. Car hadn't been in a field for months either - all parts are stamped either 30 November or 1 December 2006.
Being the worlds greatest critic of dealers, I would have previously agreed with the above statement. However, I just bought a new A4 from my local Audi dealer who got to within less than £200 of the best broker price I could find anywhere on the web. You just have to go in with all of your powder dry and say "I can easily buy this from a broker who will source from a UK dealer, so why not cut out the middle-man and do me a deal that is mutually beneficial to both of us". This should work unless you come across an really stupid sales manger !
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I may have trouble booking a car in for servicing and so on when it's not bought from them.
If that's their attitude, I'd find another dealer - in my experience, most people buy a car where they find the car they want, and get it serviced wherever is convenient for work or home.
You don't live in the North West by any chance, Marriedman ?
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Go on, get out of the car...
www.mikes-walks.co.uk
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Thanks, folks, for helpful replies.
I am not bothered by a salesman's ploy - if that's all it is; it's a poor salesman without the odd trick up their sleeve.
daveyjp, I'd be glad to know if you were the first owner of your Toyota or was it pre-registered? And were you able to get good answers to HonestJohn;s questions re internet sales www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=76 ?
I'm in East Anglia, not the northwest.
Cheers
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On my recent search for a 407 coupe, I found a couple of the internet brokers were advertising cars they couldn't supply. You could only have one if you specified the £1400 sat nav system. That's because all the unsold 'new' stock in the country had sat nav fitted. I've found one dealer who'll match the internet price for cars with sat nav, or it'll be another £500 for a new build. (They get £500 extra bonus for selling the current stock.)
One other dealer couldn't (wouldn't) match it, but offered to sell me a 6 month old example for £2000 more than I could get a new one for!!!!!!!!
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Roly93 - I asked the local dealer if he could get anywhere near the broker price - he could knock £250 off and that was it - broker found £700. He could offer 'free' insurance for two years but only when tied to a finance deal at 12%. So I tried up front and they wouldn't play. It does depend on what you are buying.
Marriedman - our Aygo was brand new supplied by IpswichToyota - we are the first registered keeper on the V5c. Once the order was sent to drivethedeal all dealings were done through Ipswich Toyota - drive the deal took no money off us. A credit card number for the deposit was supplied to dtd, but they don't take the deposit then hand it over - the statement shows a debit to Ipswich Toyota. Our only contact with dtd was one phone call to confirm which dealer would be supplying it. After that the dealer called us twice, once to confirm the order and once to confirm the delivery date. There are only two issues which may put some buyers off - you have to pay for the car before you see it (although many dealers won't now release a new car until funds have cleared) and it was driven from the dealer, so had 200 miles on the clock when handed over.
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daveyjp - that's useful, thanks. I'm reassured.
So did your purchase via DtD have any influence at all on your dealings with whoever now services your Aygo?
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If that's their attitude, I'd find another dealer
I agree. You'd think they'd be grateful for the servicing business at least. In fact, isn't the servicing and maintenance side more profitable for dealers these days than selling the cars in the first place?
He's thinking of his own pocket / commission. Nothing more.
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daveyjp - that's reassuring, thanks.
So did your purchase via DtD have no influence at all on your dealings with whoever now services your Aygo?>>
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The dealer which carried out the warranty work isn't the one who we tried to buy a new one off, but that is purely for convenience. We live close to one dealer so went on a weekend to try and buy one, but I work nearer another so this one got the warranty work as I could drop it off and get a lift to work. The one local to work will no doubt do the servicing. I've also found dealers nearer the office are cheaper than the ones nearer home.
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I've had no problem with either servicing or warranty claims when taking a car to a different dealer from the one I bought it from.
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L\'escargot.
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I think some people get concerned when they ring up for service and the advisor sometimes asks 'did you buy the car from us'? In fact, they're just checking whether the car is already on their system.
When importing was all the rage, a friend on mine imported an Alfa and was a bit worried about getting warranty work done, but the local dealer service manager told him that half his work was on imported cars.
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Once you've had a bit of experience working on the 'trade' side of main dealers you soon realise that, for the most part, sales and service don't actually like each other that much. There is often hostility due, amongst other things, used car prep, where sales will feel that service are ripping them off by over-prepping cars; and service will feel that sales are making poor buying decisions and bringing them dogs to sort out - and of course if a used car customer comes back with a problem then service will want to charge sales to sort it out - which can be interesting.
The service manager will have targets to meet each month or quarter and will be keen for any work to help meet those targets. Typically they will charge at one of three labour rates; retail (which is what they charge you); internal (which is what they charge sales); warranty (which is what the car manuf will pay them for warranty work). At the end of the day its all income for them.
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"I may have trouble booking a car in for servicing and so on when it's not bought from them"
So not only does the dealership lose the sale, but they'll refuse your custom in the service department too? I doubt it! Certainly, my local Fiat dealer didn't sell me my Punto, but he didn't refused the 1000 euro in repair work spent on it in the last 13 months (yes, its up for replacement and no, I won't be buying another Fiat).
Anyway, under EU regulations you're not tied to main dealer servicing to maintain the warranty so long as the work is done to the correct standard, so you can always go elsewhere (be that another VAG franchise, an independent or a chain of garages, as you choose).
There is also a Volvo and Mitsubishi main dealer near me now holds a "VW Service" franchise, though they don't sell the cars. If this is becoming more widespread practice with VAG, it could be another alternative should you not wish to do business with the in question dealer at all.
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There is also a Volvo and Mitsubishi main dealer near me now holds a "VW Service" franchise, though they don't sell the cars. If this is becoming more widespread practice with VAG, it could be another alternative should you not wish to do business with the in question dealer at all.
I've seen this locally with both Mercedes and Toyota, and in both cases it's dealers who used to have the slaes franchise but have had it taken away.
For older cars I expect they'd be fine, but I wonder how up to date these people keep their servicing information (and experience) without the incentive of all the new cars coming through.
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Probably as well as the main dealers - it will be a condition of their service franchise that they have the latest diagnostic equipment and maintain a level of training for their staff.
Many dealers skimp on training though - if they pay to train someone up they have a habit of leaving for another dealer.
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I've had some brilliant advice here. The result - I'm no longer worrying about the possibility of the local Skoda dealers refusing to service a car we haven't bought from them. Very many thanks to Davejyp, L'Escargot and all.
I've been able to haggle much more confidently. So far their salesman has knocked £1,000 off the official OTR price. Which is still £555 more than the Autofinders price. I'm wondering how much further we can squeeze them? Ideas most welcome.
Central to the Autofinders deal is that two or three days before we buy the car from them they buy the car from elsewhere which makes it pre-registered. I can't see that makes any difference to us as we'd expect to hang to any new car for five or six years at least; by the time we come to get rid of it it will have depreciated drastically and the fact of another owner should make no difference at all. Or am I missing something?
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Which model Skoda is in question, MM?
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I'm not sure I like the sound of the autofinders approach. Have a look at drivethedeal.com, I used them last year and saved loads and had excellent service. They deliver brand new, unregistered vehicles - mine was a factory order due to the extras I wanted. I'd certainly use them again.
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No go - Drivethedeal is £480 more expensive than Autofinders which is much the same as the local Skoda dealers who've just come down another £55.
The dealership has carved £1,055 off the list price - so far. We're now at £11,395.
Any thoughts on what might encourage them to slice their price further?
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One possible bargaining lever is to ask for some 'free' extras that will cost the dealer less than list price. That's if you actually want anything - may be worth checking out what affects resale on this model.
Good luck!
Pat
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First two services 'free'? Sales can 'buy' these from service dept at their internal labour rate - which will be a lot less than you would pay. make sure you get it in writing though! Probably worth £300??
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If you got another £300 or so in 'free' service or another incentive, I'd be inclined to go with the dealer. You should then have goodwill on your side if there are any post-delivery niggles, and you avoid the pre-registration issue.
BTW, the VW service agency I mentioned above is held by a dealership that never sold VWs. They've dealt in Volvo and Mitsibushi since the early 90s, and prior to that had a Rover agency. They've only been granted the service franchise within the last year.
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Drive the Deal discounted price for :
SKODA - ROOMSTER DIESEL ESTATE
(1.4 TDI PD 80 2 5dr ) is currently £11373,03. Think you may be looking at the Roomster 3 price
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