Hi, and what discount should I get for cash?

[ZACK]

Drive The Deals ?...

Id Rather Own My Own Car With No Mileage Limit lol...

[Kenjikojo]

If you live close to the midlands then maybe try looking at carfile.net on the web. They were the cheapest I found a few weeks ago. I then got a dealer to beat that price.

[Jimbob]

Drive The Deals ?...

Id Rather Own My Own Car With No Mileage Limit lol...

Don't understand Zack - thats exactly what you get!

Jimbob

[Bigfeet]

Interesting comments.....

I'm all for saving money, don't get me wrong, but have any of you bought your car from the Internet but test drove at your local dealer... This is why the dealer may be the more expensive route because he has to provide all the services that a dealership requires, reg demos, provide insurance, fuel, etc.

Lots of dealers are going to the wall and I fear not too soon the only way you could buy a car will be through providers such as drive the deal or carfile, which would be a big shame.

And to put people in the know, do you know WHY new cars lose so much in the first year? The reason is VAT. As to the comments made about you will get the same trade in price regardless of what you paid, I'm sorry that the price you get is set by the way the network is selling the cars, if the entire network sold the DS3 for the prices being quoted then the used values would plummet at a much faster rate then they are now. This means the bargain you got is no longer the bargain you thought you got. I saw a lot of this a few years ago when importing your car was the thing, people did save thousands, but at the other end dealers and the guides wanted nothing to do with them. I remember speaking with a customer who had a Merc estate and was trading in against a Rover 75 tourer, none of the Merc agents would touch his car because the value of it was way lower then their other stock and they did not want sitting on their forecourts.

Hmmm... I have seem to have gone off on a tangent there!

Anyway, I know I'm never going to win with the 'discount Kings' or people who see only the price (meet plenty of them!) but I'm proud of the service I provide to my customers and they know that they could save a few extra quid by going to "we sell cars mega cheap.com" but they understand that they are paying a little extra for my personal attention. I like to think of it as the Executive lounge that you can go into at the airport, which many people happily pay extra for.

Look at it another way, if everybody bought their cars online and the dealers where all gone then I wouldn't be able to provide the info to the club that I do!

[John S]

The dealers have the answer in their hands in my view.......these "discounted" cars come from a main dealer, if the dealers were sensible enough to refuse to trade with the online agents then the issue would simply dissapear. How ever buyers will ALWAYS want a discount and if your local dealer won't (or can't be bothered) to offer a deal of some sort then the buyers will look elsewhere.
From my own experience I know that the local dealer was pretty unmovable on the price and couldn't even find the car I wanted, yet an online agent working with a main dealer (the fleet sales manager) managed to "A" get a reasonable discount (£800) and "B" found the car I wanted within my time frame.

[Bigfeet]

And that is the Catch 22.....

The network wants to protect the brand, but customer expect a discount....

The only way I can see of solving this is by removing the targets and bonnet bonus, that why the network can sell car to person rather than selling cars to target.

The bonus scheme has always been the bane of the small dealer such as myself when dealing with the big groups.

[John S]

Level the playing field, give small dealers the same prices as the large dealers, then its up to the dealer to work out his own margins

[carz_999]

I'm all for saving money, don't get me wrong, but have any of you bought your car from the Internet but test drove at your local dealer... This is why the dealer may be the more expensive route because he has to provide all the services that a dealership requires, reg demos, provide insurance, fuel, etc.

Lots of dealers are going to the wall and I fear not too soon the only way you could buy a car will be through providers such as drive the deal or carfile, which would be a big shame.

Totally agree with this. I would never have - quite honestly - the nerve to go into a dealership, take up their time test driving a car, going through all the options, etc etc and then just go and order it online! Maybe I'm too thoughtful for my own good but I would feel awful about it. Yes, I probably could've got my car cheaper if I got it through an online agent, but for me the whole going to the dealership, test driving, and then having the handover and picking it up is all part of the experience of buying the car. I go looking for a car with a price in mind, and if I can't get that price through the conventional route well then it's not the car for me.

I know some people would think of that as stupid - and don't get me wrong, I can understand why people do it the other way too and save as much money as possible (I hardly have cash to throw around myself!) - but I wouldn't have it any other way. As long as the experience is good, and I'm not actually getting cheated out of any money, then I'm happy.

[Bigfeet]

My friend you are the reason I joined the Motor Trade, nothing gives me a better feeling than seeing a happy customer drive away with their new car knowing that i was a part of that process.

It's a big shame that we are at opposite ends of the country and I would have been delighted to be your serving dealer.

[carz_999]

I bet you'd get me a free brolly too!

[pauljack]

To be honest I test drove and had coffee at my local dealer and I asked him if he could get close to the price on the net. He was still £600 away than carfile/broadspeed and as much as I would prefer to use them thats still too much money to waste. If he could have got within a couple of hundred then yes I defo would. I dont lose any sleep, and if people are happy paying over the odds for the same product and service then thats up to you. When I lived at home with my dad, I used to not look to much into the whole process and I was very into the dealer experience. However, now I have my own home/ bills etc I have to be as prudent as I can and I am not asshamed of it.
There are lots of people who love the whole car buying experience and thats fine. I totally understand Bigfeet as he obviously is a salesman I guess? and thats his living. I used to sell for Toyota 3 years ago and generally the more a car/ products/ insurance/ upsales make, the more profit for the salesman get- generalising here but im sure its the same at Citreon as Toyota? So ofcourse they want to make themost money they can.
Since going back to my first profession I have obvioulsy forgotton how hard it is in the motor trade and am quite selfish with saving money!
Regarding customer service After reading lots of feedback from carfile etc the customers are put in touch with dealers and say the service is first rate so where is the difference?
Question- who goes in Comet to look at pcs/laptops/teles, asks loads of questions and finds the same thing on the net for £100 cheaper and buys it off there? I bet not many people on here cant say they dont shop around for the best deal?
why should buying a car be any different?
Its horses for courses

[carz_999]

Yeah that's a really good point about doing the same with Comet etc - have to confess to shopping around there! But maybe it's because there's less 'contact' with a comet salesperson than you'd have with a car salesperson. I think that's the part that makes me feel guilty when it comes to cars. I'm just too soft for my own good! Saving money isn't 'selfish' at all though, I guess everyone just does it in different ways.

[John S]

I guess I was a bit sneaky in getting a test drive......took one out while my C2 was in for service

[Bigfeet]

I guess I was a bit sneaky in getting a test drive......took one out while my C2 was in for service

Lol! Thats alright, we'll let you off with that one!!

Anyway all this talk of discounts and protecting the brand is making me feel guilty over what my DP let me have our DS3 for.......

[Lady DS3]

I used to have a brilliant independent dealer who made buying a new car fun and seemed to share my joy, and the after sales service was second to none.
Whenever I went to buy a car, I knew the OTR price and as long as I was getting close to that I was happy cause my enthusiasm in the choosing, ordering and collecting process was peppered with phone calls and we shared the excitement. Of course the dealer told me he would do a 'special' deal, just for me and knock a couple of hundred quid off the OTR, he did it for everyone, but we were made to feel valued.

Regrettably the dealership got eaten up by a big boy, but I still went back hoping for the same experience. Big mistake. I was a number, not a customer.
Now the 'big boy' I fought tooth and nail, for any discount, freebie, anything I could get, it mattered to me that I got something from them. It never used to.

So really I think going for the big discounts depends on the relationship you have with the dealer, no relationship...............then go for it.

Personally I would rather go somewhere that they know my name after the event, where you feel valued, and there is trust than getting another 2/3 hundred pounds of a car.

Here endeth the first lesson. LOL