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Lessons in car buying


Tayls

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I’m currently looking at buying a new car, as in, brand new, probably on some sort of finance arrangement. I visited a Suzuki showroom yesterday as I am interested in the Grand Vitara 4WD. It was a good meeting, I got to have a test drive and liked what it had to offer. 

Now, I have never purchased a new car before, so when it comes to negotiating on this sort of thing, I don’t really know what options I have available to me. What happened was that they just gave me the cost of the car I wanted, how much it would be each month etc. But, there are certain options that I want that I don’t want to have to fork out a shed load of money for. For example, I want black alloys, but to add them would be an extra £700 or so. £300 for a spoiler, £40 for some car mats etc. 

How can I go about getting what I want, will car dealerships negotiate or are their hands tied? Do I need to visit another Suzuki garage elsewhere or is that pointless? 

Would appreciate the advice!

(couldn’t find similar thread specifically relating to car buying) 

Edited by Tayls
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1. Go on to car wow and get quotes for the car.

2. Go on to drive the deal and ask them for a quote.

3. Take those quotes to the dealer and ask them to match or better them. If not walk away and buy from the dealer through carwow or drive the deal.

4. Don't get Scotchgard or any of that rubbish. It's basically a car wax for £200. Don't get gap insurance, just Google it and use the cheapest online e.g. autotrader.

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Both good shouts in the post above.

Always have an alternative quote, know what others will charge you for the same car.

Don't obsess over bits of trim and add ons. You don't really need a spoiler and the chances are that by asking for one, you'll pay for something that was already on the car they had in stock. You'd have got it free if you didn't ask for it.

Always consider lease hire over purchase. Even if you just use the What Car site to get some basic price guidance.

Good luck and enjoy it!

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16 hours ago, darrenm said:

1. Go on to car wow and get quotes for the car.

2. Go on to drive the deal and ask them for a quote.

3. Take those quotes to the dealer and ask them to match or better them. If not walk away and buy from the dealer through carwow or drive the deal.

4. Don't get Scotchgard or any of that rubbish. It's basically a car wax for £200. Don't get gap insurance, just Google it and use the cheapest online e.g. autotrader.

I checked out Carwow - wow! Got two offers this morning, one of which has come in at £1500 cheaper than the one I went to see the other day. I’m assuming Carwow receive payment from the dealerships should I give them my business? 

Should I now take my offer and send it onto my local dealership to see what then can do? 

 cheers for that piece of advice! 

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4 minutes ago, Tayls said:

I checked out Carwow - wow! Got two offers this morning, one of which has come in at £1500 cheaper than the one I went to see the other day. I’m assuming Carwow receive payment from the dealerships should I give them my business? 

Should I now take my offer and send it onto my local dealership to see what then can do? 

 cheers for that piece of advice! 

You'll buy direct from the dealer and carwow will just claim a finder's fee for the business.

Your local dealer can either compete or not. If they want your business they will, if not they've lost a customer and another dealer has gained one.

Generally you can do everything over email or telephone and they'll just deliver the car to your door or if you collect they'll give you a full tank of fuel.

It's definitely worth trying a broker too, they'll often be a bit cheaper than carwow as they'll have business dealers that can do it as a business sale. And unless you're absolutely set on that particular car it's worth looking at the special offers as dealers will always have something (especially towards the end of the month/financial year) they want to shift: https://www.drivethedeal.com/specialoffers.aspx (go right to the bottom, there's a Vitara there for £12k)

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12 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

Buying and new car is one of the worst financial decisions you can make especially when you are financing it. You are paying interest on a depreciating asset which make zero economic sense. A new car loses about 25% of it's value the moment you drive it off the lot. 

Shhh...Some mug has to take the hit so I can get a bargain a couple of years later. 

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14 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

When I went into Evan Halshaw to buy my beastly Peugeot 308 (I've beaten Ferrari's and Lambo's in it, in still traffic, easily because they run out of petrol after 7 minutes), one of the tips I was given was to start with the big guns.  

So I flopped out my 4 incher on the table and just calmly said to man "Do you really want to mess about with someone with a phallus like that?" (don't worry if you're big or not, he's a salesman so obviously he's got a 2 incher, max) 

I didn't get the car or anything but you could tell he was really scared of me and my giant beastly phallus.

Anyway, it turns out I way over paid for my car because I thought it was one of those reverse auctions.

I'd also ignore @darrenm's advise and buy all the things the dealer recommends.  Don't forget, he's the expert and is only trying to look after you.  I got the wax for £750, polish for £150, hub caps for £700, dust caps for £50 and a sticker saying "beware, Peugeot driver about, so BACK OFF guy" for £7.99 per month until I take it off, which will be NEVER. B)  

Did he look like this?

5a65eff40b876_giphy(1).gif.4e9f56ace7245af2695eaa6cf3e7122b.gif

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I'm in the market for a new car also, and planning on hitting up some garages at the weekend. I decided to borrow from my bank, rather than take finance through a dealership. As such I am getting a much better rate of interest, and also now have the option to buy privately.

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0% APR on Suzuki’s at the moment though!  

Grand Vitara - 1.6 Petrol, Allgrip (4WD) for £18000... surely can’t be that bad! Beats my Fiesta. Haven’t even had to get my dong out either...yet. 

I could get a used one, but I wouldn’t have the 0%, so I’d end up paying more back with the interest anyway. 

I wont be getting the gap insurance and paint protector stuff either, so no worries there. 

Edited by Tayls
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and me, get your head around that you're effectively renting it so you'll be losing money anyway, at the end of the lease or the voluntary termination point just throw the keys and run, on my latest one im about 10k miles over my allowance but i worked it back out and the fine is still cheaper than paying for more miles and being under so im not too bothered about that, ive been way under my allowance previously and got **** all thanks for it

i did learn on my last one that the service plan was a waste of money, gap insurance is cheaper through someone like ALA, wish id taken tyre insurance but alloy insurance depends on whether you're bothered by scuffs or just dont want to pay at the end, if its the latter than its cheaper just to get them done at the end rather than take the insurance out

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1 hour ago, PompeyVillan said:

You asked for advice, so here's mine. Save your money and spend it in something else that will genuinely enrich your life. A nice holiday, Villa season tickets, that guitar you've been eyeing up, prostitutes and cocaine. Whatever. 

We just bought a 12 year old Fiat Panda for £995 a few months back, 74 thousand miles, full service history. Needed a deep clean but that took less than a day. It's been great so far. For what it's worth I do revel in not giving a fudge about cars and really don't care what people think of mine. 

 

I know everyone is different but I’m the same as you.

My car gets me from A-B, my current car I bought for £3.5k 3 and a half years ago and as long as it’s reliable I’m happy.

I have had more expensive and brand new cars before and after a few weeks it’s “just a car” again and I’m wishing I didn’t spend so much money on it, or have signed up to years of finance.

I’d much rather have an extra £250 a month to play with than spend it on a finance payment on a car (but everyone is different!).

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