ardandy
13-10-2008, 10:23 AM
Picked up my new Octavia vRS TDI CR on friday! Had to go to London (from Yorkshire) to get it but it was well worth the trip!
Forgetting the car (which is brilliant!) this is my experience of the online broker www.drivethedeal.com (http://www.drivethedeal.com)
Website's easy to use, just tell it what car you want and the options you need, although make sure you read the paragraph at the top after you've picked your make/model as they sometimes mention what you have to do to qualify for a special offer or something like that.
I visited 2 local Skoda dealers and the best price with my options was £19,100, I like to think I'm competent at haggling too.
Through drivethedeal the total price for the same car was £16,475! :T
The process is that you place the order on their website for the car and the options you want, then put your details in for the deposit which is a minimum of £500. THIS DEPOSIT IS TAKEN BY THE MAIN DEALER, NOT THE BROKER.
After you've placed the order you get a call within 24 hours to check what you've ordered is correct and that you're happy with everything. Once you've agreed drivethedeal place the order with the dealer, up to this point you're not told who or where the dealer is for obvious reasons!
Within a few days you get a call from the dealer who you are buying the car from to introduce themselves. After this point your dealings with 'dtd' are over, although if any issues arise with the dealer/order (which I had a minor one) then they do try to help out and sort things out for you.
Now for the sceptics (as I was) regarding brokers/online etc.
You do not pay anything to 'dtd', think of them as finding the best price from around the country and haggling for you, I'm guessing their money comes from the dealer, like a mortgage broker.
None of the cars are pre-registered like some online brokers do to get cheaper cars, you're the 1st registered owner! (check the paragraph at the top as mentioned above for extra details)
As said, all financial dealings are with the main dealer ONLY.
Dtd do offer finance quotes and its worth getting one through their website but you do not have to get finance from them just because you are buying the car from them. A company they use quoted me £248 p/m but when I contacted the Skoda dealer themselves (after order) for a quote, thanks to a special Skoda offer it went down to £212 p/m!
To summarise if you're wanting to buy through them:
1, Buy through the website.
2, Get a quote for finance (if needed) from them but then get another after been contacted by the Main Dealer as they often have better offers. (Dtd don't mind this)
3, Be aware that the dealer could be anywhere in the UK but they do deliver the car for free to you if you didn't want to travel.
I've heard only good things from others (they've been going over 10 years) which is why I placed an order through them and all I can do is echo previous reports! I genuinely saved over £2,500 by not just relying on my 2 local dealers!
Thanks!
Forgetting the car (which is brilliant!) this is my experience of the online broker www.drivethedeal.com (http://www.drivethedeal.com)
Website's easy to use, just tell it what car you want and the options you need, although make sure you read the paragraph at the top after you've picked your make/model as they sometimes mention what you have to do to qualify for a special offer or something like that.
I visited 2 local Skoda dealers and the best price with my options was £19,100, I like to think I'm competent at haggling too.
Through drivethedeal the total price for the same car was £16,475! :T
The process is that you place the order on their website for the car and the options you want, then put your details in for the deposit which is a minimum of £500. THIS DEPOSIT IS TAKEN BY THE MAIN DEALER, NOT THE BROKER.
After you've placed the order you get a call within 24 hours to check what you've ordered is correct and that you're happy with everything. Once you've agreed drivethedeal place the order with the dealer, up to this point you're not told who or where the dealer is for obvious reasons!
Within a few days you get a call from the dealer who you are buying the car from to introduce themselves. After this point your dealings with 'dtd' are over, although if any issues arise with the dealer/order (which I had a minor one) then they do try to help out and sort things out for you.
Now for the sceptics (as I was) regarding brokers/online etc.
You do not pay anything to 'dtd', think of them as finding the best price from around the country and haggling for you, I'm guessing their money comes from the dealer, like a mortgage broker.
None of the cars are pre-registered like some online brokers do to get cheaper cars, you're the 1st registered owner! (check the paragraph at the top as mentioned above for extra details)
As said, all financial dealings are with the main dealer ONLY.
Dtd do offer finance quotes and its worth getting one through their website but you do not have to get finance from them just because you are buying the car from them. A company they use quoted me £248 p/m but when I contacted the Skoda dealer themselves (after order) for a quote, thanks to a special Skoda offer it went down to £212 p/m!
To summarise if you're wanting to buy through them:
1, Buy through the website.
2, Get a quote for finance (if needed) from them but then get another after been contacted by the Main Dealer as they often have better offers. (Dtd don't mind this)
3, Be aware that the dealer could be anywhere in the UK but they do deliver the car for free to you if you didn't want to travel.
I've heard only good things from others (they've been going over 10 years) which is why I placed an order through them and all I can do is echo previous reports! I genuinely saved over £2,500 by not just relying on my 2 local dealers!
Thanks!