Car price comparison sites

pwl

MSE_Martin wrote:

Using the web to cut the cost of getting a new car

If you're looking for a new car, a raft of car comparison engines promise to find the cheapest price. And indeed they are a great way to start, it provides a strong benchmark of the cheapest price available.

What to do

Use the sites listed below. The aim is to compare cars across the market to find you the cheapest price. However they don't all include the same companies. Buying a car is a massive purchase. If possible simply do a comparison on all of them (open multiple windows to make it easier). If not just pic three or four.

Car Comparison Services (use all if possible)

• Insuresupermarket*
• Kelkoo*
• Drive the deal
• Autofinders
• CarHound
• Broadspeed
• UK CarBroker
• Oneswoop
• Broker4cars
• JamJar

What then?

If you're happy to buy on the Net, then there shouldn't be a problem. However, it's also possible to then print off the prices and take them to your local dealer and ask it for a price match. Haggling is an inevitable part of buying a car. You shouldn't be afraid to do it, and being armed with the web's most conpetitive prices is a great way through.

Some other car buying tips:

• Finance: Often you're offered finance with your purchase. Be extremely careful with car finance. Unless it's a genuine cheapest deal it's rarely the right thing to do. One devious trick is quoting a flat rate of interest rather than an APR. This is hideous. 6% flat rate sounds cheap but is actually a 12% APR and much more expensive than even a bog standard bank loan (see the Cheapest Personal Loan article).
  
  For most people, the cheapest way to finance a new car (apart from saving for it which is of course the very best option) is a Standard Personal Loan, or even for those who can pay it off quickly, a 0% For Purchases Credit Card.
  
  
  
• Other car linked savings: There are a raft of other ways to save on cars too... do read the Car Insurance Cost Cutting System and Drive Down The Cost Of MOTs articles.

Please feedback on the car comparison sites

I’d love to get your feedback on which sites are worth their salt. Click reply to feedback on whether it worked for you. And if you're finding the price cheaper elsewhere, then report where and that way we'll build a useful database of that too at which point I will convert this into a more detailed article.

Martin

*Affiliated link: Any link with a star after it means click via this link and a contribution is made to MoneySavingExpert.com, which helps it stay ad-free, sponsorship-free and free to use. This in no way impacts any editorial decisions (what I write), costs you anything or changes the product. For more on how it works, click on the following link to read about the site’s non-profit driven ethical financial policy.

I was wondering if Carhound has stopped trading, as its website no longer seems to be operational. Does anyone know? Thanks.

eric482

Not sure what's happened to Carhound but I always find myself returning to www.contracthireandleasing.com - there seems to be more car companies than ever advertising on it now. The home page claims there's now over 40,000 special offers.

They're also currently running a free competition to win a lease car for a year which is slightly annoying after having just found my got my new Golf from an add there last month. Hasn't stopped me entering though!

wendyjj

Another site with good car deals is nationwidevehiclecontracts.co.uk .They only do car leasing but you can search any make and model and get a lease price on any car.

michaels

I think it is only fair to include a link to the https://www.HonestJohn.co.uk website as he has been doing a roundup of all these brokers 'forever' (well in internet time anyway) plus loads of other info. The MSE site is great but I think it is only fair to have links to the specialist sites - and expect links from them in return.

sharonr

I used Broadspeed as I found they were quoting the cheapest price and the deal was done through a SEAT Dealer.

I did have some problems though as the Salesman called me but left a message on my answerphone. I called him back the next day but it was his day off and I was transferred to another salesperson who quoted me over £1000 more than the Broadspeed price. I applied to Broadspeed to find out what was going on and the lady rang around to find out who had quoted the price on their website. She could only shave £500 off the verbal quote, but still not what was advertised. So I shopped around and almost bought a nearly new one, but the very next day the original sales guy called me again and apologised for his colleague and said that he was wrong. Also, I wanted a couple of factory fit extras which Broadspeed said were discounted, but the sales guy said they could not discount on those and he had repeatedly told Broadspeed to change their website. Anyway, he honoured the quote for the car, but charged full price for the extras. This was still £1000 cheaper than my local dealer could do (I told him the price Broadspeed quoted so he knew what he was up against) and £1600 cheaper than list price.

Then I was quoted £100 more from Direct Seat which is slightly closer to me, so I went back to the original dealer and said that they were very slightly more than them but a lot closer, so if he would throw in some mats I would go with him. Which he did!

This dealer was a 2 hour drive away, but as this is my first brand new car I decided to make a weekend of it and used my clubcard vouchers to stay in an hotel for two nights which included a spa!

Very happy with my new car and the deal I got. Although, I ended up not spending less, but got a much better model than I anticipated!

HappyLittleSaver

I looked at mostof the companies mentioned on this thread, but I found that the best people I've dealt with for my audi Q7 was Driven Leasing who were really good at explaining to me what was best for me for my company car - I'd never even heard of contract hire before! (They have a great explanation of what contract hire is if you are floundering like I was!)

They kept me updated with they were doing, and then gave me the lowest price when I asked them for extras they didn't have on site. I was really surprised that they went out of their way to ring around and find me the exact audi model and all the caboodles that I wanted!

I've recommended them to a couple of friends who had the same good experience as me, even though one was buying not leasing for work they still got a good deal from the finance site.

After reading all your advice when my boss first asked me to sort my own company car out, thought I should give you guys the info too!

Seriously very happy with Driven Leasing.

:A

badger101_3

Just thought i would post another car price comparison site that hasn't yet been mentioned. It is http://www.cars2buy.co.uk - they have some of the car brokers already mentioned listed as well as a few other ones and some main dealers

jack_spratt_2

I can recommend Car file used them to buy my last car !! all done through a main dealer no cash was paid until I got the car and the dealer took my part exchange in!!

Just ask for Jonathan

http://www.carfile.net/

hethmar

These sites are great for getting a low price but when the car is some hundreds of miles from your home, it makes me feel too nervous to buy that way.

jack_spratt_2

hethmar wrote: »

These sites are great for getting a low price but when the car is some hundreds of miles from your home, it makes me feel too nervous to buy that way.

If you talk to the broker he may be able to use a dealer near to you !!

Also if you ask the dealer to match there price as I have done recently with a Vauxhall they may just do it .
Buying cars is a bit of a game really !! you are trying to get it for the cheapest price and they are trying to make the most profit out of you !!

I do not like losing but its important to keep the negotiations pleasant !!