Car Broker Advice Needed - Dealdrivers

Cage

I'm entering the scary world of buying a car online and have seen that dealdrivers are the cheapest for the car I want. I've always bought new and always bought from my local dealers. My main concearn is spending £££££'s and getting an Import car built to UK spec.

I have talked to dealdrivers in the past and they have said my closest main franchised UK dealer is in the Midlands, they wont tell me who and I understand that because they probably think that I will go straight to the dealer missing them out of the loop. That's not my intention, I just wanted to simply know if this is a garage like Arnold Clark or Verve so I know how credable they are but they always refuse to answer it, I mean I could become a franchise for a car company and I could sell imports if I wanted to. See my point ?

Anyone used dealdrivers before ? according to their website they have sold millions and millions of pounds worth of cars so chances are someone here has used them.

Any help would be welcome.

KeithP

They are mentioned here...
Car Buying: Get the best deal & cut finance costs

Also, if you were to use the forum search facility you would find 141 threads that mention DealDrivers.

DealDrivers_company_representative

If anyone is kind enough to post back here as a customer of ours, please refrain from discussing our supplying dealers in a public forum...as those who have used us know, discretion on supply routes is key to our business, especially as other brokers post on here using pseudonymns.
We have had permission from MSE to post here under our own name since May 06.

To the OP..please, please read the 'how' page on our website...you are not 'buying on the internet', you buy normally and safely from standard UK main dealers, we simply act as enablers to put them in touch with you. We have offices, just as dealers do...to put it in perspective - dealerships also have websites to display prices but if you choose one and buy from them you aren't 'buying on the internet' then either! Buying on the internet means 'clicking to transact' and you cannot do that with us, you have to deal with a normal main dealer...all very safe and standard procedure!

As we explained to you yesterday when you contacted us, only a franchised UK dealership can sell you an unregistered car..no-one else can, and they are not allowed to sell imports...every page on our website explains they are normal UK dealers, you are first registered owner (very few brokers offer this), and they are not imports. And..because we do 'first registered owner' cars most of our dealers can offer scrappage too.

This is again, unlike, the many brokers who have until now disguised the fact their cars are pre registered with no logbooks with clever website wording - but now the scrappge scheme has forced them to put wording on their sites such as 'we have calculated our deals are better than scrappage..' etc..as scrappage cannot be applied to cars sold by unauthorised re-sellers who pre register and withold logbooks (they only withold logbooks to hide the fact they've sold the car!).

It does not matter which dealership for a brand in the UK processes your new-car order, your warranty remains a UK one, you have the car serviced and maintained at any approved same-brand dealer you are living or working near when it needs attention..just like buying a shirt from M&S..you can buy it in Southampton but take it back to their Preston branch for instance if it is a problem and you have the receipt!

Hundreds of 000's of company car drivers have cars on their drives that weren't supplied by their individual 'local' dealers, and the private motorist is no different. You can buy it at the franchised dealership offering you the best deal, and that won't always be your 'local' one..it might be someone elses' local dealer instead!

Our website is a shop front to display prices that are from main dealers...just like websites run by dealers..simple as that..we do the legwork for the dealers, only getting them involved when a customer is ready to go ahead and order, so it makes life simple for the dealership staff - they can concentrate on their own walk-in customers while we do the work with remote customers up to the point where a driver is ready to 'go' then the dealer takes over. Very safe!

Hope that helps...but we did go through all this yesterday!

jack_spratt_2

I have not used Dealdrivers but have used Carfile but would have no hesitation in using Dealdrivers as I believe they operate in the same way as Carfile !!
All dealings are done through a main franchised dealer and they even took my part exchange in and any cash was paid to the main dealer !!

I will be changing my vehicle shortly and I will be going the broker route again
I can understand why the broker does not want his retail sources revealed

Cage

DealDrivers wrote: »

If anyone is kind enough to post back here as a customer of ours, please refrain from discussing our supplying dealers in a public forum...as those who have used us know, discretion on supply routes is key to our business, especially as other brokers post on here using pseudonymns.
We have had permission from MSE to post here under our own name since May 06.

To the OP..please, please read the 'how' page on our website...you are not 'buying on the internet', you buy normally and safely from standard UK main dealers, we simply act as enablers to put them in touch with you. We have offices, just as dealers do...to put it in perspective - dealerships also have websites to display prices but if you choose one and buy from them you aren't 'buying on the internet' then either! Buying on the internet means 'clicking to transact' and you cannot do that with us, you have to deal with a normal main dealer...all very safe and standard procedure!

As we explained to you yesterday when you contacted us, only a franchised UK dealership can sell you an unregistered car..no-one else can, and they are not allowed to sell imports...every page on our website explains they are normal UK dealers, you are first registered owner (very few brokers offer this), and they are not imports. And..because we do 'first registered owner' cars most of our dealers can offer scrappage too.

This is again, unlike, the many brokers who have until now disguised the fact their cars are pre registered with no logbooks with clever website wording - but now the scrappge scheme has forced them to put wording on their sites such as 'we have calculated our deals are better than scrappage..' etc..as scrappage cannot be applied to cars sold by unauthorised re-sellers who pre register and withold logbooks (they only withold logbooks to hide the fact they've sold the car!).

It does not matter which dealership for a brand in the UK processes your new-car order, your warranty remains a UK one, you have the car serviced and maintained at any approved same-brand dealer you are living or working near when it needs attention..just like buying a shirt from M&S..you can buy it in Southampton but take it back to their Preston branch for instance if it is a problem and you have the receipt!

Hundreds of 000's of company car drivers have cars on their drives that weren't supplied by their individual 'local' dealers, and the private motorist is no different. You can buy it at the franchised dealership offering you the best deal, and that won't always be your 'local' one..it might be someone elses' local dealer instead!

Our website is a shop front to display prices that are from main dealers...just like websites run by dealers..simple as that..we do the legwork for the dealers, only getting them involved when a customer is ready to go ahead and order, so it makes life simple for the dealership staff - they can concentrate on their own walk-in customers while we do the work with remote customers up to the point where a driver is ready to 'go' then the dealer takes over. Very safe!

Hope that helps...but we did go through all this yesterday!

We went through all this yesterday did we, having to repeat yourself, sounds like a bit of a chore for you ?. I hope its not, that wouldnt be very good customer service.

If you like I have the saved chat transcript so I can paste that in here if anyone needs clarification of what I asked ?

Like your response yesterday, you again failed to answer the question, hence why I am asking it in here. I'm looking for a simple Yes or No answer. Before you go explaining yourself again, motorpoint are a franchise uk dealer, so please dont say you deal with franchised uk dealers like they are 100% UK cars sold by authorised retailers.

Q : As its a VW I am interested in, Is the 'UK dealer' an authorised VW retailer like Arnold Clark, or Verve, or as my closest one is in the midlands dealers like Parkway, or Solihull, Birmingham VW etc etc You do not have to tell me the garage, you simply have to answer the quesion as a yes or no.

To quote your main page "We offer prices from pro-active main UK dealers & motor groups" - motor groups and pro-active UK dealers are a very different kettle of fish than what an authorised retailer is. Motor groups and pro-active dealers can deal with imported cars.

At the risk of sounding crass, I'll go through this as many times as I like until I am reassured that before I hand over a lot of money to a 'Franchised UK Dealer' that they are a reputable authorised retailer. I don't think that is too much to ask.

Hintza

Since when were Motorpoint a franchised dealer? Sounds pretty clear to me.

vikingaero

Hintza wrote: »

Since when were Motorpoint a franchised dealer? Sounds pretty clear to me.

Motorpoint and Trade Sales in Slough are a couple of the few car supermarkets that still import grey imports which lack the full 3 year UK warranty.

Most online brokers like Deal Drivers, Drive the Deal, Broadspeed etc only use franchised UK dealers.

njsb14

I also haven't used dealdrivers, but would use them without concern.

In 1997 I bought a new Corsa via CSMA (Civil Service Motoring Association), they act like a broker (putting a large volume of sales to a dealer, therefore able to get a better discount) and I picked up the new corsa from a vauxhall garage in the Home Counties, even though lived in South London. The price was significantly better than I could negiotiate myself, also as it was a new vauxhall from a vauxhall garage I took the free insurance and 0% finance deal that was available from Vauxhall at the time. Then car was serviced without issue at my local south london garage.

In 2004, I wanted a new corsa and a new vectra estate, I shopped around and the best price for the Vectra was CSMA and for the Corsa Drive the Deal. The Vectra that I got from CSMA was collected from a vauxhall garage in the Midlands and the Corsa that I got from Drive the Deal was from a vauxhall garage in the Home Counties. Both were serviced and warranty issues sorted without problem by my local vauxhall garage in South London.

I am now in process of purchasing a new Golf as part of the Scrappage Scheme (using an old car I was given a few years ago), the best price for this was with Carfile, so will be picking up my new Golf from a VW garage in the Midlands, I now live in the midlands, so not to far to pick it up, I will have it services at my local VW garage.

At the end of the day it is up to you, if you don't feel happy, don't do it. But many people are happy with brokers and have saved a fair amount of money using brokers.

Some brokers include deliver to your door, but I personally want to be the first main driver of my vehicle.

I also tend to order my vehicles with optional accessories, so tends to have the car factory made (such as parking sensors, tinted glass, etc).

Cage

Thanks for the replies.

DealDrivers_company_representative

Cage

Yes, they are authorised VW retailers/dealerships...I don't know how else to answer this! One you have mentioned which you think is a VW dealership is not...it is a car supermarket.

Yes, we use normal VW main franchised retailers like the ones you mention. As stated twice, you cannot buy a NEW unregistered VW from anyone other than a VW dealership...so yes, of course they are VW dealerships..they cannot be anything else. You can't be the first registered owner buying from a car supermarket.

I don't know how plain I can be and it isn't a chore at all, its just that..as other posters have pointed out, we do as it says on the tin...and I did say this twice yesterday on livechat too...as I too have the transcript...I used the phrase "a genuine VW dealership" and a "normal VW dealership" throughout...I don't know what else to say really as there's no other way to describe VW dealerships...so that is the answer. Yes, yes, yes, yes!

jack_spratt_2

To be honest if you were intending to purchase a vehicle it is simply a case of contacting Dealdrivers and they would ask the VW dealership to contact you and answer your questions !! you could then decide if it is a genuine VW dealership !!
If you go through the Dealdriver route you would not be committed to buy the car if the deal was not right for you ..

As I said in my previous post if you are not happy with Dealdrivers give Carfile a ring !! they work in the same way as Dealdrivers but I am sure Dealdrivers will provide you with a good service if you give them a chance