Drivethedeal : cars sourced from...

G_M

My understanding is that Drivethedeal get their great discounts on new cars by having a relationship with one (or two) dealers for each make and channeling all their orders through these dealers.

So does anyone know who/where their VW dealership is? Anyone recently bought a VW via Drivethedeal?

G_M

Bumped up!

KeithP

I don't know the answer to your question.

But just curious... why do you want to know?

Surely they only get good discounts because they buy many cars.

blue_haddock

I used to work for a dealer selling cars via brokers including drivethedeal, carfile and broker4cars. Yes deal with just a couple of dealers for each brand but no i dont know who they use for VW.

If you are thinking about trying to cut out the broker to get a better deal i wouldn't bother as it would break the trust between broker and dealer, i was told by my boss at the dealership to always say no to people asking for a bigger discount in return for 'forgetting about' the broker.

At the end of the day the actual margin made on broker'd cars is tiny - its about volume not profit so its not worth the risk of losing hundreds of cars per year for the sake of one car.

plane_boy2000

I bought an Audi through DTD - after two years when I wanted to change the dealer who supplied the car was not keen to deal with me directly so I guess that echos what blue_haddock states above.

I believe that the dealer margins are so thin on broker deals that you wont get anything over and above what DTD will get for you, so I would approach your local dealer with the best price, and if they cant get near then just order via DTD - they are a nice bunch and I would recomend them

G_M

Hey guys don't jump to conclusions!

No I'm not trying to cut out the broker and go straight to the dealer. It's about delivery. DTD (or the dealer) deliver the car but I'd rather collect.
a) prefer not to have a numpty driving my brand new car
b) prefer to pick it up at the dealers where I can check it over /talk to sales/service if I'm not happy before accepting it.

But don't want to go to Scotland to collect!

Thanks for the responses though!

vikingaero

It really does depend on which dealer DTD uses and which one they need to make up sales on at the time of your order.

DTD should at least tell you its a dealer in say the Midlands etc. so why not call them and explain.

neilmcl

I thought the way it works is DTD looks for the cheapest dealership for your order who then contacts you directly. At which point you can deal directly with the dealership. If you want to collect it yourself I'm sure that can be arranged.

daveyjp

DTD have a number of dealers for each marque, but they have more for some marques than others. When we bought our Toyota it was Ipswich or Scotland - both 200+ miles away. We had it delivered - no problems encountered.

You don't know which dealer you'll get until you order as DTD find the one who can get you the car the quickest.

plane_boy2000

G_M wrote: »

Hey guys don't jump to conclusions!

No I'm not trying to cut out the broker and go straight to the dealer. It's about delivery. DTD (or the dealer) deliver the car but I'd rather collect.
a) prefer not to have a numpty driving my brand new car
b) prefer to pick it up at the dealers where I can check it over /talk to sales/service if I'm not happy before accepting it.

But don't want to go to Scotland to collect!

Thanks for the responses though!

Mine came from 400 miles away - other end of the country, but with Audi's they are not driven anyway - came on the back of a transporter. Guy was happy for me to check it out for damage etc - in fact even helped me by telling me it had been on the top deck of the transporter so I should check the roof really well as that was the most likely area for damage (although there was none). It had 4 miles on the clock when I got into it.

My new car - a citroen was driven to me from 200 miles away - no real issue with that though as most of these places use retired guys for this kind of work anyway - I could tell by the trip computer and fuel consumption that it had been driven gently on its way down and the guy gave me a full handover

vikingaero

My sisters Honda Jazz came from a dealer near Brum. They delivered it on a transporter. What they do is deliver cars to a certain region all at once if they can. The transporter driver parked about 3 mins walk away from my sisters house because he was worried about the overhanging trees and narrow lanes, so he parked up at the local Tesco and walked around and knocked on the door for the handover/delivery.