Buying a new car...always give your local dealer a chance!

webuserisme

We are in the process of buying a second car (not a luxury, I'm afraid and not something we haven't agonised over with regard to the environment but we really do need one). My father has a Toyota Aygo and my OH has totally fallen in love with it (I have to say I am starting to as well ). So, I got onto the Web to try and obtain the best deal on an Aygo+ 5 door in solid colour with air con. Best price from a 'reputable' online dealer was £7390 delivered from https://www.autobytel.co.uk (owned by Inchcape plc, a huge company with many car dealer franchises). A saving of £600+ on list.

For a laugh, I thought I'd give my local Toyota dealer a chance to match the price. After I told the salesman the price I'd been quoted (and stated I would definitely be going thru with the online purchase unless he matched the price exactly), he went very quiet and said he would have to ring me back. An hour later he rang me back and agreed to match the price on condition I considered using them for servicing it (I was going to anyway!). Not only that, the exact model with air con will be ready to collect in 2 days! It pains me to think there will be people going into that delaership and handing over £7000 for the same specced car.... :eek:

So, the moral is, always get the best online price then give your local dealership the chance to match it!

Crabman

webuserisme wrote:

We are in the process of buying a second car (not a luxury, I'm afraid and not something we haven't agonised over with regard to the environment but we really do need one). My father has a Toyota Aygo and my OH has totally fallen in love with it (I have to say I am starting to as well ). So, I got onto the Web to try and obtain the best deal on an Aygo+ 5 door in solid colour with air con. Best price from a 'reputable' online dealer was £7390 delivered from https://www.autobytel.co.uk (owned by Inchcape plc, a huge company with many car dealer franchises). A saving of £600+ on list.

For a laugh, I thought I'd give my local Toyota dealer a chance to match the price. After I told the salesman the price I'd been quoted (and stated I would definitely be going thru with the online purchase unless he matched the price exactly), he went very quiet and said he would have to ring me back. An hour later he rang me back and agreed to match the price on condition I considered using them for servicing it (I was going to anyway!). Not only that, the exact model with air con will be ready to collect in 2 days! It pains me to think there will be people going into that delaership and handing over £7000 for the same specced car.... :eek:

So, the moral is, always get the best online price then give your local dealership the chance to match it!

I did this with MY toyota dealer!! :T I got m'Yaris for just £6k complete with climate control and sat nav built in. Just squeezed the living daylights out of the sales guy and got my first full service (the expensive one) chucked in too :cool: Admittedly the Yaris was 6 months and used but who cares?!

Nice work and hope others do the same :T

Nuclear_Tom

Yep I agree - a dealer that wont match an internet price is not worth his mustard!

Crabman

Nuclear_Tom wrote:

Yep I agree - a dealer that wont match an internet price is not worth his mustard!

The Nissan dealer screwed us over with their cr*p customer service so I made a point of visiting Toyota, exactly opposite the Nissan dealership. Then I went back to tell them about my great deal :rotfl:

Clowance

Well done for the discount, but...
servicing for any make of car I have ever had , or OH has had (company cars) at ANY main dealers has been appalling. I know it invalidates warranties etc if you dont use them with a new car, which is why I would NEVER buy a new car even if I won the lottery. I use a small local man who is brilliant and says things like "you dont need to replace that yet, come in again in six months". OHs company car bill was always over inflated as they knew the bills wernt properly scrutinised by head office. If it had been a private car there would have been some major rows. Oh and they used to say they had replaced stuff they hadnt as well in a service. (That was vauxhall).

webuserisme

To be fair to teh dealer I have used for this deal, I have had previous Toyotas serviced by them and I couldn't fault the service at all. My father was a mechanic and always gave them a quick look over when they had returned to make sure stuff they said they'd done had been done and it always had. Prices are silly, agreed, but the real culprit tends to be the ridiculous price they charge per hour for labour (even though the actual mechanic sees very little of this!). The beauty of the Aygo is that it requires just 4 hours of servicing time in the first 3 years so we should be OK. Add that to £40 a year road tax and Group 1E insurance plus it's a Toyota and this isn't going to be an expensive car to run IMO. Only time will tell...

*!*HIBS*!*

Clowance, you can have your car serviced at any garage, main or independent, so long as they use the genuine parts and it is serviced at the recommended intervals (set by the car manufacturer), whilst keeping your warranty intact! :T Read the link below

More freedom of choice needed in car after-sales market

:j