buying a car..should I go for any extras?

sam1970

This site helped me a lot over the years and it is time to come back asking for help again. I am buying a near new convertible Audi and the dealer has suggeste few extras, as they usually do, and I am wondering if it is worth considering any of them:

1- SMART cover against chips, dents and scratches (but excluding the bonnet!!) for £400 (3 years cover)

2- GAP insurance (£445 for 3 years)

3- Extended warranty (£800 for extra 18 months- the car has got 2 1/2 years warantty left)

4- Supagard (interior and exterior for £460)

I know dealerships will try every thing to suck the last penny out of customers so I am wondering if i really need these extras and if there are cheaper alternatives. Thanks for all the advice

motorguy

sam1970 wrote: »

This site helped me a lot over the years and it is time to come back asking for help again. I am buying a near new convertible Audi and the dealer has suggeste few extras, as they usually do, and I am wondering if it is worth considering any of them:

1- SMART cover against chips, dents and scratches (but excluding the bonnet!!) for £400 (3 years cover)

2- GAP insurance (£445 for 3 years)

3- Extended warranty (£800 for extra 18 months- the car has got 2 1/2 years warantty left)

4- Supagard (interior and exterior for £460)

I know dealerships will try every thing to suck the last penny out of customers so I am wondering if i really need these extras and if there are cheaper alternatives. Thanks for all the advice

1- Far too expensive. Get the SMART repairs done IF you need them

2- Can be got for a fraction of that if you shop online

3- Thats a lot of money for an extended warranty, but only you can decide if its worth it.

4- The kit costs about £50 if you really must have it.

JonathanA

Personally I would say:
1 - don't bother - as pgilc says above, only get them done if needed.
2 - depends how you're financing the car and your attitude to risk, but can be bought much more cheaply.
3 - I think that means your car is 6 months old. Save the money, don't buy an extended warranty now as you have cover for the next 2.5 years. Make a judgement call as you get to the end of the manufacturer warranty.
4 - I wouldn't, but if you have kids with sticky drinks etc, then supaguard might be worth it, but again can be got more cheaply.

They are trying to sell you £2k of extras which is a hell of a lot - their commission on that would be huge. My advice would be reject the lot and if you want them, shop around..

poppasmurf_bewdley

£2k of extras which will cost no more than about £3-£400 if bought off the internet.

These are only used to bump up the profit for the supplying dealer.

Speaking for myself, I don't think you need any of them. They will not add a single penny to the value of the car you buy.

They will just make a £6k car £8k.

gord115

Don't waste you're money on any,I know for a fact the Supaguard doesn't work,£299 I wasted...

bungle4by4

give me all the money you would spend on pointless carp, ill bank it for you, and you can pay for any repairs out of the £1700 you will have tucked away. all this stuff is dealer cash in his back pocket.

sam1970

thank you all for the advice..i think i will go with it and buy nothing out of the four.

whatmichaelsays

The simple rule is not to buy extras from the dealer, who will have their "captive audience" markup.

They get away with it as they are usually well into the sales process when they introduce these products, usually dealing with customers that have the "If I'm spending £10k, what's an extra £100?" or "If I'm spending that much, I better look after it" mentality.

Step away from that environment and all four products can all be had much cheaper. As an example, I was quoted £365 for replacement vehicle GAP insurance by a SEAT dealer (JCT600) - the same level of cover was £75 via Auto Trader.

Specifically on GAP, it sounds like the car is only six months old. If this is the case, check your insurance documents as many insurers will replace the vehicle outright if the car is less than one or two years old, making GAP redundant.

rodenal

If you can get that warranty price down to say £5/600, and it's as good as the likes of what BMW offer then that's the only thing on your list I would even consider.

You usually have up to x thousand miles to purchase extended warranty anyway, so as said before it's worth waiting to see what value you feel is in it.

rs65

whatmichaelsays wrote: »

Specifically on GAP, it sounds like the car is only six months old. If this is the case, check your insurance documents as many insurers will replace the vehicle outright if the car is less than one or two years old, making GAP redundant.

I've only seen that for 12 months and you have to be the first registered keeper.

Supaguard and the like bugs me. If it is good as they say, why don't all new cars come with it.

luci

Aviva will provide new for old for the second registered keeper provided the first registered keeper was the dealer.