Is it safe to buy a car from a dealership 100 miles away?

GoldenOldy

Good Morning,
I need to replace my car.
when putting an order in, I have discovered they no longer offer the car with the technical pack i wanted, something to do with delays and chips?
In addition there is a 3 month wait.
I have seen the car i originally wanted , it is an unregistered car but at a dealership already. 

It has all the bits n pieces I need.
However it is over 100 miles away!
What would be the pitfalls if any of going ahead?
The dealership does not have any dealerships local to me.
Would it be foolhardy to buy?
Many Thanks

[Deleted User]

Would i ? No, i want to see it first.

Making such an expensive purchase without looking at the item isn't going to be something many people would want to do.
If you buy unseen i'm not sure of your rights if there is even the tiniest mark, let along flaw, when it gets delivered to your door.
It's possibly the second most expensive thing (first being a house) you'll spend your hard earned money on - you must do whatever your own gut-feeling/intuition tells you to do.

GoldenOldy

Thankyou Catsacor. You make an excellent point. I must say i am rather nervous. I purchased my last car 17 years ago from new locally. Much has changed since then. Am trying to gauge whether I am being silly being nervous. It seems not. I worry about the warrantys and the servicing if anything went wrong. Too old for trouble!

daveyjp

Do you mean you have no local dealer to supply the car or none locally for warranty and servicing?

If the former buying from 100 miles away isn't an issue as local dealer will do warranty and servicing work,
If the latter and you need a local dealer for warranty and servicing you may need to reconsider the vehicle you are looking at.

400ixl

Is this a new / nearly new car which will be under the manufacturers warranty and do you have a localish dealer for that brand. 

If there is a local manufacturer dealership then I would go and see the car and buy it if it meets you needs and condition. You can then use your local manufacturers dealership from any warranty issues and if you want service needs.

If you look at any service plans then just make sure it is manufacturer network and not seller network so you can use it with your local dealer.

I bought my latest car from a main dealer 80 miles away. They don't have any local dealerships to me, but there is a manufacturer dealer fairly local run by a different franchisee. When I bought the car I took a finance package for £10k of the price as it qualified me for a free service pack (paid the finance off in the first week to avoid any charges). That service pack was with the manufacturer network so I can use it with the local dealer. I also got an extended warranty with the manufacturer as part of the deal.

There is the risk that a fault occurs which has to be dealt with by the selling dealership, but that should be low risk on such a new car. Mine had such an issue (mine, I worked with them, and they came and picked the car up and left me a loan car. I then took the loan car back to them when the work was done, inspected my car and brought it home. Wasn't too much of an inconvenience really. Chances are you won't have any such issues and will just be able to use the manufacturer network.

motorguy

You can take a brand new car to any franchised dealer for warranty and servicing, no problem at all.

I take it you are planning on going and looking at the car before you buy?

I cant see much risk, if any.  If its the spec you want and the price you want, i'd go for it.

bluelad1927

I bought a pre registered Volvo with only 26 miles on the clock from a dealer 150 miles away. There are local dealers but this was a fantastic offer. I did make the trip to see it having paid a deposit and then back again to collect.

Owned now for 5 yrs and have had no problem using local dealers for a recall or warranty etc.

Stubod

Assuming this is a "new" car, from a main dealer, and there are other main dealers closer to you I would not think it should be a problem. However I would never distance buy a 2nd hand car, (just need to read some of the posts on this forum about people who have!!).

GoldenOldy

Thankyou for all your thoughts.

So, its a brand new car.
They are a dealer called John Banks for Hyundai.
We do not have a John Banks near us, but we do have Bristol Street Motors who are a dealer but dont have the car in.
We will go and look at it first.
Just want to make sure local place wouldnt be funny about servicing and warranty etc as we didnt buy it from there, if that makes sense.

WellKnownSid

The local place will be delighted to take on all of your servicing and warranty work because aftersales is where the money is made.

Lorian

I bought my Hyundai 50 miles away and have it serviced at the local dealer.  Both email to remind me when it's due.

Note sometimes the Hyundai service deals can be quite good value for money. The dealer will try to sell it you and unlike a lots of things it's not something to dismiss out of hand. You can get a price for it yourself on the Hyundai website too. 

Just never buy your windscreen wipers from them. Terribly not mse on the price.
 
Also if it's to be registered FOR you ask them if you could pick from their plate list. They should have a number of available registrations for the current period and while it's not like picking a personal plate at least you have some input. 

The other thing is to check the model year so you are sure the spec. They are change MY in about April/may time IIRC.