Online car shopping

kittynortheast

Can any of you good people out there please comment or give their thoughts and experiences on buying cars online, any good or bad experiences, risks etc... 'cos like everything else online they are much cheaper. Little bit nervous as it's a lot of money to handover to a company or car you can't see in the flesh!

MarkyMarkD

Are you talking about brand new, nearly new or used?

If brand new, do you mean from a broker who actually buys the car and then sells it on to you or from a broker who puts you in touch with a main dealer who supplies you direct? The latter is obviously less risky.

And have you considered getting a very good online price and then getting a local dealer to price match (or almost price match) it?

goldspanners

go and see the car before you hand over any cash then,if the car is as the seller describes it they should have no problem in allowing viewings.

kittynortheast

We've just found some new ones on 'buy a car' hadn't thought about this way of buying - strange as we buy everything else online, it's such a lot of money to 'lose' if things go wrong. The ones we looked at were buy online, pay for and get delivered to your door.

plane_boy2000

I bought my car through drive the deal. All they did was pass my order on to a main dealer who then contacted me to organise the order / delivery of my chosen car. All very easy, and no more risk to me than buying any other way.

chuckles1066

kittynortheast wrote: »

We've just found some new ones on 'buy a car' hadn't thought about this way of buying - strange as we buy everything else online, it's such a lot of money to 'lose' if things go wrong. The ones we looked at were buy online, pay for and get delivered to your door.

I saved £3k via AutoEbid.......£500 deposit and you don't finalise the CHAPS transaction until the car is delivered and you've inspected it and are happy.

anna42hmr

i considered doing this due to the car prices we were looking at for the same brand new car being between £1000 and £2300 cheaper than the dealers prices, however if you are unsure about going through an online car site, and want a dealer, you could do what we did, which was get all the quotes you could on line, print out and take them to the dealers and see if they can match the offer.

We had already decided we wanted a car with certain optional extras on, and as the on line prices we found were an average of £1300 less than the dealers list price, we ended up showing them the deals we could get elsewhere and ended up talking a deal from them which got us £1575 worth of optional extras (which we had decided we wanted before going to the garage) for the on the road price, (therefore getting a better deal than we would have done on the average net price) got a lower APR finance than they origionally offered, 50% off the gap insurance price, autoglym protection for 1/3rd of the list price and the vw service pack for half price also.

so it may be an idea to search on the net from places such as jam jar, autobytel, buyacar.co.uk orange wheels etc, get the prices for the car, print the details out and use that as a bargaing tool with the dealers.

but before you go, i suggest you do what we did, know what you want on the car and set out a realistic figure for what you want to pay for it and if they dont do the deal and you know you can get that deal on line just walk out, and either get it online or go to another dealer

ps ref buying from places you have not seen, not all are the case, for instance autobytel are part of inchcape dealers group, orangewheels actually act as a broker and it is the dealer you pay the money to, jam jar cars is owned by RBS group etc etc

DealDrivers_company_representative

Do check out what sort of deal you are getting... there are lots of online sources but only a handful (literally) can offer you first & only registered owner status where your whole transaction, inc your deposit, is as normal with a main brand dealer. (we act just like an ins' or morgage broker, putting you in touch with the supplier offering the best discount)

Many will use phrases like 'first registered keeper' to disguise the fact the deals relate to pre-registered cars, where the logbook may be retained by someone else for 3-6mths (it remains illegal to withold a logbook after a car sale...and you wouldn't let the seller of a used car keep the logbook in his name for a few months, so don't do it on a new car either!).

The questions to ask any supplier are 1) will I be the first registered owner (not keeper!)? and 2) at what point do I get the logbook? and 3) who do I pay my deposit and final balance to?

If their website doesn't scream it from the rooftops that you'll be first registered owner, assume you won't be, no matter how they flower it up.

If you DO go down the pre-reg' route, try and do it through a broker who only offers pre-reg's where the logbook is put in your name straight away, and check your insurer is happy..some insurers policies do not cover you if you are not shown as the owner of a car at the DVLA.

chuckles1066

DealDrivers wrote: »

If you DO go down the pre-reg' route, try and do it through a broker who only offers pre-reg's where the logbook is put in your name straight away, and check your insurer is happy..some insurers policies do not cover you if you are not shown as the owner of a car at the DVLA.

DVLA only has details of Registered Keepers doesn't it?

My vehicle is registered to a Polish girl who lives in Krakow but I own it and have the sales receipts to prove I own it.....DVLA are unaware of my existence.

anewman

chuckles1066 wrote: »

My vehicle is registered to a Polish girl who lives in Krakow but I own it and have the sales receipts to prove I own it.....DVLA are unaware of my existence.

The DVLA should be, as should your insurance company. Otherwise on both accounts your insurance is invalid and you are driving illegally.

chuckles1066

anewman wrote: »

The DVLA should be, as should your insurance company. Otherwise on both accounts your insurance is invalid and you are driving illegally.

The vehicle's insured.

Why should DVLA be aware of my existence?